Good afternoon everyone.

I haven’t  posted for a long long time, nor have I really frequented the octy 3 forums at all. Expect to see a lot more of me in the near future though! 

 

The time has come for me to start looking at replacing my Fabia workhorse, it is an SE Vrs so has some form of refinement to it, full blue stitched leather, aircon, cruise control etc. I have also done a bit of tinkering and the car runs a bigger turbo, bigger intercooler, bigger brakes etc etc. It has given me what I consider huge value for money and ‘bang for my buck’. Still returning great economy when wanted, yet able to surprise and shock a lot of much higher spec cars (still looks oem) . The time now has come to replace it, with kids planned in the near future a bigger car will be needed. An octy 3 is my preferred choice, not sure of year yet, probably 13/14plate or so. 

 

A few quick questions for you all: 

How is the 2.0 cr engine in terms of reliability once remapped/tinkered with (bigger blower perhaps)? 

 

Also how is the Octavia 3 for retrofitting internal parts, heated seats, stereo/sat nav for example? I am wondering if it is worth looking for lower spec cars that I can add to afterwards. 

 

Expect me to pop up on lots of old threads asking the same questions every other punter looking at Octy 3’s does. Apologies in advance. 

 

JRJG 

 

Only remapped for a few weeks so can't comment on reliability yet.  As for retrofitting it is quite easy but not cheap.  Stereo is a popular one at the mo as MIB2 gives you carplay/android auto.  Going from MIB1 Amundsen to MIB2 Amundsen cost me about £450 which is the cheapest I've seen.  Expect to pay £5-600 or £1000+ for Columbus level (bigger screen and more functions).

Whilst some retrofits are easy, some are not and unless you are looking for a project I would recommend getting the highest spec car you can. I have retrofitted lots into my car but there are some things that can’t be done. Heated front screen for example is not worth trying to retrofit, so I wanted a car that came with it. The TDI will map stage 1 nicely enough, if you want more power you will be stuck at no more than 280 bhp due to the head design and you will be spending way too much to get there. If you spent the same on a 2.0 TSI and changed similar hardware you would be pushing 400 bhp, much better numbers considering the outlay.

https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/vw-golf-gtd-2-0-tdi-cr-cuna-286bhp/

 

That's what can be done to the engine, but you need deep pockets.

19 hours ago, MarkyG82 said:

Only remapped for a few weeks so can't comment on reliability yet.  As for retrofitting it is quite easy but not cheap.  Stereo is a popular one at the mo as MIB2 gives you carplay/android auto.  Going from MIB1 Amundsen to MIB2 Amundsen cost me about £450 which is the cheapest I've seen.  Expect to pay £5-600 or £1000+ for Columbus level (bigger screen and more functions).

I see. So the Columbus is the top spec stereo then? 

Are there components from other platforms or other Vag cars that can be swapped into the Octy? Or has that all been stopped? 

 

JRJG 

16 hours ago, SashaGrace said:

Whilst some retrofits are easy, some are not and unless you are looking for a project I would recommend getting the highest spec car you can. I have retrofitted lots into my car but there are some things that can’t be done. Heated front screen for example is not worth trying to retrofit, so I wanted a car that came with it. The TDI will map stage 1 nicely enough, if you want more power you will be stuck at no more than 280 bhp due to the head design and you will be spending way too much to get there. If you spent the same on a 2.0 TSI and changed similar hardware you would be pushing 400 bhp, much better numbers considering the outlay.

Can’t say I’ve ever had a heated front screen so I’d be happy without, although I imagine it is a good option to have in the winter. Is that part of a ‘winter pack’ ? 

I don’t see myself doing more than turbo and remap, or more realistically just remap. As I haven’t heard as many ‘bulletproof’ reviews regarding the engine from my various mechanic friends. 

 

Thanks for the advice,

i will have a read through your build thread at some point soon. 

 

15 hours ago, tunedude said:

https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/vw-golf-gtd-2-0-tdi-cr-cuna-286bhp/

 

That's what can be done to the engine, but you need deep pockets.

Some folk just want to push and push and push don’t they! 

I bet that is a great sleeper. 

 

JRJG 

Mine was remapped to approx. 220 bhp at 10k miles. It is now just about to hit 60k miles and hasn't missed a beat!

 

The Darkside Developments link is a good read. They also did a video series on tuning the 2L EA288 engine and were quite honest about what power you can and can't get out of it. A lot of tuners will make false promises about performance gains but Darkside were very honest about it. They even stated there's no gain in using an "upgraded" air filter and so they just use a standard one. They could quite easily sell an upgraded one and make money on it but they're very honest. The fella can be seen talking about it at 6:50 in the video: