Superchips Bluefin on vRS PD170 - err that was disappointing....

[Excision]

So, I Bluefin'd my car earlier and.... it feels basically the same. There is a little bit more throttle response at lower rpm but thereafter it doesn't feel much different to standard. I certainly don't have the big change(s) others have spoken of when remapping their Octys. At £340 is a lot of money for a minimal/mediocre 'benefit' and really not what i expected.

 

Anyone else been similarly underwhelmed or unimpressed by a Bluefin remap? I need to call Superchips tomorrow to have a chat about it.

 

Thanks.

 

p.s. car has always been a strong performer in standard tune but I still expected a reasonably tangible improvement with a remap. 

[john999boy]

Could it have been mapped already?

[Excision]

Yeah, that’s a reasonable question but I don’t think so. I’ve had it for years and it feels standard.

[shyVRS245]

If you haven't owned the car since new as john999boy stated a previous owner could have had a stage 1 map circa 205-210bhp then the Superchip is not going to improve much on this. I know it costs more money but taking the car to a proper tuner with a rolling road is the only way to be sure about a before and after result. I traded in a 2013 Octavia with a stage 1 map on it without telling the dealer so the next owner got a nice surprise 186bhp/317lb/ft.

[KenONeill]

13 hours ago, shyVRS245 said:

I traded in a 2013 Octavia with a stage 1 map on it without telling the dealer so the next owner got...

...a car that he couldn't make a correct insurance declaration on.

[robt100]

20 hours ago, Excision said:

So, I Bluefin'd my car earlier and.... it feels basically the same. There is a little bit more throttle response at lower rpm but thereafter it doesn't feel much different to standard. I certainly don't have the big change(s) others have spoken of when remapping their Octys. At £340 is a lot of money for a minimal/mediocre 'benefit' and really not what i expected.

 

Anyone else been similarly underwhelmed or unimpressed by a Bluefin remap? I need to call Superchips tomorrow to have a chat about it.

 

Thanks.

 

p.s. car has always been a strong performer in standard tune but I still expected a reasonably tangible improvement with a remap. 

The wife has a superchips map on her van from the previous owner, and I have a shark remap on my Octy. Both are 1.9PD engines, but the van acts like you say, its got a kick till about 2000rpm, then a big flatspot till 3000rpm, then back to what feels like standard for the last part of the rev range. The Shark remap on the other hand makes it feel more like an engine swap, pick up from low down and just keeps on pulling!

[Excision]

I’ve now done some more driving with the remap. It made the car go DPF-regen mad and eventually made the DPF light come on, which it never normally does. It went off again after a longer run but I hope it isn’t going to cause long term DPF issues.

 

The car does have a bit more oomph in the mid range and it revs out slightly better to the redline but overall the improvements are fairly conservative. Not driven enough to tell if fuel consumption is improved.

 

This is definitely one of the milder remaps I have driven.

 

I chatted to the sales manager at Superchips and I am going to try it for about a week to see if I think it worth keeping it. If not I can uninstall the remap, return the Bluefin and get a refund. The customer service has been very good.

 

[Excision]

Nope. No more remap for me. I have returned the Bluefin. My car just could not get on with it.

 

The DPF regens were too frequent and the last one was weird. Car didn’t want to pull away from idle, ran rough when it did, went bang (of sorts), chucked out a cloud of black smoke and lost power/no boost. Pulled over, checked under the bonnet - all ok, started driving again, boost back and car running fine (Motor still there and turbo not blown!) but still trying to regen. Straight home and remap removed.

 

I really do not believe the problem was with the bluefin remap, however, rather my leggy old car is not the best thing to cope with upgraded ecu software. Even so I don’t think the ‘improvements’ were sufficient to justify the cost either. 

 

So remapping didn't work work for me but I know others have had good success with theirs. I am a bit surprised that I actually prefer how my car now drives again as standard. Maybe Skoda knew what they were doing after all....

Edited 15 June, 2019 by Excision