Hi, I am a new vrs owner (picked up Saturday - 54 plate red and awesome condition!) and am really loving the engine in the car along with the comfort and practicality( got an old dyson and two dining chairs in the boot no fuss!!)

I will be mapping the car next month and I think due to really good write ups I will be using r-tech's mobile service for this.

The question is what sort of aims am I looking at on a combi map (performance and economy) and has anyone else used them and what figures did they gain? I have bought a turbo inlet pipe and by the time of the map will have fitted a green cotton filter too.

Cheers for reading.

Aims = gains btw- stupid autocorrect!

Can you not get to them?

I wen to them for a Stage 2 remap, wouldn't think twice about going back again, awesome.

I probably could- would be about 1 1/2 hours each way from mine(guess i was being lazy in thinking of getting the movile service!)

do u get it r/roaded before and after map and a printout? Gotta be honest- I've never had a car mapped before as this is my first turboed car.

What's the price on the stage 2?

Yes they do before/after. I paid £290 for a stage 2 custom map. I drove about 1.5hrs to get there

That's a decent price. Looked at loads of other mappers but I've heard of r-tech and they look to do a good job. What gains did u get on yours and has it affected your dv at all or thrown up any faults since?

stage 2 needs about £1500 in hardware/software (mapping,fmic,exhaust mainly!) if you're going to do it properly!! worth it though,the difference is unreal!!!! go to r-tech if possible,its worth it..niki's been working on some new mapping techniques that will see some huge numbers that many thought were just not possible on the ko3s even as little as a couple of years ago!!!

That's a decent price. Looked at loads of other mappers but I've heard of r-tech and they look to do a good job. What gains did u get on yours and has it affected your dv at all or thrown up any faults since?

No faults, they give plenty of support anyway. I drove in with 185bhp and 185ft/lbs ad drove home with 235bhp and 301ft/lbs. Car is awesome!

Jeeesus! I was thinking about 205-210... That's definitely made up my mind now, bet its an animal with that kinda power. First week in April I'm having it! Cheers fr the help phil!

I drove in to R-tech this morning (1.5 hours for me too) with 195 bhp / 240 lbft, and left with the power capped (due to a fueling issue) at 245bhp / 298 ibft.

Stage 1 should be around that power, he did a stock Golf GTI (AUQ) on V Power and that left with 218bhp!

Stage 1 on a stock car wont get passed 210bhp

Stage 2 for me all the way then.

You do not have the supporting mods for stage 2!

Without having a bigger exhaust downpipe 210bhp is your lot

Popcorn?

Stage 1 on a stock car wont get passed 210bhp

It may do now actually, Niki has played with VVT mapping and 'found 10bhp/15ftlbs across the rev range'. Quoted from the man himself

Stage 2 for me all the way then.

Not unless you have at least a DP/Sports Cat fitted.. FMIC would help too

I know the standard intercooler isn't made to handle big power and I can see why a fmic would be needed, but the elbow/down pipe- would it really make that much difference being mated to a standard exhaust? I'm not after silly power, just more, and in the future a cat back exhaust will be added to the car. Would u just recommend the stage 1 for now with the panel filter and TIP and perhaps a turbo elbow, then change the map once an exhaust/intercooler is added? Main thing I want is to still have the reliability without putting other components at risk. April 10th I am going down there if I can get booked in so would like to have a good idea at what I'm looking at. Appreciate all the input by the way!

Big difference in downpipe, they are the biggest restriction really, I didn't believe until I saw pictures!

Here's my old and new side by side..

It may do now actually, Niki has played with VVT mapping and 'found 10bhp/15ftlbs across the rev range'. Quoted from the man himself

Not looking to discredit here, but VVT on these engines only works on cold start IIRC, in conjunction with the SAI, The SAI pumps in cold air and the VVT open up the exhaust valves to warm the cat up quicker. I'm no expert mind you lol.

That said some thing does happen at around 4k rpm which could be described as a VTEC like kick.

As said I may be talking out of my arse here though !!

Not looking to discredit here, but VVT on these engines only works on cold start IIRC, in conjunction with the SAI, The SAI pumps in cold air and the VVT open up the exhaust valves to warm the cat up quicker. I'm no expert mind you lol.

That said some thing does happen at around 4k rpm which could be described as a VTEC like kick.

As said I may be talking out of my arse here though !!

Not anymore it doesn't

He has managed to take control of the vvt, so it can be used throughout the rev range.

He is probably the best one to tell us all how it works TBH, it's new and I'm not sure if he's rolling it out just yet..

A few things to consider then! First time of owning a car with forced induction- always had n/a in the past so all a big learning curve for me :/

Can see a big difference in the bore of that down pipe but dya think I should wait until I get the exhaust system before fitting a new downpipe?

The k04 cars BAM and AMK use the VVT for power, the k03s car only use it for cat warming cold start. But we can now use the VVT maps in the k03s ecu code and bring them to life like the k04 version, we can tweak the advance point where we want to make the extra power. Its not just the VVT which can make the power, when using the vvt to advance the ecu then will use a second timing map which will give more scope to refine the power. So far on a stage 1.5 map we have seen 10bhp across the whole rpm range and on a stage2 setup around 12-15lbft over the torque band below 4300rpm its still early doors with what power we can get,

A few things to consider then! First time of owning a car with forced induction- always had n/a in the past so all a big learning curve for me :/

Can see a big difference in the bore of that down pipe but dya think I should wait until I get the exhaust system before fitting a new downpipe?

Depends entirely on your finances I decided to wait for straight to Stage 2 map once I had the hardware fitted.