Is it worth going up a stage?

[Hawk12]

Thanks for all the information this platform has provided. I've had my B8.5 for some time and love it, going to have this car for life...I don't drive very often which eggs the question. I have a EPL tune stage 1 which I love but they're of business now. I'm at 56k miles wanting to do that 55k service. I should probably change the tune to an active company, while I'm at it, is it worth going up a stage with the pulley? Not so concerned with power, but longevity

[Slvrbul8]

Thanks for all the information this platform has provided. I've had my B8.5 for some time and love it, going to have this car for life...I don't drive very often which eggs the question. I have a EPL tune stage 1 which I love but they're of business now. I'm at 56k miles wanting to do that 55k service. I should probably change the tune to an active company, while I'm at it, is it worth going up a stage with the pulley? Not so concerned with power, but longevity

Only reason to go "up" a stage would be to get more power. If you don't desire that, then leave it be. No reason to change your tune to another company either, seems like a waste of money.

[Nillious]

Is your car an auto? Do you have a trans tune if it's an auto? Epl wasn't the fastest tune by any means but if you don't have a dsg tune you might as well do a bundle from another tuner. Lots of discounts right now us a switch discount from jackal or 034. Not sure what apr dose for switching but I'd lean towards the two I mentioned due to active involvement with this platform. IE is just too expensive to get the same thing as the two I mentioned.

[SteveYem]

Is your car an auto? Do you have a trans tune if it's an auto? Epl wasn't the fastest tune by any means but if you don't have a dsg tune you might as well do a bundle from another tuner. Lots of discounts right now us a switch discount from jackal or 034. Not sure what apr dose for switching but I'd lean towards the two I mentioned due to active involvement with this platform. IE is just too expensive to get the same thing as the two I mentioned.

Before I sold my B8.5 earlier this year, I was lined up to do the discounted switch from EPL Stage 1 to 034 Stage 1. I liked my EPL Stage 1 tune just fine and honestly felt it was the 'right' amount of power for the car. I really enjoyed not having to swap the supercharger pulley or upgrade any aspects of the cooling system. Plenty of fun and no hassle, aside from EPL going out of business.

[doughboy17]

Increase to a Stage 2 tune with either 034 or Integrated Engineering and simply change the crank pulley to a solid pulley to achieve the ratio. It's a known failure point anyway and you advise you plan to keep the car.

[A4Qwattro]

Say goodbye to your cats. I don't get the appeal of wanting to make a relatively high maintenance older car even more high maintenance and even less appealing to a future buyer (You said its a "forever car" but everyone says that until it isn't...). If you want a cheap thrill, rent something from Turo. [>_<]

[Hawk12]

Say goodbye to your cats. I don't get the appeal of wanting to make a relatively high maintenance older car even more high maintenance and even less appealing to a future buyer (You said its a "forever car" but everyone says that until it isn't...). If you want a cheap thrill, rent something from Turo. [>_<]

Wow, this is the worst advise ever, why are you even here? This is a car forum. I happen to love my car thank you. I'm sorry your Daddy left you and I picked your mom up in my ride.

[Hawk12]

It's a dsg auto with the EPL trans tune as well...I think I'll stick with stage 1, thanks for the input

[EvolutionArmory]

Getting out of EPL’s tune and getting another company’s stage 1 tune will probably add some power by itself without going to a pulley. I’ve never seen an EPL car run an impressive time at any stage.

Something to think about. Both Jackal and 034 offer large discounts if you’re switching to them from another tuner.


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[Hawk12]

Thanks for the input...I haven't heard of Jackal before, what's their deal? I haven't really been around since I did everything I wanted to do to my car years ago

[EvolutionArmory]

Jackal Motorsports is a small tuning shop and their customers have been running some very impressive times after switching from other tuners. They offer off the shelf tuning but also offer to do custom tuning to your specific car if you feel your car could use a little more or have specific mods you want tuning for.


