Is bench tuning a must now for 2012 2.0TSI Tiguan? - APR Stage 1 Tuning

[mutare 23]

I had mine APR flashed in June. It was a day long process with the ECU being removed from the vehicle. I currently average about 8.9 lphk since the flash. MOST of the time, I behave myself but every now and again it is into the 'S' slot and Ye Ha. Best money I have ever spent on a performance upgrade in over 35 years of owning cars. A number of drivers around my area have been VERY surprised when an old fat fella driving a 'Tiguan if you dont mind' gives them more than a good run for their money and indeed has smoked a few who thought they were bullet proof.

I cannot speak highly enough about the APR flash and no, I dont have any allegiances to the company. I simply cant understand why anybody with one of these vehicles wouldnt get this done. It is just that good

Cheers

[kaotickelly]

Weird.
I drove mine out to our local short circuit on the weekend.

Best i saw on the way outwas 5.9L/100km on the MFD, but when i arrived it was 7.4.
After a 30 minute session out there it was showing 15l/100km.

I haven't seen it go below 8.6 (standard or otherwise) on the MDF... BTW, my numbers in previous posts were derived from the km travelled vs amount refuelled. I find that to be more accurate than the MDF.

When ever I start the car, it starts at 36L/100 and drops to about 15L, then 10L on the highway.

Love to hear what numbers others are getting.

[team_v]

I haven't seen it go below 8.6 (standard or otherwise) on the MDF... BTW, my numbers in previous posts were derived from the km travelled vs amount refuelled. I find that to be more accurate than the MDF.

When ever I start the car, it starts at 36L/100 and drops to about 15L, then 10L on the highway.

Love to hear what numbers others are getting.

When i start mine it usually sits around 20l/100km and then drops down after a km or so to around 10.
It seems like yours is fuel hungry, i believe sharkie complained that neever got below 10 in the standard car either.

I used to use the km travelled vs amount refilled but the MFD was always within 0.2 of the actual result anyway.

[Sharkie]

When i start mine it usually sits around 20l/100km and then drops down after a km or so to around 10.
It seems like yours is fuel hungry, i believe sharkie complained that neever got below 10 in the standard car either.

I used to use the km travelled vs amount refilled but the MFD was always within 0.2 of the actual result anyway.

Its all in the driving style .... .... I saw no difference between standard and modified Stg2 in day to day driving as far as fuel consumption went. If you foot is heavy, fuel consumption is high .... Cruising in the Stg 2 Tig did get me 6.7l/100km easy though.

You should see what I can do to a diesel's fuel economy ..... Once had a loaner 2.0TDI Golf. Handed it back with 15l/100km average fuel consumption after a days driving ..... and it still was slow ....

[Tiggy]

Good day team_v,

are these the figures you have with the mufflerectomy intact? would you recommend i do a mufflerectomy first before getting a stage 1 tune? thanks

When i start mine it usually sits around 20l/100km and then drops down after a km or so to around 10.
It seems like yours is fuel hungry, i believe sharkie complained that neever got below 10 in the standard car either.

I used to use the km travelled vs amount refilled but the MFD was always within 0.2 of the actual result anyway.

[MGV]

I haven't seen it go below 8.6 (standard or otherwise) on the MDF... BTW, my numbers in previous posts were derived from the km travelled vs amount refuelled. I find that to be more accurate than the MDF.

When ever I start the car, it starts at 36L/100 and drops to about 15L, then 10L on the highway.

Love to hear what numbers others are getting.

Kelly, i'll go out on a limb & diagnose your claimed excessive fuel consumption on the fact that you live in Syd... That place is a nightmare to drive around in! But just as an experiment, what figures are coming up on your 'current consumption' display, if, say, you can set cruise control to 80, top gear & flat road?

As for the figures others are getting, well, i have stage 1 with a high flow panel filter in the airbox, just did a 600km round trip up to the snowfields & back covering 100 & 110kph freeway & a spirited hill-climb with about 20km's of 25 & 35 hairpins & averaged 7.4 l/100.

[kaotickelly]

Thanks for the suggestion MGV, I'll give it a go on the weekend.

Damit, I don't remember the numbers before the tune.

[z1000]

When ever I start the car, it starts at 36L/100 and drops to about 15L, then 10L on the highway.

Love to hear what numbers others are getting.

Been running the stage 1 tune for a week or two now, 800km later, averaging 14L/100km in the city (start and stop traffic in inner Sydney), highway 7.5L/100km at mostly 110km/hr, spirited driving in the country 15L/100km.

I'd not say the fuel consumption is significantly better or worse than before, but abundant torque makes the driving a little bit more pleasurable.

[mutare 23]

Been running the stage 1 tune for a week or two now, 800km later, averaging 14L/100km in the city (start and stop traffic in inner Sydney), highway 7.5L/100km at mostly 110km/hr, spirited driving in the country 15L/100km.

I'd not say the fuel consumption is significantly better or worse than before, but abundant torque makes the driving a little bit more pleasurable.

'A little more pleasurable'. I hope that is an understatement. 'Spirited' driving is a joy and then some

Cheers

[z1000]

'A little more pleasurable'. I hope that is an understatement. 'Spirited' driving is a joy and then some

Cheers

I say a "little" because the tune does highlight Tiguan's shortcoming in handling and braking departments.

Or perhaps "little" is the overall impression I get after a fairly lengthy comparative drive with a Golf R.

Don't get me wrong, a tuned Tigaun is an awesome performance SUV for the price, it may match/beat power/torque of a stock Golf R on paper, but it is after all a fat hot hatch on stilts.

[Guy_H]

Some of the chips these days have a link removed on the board so that they can't be written (pull-up resistor on write enable pin). If that is the case, there is no option other than to remove the ECU board and solder the link back on before you can program it. I beleive this is the case with a lot of the newer Tiguans and the reason why you can never program via the OBD port without first pulling the ECU out and resoldering the link back on.

Depending what your tuner does they may remove the link or leave it on. If the link is left on you may be able to program over the OBD port afterwards and hence not require to pull the ECU out a second time.

Having said that flashing the ECU on the bench may actually be safer than flashing in the car as there are no other devices to talk to the ECU in the middle of programming. The last thing you want is a door being opened to cause an interrupt in the middle of writing to the ECU as this has the potential to corrupt what is being written.

Obviously there are issues with handling the electronics as you don't want any static discharges stuffing things up either, but as long as the right precautions are taken you should be OK.

One week sounds like a long time, but probably they're being on the safe side to make sure the file is back ready for download.

No solder link required, it can be OBD unlocked after "bench flashing" if the tuner has the power to do so (or chooses to do it).

[kaotickelly]

Been running the stage 1 tune for a week or two now, 800km later, averaging 14L/100km in the city (start and stop traffic in inner Sydney), highway 7.5L/100km at mostly 110km/hr, spirited driving in the country 15L/100km.

I'd not say the fuel consumption is significantly better or worse than before, but abundant torque makes the driving a little bit more pleasurable.

Thanks z1000.

MGV, I had a look at current consumption while cruising at 80 and 100. At 80 it's hovering around 4-6 L/100 and about 7-8L/100 for 100. I guess that's pretty much the quoted mileage.

I did notice that in Stage 1 the rev goes past 2k rpm before upshift when the same amount of pedal pressure is applied compared to standard. Guess that's the effect of the additional boost?

With Stage 1 on, I tend to want to use the 3-4k rpm range a lot more, hehe.