Negative views of tuning

[Nathan_B]

Yep i purchased the R32 becuase it was a car i thought i would never modify.. The mrs doesnt mind it as long as i treat her well too, she afterall purchased the Milltek for me

[Flat-Mango]

As long as I'm not borrowing from the bank, or making it illegal, My Dad is ok.
Which is fine. Not into stretch tyres and i can live being only 100mm above the ground

Not sure how I'd get passed smoothing my indicators off my bumper (without having Mk4 Look-a-lights) :S

My parents give me a lot of ****... "I'm sure the vw engineers knew what they where doing, your destroying a perfectly good car, ect ect". My father simply wont believe anything you do to a car will make it any better in any way, as the magical engineers spent thousands of hours designing someting that is not only the fastest, but most practicle and comfortable. Any gains i feel are in my head apparently, haha.

haha, My dad took that same pitch, also adding that they designed the car with understeer for it's easier to counter than oversteer.
but it wasn't an argument, just a 'Keep it in mind, you want the Reliabilty/power ratio more toward the Relability side.

However, i'm yet to modify it yet

[DoggieHowser]

I have been stopped by over zealous cops about 4 or 5 times in my modded Evo. Tomei extractor, elbow, downpipe (full kit), Apexi N1 Evolution cat back exhaust system. Motec M800 PNP. The system was approved by the local ROV (Singapore) so it was more a hassle than anything else. But it did piss off the missus those few times when we were on the way to work. Or dinner.

I think mods in moderation and clear expectations is ok. Don't go crazy with power unless you know what you want to do with it. That means understanding where the car is used. Track day cars should be tuned for sustained driving vs short burst power delivery for sprints vs daily driveability (good flat torque across rev bands etc).

Also, make sure the rest of the car is up to snuff. If the car goes faster, it needs to stop faster. Better pads and steel braided lines are a start. BBKs like Endless or Alcons are almost mandatory if you want a track attack car. Plus suspension and tyre upgrades to match. That's where prioritization is important. A tune, suspension and tyre set up for track isn't as much fun for daily driving.

With turbocharged cars like the R and GTI, there's a big temptation to add more power. And it's very easy to do, often at the expense of balance. Also, for some new turbocharged car owners, there's a need to understand limits to the engine. I had a friend go nuts on his BMW 335i. Stock boost was about 0.5-0.8. I saw an American tune bring that to 1.5-1.6. And he was wondering why his engine oil temp was always in the red zone. I was also unsure how lean his system was running on stock injectors.

The other concern is service cycles. VW may only require 15k kms before servicing on stock cars. With highly tweaked cars, you may want to shorten the cycles.