Considering chipping your MkV GTI? (poll)

[aswall]

Have to say, after having rear wheel drive cars for nearly 10 yrs, I notice the torque steer on the GTI as standard let alone tuned further. All adds to the excitement though

[RedRobin]

Having not driven a VXR and only having test driven in limited time and conditions the GTI I'm clearly not qualified to comment too much. However, I am still led to believe that the GTI would handle better than the VXR if specced equally and that any torque steer is not a problem unless, of course, your expectation is rear wheel drive handling.

As Andy says, it may help to add other mods and this is why it's important to seek the advice of the professional specialists.

[Yahoo]

One clear indication as to whether a modern car can accomodate more BHP is the frequency that the ESP system is called upon when putting your foot down.

When in the dry, accelerating hard straight on, my GTI does not use ESP at all. ESP is only used either in the wet, or when I'm trying to invoke some indersteer coming out of a corner.

This suggests that the car can handle more bhp, but how much?

A bench mark would be to look at the two 'hot hatch' Astra's (the VXR 236 bhp and the 2litre Turbo 200 bhp ish). A test drive for the 200 bhp Astra commented that torque steer was evident and ESP was required more frequently than compared to the MKV GTI.

This leads me to believe that the Golf will handle an extra 40 bhp better than the 200 bhp Astra, even though, as mentioned above, you would expect some torque steer - but not as much as found in the VXR.

Also, so long as the remap has a similar shape Dyno Graph / Power Curve as for the standard car - the power delivery (although providing more torque) will remain more consistent and less abrupt than that of more 'peaky' cars - it is the abrupt surge of power that contributes to torque steer more than the eventual bhp of a given remap.

To conclude - I would expect that a MKV GTI could comfortably recieve an injection of upto 50bhp without becoming a nightmare to drive - just as long as the power delivery has the same characteristic as the standard car (as with the Superchips 'Here' or AMD remaps)

[RedRobin]

[ QUOTE ]

To conclude - I would expect that a MKV GTI could comfortably recieve an injection of upto 50bhp without becoming a nightmare to drive - just as long as the power delivery has the same characteristic as the standard car (as with the Superchips 'Here' or AMD remaps)

[/ QUOTE ]

....Exactly. And further backed up by my quote above from Milltek: When adding the MTM remap by QST Tuning "We got an extra 50bhp without a single problem".

Thanks for the post Andy....I learnt something more.

[BenjyGTI]

Sounds like 50 bhp extra is the magic number then eh

Not even taken delivery of my Golf yet and I'm already thinking of chipping it, I would have been happy if that damn Astra hadn't have been produced

Will take delivery of a Milltek soon after I get my car, so thanks for everyone's advice on getting that done first before I get it re-mapped, seems like the sensible option, anyone know of any induction kits available yet for the GTi???? Had a quick nosey online but there isn't anything unless you fancy the universal jobbies, will have to nick a length of ducting from work to get the required cold feed for the turbo engine

Oh and for all who are worried about torque steer, drive a modified Clio 172, you'll never moan about your Golf again hehe, or you could go down the Awesome GTi road and fit another 2.0 FSI Turbo engine in place of the back seats a la quattro

[CRJ_1]

AndyW - do you have any photos of the front & sides of you colour coding so we can see the full effect? I'm so close to getting this done

Has anyone had a black GTI colour coded yet?

Cheers

[CRJ_1]

Yahoo - my GTI is the same & so were the ones I test drove, all part of the styling http://www.tyresmoke.net/gallery/albuv12/Dscf1503

[allgolfdup]

is that not a standard black gti!??

[CRJ_1]

Nope Pearl, just an overcast day back in April on delivery day

[RedRobin]

....Then I 'd say the pix don't do the colour coding justice. My comment is a reflection of the lighting conditions and photo angles rather than a slur on either the photographer or the owner. I expect it looks best in real life....black is always tricky.

[allgolfdup]

i don't know if it is me being blind..but have there been any alterations to the body!the spoiler looks bigger,the side skirts stand ot more and i can't tell if the rear valance has be smoothed (colour coded)...

still looks sweet though!!

[jason_s]

hello all,

am new to this forum so go easy on me !!

ordered my first golf gti 3 weeks ago, its a nightmare of a wait !! have been down to the garage 3 times to look at the GTI..... makes me go all goosebumpy

am thinking of getter my baby chipped after shes broken in. have read all the info you have kindly given. 50 bhp is the magical number, but my question is: If i go for the stage 3 turbo with AMD (with the exhaust it makes it 270 ps) will this be overgoing it as far as torque steer probs. ie does changing the exhaust give the same probs as overchipping?

also would it be better to go with AMD or MTM ? I would want the resonated exhaust system but neither specify which milltek exhausts they fit.

many thanks

Jason

[jason_s]

also, will the dsg gearbox be able to handle the additional power?

[jason_s]

sorry, one more thing. does anyone know what sort of figures this will take the 0-60 and top speed times to in the dsg?

[RedRobin]

Welcome Jay....

There are others here with far more experience of chipping/remapping etc but, in my opinion only, I would wait until you have got to know the standard GTI a bit first (unless you already have experience of equivalents) and then look into the available options.

The tuners with major reputations such as AmD, MTM, QST (they all seem to have such names!!) are dedicated professionals who care about what they offer. They are very friendly and will offer advice if you ask.

