RD Technik - 125kw TDI & DSG review

[harlie]

Hi all
Thought I would share my experiences with tuning, engine and DSG – I was convinced to go for what they call “stage3” DSG.

Car: MY10 Octavia VRS 125tdi-CR. 84km

Tuner: RD Technik - supplied by Carformance (Greg Roles).

Disclosure: none – he took my money and provided the goods!

Let’s face it, the VRS (mk6 GTD) doesn’t really suffer from a lack of engine, and I was really only looking to sort out what was rather annoying habits of the DSG - mainly:
1 bogging down, it was always in such a hurry to short shift through the gears, in 6th before 60kph – so when you want to go it often has to drop 2 gears before it can go.
2 riding the clutch especially in reverse and 2nd. Always surprised me how fast it would change into 2nd, as soon as forward motion was detected it would change – in slow moving traffic or shopping center speed bumps, the car would ride the clutch in 2nd up to 1500rpm. Which can’t be good. Up our slight slopping drive way, it would ride the clutch in reverse at 1500rpm also.

So what’s the result?
DSG. We had a couple of goes at the DSG, not that there was any issues, I just had some clear points in mind I wanted sorting – after all it was the only reason I was tuning in the first place.
The first tune was a noticeable improvement, the first thing I noticed was the clutch grab points – the clutch riding in reverse up my drive is greatly improved – the same for 2nd, it still does it but not as bad. Gear changes are not quite as smooth as factory, you can just feel those changes now during every day driving – not intrusive but there is a difference more noticeable during downshifts (mrs actually didn’t notice), this will be the result of the tighter clutch pressures – give it the beens and the car is noticeably more responsive, even before the engine was tuned there was a noticeable difference, it just felt more peppy. Shift points for D lifted higher.

I provided some feedback and further customisation requests after doing some data logging and they have provided an update – it’s just nicer again, nothing radical just playing with shift points for D and clutch pressures.

Using M mode, the shifts are noticeably quicker. S mode is still completely pointless even with the tuned engine now pulling well past 3500, the shift points for S seem the same as factory – miles too high. I would like to see the points for S brought down for the diesel, hopefully they can work on that for me, but for now the S setting is just for the brochure.

Engine: My engine was not able to be port tuned so Greg took the ECU away to do the direct to board thing.
Simply, the engine is excellent. I had a Bluefin tune on the 103tdi MK5 and it was pretty good, better bottom end than stock, but the RD Technik is definitely another level. Significantly smoother torque delivery down low and once over 2000-2200rpm it just bolts. I’ve caught myself a couple of times being significantly further down the road than expected when giving it 70-75% throttle out of a bend or roundabout – that car in front comes up very quickly now – they really were “whey WTF” moments… I must admit, I’ve not done any data collection (apart from throttle position for the DSG data) so I can’t report on what boost levels or other bits have changed, but it is a lot quicker. Importantly for an everyday car it is very smooth

Fuel consumption – too early to say…

Customer experience – excellent. Greg takes care and pride in what he does, I know a lot of guys would not want me standing over their shoulder looking at what’s going on and with “At your home or work” service, that is just gold!

[Greg Roles]

Wow, thanks Craig, wasn't expecting that!

Yeah the Stage 3 TDI DSG tune is a work in progress, I agree the tune on my Yeti - Sport is still a waste of time, but again, RD Technik are working on it, and it's nice to get tweak tunes in the daytime instead of waiting overnight. I've just been told there may be a chance of activating launch control - lets wait and see. I'd be up for that!

As for the tune, you can indeed OBD port tune the GTD ( 125kw MK6 engine ) but there is a chance on the 2009/10 versions of the ECU locking itself on OBD port tuning, so with those particular models, I suggest bench tuning to play it safe, and patching in OBD tuning ability in the process. Generally RD Technik are pushing LESS boost than other tunes, it's actually part of their secret to getting such big top end. Doesn't make sense at first glance, but when they explained it to me, and showed me some dyno plots, well the results are there.

Need to put up all the info in my section, some good results to share at long, long last.