bluefin vs APR

[Chardy]

i'm thinking about taking my car to Volkspower to get the APR re-flash, can anyone tell me if there is any difference between this and the bluefin??

[anarchycamp]

Try before you buy!

Simple answer to this question....

Try before you buy, see which one suits you....people have good things to say about APR, GIAC, Bluefin etc

I dont know much about Bluefin but i know APR and GIAC offer trial periods....dont get caught up on kw/torque figures quoted on various forums, drive with them and see what suits you. Which ever one you choose you will have an big grin on your face every time u drive

I have APR by the way...but have driven a GIAC flashed car...both great results..

[mikinoz]

The only other advice is the APR is done by the workshop and the Bluefin you do yourself with a hand controller provided.

Both increase power and torque, as to which is better, who knows.

[mrx]

If you believe the claims of the companies concerned, APR seems to be a more aggressive tune than the Bluefin. Personally I have Bluefin & am happy with it. I've never been in an APR'd car to compare, but based on the claims, if I'd wanted an all out road warrior I would have gone with APR.

[Chardy]

thanks guys.

I have been quoted $1995 for the APR ($1795 when on special) can anyone tell me how much the bluefin is?

I guess one of the things I am thinking about as a benefit is that you could disconnect the bluefin when taking the car in for service - am I assuming correctly...

I have been for a drive in a DSG APR tuned GTi and I have to admit I was very impressed. The car still felt very smooth, still had a great exhaust note (i'm not a fan of in your face) and hauled some ass.

Can anyone tell me straight the effects these upgrades have on your warranty?

[anarchycamp]

You can switch it back to stock of you want with the APR switching, i have never bothered when taking car to the dealer, they havent showed an concern about it, are more interested than anything else, then again I havent made any directly related warranty claims although I know a couple of people who have (2 blown turbo's and 1 clutch) and they didnt bat an eyelid about the reflashed ECU, one of them actually had CAI and TBE as well.

[Tim]

bluefin price depends if u buy locally or direct from the UK.

$1200ish depending on the exhange rate direct from the UK or $1500 from the local distributors. I think its also available cheaply from NZ distributors.
I think bluefin offer warranty as standard which is good. And the email support seems to be quite good as well.

Im planning on going GIAC. seems to be the cheaper option

[mrx]

As anarchychamp says, it really depends on your dealer if they "care" about mods or not. I chose to play it safe and went for Bluefin for the convenience of being able to revert back to the 100% bog standard VW software whenever my car needs to go to the dealer. You simply plug the hand held unit into the car (which has the original and remapped software in it) and load in whichever one you want. The latest version of firmware in the handheld unit doesn't increase the ECU's flash counter - so there is no way for the dealer to tell that your car has ever been reflashed. As a bonus you can also check for engine fault codes with the handheld unit.

With the APR software, when you revert back to "standard" it is a simulation of the original software - the dealer could possibly discover you've been chipped if they really wanted to, but personally I don't think they'd go that far (time is money), and as long as VW still pays them for the warranty repair why would they care?

In terms of performance, the Bluefin is very noticably quicker than standard shaving about half a second off the 0-100 time. I suspect GIAC & APR would be quicker again. I'm happy with the Bluefin, if you had much more torque it'd be a struggle putting it to the ground. Something else worth having once chipped is the torque arm insert - it cuts wheelspin/axle tramp quite a lot, and is a bargain at about $70.

Edit: I meant that the original and remapped program are stored in the hand held unit (not the car).

[Greg Roles]

thanks guys.

Can anyone tell me straight the effects these upgrades have on your warranty?

Bottom line is that any modifications during the warranty period can be used to void that warranty. Seems VW are currently pretty relaxed about it from what people and even dealers are saying, but that can all change overnight. I'm coming from a Ford, and there were dealers covering modded cars to an extent, but about a year back Ford outsourced their warranty work and now any ECU mods or reprograms are voiding entire cars mechanical warranty. People have been turned away because of cat back exhaust systems, and for going longer than 12 months between services, even if they did only 10km's during that time. It's become a business, rather than customer support. Guess that's yet another reason why Ford is in trouble.....

The decision, and ultimately the risk is yours. That said, as mentioned above, the better tuners give the option of extended warranties themselves, so me personally, if and when I go this path, I'll be picking based on insurance rather than the last Kw. MrX is covering himself in a very smart manner!

[F6speedster]

The tuner I use can dynotune and program the factory ECU. Will be doing it over the next few months when I have got time. He has already done a 2.0L GT TDI which some good results.

[motootto]

Hi Chardy, I've got the Revo reflash on my DSG GTI. I was just in to be de-rattled and there was no comment made about the reflash although I haven't mentioned that it has been done.
When I was looking around Revo & Giac were a similar price with APR being more expensive & Bluefin was just out and I didn't want to be a pioneer.
All of these reflashes are now sorted for the GTI.
Work out what your requirements are; mine were workshop support which I know the Revo & APR have. Giac has support but I'm not sure if it is workshop based in Vic. Maybe someone with Giac can comment.
I'm aware that my diverter valve will probably fail but this happens with GTIs without reflashes.
If you drive sedately, I'm told that fuel economy will improve as the next gear becomes available earlier because of more torque being available.
The only drawback with adapability of DSG is that if you drive sedately and then need more throttle opening, the DSG may hunt for gears. The easy fix is to pop the gearbox into sports mode if you've come off a long freeway trip and are at an intersection where you may need to accelerate more quickly.
Revo is available from Audvolks in Clayton.
The Giac distributer is in Mitcham but I don't know if any workshops in Vic do installs.

[Chardy]

great info guys.

Can anyone give me a rough price on both Revo and Giac?

I'm also interested in this torque bar - I assume the places doing Revo, Giac and APR are able to install this?? I hate axel tramp...

It sounds like Revo, Giac and APR are much of a muchness with APR being the most expensive and Bluefin probably not as brutal as the other 3.

Sounds like it might come down to Revo or Giac.

Anyone who has driven all 3??

[Lima]

If you have an ECU reflash and your turbo dies, then you'll probably have to foot the bill.

If you have an ECU reflash and your coil pack dies, then VW will probably fix it for you.

[Boost]

Does anyone know if GIAC chips allows you to switch back to stock a la APR?

[mrx]

I'm also interested in this torque bar - I assume the places doing Revo, Giac and APR are able to install this?? I hate axel tramp...

If you want to you can purchase an entirely new bar with stiffer bushings, but most people seem to just buy a polyurethane insert which you use to stiffen up the existing bushing. It's extremely easy to DIY install it.

This thread has all the details, including the 2 main variants available...

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newforum/upload/showthread.php?t=8644

Does anyone know if GIAC chips allows you to switch back to stock a la APR?

Yes, for an extra fee you can purchase a plug in "switching module".