Sharkie's TSI Amarok Build

[Sharkie]

New boots on the 19" rims for Big Red.


These are 255/55/19 109W, performance SUV tires. Soft so should only last 25-30000km but the grip is amazing.

In 4 months' time he will be 8 years old, currently on 75,000km and holding up really well. We still love it.

[EZZA]

BTW, the 2nd hand prices have jumped a bit lately on the TSIs. Only sold for 2 years 2013/2014 and low numbers.

I see there currently is a low mileage fully optioned (FOR a TSI) MY14 on Carsales for $25K. That would be the best buy at the moment.

Yes that's the thing, 200+ on a TSI is getting up there. I bought the white one with the ugly fender flares (taking them off) and he wanted 25K (started at 27k) but managed to get him down to 20k as there were a few cosmetic issues with the body.
The Grey on for 25k popped up about half a week after I bought mine and I was shattered as it looks like it's only been driven to church on Sunday haha!

[Sharkie]

Makes sense I guess. I just looked on CarSales and there are 7 petrol Amarok's for sale versus 985 diesels. I didnt realise the petrol Amarok was so rare/unpopular. Given the Aussie (and no doubt o'seas also) ute market is flooded with (mostly) underpowered diesel's I don't blame tuners for not putting in the R&D to develop a tune for the petrol Amarok.

BTW, the 2nd hand prices have jumped a bit lately on the TSIs. Only sold for 2 years 2013/2014 and low numbers.

I see there currently is a low mileage fully optioned (FOR a TSI) MY14 on Carsales for $25K. That would be the best buy at the moment.

[Sharkie]

Its all a misconception by the buyers of Utes that it needs to be diesel .... Amarok TSI is lighter on fuel than the TDIs (even stock) and faster than all but the V6. And then when tuned it is even faster than the V6 ..... No EGR/DPF issues either but alas only RWD (which incidentally save 100kgs over the AWD)

I will eventually replace the engine with a more tuneable version of the EA888 and do an AWD conversion from a donor TDI400 manual. All of my other projects are keeping me too busy to do this yet.

PS. In the USA you can get a Ford Raptor with the 2.3 Ecoboost engine (which is a petrol engine) and it sells like hotcakes .... and boy is it quick .... if Ford put that engine in the Raptor here I'd be buying 1 ....

[Sharkie]

Thanks again for the info guys. Yes from my research Sharkie is correct, when you google 'TSI300 Amarok tune' this thread is the first to come up!
So got a reply from local tuner, APR stage 1 tune is $699 which is pretty good value in my books considering all the time they put into developing the base file and results achieved.

Yes, over 100 dyno runs and about 2 weeks of work (on my Amarok no less).


Anybody who claim they can tune a car in an afternoon or even a single day is flat out lying ....

[EZZA]

Makes sense I guess. I just looked on CarSales and there are 7 petrol Amarok's for sale versus 985 diesels. I didnt realise the petrol Amarok was so rare/unpopular. Given the Aussie (and no doubt o'seas also) ute market is flooded with (mostly) underpowered diesel's I don't blame tuners for not putting in the R&D to develop a tune for the petrol Amarok.

Yes mate, they're a rare breed! I hunted one down over a few months and had to make a few compromises but am very pleased I chose the TSI over the TDI so far. Being manual & 2wd only it was never very popular I don't think.

Sorry for hijacking your thread Sharkie!

[Lucas_R]

Makes sense I guess. I just looked on CarSales and there are 7 petrol Amarok's for sale versus 985 diesels. I didnt realise the petrol Amarok was so rare/unpopular. Given the Aussie (and no doubt o'seas also) ute market is flooded with (mostly) underpowered diesel's I don't blame tuners for not putting in the R&D to develop a tune for the petrol Amarok.

[EZZA]

Thanks again for the info guys. Yes from my research Sharkie is correct, when you google 'TSI300 Amarok tune' this thread is the first to come up!
So got a reply from local tuner, APR stage 1 tune is $699 which is pretty good value in my books considering all the time they put into developing the base file and results achieved.

