I Want to Tune My GTI

"jlmounce" (jlmounce) 01/31/2014 at 14:14 • Filed to: GTI, Volkswagen, Tune, Modification

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I love my GTI. It's a superb and fun street car. I do wish it had a bit more oomph though. Since I purchased the car last April, I've been looking to do a tune and a drop in filter. Nothing crazy, just a little bit extra while maintaining a stockish experience.

The problem is, every time I start researching it, I find nothing but horror stories. From companies that provide poor drivability tune files or worse, fried ECU's.

Obviously in the forum world, more people come to gripe then to gloat. It's the nature of how forums work. Has anybody here had any experience tuning a MKVI GTI with the TSI engine? I'm looking for success stories. Or, I suppose horror stories as well, which may just keep my from modding the car at all.

vdub_nut: scooter snob > jlmounce 01/31/2014 at 14:22

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The big ECU tuners provide warranties, and certify some shops as "designated installers" (or whatever). That's about as safe as you can get with any mod. If you're that scared, get a backup ECU and have them flash that one (obviously not a cheap solution). Tune + downpipe is usually the best hp/$ mod for relatively stock turbo cars.

Agrajag > jlmounce 01/31/2014 at 14:24

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AWE seemed to be liked by the Vortex a while back. Don't know if things have changed.

Textured Soy Protein > jlmounce 01/31/2014 at 15:00

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You should be fine going with APR or GIAC tunes.

Übel > jlmounce 01/31/2014 at 15:17

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APR is usually the way to go for VWs. I've got a Stage 1 MkIV 1.8t through them which I absolutely love, and I've never heard of anyone having any issues with the tune. In fact, when I went to Mid Ohio last year, VW North America had a booth and probably half of the cars there had an APR tune on them, including a MkVI Golf R.

Other than that, Unitronic and Revo are the other two big names, and they all offer different benefits/drawbacks. All three offer trial runs of their tunes, so you should definitely check that out before you buy.

jlmounce > vdub_nut: scooter snob 01/31/2014 at 15:17

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I thought about going straight to stage 2, but this is primarily my daily and I want to keep the exhaust stock/quiet.

There's an APR authorized tuner near me, perhaps I'll speak with them.

STAGGERED-6 > jlmounce 01/31/2014 at 15:36

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United Mortorsport DSG and ECU tune is the boss of tunes. Look up what everyone has to say about them and I'm sure your decision will be any easy one. They brought the smile back while I wait for the right time to turbo my R32.

vdub_nut: scooter snob > jlmounce 01/31/2014 at 16:29

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IIRC, most will give you a 24-48 hour (maybe more) "test drive", so you can see if you like it. The VW weenies will be able to tell, though, and it might void your warranty, as at least one jalop has found out.