SuperChip ECU Upgrade

[Timlin]

Hi all

Well, I had my 2009 R36 wagon fitted with a new SuperChip ECU upgrade last Thursday night. It was fitted by Peter from SuperChips/BlueFin in NZ. Evidently he comes across the ditch on a monthly basis to do these upgrades across Australia.

He's a very nice guy and the upgrade went just as he said it would.

First impressions are good. I can definitely feel the improvement in low rev torque and the overall pickup is much improved too. I'd say an overall 10% - 15% improvement on acceleration and pick up.

So far, I think its been a worthy use of the $600.00 entry cost...

On the downside, it seems to use more fuel, but Peter says that the upgrade will take 2-4 weeks to "bed" itself in and the economy will improve over this period. So I'm keeping a log book on consumption for 4 weeks and I'll be touching base with him again when he's back in Sydney in July.

I also added the SprintBooster last week too, and all I can say on that is: WOW! What a deceivingly clever little thing that is! As the manufacturer says, it doesn't "add" any power, but it sure does feel like it does! Its a great bit of kit that I'd highly recommend to any R36 owner. And for the price, great value!

Rgd's


AT

[Tweeked]

Just enjoy you tune.....the R36 is a great car.
Seriously if someone has told you that this tune needs to "bed in" then they are blowing smoke up your backside... what a crock. Your car has well and truely run in since 2009, so any changes to the engine freeing up have already happend. The only thing that will change over the next few weeks is that you will back off on the fast pedal, hence the fuel economy improvement.
Sorry just don't like it when people are given the wrong information.

[Ryan_R]

You should see less fuel usage with the tune (depending how you drive), however the SprintBooster will use more fuel as a trade-off for fun and extra responsiveness.

[Timlin]

Hi

Thanks for the reply's guys! Its always good to hear from other VW enthusiasts!

Mr Tweeked, your car sounds like a very cool upgrade, do you have any pictures of the engine bay? What sort of KW do you think you might be getting over OEM?

With regards to the "bedding-in period", I'm prepared to give hime the benefit of the doubt at this stage, he has guaranteed a 100% money back offer if I'm not happy with the situation after a month or so. I can't ask for more than this. So, if the issue with the fuel consumption remains as it is after this period, I'll get the money refunded and have the car returned back to the factory tune.

Thats not a bad deal!

Regarding the SprintBooster, I sure don't leave it on all the time as its clear that the car uses much more fuel when its engaged, but, wow, it sure is a lot of fun on either level. I think I prefer to drive it in "manual" mode when I have the SB on as it holds off the gear changes for a bit too long in most circumstances. Its a wonderful piece of kit, it really has surprised me at how much it seems to enhance the driving experience!

Drive safe...!


AT

[noone]

With a new tune, as with clearing faults and I believe disconnecting the battery, fuel trims are reset. Small changes are made over the first few hours and apparently upto 100km (no idea how real these numbers are, just the banter). It wont change a lot.

The sprint booster is making your car work harder under acceleration, I'd be surprised if this didn't account for most of your extra consumption.

Enjoy.

[Tweeked]

Hi

Thanks for the reply's guys! Its always good to hear from other VW enthusiasts!

Mr Tweeked, your car sounds like a very cool upgrade, do you have any pictures of the engine bay? What sort of KW do you think you might be getting over OEM?

With regards to the "bedding-in period", I'm prepared to give hime the benefit of the doubt at this stage, he has guaranteed a 100% money back offer if I'm not happy with the situation after a month or so. I can't ask for more than this. So, if the issue with the fuel consumption remains as it is after this period, I'll get the money refunded and have the car returned back to the factory tune.



AT

As with all upgrades the best bang for your buck will come from a car with forced induction.... Had mine on a dyno when it was tuned and managed 234kw and 481nm at the wheels. Stock was 167kw and 311nm..
The engine bay looks plain.... no engine cover with a vwr intake... not really much to see. My fuel usage is around 8.5L/100 less on the freeway.

Glad you have a money back if not satisfied. But you should be happy... after all if you were really looking for fuel economy then you would have a TDI not the top of the food/fuel chain R36.

Keep us posted.

[Timlin]

Mr Tweeked

Thats an impressive gain over stock! It must be quite quick! Are you happy with the performance now, or will you keep going? If its one thing I'm learning here, its hard to stop with the mods, once you start it can be difficult to stop!

Forced induction is clearly the most obvious move for a max power gain, but the costs are crazy. I've been quoted $25k for a SuperCharger upgrade, and something similar for a turbo version.

I really do like the R36 as a car and whilst I'd love to go to that next step, I'm not sure it would make economic sense. I'd probably be more inclined to sell the car and upgrade to a RS4 Avant, or, I do have an eye on a very nice RS6 Avant with lowish Km's - twin turbo V10 with 426Kw... clearly quite mad! But at around $115k for a car that was close to $300k 3.5 years ago, maybe it isn't so mad after all! If nothing else, that sure is a hell of a lot of bang for buck!

