I'm still pretty new to the forum, but I have read lots of threads and of course searched, and I've found many mentions like "it could need a remap", but I haven't found any reports that anyone has actually done a remap...

 

I see that Superchips offer a remap;

http://www.superchips.co.uk/search?make=33&fueltype=2&model=143&variant=3268

with a 62NM / 32HP gain.

 

Any thoughts on this? Or better yet, anyone with actual experience?

Edited 26 June, 20169 yr by grenness

I'm still pretty new to the forum, but I have read lots of threads and of course searched, and I've found many mentions like "it could need a remap", but I haven't found any reports that anyone has actually done a remap...

 

I see that Superchips offer a remap;

http://www.superchips.co.uk/search?make=33&fueltype=2&model=143&variant=3268

with a 62NM / 32HP gain.

 

Any thoughts on this? Or better yet, anyone with actual experience?

I'm assuming you mean 190TDI with 4X4?  Any real world reports I've heard from drivers of 190s are that its hard to even get that 400nm of torque down with just FWD.  Also, what about the warranty?  Generally, (I know some can be temporarily removed etc) a remap will impact the warranty and surely not something you'd want to risk after paying so much for the car.

I'm assuming you mean 190TDI with 4X4?  Any real world reports I've heard from drivers of 190s are that its hard to even get that 400nm of torque down with just FWD.  Also, what about the warranty?  Generally, (I know some can be temporarily removed etc) a remap will impact the warranty and surely not something you'd want to risk after paying so much for the car.

 

The 4x4 is what I will be buying, so yes, but I would be interested in hearing from owners of fwd TDI's too that have done a remap.

 

Not so interested in issues regarding warranty etc. since, as you mention, by using the Bluefin from Superchips, which I've already used on my Land Rover Discovery 3, it's just a quick 2 minute job to remove the remap program (and re-apply it again later).

Would of course be interesting to hear if anyone knows that the gearbox is not built for the extra NM, or other potential mechanical problems.

Every car is built with a certain longevity in mind when designing it so remapping any car will eat into that 'safety' factor when you remap it and add extra power, especially on the transmission and drive train and not forgetting the hike in boost pressure. That said, if you don't abuse the car or drive it hard 100% of the time everything should hold up fine.

 

Also I can't imagine anybody saying that a 190 engine needs a remap. 190BHP is more than enough power when you consider that the average power for a 2.0 TDI family car is around the 130-150 BHP mark and even then there are smaller units available. If you need more power and a faster car buy one with a bigger engine in the first place.

 

If I was you I would use the car for a few years until you are used to it or are getting a bit bored and then remap it so you feel the benefit

Also I can't imagine anybody saying that a 190 engine needs a remap. 190BHP is more than enough power when you consider that the average power for a 2.0 TDI family car is around the 130-150 BHP mark and even then there are smaller units available. If you need more power and a faster car buy one with a bigger engine in the first place.

 

Different people have different needs, some people have been more than happy with 105 BHP in a (MKII) Superb, others want more than the 190 offers, needing and wanting are two different things altogether, a remapped car also tends to drive much better than what the factory supplied engines do (for example a 140 remapped to 170 will drive nicer than a std 170, as it’s all down to how the power is delivered)

 

I do agree with the buy one with the biggest engine comment... then remap that 

I have the 190 tdi 4x4 - its for me its adequately brisk but its not fast, but for me its a compromise of fuel economy, reliability, etc and I'm more that happy with the standard engine -

 

But so much of how you judge a car is based upon your experience and expectations - If you are coming from an 80BHP Fabia its going to feel fast, if you are coming from a Ferrari FF its going to feel slow.

 

Why would I not bother? Very simply I doubt an extra 32BHP would transform the car - I have owned only one car that I would describe as effortlessly brisk (Audi A8 4.2 with 380BHP and 800nm torque) and three cars that were fast but weren't quite so effortless (Porsche 911 C4s, Porsche Cayenne S and Lotus Elise R) - The skoda is never going to be in same league and was never designed to do so - going from 190 PS (or 187BHP) 400nm  to 219 BHP and 462nm is never going to transform the car that much..

 

Having said that the placebo effect is HUGE - I once chipped an Audi A4 2.0 tdi that I owned using a superchips bluefin module and the effect was 'dramatic' or at least it felt dramatic until you actually take the car to a disused airfield and measure the gains on performance - which were actually pretty small..

 

So for me I'll be leaving it standard, but if you do chip it you will probably enjoy the effect as long as you don't try and measure the real world gains

Edited 27 June, 20169 yr by FRSkoda

I have owned only one car that I would describe as effortlessly brisk (Audi A8 4.2 with 380BHP and 800nm torque) and three cars that were fast but weren't quite so effortless (Porsche 911 C4s, Porsche Cayenne S and Lotus Elise R)

Nice selection you had there . Love the A8, probably the most understated car you can buy!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Speak to DTUK about one of their CRD3+ tuning modules. I have one on my 150 L&K Octy and it's a great bit of kit, and easily as good as any remap I've had before.

