I have been considering getting my 2001 A4, 1.8 Turbo chipped for better performance. I would appreciate some recommendations as to which are the best chips, and also, has the performance boost been worth the money? I would also like to know how it has affected fuel economy. My guess is it probably lowered mpg. TIA
Try MRC at
I have a 1 bar APR chip in my 98.5 1.8TQM. If your car is running well the chip will make a very impressive difference. Worth the money? Oh yeah.
Mileage. Most chips will optimize the engine over the full RPM range and will allow a somewhat leaner burn at lower engine speeds. So, if you keep your foot off the 'ON' button and drive conservatively, the chip will likely improve your mileage.
OTOH, if you can't resist the temptation to play with your new found performance your mileage will certainly drop.
Recommendations on which chip to get will vary with almost everyone you ask. You should do some research and choose one based on your own goals and driving preferences. As with any performance mods, more performance will cost more $$$.
I would suggest you research the FAQ section of the A4 forum on AudiWorld. A word of caution is that if you just post the question of which chip is best you will get flamed.
Haywood wrote:
APR, GIAC, Upsolute, Neuspeed, Revo etc etc - your choice is wide. They all do pretty much the same thing, some are a bit more aggressive than others. In short, there doesn't appear to be a clear winner.
Suggest you enquire as to what it might do to your insurance premium before you commit yourself & check out
I.
Further to the previous suggestions, there are also a few companies that will send you a plug in for the OBD port that will effectively "chip" the car for around 5 hours of driving time, then the software goes back to factory original.
It might be worth investigating that option first to see the kind of performance you might expect, bearing in mind that as each car is different (even on the same model), it is worthwhile taking it to a specialist so that they can run the appropriate tests first to determine the optimum settings for your particular engine configuration.
HTH
"Haywood" wrote
The most important thing when chipping: go with a local tuner. This way, should anything go wrong (not to say that it will, but it happens), they can quickly take care of you and you're not stuck for several days while you ship your ECU back to the tuner. Other than that, take your pick: APR, GIAC, Neuspeed - they're all pretty much comparable.
As far as mpg, if you drive conservatively, you may actually notice your mpg to get better, but then again, who buys a chip to drive conservatively, right?
Cheers,
Pete
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