So far so good with 218bhp and 246lb/ft on a day when the temperature was 26 deg and the tank had regular unleaded in !

First impressions ?

1. Don't VAG detune their engines ? It feels 'normal' now.

2. Diesel like shove in 4th and 5th from mid to upper rpm

3. Smooth power delivery well suited to the 4x4's "I can handle anything" suspension set-up. Great on lumpy roads or the M1

4. Made a good car (even after the Imprezas I had) even better.

Jabba are booking well ahead now so if you are thinking about it, book or you'll soon have a 6 week wait.

:drive1:

Rob, congrats! I hope I will be echoing those sentiments as of tomorrow...

Received an invitation from Subaru to test-drive the new WRX - too late! (Will do it anyway, but too late for a sell.)

Now, let me see - what was that lb/ft to Nm conversion again?

Wow, great figures rob - especially the torque!

Did they let you know what your car was putting out as standard?

VW group seem to play down the actual figures for their vehicles.

Bet you enjoyed the journey home!

Matthew

Didn't bother asking about the standard output, but about 165 is typical by all accounts (on paper=150). This fits with the 122bhp I had on the first diesel I had a few years back - an A4 110, so 10% over seems normal.

I count myself as being used to a variety of cars (the Impreza was VERY quick when chipped), but its always nice to get in a car and think its pulling well in 4th and you realise your in 5th. No kidding.

They're a bit thorough with the remapping aren't they ?!

I think the 10% sounds about right. Mine was around 116hp, as far as i can remember.

Yep, they certainly are very thorough. I was there for nearly four hours & Brian wasn't happy until it was just right!

Its quite an eye-opener when other chip tuners will charge a lot more for similar work and I bet they aren't as thorough either!

great stuff!

:cheers:

Originally posted by FabiaTDi in this post

I think the 10% sounds about right.

Interesting - and again a match with the 195hp found on many standard RSs.

So does this fit in with the 15hp performance gain through drive-by-wire and VVT on the post-2001 engines discussed here? Would be logical, as the standard engine mapping would also stand to gain from DBW and VVT.

It also fits in with the 15hp (approx.) actually found on the rolling road on top of the nominal 193hp output claimed by the likes of Abt and Oettinger.

I always assumed that the power output was underestimated due to the natural power variations between cars.

I did actually speak to Brian at Jabbasport about this. He said, when put on a rolling road, naturally aspirated VW engines will usually produce power very close to the manufacturers claim.

I not so sure about petrol turbos, but the power outputs from TDIs tends to vary quite a lot from vehicle to vehicle.

I suppose Skoda/VW quote a power output figure which is a "safe bet" to keep customers happy.

VW/Skoda also seem to underestimate performance/acceleration figures for their cars too.

e.g. Skoda claim 0-62mph of 11.5 secs for my car, yet Diesel Car magazine managed 0-60 in 9.0secs.

Oh well its a hard life!

I noticed the 0-60mph on my TDI was quicker than they stated. My mates and I have always gone to a certain stretch of road near where I live, where there is a (normally) deserted 1/2 mile stretch of good road. I consistently got 0-60 times of just under 10 seconds. Maybe my TDI is one of the just over 100BHP cars? I can still remember my old 1.9I ZX i learned to drive in - to 60 in under 8 seconds, and enough torque to do first to fifth gear without so much as a murmur. Then the french prats put a CAT on it and slowed future models down. All this talk about jabbasports is not doing me any good at all, I'm beginning to feel a little left out with my out-the-factory engine... :(

Another early comment on my 'new!' car.

The flow of power through the gears is sustained through 3rd 4th 5th gear.

It's very similar to how my Impreza was when I'd had the ECU remapped in that the power is

very deceptive.

A flat sustained torque curve helps which is what Mike offered - I certainly wasn't wanting to eke out the last few bhp. He actually reined it back, so max power on unleaded is at 5150 rpm.

On a cold day with Super unleaded, in pure acceleration terms its not going to be far off the Impreza once on the move. And before anyone says(!), Yes I know that the brakes,handling and steering aren't as sharp, but this is already a fantastic motorway car as 5th is shorter than the vRS.

I'll do some in-gear timing (allowing fo speedo error) over Easter

Fab,

you got 218bhp running on unleaded; I assume you can run on super and Optimax?

Also asume that you would have been closer to the 230bhp mark if you were remapped for Optimax but would have, realistically, stuck to using only Optimax(?).

Was this the reason why you had the remap done for unleaded?

Cheers.

Adrian.

Skodi

Yes, you can run on super or Optimax and you will get more power. I normally run on unleaded because of the mileage I do ( spent a fortune on SUL in the Impreza though !). I would guess that 225bhp is nearer the mark but absolute power wasn't my priority and Mike tuned accordingly. Expect SUL/Optimax to generate some more top end power

The weather was so hot though (26 deg ambient) that in the right conditions with SULI know that it will be even 'perkier' !

As a few people have said, Jabba are flexible and will tune (within tolerances) accordingly, so if you want say top end revvability rather than a great midrange slug (mine) then they will tweak as required.

Off to do some BMW baiting now...! Poor chaps. I reckon there is probably an extra 20bhp in pure 'shock and awe' value !!!

Originally posted by Fabpreza in this post

I reckon there is probably an extra 20bhp in pure 'shock and awe' value !!!

:D

:cheers:

:drive1:

Another happy customer... yeah, they are great.

The "shock value" is definately worth a few bhp, as they don't ready themselves at all.

Devon, ZX1.9i eh? Guess what I had last?

(pre-cat, naturally )

sorry for higgorance but when I get my RS Jabba'd on Tuesday do I ask for the Optimax, SUL or rocket fuel mapping?

Now, what is Optimax................ never used it - unless it's what they serve in Italy as Red Wine with your Pizza?

HiStudioman,

If you check your owners manual the performance figures quoted for the RS are based on RON 98 fuel? Optimax is RON 98 therefore you will get better performance from your car if the mapping is setup for this fuel type. Using the lower RON number (95) won't have an adverse affect on the performance of your car. You just won't feel the burn so much!!!

LLB

I usually use normal unleaded (95ron) so told Mike this when I had it remapped.

As Lloyd says, it just means that you get a bit more power and 'perkiness' if you decide to use SUL or Shell Optimax, both of which are 98ron +

On the Impreza Turbo, it did make a difference if you kept using 98ron+ fuel (rather than the odd tank) but on the Octavia I'm happy to use the normal stuff due to cost.

Mike told me I would see more torque if I used Optimax although his map was designed to be flexible and suitable for 95 RON. I've tried one tankful - usual observation as with other cars I've fed it to (particularly the 928) is the car drives very smoothly on it. Hard to measure any torque gain subjectively though.

Mike did shudder when I told him the current content of the tank on remap day was a supermarket brand beginning with "S", and told me it is probably the worst fuel out there. He suggested BP or Shell for normal unleaded use. Cost at the moment is not much different so it's being fed mainly BP at present.

Going slighty off topic, has petrol gone down in price over the weekend

anywhere else?

My nearest Shell is now 74.7 for standard unleaded - not sure on Optimax,

as they don't have the price on the big sign, and the sticker on my car

says 91/95 RON, so I doubt there'd be much point in using 98RON!

Rob.

I agree with Nick about using Optimax; in it's current standard tune the RS is definately alot smoother and a bit better in response.

Just trying now to be patient for my remap; we seem to have 5 people up for it but August seems a long way away.:(

Cheers.

Adrian.

Rob - try a tankful or two of Optimax - it's usually about 2p more than standard UL. You may be surprised at how much nicer your car feels. The ECU should take advantage of the improved octane rating. Some people on my other list reckon they get better economy too. I've never managed to prove that, however.

I tried a tank of it in my Astra after I'd 10k Boosted it, and it ran really well for

about a week, but that seems to be something more in line with 10k Boost

than the Optimax.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try though!

Rob.

Edited to say tried a tank *in* my Astra, rather than *on*, in case the insurance invesigators are still following me...

10k Boost?

10k boost

Something that's recommended (by the manufacturer at least!)

to spray into the engine every 10k miles.

I think it's basically a decoker, cleans some of the gunk out of the

engine. My Astra had 74k miles on it when I got it, so I thought

I'd give this stuff a punt, and certainly a lot of black stuff came

out of the exhaust and it seemed to run nicer (possible placebo

effect though).

Generally it gets a mixed response - people either thinks it's

fantastic or it's pants (for example, if the gunk in the engine is

actually sealing the pistons ). I think they sell it in Halfords

now though...

Haven't bothered with using it on my Octavia though, as it

runs very nicely anyway!

Rob.

Ah! Thanks. Done a similar thing with RedeX in the past - used to make lots of white smoke and did seem to "clear the tubes" for a while. Haven't done it for years but did think about it with the 928 the other day. Another thing to do next weekend!

Well, I did manage to temporarily kill the engine on my Astra doing it though...you're

supposed to get someone to rev the engine up to about 2.5k, I'd imagine to "suck"

the spray into the engine.

Not having anyone to push the throttle, or a large brick, I had to make to with spraying

it in at idle. Which wasn't bad, just got a small puddle built up in the air intake hose.

Which I then tipped up to let it flow into the engine and... :eek:

Still, bit of throttle and turning the engine over for a minute and a bit got it working

again...

Rob.