 

Also, it's completely untraceable when removed, so it's win-win with a brand new car!

Also, it's completely untraceable when removed, so it's win-win with a brand new car!

 

Oh dear......

Oh dear......

Problem??

Great trolling anyway...

OP - hope you get sorted, but just be aware VAG are very up to speed on the whole remapping scene, and if anything were to go wrong they can easily trace any ECU changes by OBD - generally referred to as a TD1 flag.

So for me I'll be leaving it standard, but if you do chip it you will probably enjoy the effect as long as you don't try and measure the real world gains

 

Exactly why I've just ordered a pedal box from RaceChips, rather than paying a bit extra for their tuning box also. The 2.0 TSI 220ps is adequately brisk, just the throttle response is like mush (and dead for the first inch). Did I need more power for my daily? Nope. Fixing the throttle response will make it feel much quicker than it does, and no need to change the mapping. That's the theory, anyway...

Not tried the pedal boxes before, but people seem to rave about them!

 

Would of course be interesting to hear if anyone knows that the gearbox is not built for the extra NM, or other potential mechanical problems.

 

 

I've done som investigations myself, and found something a bit worrying...

In this wikipedia article (I've tried to find a better source, if anyone knows please speak up) it says the 6 speed DSG has a max limit of 400Nm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-shift_gearbox#List_of_DSG_variants

Which is the ratet stock output of the 2.0 TDI

So apparantly any remaps with a gain in Nm will move the Nm output over the limit.

However, I contacted my old pals at Superchips and they gave me this answer:

Ah yes, the internet does love to publish various things about torque limits. You're not missing anything, you've come to a perfectly reasonable conclusion about torque given the online evidence. What is interesting is while there is usually a lot of chatter about what "torque limit" is in a gearbox, there's not usually a great amount of evidence backing it up. For example, there is no source credited for the table of info included on the Wiki article you sent. Even with a source, the "limit" is rarely quoted as what is limiting - input/output shaft? Clutch packs? Software? What we've found by testing is that a gearbox will generally give signals when it's going to have problems - unpleasant driving characteristics during road development road tests and evidence in datalogs of overheating. This is why we only sell remaps for vehicles we've seen here at HQ - development takes place over 3-5 days with lots of road testing to ensure no issues present themselves. We've seen DQ250 boxes in racecar applications running comfortably in excess of our normal remap torque with no issues, on the racetrack so driven much harder than any road car. If you were to do drag racing starts everywhere on sticky tyres with the map applied then you may end up hurting the gearbox, but in like for like use you should be absolutely fine.

 

 

I have also received PMs from forum members here at BriSkoda who has done a remap of their 2.0 TDI with no apparent side effects, after using it for several months. One even had his remapped to 505Nm (measured on dyno) !

 

But I'm still looking for more technical info on the drive train, and actual user experience.

 

 

 

OP - hope you get sorted, but just be aware VAG are very up to speed on the whole remapping scene, and if anything were to go wrong they can easily trace any ECU changes by OBD - generally referred to as a TD1 flag.

 

Yes, I'm aware of this, and with my former car (LR Disco 3 TDV6) I always remapped with the stock ECU software using the Bluefin before visiting the dealer for service etc.

For a dealer to go the extra mile and check old log files, even though my car would have no installed remap at the moment, would be because he had a very strong suspicion that I've been up to no good or the car had damage that could be related to a remap. I don't think there's a big risk for this, but of course it can be taken into consideration.

 

I haven't actually ordered the car yet, will maybe do this today, then there's a 3 month wait before I receive it, then I will probably not do anything until next year, and by then I hope to have much more info on this :-)

 

 

 

Exactly why I've just ordered a pedal box from RaceChips, rather than paying a bit extra for their tuning box also. The 2.0 TSI 220ps is adequately brisk, just the throttle response is like mush (and dead for the first inch). Did I need more power for my daily? Nope. Fixing the throttle response will make it feel much quicker than it does, and no need to change the mapping. That's the theory, anyway...

 

Are you aware of the "Audi" throttle response option in VCDS? Changing from "Skoda" to "Audi" apparently makes a noticable improvement. See other VCDS threads for this.

I've done som investigations myself, and found something a bit worrying...

In this wikipedia article (I've tried to find a better source, if anyone knows please speak up) it says the 6 speed DSG has a max limit of 400Nm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-shift_gearbox#List_of_DSG_variants

Which is the ratet stock output of the 2.0 TDI

So apparantly any remaps with a gain in Nm will move the Nm output over the limit.

However, I contacted my old pals at Superchips and they gave me this answer:

 

I have also received PMs from forum members here at BriSkoda who has done a remap of their 2.0 TDI with no apparent side effects, after using it for several months. One even had his remapped to 505Nm (measured on dyno) !

 

But I'm still looking for more technical info on the drive train, and actual user experience.

 

 

 

 

Yes, I'm aware of this, and with my former car (LR Disco 3 TDV6) I always remapped with the stock ECU software using the Bluefin before visiting the dealer for service etc.

