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Hi,
I recently flashed the ECU on my 2.0 TDI with a bluefin device and I thought I'd share the performance results with anyone who's interested.
Me and my brother took the car out when it was about 25 degrees C for both runs, aircon off, traction control on, DSG in sports mode, warm engine, half a tank of diesel and no passenger. We didn't mess around with manual shifts or no traction control, because I figured the performance gains would be negligible if anything.
To get the data, we used a small windscreen-mounted device called a Drift Box, which uses GPS data and accelerometers to measure acceleration times (among other things), so no clumsy stopwatch operator or speedo needle-watching here.
Another thing, DSG doesn't let you launch at full pelt to conserve the clutch I guess, but after a bit of testing, we found the best way to launch with DSG is to have your foot fully on the brake, floor the accelerator and come straight off the brake before the tacho stops at about 1500rpm (so maybe at about 1250rpm).
I knew the car felt fast and that VWs 0-100 claims are conservative (9.3 seconds), but I was very pleased after a number of runs to see the following results.
BEFORE THE FLASH:
0-100: 8.4 sec
0-60: 3.8 sec
60-100: 4.6 sec
80-120: 6.0 sec
So then we flashed the ECU and didn't record our runs until a few days later so that it had a chance to "learn" the new mapping and also because the turbo (and the sun) was getting hot. Read below for my impressions.
AFTER THE FLASH:
0-100: 8.0 sec
0-60: 3.7 sec
60-100: 4.3 sec
80-120: 5.5 sec
So was the flash worth it? Yes. The numbers may not look overly impressive from the stock numbers, but you can definitely feel it pulling harder after 60kph (it was already quick to 60kph). The boost comes on earlier and more noticeably and the engine feels more responsive, perhaps running a little richer than before. The thump in your back when you floor it is more alarming than usual too.
Bluefin claims to increase your power to 132kW (stock claim 103kW), torque to 395Nm (stock claim 320Nm), but note that your numbers are probably already closer to the tuned value than the stock value.
Anyone who's interested, I bought my bluefin from JKM Motor Services in the UK for $630.
I hope this is interesting to someone. Let me know if you've had similar experiences or any questions.
I recently flashed the ECU on my 2.0 TDI with a bluefin device and I thought I'd share the performance results with anyone who's interested.
Me and my brother took the car out when it was about 25 degrees C for both runs, aircon off, traction control on, DSG in sports mode, warm engine, half a tank of diesel and no passenger. We didn't mess around with manual shifts or no traction control, because I figured the performance gains would be negligible if anything.
To get the data, we used a small windscreen-mounted device called a Drift Box, which uses GPS data and accelerometers to measure acceleration times (among other things), so no clumsy stopwatch operator or speedo needle-watching here.
Another thing, DSG doesn't let you launch at full pelt to conserve the clutch I guess, but after a bit of testing, we found the best way to launch with DSG is to have your foot fully on the brake, floor the accelerator and come straight off the brake before the tacho stops at about 1500rpm (so maybe at about 1250rpm).
I knew the car felt fast and that VWs 0-100 claims are conservative (9.3 seconds), but I was very pleased after a number of runs to see the following results.
BEFORE THE FLASH:
0-100: 8.4 sec
0-60: 3.8 sec
60-100: 4.6 sec
80-120: 6.0 sec
So then we flashed the ECU and didn't record our runs until a few days later so that it had a chance to "learn" the new mapping and also because the turbo (and the sun) was getting hot. Read below for my impressions.
AFTER THE FLASH:
0-100: 8.0 sec
0-60: 3.7 sec
60-100: 4.3 sec
80-120: 5.5 sec
So was the flash worth it? Yes. The numbers may not look overly impressive from the stock numbers, but you can definitely feel it pulling harder after 60kph (it was already quick to 60kph). The boost comes on earlier and more noticeably and the engine feels more responsive, perhaps running a little richer than before. The thump in your back when you floor it is more alarming than usual too.
Bluefin claims to increase your power to 132kW (stock claim 103kW), torque to 395Nm (stock claim 320Nm), but note that your numbers are probably already closer to the tuned value than the stock value.
Anyone who's interested, I bought my bluefin from JKM Motor Services in the UK for $630.
I hope this is interesting to someone. Let me know if you've had similar experiences or any questions.
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