I've read a lot of stuff on here both positive & negative on here regarding postal remaps, thought I'd share my recent experience with you. . .

I purchased my high mileage Mk1 vRS (Beryl) back in April as a rolling resoration project. She'd had some cosmetic mods done in the past & was advertised as being mapped to 215bhp. My good friend Jamie (Chicken Eyebrow) offered to get some power & torque figures for her from his liquid gauge. How shocked I was when the figure of 181bhp came up! After a little discussion it turned out that I was running her on the wrong Octane fuel (95 ron) after a few tankfuls of Shell V power, we tried again. I was quite hopeful as I could feel the difference. . . . 186 bhp & 169 torque! And before anyone says that its not the same as a rolling road, true, but it does give you a reasonable indication & if you're going to do mods & then recreate the same conditions & similar ambient air temp etc, it gives you a good base model to compare with.

I deceided that since she obviously hadn't had one, a remap was required!

I started looking around at prices, performance & reviews etc but severed a tendon in my thumb before I could get anything done. Since I was now unable to drive & earn money, I thought I'd better look at cheaper alternatives. The cheapest I could find was 'more bhp' in Cheshire. They offered a postal version of their drive in service for £99 including return postage. The reviews were good & since I wouldn't be able to drive for a while I didn't mind not having a working car for a few days. I had a few conversations with Jason the owner & he informed that he doesn't push the turbo too hard & concentrates more on the fuelling, which with Beryls mileage, was just what I wanted.

The ECU was duly sent off (by UPS during the postal strike) & Jason's communication was excellent. Whilst it was away, I attempted some minor electrical work on Beryl & blew one of the small 5 amp fuses in the process. Not having a spare one of those I borrowed the nearest identical one to see if I'd sorted the minor electrical problem but forgot to return it to it's rightful position!! When the ECU arrived back we found the car started immediately & ran fine, but there were no instruments or electrical accessories working.

I rang Jason & he informed me that it was not a normal problem & I must have something simple wrong like a poorly fitted plug etc. Another good friend (Sweedish) came round with his VAG COM & after retrying the connections a few times we VAG COMmed her. Data bus problem!! Phoned the very patient Jason again & he recommended disconnecting the battery for a while to reset everything. After reconnecting, the immoboliser kicked in & she wouldn't start anymore. More phone calls & he suggested I check the fuses as it must be something simple...........AND STILL I DIDN'T TWIG!! The next next morning he contacted me at 7.30 to say that he had been thinking about it in overnight & was going to pick up another ECU, map it & drive down from Cheshire to fit it so that I wouldn't have to worry. Mean while, could I please go thro the fuses, especially the 5 amp ones, as they control the immoboliser functions. How's that for customer service? Finally something clicked & I told him of the blown fuse. He said that I must've put the borrowed one back in the wrong place & i'd need to check the 5 amp ones against the fuse plan to find what one was misplaced. I purchased some baby fuses & began checking. Sure enough, I had a gap where the dashboard comms one should be. Of course, once replaced, everything was back to normal, I apologised to Jason for being an idiot, but like me, he was just relieved that it was all sorted out ok.

And the remap? Spot on! She now develops 213 bhp & 217 torque hanging on to most of the torque right the way thro the revs. The turbo spools up to 18 psi & then drops back to a constant 14 instead of the original 11. Just what I wanted! The power is urgent enough to give you the kick in the back but smooth enough to be very driveable, economy is unchanged if you drive gently & predictably lower if you use the extra power.

Other people's experiences may differ but I've highly recommending my postal remap!

Edited 26 December, 200916 yr by Beryls Chief Pilot

I rang Jason & he informed me that it was not a normal problem & I must have something simple wrong like a poorly fitted plug etc. Another good friend (Sweedish) came round with his VAG COM & after retrying the connections a few times we

We what ?

Don't leave us in suspense - I've just wasted a few minutes reading that !

We what ?

Don't leave us in suspense - I've just wasted a few minutes reading that !

My apologies - I didn't realise you could open a partly finished thread - when I came in it ended at "we" as stated in my previous post :S

AND found that a turkey was trying to hide in the fuse box?

AND found that a turkey was trying to hide in the fuse box?

Like it! Very seasonal! No......the Turkey was behind the wheel! Apologies everyone, Windows Vista.......keeps uploading whilst typing & then not letting me back in!! :S

Edited 26 December, 200916 yr by Beryls Chief Pilot

TFFT - it's finished

You didn't write "War and Peace" did you ?

I believe Jason now uses DNA tuning maps . I'm glad your happy get yourself down to a RR day

Edited 27 December, 200916 yr by vRSMart