Hi People.

Please bare with me as I am new to this and to the Fabia VRS.

I have been looking at a few thread's posted on here and was just wondering what people would class as the best option, either the Dragon Tuning Box or a Remap?

I have been browsing at both options and notice that the Second Hand Dragon Tuning box is a wopping (on average) £250.00 cheaper than a remap, does this price reflect on the reliability of the tuning box and overall performance and fuel economy compared with the remap.

Any suggestions, comments and first hand experiance would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Andy

how much is the tuning box?

some remaps are only £250.00.

how much is the tuning box?

some remaps are only £250.00.

somebody is selling one on here for £110.00 and they are selling on ebay for around £100.00.

Who does the remap for £250.00?

From my experience i would stay well clear of any tuning box.

When i fitted them to my 04 Leon cupra tdi they either had little effect or just dumped all the torque in one big hit which produced clutch slip. This was on a new car too.

Tuning boxes only alter a few of the parameters ( or information ) that the ecu sends to the engine, tricking it into chucking in more fuel, hence more power and sometimes more smoke from the exhaust!

There may be 30 or 40 different parameters contained within your ecu that runs the engine and a quality remap will alter all of them thus keeping everything in balance.

I went for a revo map in the end ( i know some aren't too keen ) and i was very pleased with the results. No clutch slip and very smooth running and no excessive smoke from the exhaust.

Save up for a remap mate. IIRC the box that caused me all the grief was in fact a Dragon performance one.

Jim

Have run tuning boxes on my last 3 diesels and have not had any problems at all (and they're run for many miles) and the performance gains are excellent. I've sold all the boxes on to people who have not had also not had any problems with them. Being able to sell it on after you've finished with it greatly reduces the cost of ownership - the one for my Fabia cost me about £10 all in and I defy anyone to find a decent remap for that money!

The technical difference between the two is that the tuning box fools the ECU's input from the fuel temperature sender which causes it to overfuel. A remap will adjust a lot more parameters in the ECU so it can increase boost on the turbo as well.

So in conclusion, a remap is ultimately better, but also ultimately significantly more expensive for a small gain over a tuning box

Chris

Another vote for the tuning box here...... As long as it's a digital one like the Dragon ones. You can get them from just over £100 used or for approx £200 reconditioned from Dragon with full 3 year warranty. A good couple of hundred quid less than the re-map and removable if reqd when it comes to selling the car on. :thumbup:

Cheers

Dave.

Ive had no trouble with my dragon box(so far) and its been on the car for a year.

If i do get any problems i will just take it off and get rid.

I did buy the Db second hand off a briskoda member as a stop gap whilst i waited for my warranty to run out.

Now

I will stay with the box when my warranty has run out

i would be wary of the strain on the clutch, i just had to get a helix clutch and SMF at 40k on my remapped VRS

Well as i said only speaking from my experience.

My clutch started to slip after around 25k with the revo, and i've heard of them lasting much less than that with the diesels.

The info i got at the time when doing my homework was that there could be longterm reliability issues with boxes.

But then my clutch went with a remap so 'yer pays yer money........'

Jim:)

Well as i said only speaking from my experience.

My clutch started to slip after around 25k with the revo, and i've heard of them lasting much less than that with the diesels.

The info i got at the time when doing my homework was that there could be longterm reliability issues with boxes.

But then my clutch went with a remap so 'yer pays yer money........'

Jim:)

Just out of interest the tuning boxes you tried.... Were they digital one's like the present day Dragon ones or the old resister in a box jobs???

Cheers

Dave.

The main reason why the boost is raised on a diesel to help with the the smoke caused by the excess fuel.

By not raising the boost, will cause more smoke.

I know where my money would go, but then I am biased.

Just out of interest the tuning boxes you tried.... Were they digital one's like the present day Dragon ones or the old resister in a box jobs???

Cheers

Dave.