For a dealer to go the extra mile and check old log files, even though my car would have no installed remap at the moment, would be because he had a very strong suspicion that I've been up to no good or the car had damage that could be related to a remap. I don't think there's a big risk for this, but of course it can be taken into consideration.

 

I haven't actually ordered the car yet, will maybe do this today, then there's a 3 month wait before I receive it, then I will probably not do anything until next year, and by then I hope to have much more info on this :-)

 

 

 

 

Are you aware of the "Audi" throttle response option in VCDS? Changing from "Skoda" to "Audi" apparently makes a noticable improvement. See other VCDS threads for this.

 

The issue is, if there is anything that goes wrong engine wise, VAG are actively looking for the TD1 flag. It doesn't matter if you have the Bluefin software loaded or not, there will still be a flag that the files on the ECU have been changed - so the remap is detectable whether it is on or not.

 

Honestly I can't recommend the DTUK prodcut enough, it's absolutely fantastic and takes 10 mins to fit on a diesel (it's only 3 sensors). Give the guys there a call, and you also get a discount for being a Briskoda member  :clap:

When I asked Shark about the DSG limitations I was assured that VAG had never released any figures for the torque limit.

They also told me they had done them to over 500Nm before without issues.

Honestly I can't recommend the DTUK prodcut enough, it's absolutely fantastic and takes 10 mins to fit on a diesel (it's only 3 sensors). Give the guys there a call, and you also get a discount for being a Briskoda member  :clap:

Unfortunately I had exactly the opposite experience, whilst the DTUK box did indeed improve the performance, it also drank the fuel at the same time, the box was sold to me on a money back guarantee (so I had nothing to lose) when I took them up on this offer (after several weeks of extended testing) they later informed me about the '£50 restocking fee' which had never been mentioned before,

I then took the car (170CR) to Shark and had their map put on which was better and also increased the fuel economy slightly ....so a win win

Are you aware of the "Audi" throttle response option in VCDS? Changing from "Skoda" to "Audi" apparently makes a noticable improvement. See other VCDS threads for this.

I didn't know about this - just found it in the S3 VCDS thread. Must give it a try, as the rubbish throttle response is something I really dislike about ours. Thank you!

Are you aware of the "Audi" throttle response option in VCDS? Changing from "Skoda" to "Audi" apparently makes a noticable improvement. See other VCDS threads for this.

 

Yes I'm aware of the mod, thanks. I've had trouble locating a friendly local with VCDS and according to another member the pedal box is an extra league ahead of the mod. Gotta be worth a go for £160!

Problem??

 

ONLY THIS

 

"Remapping is NOT undetectable, and don't let anyone tell you different".

 

Call me old fashioned but I don't want to risk bricking my £30k investment by doing something that enables me to go from 0-62 in x.4 seconds instead of x.9 seconds.

 

In the real world, is that even noticeable?

 

Of course, if you have money to burn then your opinion may vary from mine.

Edited 30 June, 20169 yr by SkodaVRS1963

Well not to be funny, you should have read what I put more carefully....

I completely agree with you 100%, remapping is detectable, and fairly easily now by the equipment VAG have.

What I was recommending isn't a remap, but a plug-in tuning module that doesn't alter the parameters of the ECU, but takes the signals from the Common Rail, Boost, and Cam Position sensors and optimises them after the ECU. Thus when you disconnect the system it isn't traceable, nor does it leave any marks in the checksum data in the ECU.

Have a look for yourself...

Www.dtuk-performance.co.uk

 

In the real world, is that even noticeable?

 

Very much so as once a (good) map has ben put on the car they drive soon much nicer than when std, I couldn’t give a monkeys regarding figures... how the car produces its power is a different kettle of fish though.

 

You obviously disagree, but lets keep this on topic and give the OP all the info he needs to make his own mind up.

Very much so as once a (good) map has ben put on the car they drive soon much nicer than when std, I couldn’t give a monkeys regarding figures... how the car produces its power is a different kettle of fish though.

You obviously disagree, but lets keep this on topic and give the OP all the info he needs to make his own mind up.

Absolutely...As I was trying to do!

The DTUK units are good but still a close second to a good remap My Yeti's been in for warranty work with remap, unless it's a directly related ECU issue its not going to be looked at.

 

 

In the real world, is that even noticeable?

 

 

A remapped car vs. standard is like night and day. Obviously depends on the car but when i had my PD105 mapped it took nearly 2 seconds off the 0-60 time and the pulling power in the higher gears was unreal.

 

I agree with the warranty thing though, if you remap a car and they refuse a warranty claim you can only blame yourself.

• Just been reading an old evo and it was talking about turbo lag, and how turbo lag dramatically increased the perception of speed, even if, in reality, its actually slightly slower. Their take on it was it would be great on a turbo charged car if you could download a  whole load of turbo maps - from super smooth modern turbos to ones with huge turbo lag depending on the mood you were in... so on my L&K I could have 'sport mode' and '1980's sport mode' - the former would be faster from a-b, but the latter would put a huge grin on my face, even if it was ultimately slower.