New A6 ECU remapping questions

bazzachazza

Just out of curiosity has anyone bought a new car and straight away gone and got the ECU remapped.

How did it work out for you?

Have any issues servicing it at main dealers?

How much did it cost in the first place?

How much did the Insurance cost?

Who did it ?

What extra power did you get ?

Just asking out of curiosity as I have seen it mentioned on a few forums but not in relation to a brand new car?

gofaster_s13

Two main problems with remapping a new car

1: Voids the manufacturers warranty

2: When your car is in for service/warranty work sometimes the diagnostic computer is plugged in and the base map is updated which will automatically overwrite the map you have just paid 3/400 euro for:(

-Chris-

Be very careful in terms of warranty - if you're buying a new car and spending €45k(ish) on it, you don't want to find you've done in the warranty before you've even broken the engine in!

Get something cast iron from the chip-er in terms of warranty.

Also, talk to your insurance company to make sure it doesn't affect your coverage.

bazzachazza

Thanks was aware of the Warranty issue, thats why I'm not doing it.

Just wanted to know from someone who had done it if it was in there opinion worth doing on a new car or if they had had issues and completely recommended avoiding it.

Ferris

Wasn't there an arrangement between superchips and VAG that they could be chipped and keep their warranty?

Either way OP, my da's A6 was remapped 2 or 3 times by audi at service time with the latest version of the Audi engine management software. That would probably wipe any remap done by the owner.

It's the 2L Tdi you are getting right? Its a fine engine and pulls the car well, not a rocketship but it doesn't embaress itself either.

kayos

Ferris wrote: »

Wasn't there an arrangement between superchips and VAG that they could be chipped and keep their warranty?

Not sure about superchips but there was certain remaps that dont go voiding the warranty on VAG cars. Oettinger was one a while back I think

jamesO

I've had all my motors chipped and had no problem with my main dealer their happy as long as it is done right. The guy who does mine won't chip a new car untill after it's first service check 10k, if the garage report no problems then he'll chip it.

jO

mik_da_man

I'm not too familiar with chipping a diesel car but I know on my Focus ST you can buy a remap unit which can bring the car back to base map before you bring it to a dealers
It's called Dreamsicence.
Basically it can store the factory map and reset it whenever you need, then when you get the car back from the dealer just pop the map back on.

Maybe there's something like this out for Audi/VW?

Alun

kayos wrote: »

Not sure about superchips but there was certain remaps that dont go voiding the warranty on VAG cars. Oettinger was one a while back I think

There certainly was back when I lived in Holland. The official VAG dealers would even do it for you!

copacetic

mik_da_man wrote: »

I'm not too familiar with chipping a diesel car but I know on my Focus ST you can buy a remap unit which can bring the car back to base map before you bring it to a dealers
It's called Dreamsicence.
Basically it can store the factory map and reset it whenever you need, then when you get the car back from the dealer just pop the map back on.

Maybe there's something like this out for Audi/VW?

the superchips bluefin maps let you swop back and forward between factory and remap. They are available for most of the VAG diesel engines.

-Chris-

That warranty is Europe-wide, so if it worked in Holland, it should work here.

Bazza, contact Superchips as your next stop.

gorwanvfr

Have had my past two car/jeeps done. Both done by the same guy first class. The first one was an A6 1.8T Quattro, chipped after six months and the second one was a VW Touareg 2.5Tdi chipped after 4 weeks. Both cars where purchased from new and always serviced in main dealers. In fact the A6 broke down after two weeks with a faulty fuel pump and had to be collected on a flat bed by the Audi main dealer and repaired under warranty. They never found the upgrade and I'm sure the car was connected up to their computer to find the fault. When trading in the A6 the sales man made the comment on how well the car drove and it was the quickest one he ever drove (if only he knew )
The chips/upgrades have been from Upsolute. Its not really a chip they copy out the engine map from the ECU and email it off to Germany. The map is adjusted and emailed back then it is loaded back in to the ECU.
Takes half a day.

Ever looked to get a new Q7 done but they don't have a map ready yet but as soon as they have one it will be going in.

bazzachazza

Will do Chris. Not sold on the idea yet, might leave it a few months after i get the car and see how she drives.

bazzachazza

Superchips website response will call them.

[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica]There are no applications for Audi with turbo diesel engines[/FONT]

.Longshanks.

I was looking into this a few months ago, thru superchips also but a turbo petrol opel engine. Basically the guy at superchips told me they'd sell me the bluefin kit and i should simply remove the upgraded map before it was serviced and reinstalled it after. Said any issues as a result of the remap would be covered by their own warranty.
Never got it done in end up, but the warranty issue wasn't the reason....

E92

If the OP wants a faster A6 than then he can choose between a 190 bhp 2.7 TDI, 190 bhp 2.8 FSI, a 220 bhp 2.8 FSI, a 240 bhp 3.0 TDI, a 3.0 TFSI with 290 bhp, a 4.2 FSI with 350 bhp and the 435 bhp S6 as well as the 580 bhp RS6.