Something not discussed much in this forum is insurance....It is ABSOLUTELY NOT worth hiding anything, unless transparent, from your insurer simply because it could totally invalid ALL your claims if discovered AND you could get blacklisted on all the insurance companies. Trouble is remapping (if of the non-transparent type) will increase both your premium and excess costs.

It's early days in performance boosts but the GTI is certainly an excellent platform for further development....Probably much better than most of its rivals. Pushing the envelope though will always have its limitations....Reliability and handling are very important (ask Kimi Raikkonen!).

Hope this helps. Sometimes it takes a while for people to respond to posts but they generally do eventually.

[Yahoo]

I would recommend that you go down to test drive the stage 3 GTI they have down at AMD. I intend to go and have a look within a couple of weeks - see what 270bhp does to steering etc.

If you particularly want a resonated or non-resonated exhaust as part of a stage 3 conversion, I'm sure they will be able to accomodate that. I think the resonated as aprox. £75 more expensive that non-resonated.

I have seen a road test of AMD's GTI (when it was 250 bhp) in one of the VW enthusiast mags - I seem to recall that the 0-60 time came down to 5.9 secs (which makes sense, there have been reports that a chipped MKV went up against a 350Z and held its own).

Also, there was a great thread on the R32 forum about the DSG box. It will handle 250bhp with no problems and should be able to exceed this. It is the actual torque figures that affect the DSG box - and AMD will dial down the torque to the appropriate maximum setting during the remap (if necessary).

Hope this helps.

[RedRobin]

Jay....Yahoo's suggestion is the best! Go and visit AmD and drive their car in Bicester just off M40 near Oxford. Although more expensive (not a lot more imo) I would recommend the Resonated exhausts. Throaty&Sporty and no motorway droning as opposed to Loud&Exciting but wake-up the neighbours and do-your-head in on motorways....Refer to other posts here....Depends what you want.

It's pretty safe to say that Milltek is numero uno for exhausts....They work very closely with AmD and others and are extremely well respected for good reasons.

Assuming you visit AmD let us know about it afterwards and enjoy the day.

[CRJ_1]

Red - no colour coding & lighting wasn't great.

Allgolfdup - It's totally stock, I'm currently looking at getting the rear & sides colour coded - not sure about the front?

What the general opinion rear & sides and leave a little black plastic up front?

Cheers

[RedRobin]

Hi CRJ....Funny you should say about front spoiler consideration - I am thinking EXACTLY the same!

As previously posted, I am definitely considering a Milltek Quad ResCatback (only +10bhp but better sound driving-aid) from Awesome. This means the rear valance has to be cut (very professionally) or totally changed - Awesome supply the Abt rear for quads. I feel that VW haven't successfully designed the standard rear treatment anyway because it's not colour coded.

If I/you change the rear, it will probably look even better to change the side valances (I prefer the Caractere to the Abt sides). If/when you change the rear and sides....you see where this is going!?....Abt do an awesome looking front spoiler (from - you guessed it - Awesome). I am attaching a photo for you (Awesome have already published their number plate extensively).

Personally I really like the look of the standard GTI front and don't mind that VW stole it from their Audi stylists ('orrible on the boring Bora though!!).

It's a tricky question and one which needs careful consideration. How will it look with 17" standard wheels for example. I'm also interested in knowing any advantage an Abt front spoiler might have to engine airflow or handling (only at high speed I would expect).

If you don't realise this already, you don't get your extra spend back on resale if modded....Which I don't personally care about! Oh, and insurance goes up on both premium and excess.

I think I might consider doing it stage by stage starting at the rear (said the bishop to the actress). Don't bother to tell me which actress....it's been covered in another post!

If we were chavs we wouldn't think twice about this would we?

[CRJ_1]

Hi Red, great pic of the Awesome GTI do you have any more of the black ones mods?

I was thinking of leaving some black plastic at the front but now not sure, thier front bumper looks real good......

I'm sticking with the stock parts for now, just looking at the colour coding options.......

I agree our chavness is probably linked to this somehow but sure it will depend on how everyone likes their GTI to look.......I saw some previous posts that mentioned if you get it colour coded it will look more like every other golf - ummm WRONG, no Golf model I've seen has colour coding as standard

[WhiteHArtMart]

Have to admit that front spoiler looks fantastic - and there's me still deciding on which options to have before he even orders his GTI. Wasn't intending on budgeting for additional items after I get the car!!!

[CRJ_1]

My only concern is that if you get the whole front coded the area around the fog lights might look a little off peak compared to the rest of the front.......

[RedRobin]

Hi CRJ....I'll post more pix for you later....Gotta get out of here!!

I agree with you....Everyone has their own ideas about what floats their boat and the GTI is a car which can be enjoyed as standard or modded - Each to their own. I doubt if a real chav would buy a GTI....Thank goodness!!

[allgolfdup]

i spoke to my dealer yesterday..he mentioned that i will definitely be able to get the rear valance in the "smoothed finish matching paint"..but he did not say anything about the side skirts or the front spoiler...if possible..i would reccomend getting the side skirting and the rear valanace done..it would resemble a rather hefty body kit!

However..he did warn that i see how it looks first before i chose to do it!

[RedRobin]

Hi golfdup....Please tell us more....Supplied colour coded from the VW factory? Or an aftermarket option from the dealer? Or done aftermarket by a pro bodyshop? Special paint (for granulated surface of stock rear)?

I reckon his 'warning' would be just him playing safe and possibility a limited imagination. Afterall we here have access to loads of images of all sorts of GTI body mods....Gee-Tee-Eye-Candy!!