well, to start with i've been running a van aaken tuning box for the past week or 2 and i have been extremely extremely happy with it, so much so that i was actually considering cancelling the remap at performance torque because i really couldn't see the map being that much better.

secondly, last night i drove to a mates house and my f*ckin clutch started slipping for the first time. so now i had an even bigger dilemma, would it be pointless even getting the map done if i had a slipping clutch, i then considered taking the tuning box off and cancelling the remap and waiting till i could afford a new clutch and fitting. with the tuning box the clutch was slipping in most gears as soon as it hit about 2500 revs.

well, i decided to risk it and get the p-torque map done anyway, mainly because they had an xmas offer on which made it £225 for the remap, and every review i've read has been really positive about the company and the map. somebody on seatcupra.net made 189bhp and 291lb/ft of torque from the same map as i've got, so that was a pretty convincing reason to get it done.

so this morning i trekked up to performance torque near wolverhampton, i live near watford and it took me over 2 hours to get there as traffic was quite bad at some roadworks on the way. left my house at about 11.15am and was there by about 1.30pm.

Will took my car and i went and waited in the waiting room (complete with magazines and a tv) for just under an hour.

Once Will had finished doing whatever he needed to do he gave me the car back to take for a test drive.

The difference between the remap and tuning box is quite noticeable with both having very different characteristics.

if i'm honest with the van aaken box did feel like the car accellerated faster, but that could be down to my clutch slipping now, so i won't pass judgement yet. on the other hand the p-torque map now feels much more progressive and power just keeps coming and coming all the way to the redline!! the van aaken made my clutch slip much worse than the remap, so i'm assuming that the van aaken box either makes more torque throughout the range, or just spikes hard.

on the way home i had a bit of a play and i really really like the way the car drives with the new remap, but overall if i had paid £470 for a van aaken box which is what they cost new, then i don't think the difference the remap has made would be big enough to justify dumping the tuning box and losing cash. luckily i got the tuning box cheap, and at £225 for performance torque map was a very very good price on their xmas offer.

to sum up, the performance torque map is bloody awesome, and if you have a cheapo resistor mod then it's definitely worth the upgrade to a remap, Will is a top bloke and i had a long chat with him and their customer service is excellent. i originally wanted a custom map (which obviously would have cost more) but he persuaded me to go with a generic map for the time being as my car is pretty standard. some companies would have taken the extra cash for a custom map and not bothered to persuade me to go for the cheaper option.

nice write up good to see a direct comparison between a tuning box, and a remap....

Hi Adam

Thanks for the great feedback.

It was nice to meet you, just watch out for those cameras now

Cheers

Will

ok, after having driven the car a lot more on lots of different roads, my opinion has changed somewhat.

the new map gives a much better driving experience than the tuning box. it allows you to rev the car a lot more, and the power is there right up to the end of the rev range, it doesn't feel like it tails off as much as the tuning box. there is one place near me which is a dual carriageway up a hill, and hammering up there the power just keeps coming and coming up to speeds that would give some of the holier than thou members on here a heart attack. i am constantly like :D :D whilst driving it at the moment. only problem is the price of diesel and the amount i've been through since yesterday!!

yeah the tuning box gave more ooomph when you put your foot down, but you would still end up changing gear during an overtake, with the map you can really leave it in gear much longer.

i am getting a new clutch this week, so i'll have a good idea of what the car can do then, although it's only slipping in 5th and 6th, so it's still very driveable now.

overall i am very very pleased, but it's given me the urge for even more power, so i'll be back to see Will soon hopefully

another happy customer then

very happy, although i could have done without having to lay out for a new clutch right now!!

I thought you'd like the remap more than the 'box

Any chance of a peek at the RR print and maybe a ride in it now?

This dual carriageway, wouldn't happen to be the A41 from Junc 20 of the M25 would it?

the dual carriageway is actually the section from the dreams roundabout just off the a40 at the beaconsfield end of wycombe, it leads up towards beaconsfield old town.

you can have a drive of it anytime you like, you free one evening this week?

Nice write up. Enjoy.............