There's loads of choice there for people(no less than 8 more powerful A6s) who are not satisfied by 170 bhp, and as these more powerful models have at least 6 cylinders you have the refinement, smoothness and noise benefits thrown in for good measure too:)!

.Longshanks.

E92 wrote: »

If the OP wants a faster A6 than then he can choose between a 190 bhp 2.7 TDI, 190 bhp 2.8 FSI, a 220 bhp 2.8 FSI, a 240 bhp 3.0 TDI, a 3.0 TFSI with 290 bhp, a 4.2 FSI with 350 bhp and the 435 bhp S6 as well as the 580 bhp RS6.

There's loads of choice there for people(no less than 8 more powerful A6s) who are not satisfied by 170 bhp, and as these more powerful models have at least 6 cylinders you have the refinement, smoothness and noise benefits thrown in for good measure too:)!

But theres a big difference between forking out thousands extra for one of those more powerful models you mentioned and the €600-700 superchips would be looking for to remap...

E92

Longshanks100 wrote: »

But theres a big difference between forking out thousands extra for one of those more powerful models you mentioned and the €600-700 superchips would be looking for to remap...

If Audi thought the engine was capable of more than 170 bhp you can bet your left leg Audi would be selling a 2.0 TDI with more than 170 bhp. Car makers always want to have that competitive edge over their rivals and if Audi could make that engine more powerful then they would and it would give them bragging rights over the 520d with 177 bhp as an example.

Even if you do remap the car, you're still going to be missing out on all the benefits of 6 cylinder motoring, and while we all know that the 170 bhp version and 136 bhp version of the 2.0 TDI are exactly the same engine just in 2 different states of tune, other parts like the gearbox and clutch often are different to cope with the extra power, so you will be putting strain on all these components which the car wasn't designed to deal with.

If you do remap then you risk shortening the useful working life of the engine, and increasing the likelihood of the engine going wrong; power comes at the expense of reliability after all.

Instead the 2.7 TDI will provide you with a superior noise, more refinement because of the additional cylinders and throws in 20 bhp for you as well, without any reliability penalty too.

I think 85 bhp per litre is rather high for a diesel as it is anyway for a diesel, especially a lower capacity one which is going to be worked hard because of the smaller size than a larger capacity engine.

Neilw

E92 wrote: »

If you do remap then you risk shortening the useful working life of the engine, and increasing the likelihood of the engine going wrong; power comes at the expense of reliability after all.

Not necessarily, there are plenty of vag 1.9tdi engines (your most hated engine :rolleyes:) with big mileage that have been remapped and have had no problems at all.

I know of one 130tdi that has around 260k miles on it, was remapped early in its life and has been running a hybrid turbo pushing out over 240bhp and around 500nm torque for about 100k miles. Car serviced as normal, nothing else.
Standard gearbox with an uprated clutch.

copacetic

Ireland is temperate E, they pick 170 to allow for extremes of temperature worldwide and for people not looking after their cars/getting them serviced.

The engine can easily go higher if it is looked after.

As for 'All' the benefits of 6 cylinder motoring, usually that means the same one thing said over and over again different ways - sounds better.

refinement, noise, sound, feel, smoothness etc etc.

bazzachazza

E92 wrote: »

If Audi thought the engine was capable of more than 170 bhp you can bet your left leg Audi would be selling a 2.0 TDI with more than 170 bhp. Car makers always want to have that competitive edge over their rivals and if Audi could make that engine more powerful then they would and it would give them bragging rights over the 520d with 177 bhp as an example.

Even if you do remap the car, you're still going to be missing out on all the benefits of 6 cylinder motoring, and while we all know that the 170 bhp version and 136 bhp version of the 2.0 TDI are exactly the same engine just in 2 different states of tune, other parts like the gearbox and clutch often are different to cope with the extra power, so you will be putting strain on all these components which the car wasn't designed to deal with.

If you do remap then you risk shortening the useful working life of the engine, and increasing the likelihood of the engine going wrong; power comes at the expense of reliability after all.

Instead the 2.7 TDI will provide you with a superior noise, more refinement because of the additional cylinders and throws in 20 bhp for you as well, without any reliability penalty too.

I think 85 bhp per litre is rather high for a diesel as it is anyway for a diesel, especially a lower capacity one which is going to be worked hard because of the smaller size than a larger capacity engine.

The BMW doesn't float my boat the A6 does the Audi works with my budget so does the engine.

I started this topic more out of curiosity about the possibility of remapping and getting opinions from people who have done it.

I haven't driven the 170 so I haven't heard it, there again its a diesel it can only sound so good before you remember its a diesel. 99% of my driving is done with the radio on so I'm not buying the car for the sound the engine makes.

As one poster says remapping is a cheaper way of getting more power than wasting thousands on getting a bigger engine to do the same.

Honestly I'm 95% certain I won't be remapping there are to many variables for my liking.