I think my license might suffer though!

You're a long time dead, and I don't think I could manage a TDI just yet, no offence meant, they're great cars/engines, just not for me quite yet. I think I prefer the view from the top of the tree/food chain, at the moment anyway!


AT

[Tweeked]

Pretty happy with stage 2, I don't think I'll go any further with the engine as traction is already an issue (FWD).. maybe an intercooler.
VWR springs, sway bars and alloy control arms are on my radar for next mods...

[Jonesy]

Peter came to Dubbo last Tuesday to tune my R36 and I am more than impressed with his service. Great price, knew his product. As Timlin mentioned there is a noticeable difference in low/mid range torque with a lot better power delivery.

I have found with mine I am getting better fuel economy. Will be taking it down the 1/8mile again on the 23rd so hopefully I will get to see an improvement on my times.

[Timlin]

Jonesy

He mentioned that he'd been in Dubbo. So far, I'm very happy with the upgrade, I think its been well worth it.

I'm planning on taking the kids to Dubbo sometime during the next school holidays. I want to do the whole Zoo thing as I was there a few weeks ago on work and I thought it was great!

I'll drop you a PM when the time gets closer and maybe we can hook up for a coffee/beer etc?

Lemme know about the 1/8 mile efforts, it'd be interesting to note the differences in times, pre-upgrade and post-upgrade.

Take care...


AT

[Jonesy]

SuperChip ECU Upgrade

I'm really happy with the upgrade. I couldn't beat the price and convenience of him coming out this way.

Yeah the zoo is a great attraction for the town. Let me know when your this way for sure.

Pre-upgrade best time was 9.18 (wagon and first time running). I have since done the tune and changed to a VWR panel filter. See if it makes a big difference or not.

[revivor]

Deleted

[Transporter]

Hi

Thanks for the reply's guys! Its always good to hear from other VW enthusiasts!

Mr Tweeked, your car sounds like a very cool upgrade, do you have any pictures of the engine bay? What sort of KW do you think you might be getting over OEM?

With regards to the "bedding-in period", I'm prepared to give hime the benefit of the doubt at this stage, he has guaranteed a 100% money back offer if I'm not happy with the situation after a month or so. I can't ask for more than this. So, if the issue with the fuel consumption remains as it is after this period, I'll get the money refunded and have the car returned back to the factory tune.

Thats not a bad deal!

Regarding the SprintBooster, I sure don't leave it on all the time as its clear that the car uses much more fuel when its engaged, but, wow, it sure is a lot of fun on either level. I think I prefer to drive it in "manual" mode when I have the SB on as it holds off the gear changes for a bit too long in most circumstances. Its a wonderful piece of kit, it really has surprised me at how much it seems to enhance the driving experience!

Drive safe...!


AT

...and if you want to be fair to the bloke who installed the Superchip, then you should remove the sprint booster and check the fuel economy under the same driving condition as before (driving normally), but that's of course if you have any fuel economy that you've recorded prior the installing the Superchip.

Checking your fuel economy while enjoying the extra power form the tune and adding the sprint booster; then your fuel economy will always be worst than before.

Just my 2c.

[Timlin]

PM sent!!

[Timlin]

Hi

Thanks for your interesting comments.

Since my previous post, I've monitored the results of 6 tanks of fuel with the SprintBooster either off, on sport, or sport +.

The results are consistent across the driving conditions. Before I had the SC upgrade I would average at around 400Km's per tank in city driving. And about 520km's for country roads - no SprintBooster.

I now get an average of 500km's + in the city per tank, regardless if the SprintBooster in on setting 1, 2 or off. And about 650km's + for country roads...

For me what the SB does is to get me to the speed limits quicker, and I then just maintain the speed limits. Contrary to what I wrote on my earlier post, it would now appear that the SB has not affected the fuel consumption of the car much at all - one way or another...

But, the SC upgrade has given me a 20% improvement on fuel consumption overall, plus, I get much, much better low end torque and responsiveness. I don't know about top speeds or really hard, high rev driving, coz I just don't do that sort of driving. I got all of that sort of stuff out of my system when I used to race go-karts...

So, as an overall statement, I would certainly verify SuperChips claims that the improve both consumption & performance.

Its probably the best $600.00 I've spent on the car so far!


Rgd's



Andrew

...and if you want to be fair to the bloke who installed the Superchip, then you should remove the sprint booster and check the fuel economy under the same driving condition as before (driving normally), but that's of course if you have any fuel economy that you've recorded prior the installing the Superchip.

Checking your fuel economy while enjoying the extra power form the tune and adding the sprint booster; then your fuel economy will always be worst than before.

Just my 2c.