Very pistonhedz here…I’m on Briskoda too, but people rarely update there!

I’m loosely toying with getting the Revo remap (circa £400) for our 140bhp 2l TDI Octavia…

Just wondering if anyone here has had similar – I’ve heard a few ‘tales’ about gearboxes blowing up etc, but it’s all “mate of a mate” stuff.
I’m not planning on racing the thing (!) so it should have an easy(er) life..

Opinions appreciated (apart from “Why”…I suppose “cos I can, nah nah nah nah naaah”)

DrP

Had my touran 2.0tdi remapped at 30k. Now on 120k. Gearbox fine (DSG). Turbo went at 115k. Remap didn’t make turbo go any earlier than it would have done had it not been done. I can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t remap their tdi.

Which did you go for? (revo, or other?)

DrP

No it won’t blow up your gearbox.

You’re talking about a basic remap for UK conditions, nothing specialist about it, go for Revo or another mapper with a decent rep. I’d just go for someone local above anything else.

Or phone Paul.

Possibly shorten the life of your DMF depending on your driving style and will probably put up your insurance premium.

Can you get the trial upgrade first (its time/driving based). Will give you an idea too if its for you.

Paul’s number didn’t come through (phone doesn’t like “MMS data cards” for some reason..
Could you text/mail me the number..
Also.. Know any local places?!

DrP

I’ve had almost every VAG car I’ve owned map and it hasn’t caused any problems.

I tended to go with Upsolute maps as that’s what my local tuner used but any of the bigger companies will have generic maps for your engine that should see good gains.

I had my old vRS remapped by Shark and the clutch started slipping. It needed an uprated clutch (circa £1k) but I understand this was an exception. I haven’t heard of gearboxes failing.
The REVO map for the 140 is rated at about 290lb/ft so you should be OK (assuming it has same clutch as the vRS?)
A mate went to AMD for a remap on his Golf GTD CR. They went through 2 ECU’s before giving it back 5 weeks later unmapped!
He ended up at REVO and had it mapped with no problems.

I’ll send it through again.

Regal in Southampton are very good, The Phirm up near Winchester have an excellent reputation.

One thing I will say- you find the 2.0TDI ‘wanting’? How do you drive it? You know how to ride the torque correctly right?

I had a 105bhp 1.9TDI and I was more than happy with it- smooth and quick when needed.

Oh and its not all ‘pistonheads’. You drive a diesel 😆

I’ve emailed Paul, I’ll get you a price, then you won’t have to learn how to ride the torque correctly.

😕

Clutches can be an issue. That was the one thing that stopped me getting my Ibiza re-mapped.

Plenty of people saying it wasn’t an issue, and probably the same amount saying that it was.
Uprated clutch was gonna be about £800 fitted.
Almost on 240k miles on the original clutch….wonder how long it would have lasted with a re-map?!

One thing I will say- you find the 2.0TDI ‘wanting’? How do you drive it? You know how to ride the torque correctly right?

There you go DrP, a 1/2 hour lesson from driving god Hora and you’ve saved £400 😉

driving god Hora

What normal, sensible advice on how to get the best out of your engine without going out of the ideal parameters set by VW on an engine for longevity v performance v durability of the engine and associated bits.

Yep- the engine can go higher but shirley its durability v best available compromise. 😉

I had Simon Coe of Upsolute Tuning do a few of my cars. He’s based in Chesterfield but travels UK wide. Cheap and excellent.

awesome gti at manchester did my 1.9 passat last month. 105 to about 145 bhp. Car feels much better now. Don’t drive it any harder most of the time but its there when needed.

Its not just about power. Generally you dont use peak power anyway as thats foot flat at a very specific RPM in a particular gear however an increase throughout the range is useful and can drop MPG. I have used Wagon Werx (ex VAG mechanic for years) in the past as have friends and been VERY happy with results. I would like to try Black Code (national company, money back gaurantee and warranty) and they do two maps, a power map and an economy map. Economy does not increase power or torque so much but is designed to focus on better MPG. Could be what you want.

Wife has a Golf Gti that was done by Noble Motorsport. Somehow they got it to 258bhp and 280lbs ft. I have the rolling road printout. It’s thirsty as f*ck!! I struggle to get more than 22mpg around town.

