Originally Posted by
MSq5
I get it. I don't disagree. But, my car has 1,300 miles on it, brand new. I do not want TD1 warranty flagging.
To get the benefits you advocate (and which we enjoy with user customized deep ECU remapping on the DISI turbo Mazda, far beyond what APR or ELP do), Audi will void my warranty in a heartbeat the very first time I take the car in for service or, God forbid, I present with a warranty claim. For Audi there is no Cobb Access Port or Versatune with full map table access and customization of hundreds of parameters, as we have on the turbo Mazda engines, at least not on the 3.0T engine.
Getting 90-95% of the benefit and keeping the warranty in place seems pretty reasonable on a car that is hardly off the showroom floor.
Please correct me, if I am mistaken, but can't you disable auto upshift in "S" mode in VAG COM? No need to go into the engine ECU mapping, if I understand correctly. I seem to recall a thread on that.
I have addressed the drivability issue. There is none with 3-1 setting. I am reporting this experience for those who want a very substantial improvement in performance without getting TD1 flagged. I'll keep my warranty for now, thank you.
Yeah- the whole TD1 thing is always a possibility and definitely gave me cause for concern early on when deciding what route to go, so I definitely understand. However, I've had the car into the dealer since and simply have my local shop flash it back to stock before I go. The last time the dealer actually did a software update and explicitly mentioned if the car had a tune, they'd be able to see it, and it'll get erased with the update. I played dumb and said I don't think so, but I bough it used...do the update regardless. Everything was fine, update completed and no trace of the previous tune detected. Back to my shop the next day to get flashed again. Now, that's not to say they couldn't find out that it had been flashed at some point if they REALLY wanted to, or APR could have provided the wrong 'stock' file by accident or something. However, TD1s are few and far between given the number of people with tunes. Even then you'd have to have a powertrain issue for the TD1 to even matter. Most of us have our cake and eat it too when it comes to tunes and warranty stuff.
I've owned an Accessport and a fully customizable ecu (Hondata K-pro) and think EPL is the next best thing if you want flash at home and/or customized tuning.
If you're happy with the Chipwerke and still have the new car apprehensions or want to get some miles on it, fair enough. I certainly wouldn't consider the Chipwerke 90-95% of a reflash though. There's some pretty significant R&D and remapping that these companies are putting into their tunes...FAR beyond manipulating the MAP and adding a crude fueling/timing offset. There's also plenty of testimonials and threads discussing the differences, and even most Chipwerke supporters will point out its obvious shortcomings over a full tune. I'm sure you've read the threads in the Q5 section, so I won't link them. Approx. half the people that have bought it have returned or sold it...mostly due to driveability under different conditions. If you're having good luck with it and are happy for now, great. It's by no means an ideal, long-term solution that will always run perfect even on the 3-1 setting though.
I'm not trying to troll anyone's Chipwerke satisfaction. I'm just simply stating my own heavily researched and reasonably experienced take on it. If you're happy with it, keep rolling with it. Just don't fool your own sensors when putting it in perspective or comparing it to a reflash.
Btw- the only way to disable auto upshift (for manual mode..need a zf tune that doesn't exist for sport mode) is via vag-com. However, if your tune doesn't support the increased rev limit, the car will go into limp mode once you rev past 6900. Basically you can disable it but not make use of it if your tune doesn't support it. I think all reflashes support it these days.
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