1. Modding or not modding?

[arb]

Why modding or upgrading?

In my case, some reasons seem obvious, some less so, although one can usually find a method to any madness…

 

Obvious 1 – additional protection: it is no coincidence that custom parts are being offered to give additional protection to wheel arches, door sills and rear bumper area. We’ve all noticed that, with time, those areas do take a beating (and there are quite a few dirt roads left in Sweden and Norway, plus long snowy winters…).

Solutions: suitable parts are being offered by Skoda and by other manufacturers (Martinek, Milotec, …), with a variety of costs.

 

Obvious 2 – overall engine performance: CR110 might actually be the wrong pick for a 4x4 Yeti (!) if one cares to refer to the performance data available in the Owner’s Manual (having higher fuel consumption and higher exhaust emission than both CR140 and CR170 models): “Economy” might be in the eye of the beholder… In hindsight, this might be explained by the car weight (the Yeti is actually 175kg heavier than my earlier BMW 325iX touring) and by engine technology. CFHC, CFHF and CFJA engines are basically one and same power plant, differing only by the injector unit size (for the detuned CFHF engine) or by the turbo unit size (for the tuned-up CFJA engine), with corresponding ECU software adaptations, of course. So, is the CFHF engine running sub-optimally or was the Yeti actually designed around the CFHC engine, that combination providing some kind of sweet spot?

Solutions: chip-tuning the CR110, most likely. While the injector and turbo units will then be asked to do more than their standard duty, for normal driving conditions (touring not racing…), they are still operating comfortably within specifications.  Box-tuning has mostly going for it a lower cost and reversibility (which is a desirable mod feature). Whether it is technically as good a solution as remapping, I don’t really know but, for sure, I don’t like the paucity of technical data available in that instance (no direct dyno bench results). Also, here in Sweden, there is at least one long-time established company, with roots in racing engine development, which provides a remapping solution totally owner-reversible (www.bsr.se).

 

Not so obvious – brakes: it will be the subject of a second post…

Cheers,

ARB