Gearbox is likely to be fine, if you have a problem its more likely to be with the clutch and flywheel failing/slipping prematurely.

I had my old Audi S3 remapped (by Revo) when it was 1 year/10000 miles old, the standard clutch/flywheel lasted a further 10000 miles before it started to slip, so had a new (uprated) clutch and flywheel fitted, and it was fine for another 20000 miles before I sold the car.

I knew the clutch/flywheel was likely to not last long though, as I’d done a fair bit of research and there were a fair few people who had experienced the same.

I’d guess that if you’ve done your googling, and not uncovered many issues of clutch/flywheel failure on your car, it’ll be fine.

It made a massive difference to the acceleration, fuel economy was slightly worse (but not by much), and turbo lag was increased by a noticeable amount. For me, I wouldnt bother doing it again, I’d just buy a faster car in the first place, less hassle all round.

Petrol Leon here but I used a bluefin from Superchips, pretty impressive gains and you can do the upgrade yourself in you own driveway (or office car park)

They do TDI as well of course and have a 7 day trial / money back guarantee

Wife has a Golf Gti that was done by Noble Motorsport. Somehow they got it to 258bhp and 280lbs ft. I have the rolling road printout. It’s thirsty as f*ck!! I struggle to get more than 22mpg around town.

Odd that, what version of the GTI is it?

My Leon has a Mk6 GTI drivetrain and I didn’t really notice any difference in economy since the remap. I’ve not had mine dyno’ed but 250+bhp and 260+ ft/lbs seems about right

As stock the MK6 Gti has 210bhp, getting another 40hp out of a remap isn’t too difficult. Also VAG seemed very conservative in the power rating of the MK6 engine, a lot of completely standard cars have 220-225 when dyno’ed

Been considering the same, as has a lad at work . I have the 130pd Passat, he has the 130pd Fabia VRS. It would appear that the stock clutch (235mm iirc) is good for 160BHP before slip / judder becomes an issue. Torque wise around 300 seems survivable.
With VRS estates stating 170 , although apparently they can be more a PD tune is a very good compromise of performance V economy .
A remap with EGR delete is supposed to be smoother , more powerful and almost as economical as factory spec maps.
the newer CR engines have a more tamperproof ecu and are harder to remap.
Depends on what you want really, my 100 Passat V my 130 Passat are totally different drive. There was a 150 Golf and Leon 148 , which , if you could find a low milage ‘loved’ model , would be hoot for a diseasel.

I’ve got a 2.0 TDI 170 Golf mk5, and it’s not an option on the Revo site, only the 140. Have VW eeked out all the power they can? Intrigued to see what they can do, if anything!

Odd that, what version of the GTI is it?
My Leon has a Mk6 GTI drivetrain and I didn’t really notice any difference in economy since the remap. I’ve not had mine dyno’ed but 250+bhp and 260+ ft/lbs seems about right
As stock the MK6 Gti has 210bhp, getting another 40hp out of a remap isn’t too difficult. Also VAG seemed very conservative in the power rating of the MK6 engine, a lot of completely standard cars have 220-225 when dyno’ed

Mk5, supposedly has 197bhp so a 60bhp seems like a big increase. They are a reputable outfit though so I’m sure its fine. Drivability is still fine, no particular turbo lag to speak of.

No clutch issues though as its DSG.

My Touran went from 140 to 175bhp. Again its DSG.

I would say speak to Ben at Shark Performance. We use him and Miko to map our cars in our VW Cup cars. They have about 70% of the field and everyone has praise for their service and support. They attend every round and give advice which is above and beyond any of the other mapping companies do. Tell him Neil from Maximum Motorsport sent you.

Mk5, supposedly has 197bhp so a 60bhp seems like a big increase. They are a reputable outfit though so I’m sure its fine. Drivability is still fine, no particular turbo lag to speak of.

Not surpised the economy is pretty poor, my standard MK5 averaged 26mpg. Still 60bhp is a very decent increase from a remap

I’d just buy a faster car in the first place, less hassle all round.

Best advice here…

My Fab vRS has been running 240bhp and 400lb/ft since nearly new on the stock clutch, now on 55k. The more the car was tuned the better economy got, Driving Miss Daisy I can get over 65-70mpg.