Polo GTI ECU flash done...

[way]

The missus took her city car to Volkspower for a bit of power upgrade today, specifically to do an APR flash on it. She had the same thing previously on her Golf GTI and loved the torque.

Anyway I just drove the car for a short distance before, all I can say is wow! Previously I felt that the car needed a bit more go, especially as the DSG changes down the gears at such low revs. I always felt that I had to really put my foot down. Now I'm happy with the car's torque and power! Great job Guy, and thanks!

[Mike]

I was actually just thinking "I wonder if anyone on these forums goes to Volkspower in Burwood"
Never been there myself but plan to get the APR tune done there aswell as maybe some other things when they are released.
Did they do you a deal at all? Or just RRP?

[Frostee]

Would love to know the process involved and time taken.

Price?

[way]

Have no idea of the process involved, beyond that the car was dropped of and Dean did his thing lol. Price was $1395 but the end of financial year sale meant that there was a 15% discount on it. Took about two hours in total but the missus didnt wait and went of the Chadstone to shop with her friend lol.

It's really night and day between stock and APRed!

[Gambit]

damn, well done, sounds like a blast!

[way]

damn, well done, sounds like a blast!

I'm going to sound like an APR shareholder after this, but seriously, it's worth every cent if you can spare the money. I'm used to much faster cars than the Polo GTI, and felt that the stock car was just a little lacking in torque and power. Now I think it is great, with enough low end torque to shame many faster cars in day to day driving!

[ATYPIC]

I contacted John from DNA and got a quick summary of his ecu upgrade. He sounds like a genuine guy and his mobile service makes it easier and difficult to refuse so I'll be arranging an appointment next week.

$930... and his upgrade is covered with a 14 day money back guarantee.

This will be exciting!!

[Frostee]

Is the DNA solution switchable? I recall the APR solution enabled you to switch between a couple of modes (if I recall there was stock, 95RON, 98 RON and Valet). This selectable feature is a winner in my book.

[ATYPIC]

Is the DNA solution switchable? I recall the APR solution enabled you to switch between a couple of modes (if I recall there was stock, 95RON, 98 RON and Valet). This selectable feature is a winner in my book.

I believe it is switchable on the GTI but not the 77tsi.

As long as I have the option to switch between stock and tuned that's all that matters to me. I don't really need the extra options.

[DoggieHowser]

Wait a minute!?? You can reflash a 77TSI? what about the Golf 77TSI?

[Corey_R]

*shakes heads*

lol... you guys should really just look at the sites of the tuners and get the info directly instead of always confusing each other.


As for the information about "is the tune switchable".
(John, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). The DNA tune allows you to switch between one or two levels of tune and the stock tune, by using a hand held device called the SRS-II (optionally available) to reflash the ECU whenever you would like. This has the advantage on cars such as the Golf R/TT-S/newer Audi S3's etc where there is not enough memory on the ECU to hold multiple tunes at once and switch via the Cruise Control stalk.

However, in the case of cars where the ECU needs to be removed to be "bench flashed" due to whatever technical reason, such as way's Polo GTI discussed in this thread, I don't believe the hand-held devices currently work - or at least not to the level where you could have a blanket statement of "it'll work on any car".

[broxigar1983]

*shakes heads*

lol... you guys should really just look at the sites of the tuners and get the info directly instead of always confusing each other.

shh, makes for interesting reading while at work

[ATYPIC]

lol... you guys should really just look at the sites of the tuners and get the info directly instead of always confusing each other.

However, in the case of cars where the ECU needs to be removed to be "bench flashed" due to whatever technical reason, such as way's Polo GTI discussed in this thread, I don't believe the hand-held devices currently work - or at least not to the level where you could have a blanket statement of "it'll work on any car".

LOL!! The below is a statement that might imply otherwise.

As per my other thread in the sponsor section requesting test cars for our SRS-II unit; the new range of the 1.4TSI's are now supported in the latest SRS-II firmware - but not the 77 TSI as that is a different ECU altogether.

[Corey_R]

My comment about confusion was mainly aimed at the 77TSI comments. To answer DoggieHowser's question, yes, it can be.

As for the quote from John you put in red. I've seen that. As I said in my post, I'm happy for John (of DNA tuning) to correct me. But if a car cannot be flashed via the ODB port, as per way's Polo GTI, then I'm not sure what good a hand held unit would be.

Again... to clarify, I'm not saying that the SRS-II won't work on any Polo GTI. I'm just saying that if companies with professional ODB tuning hardware need to remove the ECU on specific Polo GTI's to bench flash them, then I don't believe the hand-held units will work on these specific Polo GTI's either (and they certainly haven't from any other brand in the past either).

[ATYPIC]

But if a car cannot be flashed via the ODB port, as per way's Polo GTI, then I'm not sure what good a hand held unit would be.

I don't know the intricacies of all this ecu flash jargon and I'm certainly not disagreeing with your viewpoint but John has already stated the upgrade will be done via the ODB port. That's good enough for me.