Hi all,

Based on the earlier discussion this week, the car was booked in this morning with Ben at Shark Performance to be mapped. After having the Fabia mapped (that was at Jabba) I kind of knew what to expect (to a degree) but was still curious as to how the CR would respond to some ECU fettling.

After arriving in Mansfield at 10am, we left the car with Ben whilst we popped to the childrens play area next door. My one year old daughter was with us so this was an ideal way to kill the couple of hours needed for Ben to do his thing. This I might add was free entry as we were booked in at Shark.

1.5 hours later and Ben popped in to say that it had been done, through the diag port too - no need to pull the ECU out on mine, and gave the keys back to take it for a test spin. The road he's on is all 40 limit so finding somewhere nearby where I could stretch its legs a little was tricky but I did actually manage to find a spot where I could get into third so that was good enough.

First impressions were good, as expected. The car essentially felt the same except whereas before where the torque would tail off and the car would simply rev, this was no longer the case, the power came in and kept coming hard up to the red line giving a much more agressive feel. Power delivery is smooth in a similar way to the standard map but it keeps building as the revs rise with a much more meaty mid range due to the extra torque. You keep that 'kick in the back' all the way up the rev range now as opposed to just for a bit.

Getting the car onto the M1 to go home (Nottinghamshire - M1 - ugh.....busy :( ) I was hoping to be able to open the taps a little but again was thwarted by traffic, but further down the road I got the chance to make use of the higher 4th, 5th and 6th a bit to test the torque levels. My thoughts at this point again were "why the hell doesn't it come like this as standard???". As opposed to a sudden surge of clutch/ flywheel/ tyre munching torque as I got in the mapped Fabia the car simply responded to my right foot a lot better than before meaning there was no need to drop it a cog to spin up the revs in order to do a quick lane change and pick up some speed. Whereas before I might have needed 3rd for the speed I was doing to swap lanes quickly, 4th was more than adequate. In short, how a diesel like this should be - punchy, properly so.

The main things that impress me about this map is the subtlety of it and the smoothness. Having driven a mapped Leon FR CR with a fairly naff map, that car felt way too peaky - traction became an issue and it had essentially reverted it to PD130/ 150 feel, whereas this retained it's smooth revvy petrol like character except feeling like you've got many more CC's under the bonnet to add the all important mid range.

MPG wise, again so far so good. Averaged 52mpg on the way back according to the trip meter, but I'll keep an eye on this as I go. If my previous mapped TDI was anything to go by, the map broadened the scope MPG wise. Worse than before when caned and better than before when driven steady.

In terms of service too, I can't fault Ben at all. Really nice chap, honest, knowledgable and keen to make sure you're happy.

Highly recommended, and it now FEELS like I'm driving a VRS.

Chris.

P.S. I might add some more comments over the coming days as I drive the car more and see some more MPG results.

+1 had mine done a month ago & still love, I wouldn't use anyone else over Ben. Polite, knowledgeable, good prices & a cracking end result! I traveled almost 400 miles round trip to get mine done by him and I made the right decision!

making me want it before I even get the car had my Fabia VRS done and WHAT a difference that was good write up Chrispy keep it coming

Well done. Ben did my CR140DSG Snow Monster a month ago. It might not be up to CR170 levels, but it is a huge improvement. I've only covered about 1600 miles on the remap so far, too many have been around London. I'd love to get in the 50's, but no Snow Monster seems to be able to do that.......something to do with being shaped like a brick

Mike

Strange but my Yeti has just done 55 mph on a run and now does around 40 mph on local trips ....I think Ben may have had something to do with this.

Thanks guys.

I put it off as long as I could, eeaking out as much warranty before I took the plunge, therefore it wasn't ever a case of if, but when.

Driving the car back from training tonight and it just feels so good. There's even less turbo lag I've noticed meaning more power further down the rev range too, so great for round town. Makes a big car feel less unwieldy and more sprightly when just pottering about. Now that's something VAG could do without applying more power. The more I think about it, the more I wonder what was going through their heads with the standard map. You don't need to make it much more powerful outright to make it better, a slightly better mid range, less lag and a more willing throttle response would work wonders.

Perhaps it was all down to emissions? Pffft.

Gotta say though I can't emphasise enough the difference in feel mapping this compared to the P D130 remap in the Fabia. Despite being a custom one by Jabba, put your foot down in that and you can feel the surge of torque start to batter the clutch and flywheel. You can almost hear them cry "mummy" when you do it.

In this though it's just so smooth, deceptively so. The power builds more gradually but its still there in fairly large amounts and the car starts to waft along at a right old lick without much effort. Careful watching of the speedo is required. :-)

Also, just got 170 miles out of the first quarter of a tank. Normally its about 145. Hmmm :-)

Since my remap I have had 200 out of the first 1/4 a few times on long motorway runs. Quite a weird experience to do 90 miles and the needle has hardly moved from full!!!

The tank was almost full when I set off to see Ben so the needle had done some moving by the time I got there. About 57 miles plus some mileage I already had, say about 70 miles in total so it had just started to budge. But then the 100 miles after was post map and the needles willingness to drop decreased. This might be interesting. :-)

Strange but my Yeti has just done 55 mph on a run and now does around 40 mph on local trips ....I think Ben may have had something to do with this.

On free moving local town journeys Elsie the Helipad will do 40-45mpg, so far I haven't been able to get over that on a long motorway journey at the speed limit. In congested London it will do as little as 20mpg, but generally mid to late 30's

Mike

Good review that Chrispy. Glad you're pleased with the outcome

Nice write up pal. I agree, smoooth constant delivery...

:( having had previous cars remapped and knowing the benefits I really want to get mine remapped however, it's only just over 2 weeks old and I take it that remapping nullifies the warranty?

Warranty wise I only have 9 months left so can live with any complications it may cause. Personally I wouldn't get a brand new car done for 2 reasons.

Firstly I'd want to let it loosen up a lot first. New engines are tight, mine didn't feel fully loose until over 10k on the clock and it had 4k on when I got it. Mate that had his Leon FR mapped now.complains it drinks oil as he got it done at brand new and drives it binary style, on or off on throttle, clutch, brakes etc. Mine consumes none.

Secondly, if there are any issues, I'd want that piece of mind that I can stroll into the dealer and have it sorted. No messing. Let your honeymoon period lapse, let things go wrong (they will) and then look to get it done.

What frustrates me is the car should feel as muscular as this as standard and the dealers should push for it. It's no rocket ship, never will be (especially if you've been in 350z's, Supra's, M3's and RS4's like I have) but it should feel like there's grunt under your right foot, especially with a heavy car like this to lug around (and a VRS badge on the back). Having to work it as hard as I did with all the paddling through the gearbox and revving the engine hard (on a diesel, with only 4.5k to red line on the tacho????) simply doesn't make sense. Diesel power needs to be effortless as you don't have that many revs at your disposal, and that boils down to torque. Having only about 18ft/lb more than the 140bhp engine says it all, it needs more to separate it from the lower powered models.

THAT IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME IM GOING TO BOOK MINE IN

You won't be dissapointed - plenty of +1 for Ben on here

Cheers Chrispy I will take note

In any case I must say that I am very happy with mine and already have an average of 41mpg and that's with only 700 miles on the clock. After running Subaru's for the last 5 years an average of 41mpg (53 on a trip to the Yorkshire Dales at weekend)is still taking some getting used to especially with the nice way it drives Sharking can definitely wait.

Your mpg will improve as the engine ages. I'm seeing an average of about 46 now. Nice to let the engine loosen, get totally bored of it then take it to meet Mr mappy from mapsford in mapshire and give it a new lease of life. :-)