[Sharkie]

If you want a DIY style tune (which personally im a huge fan of and have had good success with on various cars) then look at Tarmac Engineering (Spectune) in QLD who do an optional hand controller. They only have the 2.0TDI listed on their webiste, but worth getting in touch with them to see if they offer a tune for the petrol version. Amarok Archives - Tarmac Engineering

Otherwise I would have recommended Integrated Engineering who also have a DIY option but I dont believe they offer anything for the Amarok.

Lucas, unfortunately no tuner in Australia does tunes from scratch. ALL of them uses an overseas provider for the "base" tune and then either "custom" tune your car with some minor modifications to the base file (for all Aussie tuners that claim they can custom tune your car) or just use that base file as provided (APR providers for instance).

The problem with the TSI Amarok is that world-wide only 1 tuner (APR) took the time to develop the base file necessary. As such no other tuner has a file that can be used on the TSI Amaroks. Some use a GTI base file and try to modify it on the fly (like etuners I believe) but never end up anywhere near the results of the APR file. (Note the Amarok runs a gen2.5 version of the EA888 ) I've seen custom tuned upgraded turbo (KO4) files for TSI Amaroks that make no more power than a stock base APR file ....

So, in short, no DIY options exist for the TSI Amarok which is a bit sad. This has always prevented me from going to a larger turbo on the stock Amarok engine.

[Lucas_R]

Thanks mate, found all that info and some Melbourne dealers but ones I've tried don't messaging through messenger. Will give Volkwerke a call at lunch and see what they say.
Was wondering whether it was more like a Cobb accessport style tuner where you don't need a shop to install or more of a flash tune into the computer where a shop needs to do the install for you.

If you want a DIY style tune (which personally im a huge fan of and have had good success with on various cars) then look at Tarmac Engineering (Spectune) in QLD who do an optional hand controller. They only have the 2.0TDI listed on their webiste, but worth getting in touch with them to see if they offer a tune for the petrol version. Amarok Archives - Tarmac Engineering

Otherwise I would have recommended Integrated Engineering who also have a DIY option but I dont believe they offer anything for the Amarok.

[EZZA]

Thanks mate, found all that info and some Melbourne dealers but ones I've tried don't messaging through messenger. Will give Volkwerke a call at lunch and see what they say.
Was wondering whether it was more like a Cobb accessport style tuner where you don't need a shop to install or more of a flash tune into the computer where a shop needs to do the install for you.

[Sharkie]

Details of the APR tune here: APR ECU-20T-EA888-1-L APR ECU Upgrade - 2.0T EA888 Gen 1 (Longitudinal) (Amarok)

Look at their dealer search APR Dealers, type in Melbourne, Australia and a lot of dealers show up. Contact the closest to you directly I'd suggest.

[EZZA]

Thought this would be a good place to ask, any idea what the APR stage 1 tune costs?
Is it a plug and play type thing that I can order online or do I have to go to an APR dealer to have it installed and setup? I'm in Melbourne and have messaged APR directly with no response.
Cheers

[EZZA]

Ah nice, looking forward to getting it tuned already!

That's a nice pod setup, I'm sure you get plenty of sound out of that.

I noticed the stock air box setup has a pipe that runs to the front grille, thinking if this was removed it may give a bit more noise and flow also. Although usually the factory designs things for a reason but I've had a couple of turbo Subaru Foresters that had a sneaky intake resonator in the front guard which once removed made a nice difference to intake noises!

[Sharkie]

The airbox is closed too well to get much sound out of it with the stock tune. With an APR tune it certainly is more noticeable, but still pretty quiet. What you do get (some love it others hate it) is a weird whistle once tuned due to the PCV return into the turbo.

Also, a K&N panel does not do anything to the sound, may breathe a bit better, but that is still debatable.

We run an open Pod filter (its far enough away not to get too much heatsoak as measured by intake temps) and this makes some serious noises