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[Hawk12]

Great, thanks

[raceshop147]

I just went from APR 1 and added the APR drive pulley (press on MS100135 @ $199) while servicing my supercharger with the proper continental belt (RS10001)

It was $149 to load the new single pulley file

And the car with oem clutch can handle the estimated 458 HP / 387 ft lbs at 93 octane / 98 RON

Decent gain for cheap

And maintains reliability.

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[carguy19]

Doing a stage 1 Jackal tune compared to any other tuner would feel like a stage up. There is a dramatic difference.

I went from a stage 2++ APR dual pully full bolt spec and switched over to Jackal and it was a HUGE difference. I am a 6spd manual too so I cannot speak on their DSG flash but other people love it as much as their engine software.

[Fresh.S4]

Doing a stage 1 Jackal tune compared to any other tuner would feel like a stage up. There is a dramatic difference.

I went from a stage 2++ APR dual pully full bolt spec and switched over to Jackal and it was a HUGE difference. I am a 6spd manual too so I cannot speak on their DSG flash but other people love it as much as their engine software.

I wonder how that's possible if you otherwise have a health engine.

[A4Qwattro]

I wonder how that's possible if you otherwise have a health engine.

I think he means APR Stg 2 to Jackal Stage 2. Like for like tunes.

[carguy19]

I wonder how that's possible if you otherwise have a health engine.

WTF is a health engine? [:D]

[Fresh.S4]

haha my key is being weird right now

[Nillious]

My phone straight up changes words that I type all the time. To make things worse the Mobile site doesn't show an edit button. You have to kind of decipher people's posts lol.

[EvolutionArmory]

If you need to edit your post on the mobile app all you have to do it tap and hold your post.
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[B6ayfour]

I'm in the market as well looking to go stage 1, pretty much decided on going jackal due to the gains I see. I had one question though, I see a few tuners (like 034) have gone the dongle and app route. Is jackal still a cable and laptop deal? I currently don't have a laptop [:|]

[EvolutionArmory]

Jackal is still currently using laptop based flashing.


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[sb_gli]

I'm in the market as well looking to go stage 1, pretty much decided on going jackal due to the gains I see. I had one question though, I see a few tuners (like 034) have gone the dongle and app route. Is jackal still a cable and laptop deal? I currently don't have a laptop [:|]

034 has a dedicated team of engineers who design and develop all of their flashing software and hardware in-house, in the good old US of A. Building a suite of user-friendly PC and mobile apps is no small feat, and it takes experience and a lot time to build a solution like this from the ground up.

Beyond flashing, the 034SPI mobile app also features diagnostics such reading and clearing trouble codes, adaptations, live data views (gauges and graphs), and data logging. It's quite literally everything you need to tune, diagnose and monitor your VW/Audi all included with the purchase of tuning and a flash-at-home kit.

Most other tuning companies don't offer such a solution, so consider this an additional expense if you wish to have the ability to do some basic diagnostics yourself.

[MSq5]

Thanks for all the information this platform has provided. I've had my B8.5 for some time and love it, going to have this car for life...I don't drive very often which eggs the question. I have a EPL tune stage 1 which I love but they're of business now. I'm at 56k miles wanting to do that 55k service. I should probably change the tune to an active company, while I'm at it, is it worth going up a stage with the pulley? Not so concerned with power, but longevity

As a former EPL user I want to add a perspective. When EPL shuttered its server it left us not only orphaned, but also without an ability to flash back to stock. That can create some service/dealership issues.

I ended up switching to 034 earlier this year. Their tunes do include a generic stock file. They also have a sympathy for those of us orphaned with EPL and offer a discount. I am very happy with 034.

Now, I am up at what they call Stage 2+ (dual pulley, aftermarket heat exchanger, test pipes with downstream cats, high flow intake), but I would feel the same about getting a current tune from a major tuner like 034, APR, or IE, just for access to avstock tune file and ongoing support, ability to upgrade.