One of the strangest thread titles ever on Briskoda? Possibly!

Myself and Ben had a discussion today and decided that as 'Beti the Yeti' now had some 'proper balls'; more than was right for a female Yeti, we needed to come up with a new, rhyming male name! We failed. The best we could come up with was 'Beti the cross gender Yeti'

Anyway.... on to todays experience....

Where to start? Im not new to modifying cars and in particular, every one of my vehicles have been remapped at least once in its life.

What initially attracted me to Shark Performance was all the positive reviews and comments from customers on various different VAG related car forums, including Briskoda.

Further research online showed that there was actually no negative first hand experience of Shark Performance and their mapping work.

However, I guess I still had doubts in the back of my mind; mainly due to the possibility of dealing with a 'small fish in a big pond'; someone that was comparitively new to the industry but as I found out today this can also be beneficial!

Id spent some time over the last two weeks phoning various tuning firms to ask some more indepth questions regarding, specifically, mapping the 1.8TSi and how the companies achieved the figures they achieved. Some didnt have a clue. :S Some blatantly got it so wrong, I felt embarassed for them , some spent most of the time slating how the competition did things and one even managed an amazing feat; a combination of the three! Before the last round of calls Id got the decision down to just two companies.

Now on my previous VAG vehicles I've had REVO code installed. The last one; a TFSi VRS Mk2 I swapped in for the Yeti had all three stages of REVO code so Im pretty familiar with this product and also rated its abilities pretty highly overall. The main characteristics of the REVO maps imo were lots of low down and mid range grunt that tended to peter away well before the red line was in sight. It 'felt' fast and Im not denying that for one moment. I guess my doubts were more to do with how the performance was achieved.

After speaking with Ben from Shark Performance last week (and managing to be the only tuner I spoke to that was happy (and able!) to answer all my questions and queries clearly and honestly, also with no negative reference to the 'competition!) I got the car booked in for this morning.

During the 3 hour drive to Mansfield I kept an eye on the overall fuel consumption. Ben turned up (perfectly on time!) and got down to work straight away. He checked and confirmed that the ECU on my car was indeed the locked TriCore version and as such meant it had to be physically removed and remapped on the bench. Every element of its removal was done with care.

After the map had been modified it was written back to the flash memory of the ECU. The ECU was refitted and within 20 minutes the car was ready for a test drive...

As soon as I drove out onto the main road it was very quickly clear that there was 'more' there. :yes: Second gear seemed to pull more strongly from lower down even though I was just driving normally to warm the car up (so below 3000rpm) before taking it onto the motorway.

Once up to temperature and heading down the motorway slip road, I put it in 4th gear and put my foot down. As I say, it was already clear that the car was more capable before this point but the difference when actually making a concerted effort to get upto speed quickly was pretty intense! It surprised me! Im used to driving fastish cars and I thought I had an idea of what to expect from a relatively humble stage 1 remapped 1.8TSi but my senses were being taught a few lessons with the Shark Performance remap installed.

The most outstanding 'single' aspect of the remap was that the benefits weren't only felt down low or in the mid range and the remap didn't hold back just to extend the top end of the rev range. The turbo came in earlier, the mid range now offers so much more grunt and the car revs clean and quickly to the red line. It literally doesn't let up until the red line is reached and its then ready to give its all in the next gear all over again. The whole thing feels extremely linear; basically like a standard factory map but with 'more' throughout the entire rev range, just as smooth and as polished and with no big lumps of torque just to make it feel faster! Its simply the most 'driveable' of any remap Ive expereinced with all round benefits and no downside!

No downside at all? Well, no actually. Even the fuel consumption was remarkably good on the way home. And thats one thing I really never expected. With previous remaps, the fuel consumption would take a hammering when utilising the new found lease of life but this thing seems to offer the best of both worlds. Overall the mpg figure was around 1.5mpg down on the return journey but my average speed was higher and I was certainly making more use of the cars safer overtaking abilities.

So overall, without any exception in fact, myself and Beti the 'cross gender' Yeti would like to say a huge thanks to Ben! Ben; a man so dedicated to providing the very best service possible to the customer, happy to dispell the myths of ECU tuning and happy to answer any question honestly and to the best of his (quite frankly, amazing) abilities.

Ben - thanks for doing the surgery and giving Beti her new balls.

Edited 12 December, 201015 yr by FocusZtec

So you can't make your mind up if you like it or not lol?

So you can't make your mind up if you like it or not lol?

Im still sitting on the fence with it im afraid!

Welcome to the club buddy Have fun in next few days and it will improve even more as ECU re-learns new stuff

Edited 11 December, 201015 yr by CEPi

Thanks for your kind words, it was good to meet you and Beti.. I hope you enjoy the added "bite"!