The Dragon one was digital Dave

Jim

surely a Dragon box(or whatever) will cause less (in theory) damage to the clutch due to the fact that the boost is not raised , hence less torque is produced

plus it also depends how you drive the car as to the longevity of the clutch , if you are using full throttle at low revs to get that surge of torque , you will kill the clutch in no time at all ,

my 04 VRS has just passed 56k miles and has done 20 laps at the Ring, 50+ at Spa, and 100+ at Oulton Park , never had clutch slip , even with a Dragon Box at setting 15, and it didn't smoke too much , especially with Millers added

I know where my money would go, but then I am biased.

Mike. I get the impression that you work for / own a mapping company. Do you mind if I ask who, no particular reason just curious. Feel free to PM me if you think the mods may class it as advertising. Thanks.

Back on topic.

I've got a Dragon box and I'm thinking of swapping it for a remap, just concerned about the warranty. Out of warranty I'd choose a remap every time.

This link is a print off from a rolling road this one is with a dragon digital tuning box on a pd 130 engine

BRISKODA - The Skoda Forum and Community

I have a dragon box.

Cost me £150 second hand.

Easy to fit and set up.

I have it on setting 6/7.

I get hardly any extra smoke, only a bit when booting it in the mid range.

It is noticably quicker.... it seems to do 40-70 in the blink of an eye.

MPG is down by about 4mpg average.

£ for £ it can't be beaten though i hope to get a remap at some point in the future, but at the moment as a student I can't afford a new clutch if I needed one.

Joel

Mike. I get the impression that you work for / own a mapping company. Do you mind if I ask who, no particular reason just curious. Feel free to PM me if you think the mods may class it as advertising. Thanks.

Back on topic.

I've got a Dragon box and I'm thinking of swapping it for a remap, just concerned about the warranty. Out of warranty I'd choose a remap every time.

My dealer said he wouldn't refuse any warranty claim apart from one thing: ECU been reprogrammed for performance gains.

Guess you need to run it past yours.

My car has rear ARB and FSD/Eibachs no problem.

i guess it depends what you want,a re map will get you better performance,on the evidence i have seen a dragon box gives you about 155,where as a good re map gains up to 180 on an honest set of rollers,there are some saying they have got 190+ but i bet they wouldn't see that on awesomes rollers:thumbup:

I won't be bothering with a dragon box as mine produced 155 straight out of the box:P

I won't be bothering with a dragon box as mine produced 155 straight out of the box:P

See the graph above on a Dragon box....175.5 bhp and 286 lb/ft of torque

also on the same engine ...remap =167.2 bhp and 270 lb/ft of torque

There are various remaps available.

Also on a diesel remap, you should really lose economy.

Ateotd you pays your money you makes your choice! If you're happy, then that is all that counts!

*tim* you have PM.

My re-map cost me less than a tenner :P

Mines quite a nice map ive got at the moment, but ive gone through several german genric ones to get one which is perfect, not too much just enough 170bhp on awesomes rollers.

Only thing is its alittle smokey

well all in all, thanks to everybody who has commented on there opinions and experiance with the different mods.

I think for the moment I will go for a dragon box and then maybe a remap later if the box doesn't prove to be right for me. (cost issues mainly)

Am I correct in thinking that a remap could possibly result in the clutch to slip but not so often with a tuning box?

Thanks for the comments and opinions

Andy

See the graph above on a Dragon box....175.5 bhp and 286 lb/ft of torque

also on the same engine ...remap =167.2 bhp and 270 lb/ft of torque

i would like to see that on awesomes rollers,on a rolling road day in direct comparison to everything else,

i've just found out today that i was running my Dragon Box on setting 3 , and not 15 , so 149bhp at the clutch on Awesomes rollers doesn't sound too bad now , i did wonder when i adjusted it why there was less smoke , Doh

i've just found out today that i was running my Dragon Box on setting 3 , and not 15 , so 149bhp at the clutch on Awesomes rollers doesn't sound too bad now , i did wonder when i adjusted it why there was less smoke , Doh

DOH!!!!! :D

Cheers

Dave.