Just a little more info in response to a few PM enquiries....

'How has the 0-60 time improved?'

Im afraid I dont know and probably dont intend to find out - not really my game Im afraid. Sorry.

'Does it pull much better in sixth now?"

YES! This was my main negative view of the cars overall performance before the map. In sixth, on an incline, it would often feel more comfortable dropping it to fifth. Now in sixth gear, it actually pulls better than fifth used to! There really is that much difference now compared to the standard map.

As an additional note and after being up early this morning for a journey on my more familiar local (or at least well known) roads - the car is so much more 'driveable'. Its actually even more relaxing to drive because it has more muscle down low in the higher gears and when you want to play... it really does respond!

Fuel consumption this morning on my usual route was no different to normal either!

Shark Performance - Giving Yetis balls since 2010

Shark Performance - Giving Yetis balls since 2010

I like that. Are these stickers available yet?

Just thought....can Shark remap a yeti tdi 110bhp yet

Edited 12 December, 201015 yr by Octygone

Yes indeed we can

Great write-up FocusZetec.

I'll report on mine when it is done next year.

Mike

Great write-up FocusZetec.

I'll report on mine when it is done next year.

Mike

Good luck Mike. Im sure you'll be chuffed to bits once its done.

Good luck Mike. Im sure you'll be chuffed to bits once its done.

Looking forward to it. I have already sorted & paid for the insurance side of it as well. Skoda only wanted 10% extra, as I'm mainly interested in the economy side of things.

Mike

I too have been reading positive comments about Shark Performance and am intent on getting my CR140 DSG Yeti remapped as soon as I get it.

I had been intent on using Superchips primarily on the grounds that they provide a 'warranty' in the event of there being a problem that Skoda will not cover due to the remap, but am not set on this plan. I too have had a number of cars remapped over the years, starting with an Omega 2.5TD done by VanAaken in 2000 and have had no problems with any of them.

Can I convince myself that a top quality remap, By Shark, that comes whole heartedly recommended by other Briskodians overrides my warranty desire. Food for thought over the next week or two.

Glad somebody got round to remapping the 1.8tsi Yeti.

The engine is a short stroke version of the new 2.0TSI engine with a slightly smaller turbo, remapping it should really wake it up.

220bhp at the flywheel and more than that in ft-lb from 1500rpm..... combine that with the haldex 4x4 system and you have the performance of a real hot hatch with the benefit of higher ride height and a cheaper price tag!.

I so badly want one!!!.

Question for Shark:

The ECU on the 1.8tsi, is it a siemens?.

I have been told that this ECU cannot be mapped and people are still working on cracking it?.

Edited 19 December, 201015 yr by smellybumlove

The ECU in the 1.8TSI is a Bosch unit, but some of the Yetis use Siemens ECUs such as your 1.2TSI which indeed cannot be done at the moment.

Glad somebody got round to remapping the 1.8tsi Yeti.

The engine is a short stroke version of the new 2.0TSI engine with a slightly smaller turbo, remapping it should really wake it up.

220bhp at the flywheel and more than that in ft-lb from 1500rpm..... combine that with the haldex 4x4 system and you have the performance of a real hot hatch with the benefit of higher ride height and a cheaper price tag!.

I so badly want one!!!.

Question for Shark:

The ECU on the 1.8tsi, is it a siemens?.

I have been told that this ECU cannot be mapped and people are still working on cracking it?.

In mine it was a Bosch unit. Ben has the facilities to remove the ecu, pop it on the bench, hook up the equipment and remap it that way. The now traditional way is via the obd port but the latest ecu's are encrypted so this isn't possible.

Bens figures are either just very 'realistic' compared to other companies quoted figures or the map is just so well written that

it feels like 'more' than the quoted figures (actually I suspect it's both of these!)

If the torque is now anything less than 240lb/ft I'll be shocked. :yes:

Edit - sorry Ben, wrote the reply and didn't post straight away so didn't see your reply.

Edited 19 December, 201015 yr by FocusZtec

No worries mate, thanks for replying!

Can I convince myself that a top quality remap, By Shark, that comes whole heartedly recommended by other Briskodians overrides my warranty desire. Food for thought over the next week or two.

I've convinced myself and taken up Shark's 6th day of Christmas offer for a remap; I might even go for a DPF removal at the same time.

On the matter of naming Yetis, which seems to be quite the done thing, I'm thinking of 'Kevin' after the flightless bird in 'Up'. Then I'm wondering if Shark's remap would give Kevin wings to fly (with apologies to Red Bull).