Where to begin? Well lets start with why I did this then I will get into the juicy details. Bear with me as this is going to be quite long and detailed and feel free to email me with any comments or questions.

Recently at a CT/NY A4 group meeting Peter Brennan allowed me to put his "Spare ECU" APR chip from his manual '99 1.8T Avant in my '99.5 post July 1.8T. For the record he said his '99 Avant had only been chipped for a day before he needed to pull it out and have some service(not chip related) to his car. Also for the record, APR's method of leave the key in for 3-5min in the one click from on, was used.

I took my car out with the APR chip and a fellow group member, Mitch C. We were impressed at the APR's boost vs. stock in gears 1st thru 3rd, but once we got on the highway the car felt as if it were stock. In 4th and 5th gears I was looking for some boost, and felt little to none. It was not until we took an exit and got the car back in 1st to return to the group meeting area that I felt the boost again. My initial comments on the APR and still to this day after that 30-45min experience with the APR chip was that it was smooth and it transformed gears 1-3 but did nothing for 4-5 and left Mitch C. and confused and still looking for that seat of the pants, full 1.0 bar boost experience. Upon returning, we were going to put the APR chip into Mitch's '99.5 PRE-July 1.8T but because of the effort needed, and because my engine was hot and
Mitch has an ALMOST identical car to me, I let Mitch and his son David go out for a drive in my still chipped A4. (Note the car DID idle for a
period during this time so I believe that the throttle calibration did happen either way) Mitch C. comes back and instead of telling me how exciting the APR chip was or anything even about the chip, he tells me that my shifter is the greatest and he almost thought something was
wrong with his "notchy" pre-July shifter. Then we discussed the change and realized that I had one of the NEW post-July shifters and everyone was interested and upset that they still had the push down reverse. To quote Mitch, he said that my shifter "feels just like the smoothness of the BMW shifters now" I was very proud of my post-July 1.8T =)So to wrap this part up and move on to the next, APR made us eager to chip, but still looking for the "right" one.

Next 4 of us, Jeff F(JT), myself, Mitch C. and his son, all went out in Jeff's MTM/Hoppen Stage 2 '99 1.8T. This thing HAULED. Jeff says he is getting about 210-212hp at the flywheel. considering we had 4 people in the car, it did a great job accelerating on the highway. Now Mitch and I were REALLY confused! Was it the different chip or the exhaust/Stage 2 setup? The catback exhaust only adds 10-15hp. So we guessed that because of the free flowing exhaust it allowed
Jeff's car to perform better in 4th and 5th gear. We WERE WRONG. It was the chip quality.

These events caused me to start searching the web and a4.org and search out dyno charts and seek as much info on all the different chips as possible. I was now leaning AWAY from APR, and more towards Hoppen/Wett. After speaking with Kelly Kay at Wett I got on the list for them to send me a stock ecu while I ship my ecu to them so that I have no downtime on my car. I was hoping Wett would provide me with the boost and drivability I was looking for. Then I stumbled on Andy Hedin's post....

Ok, the part you are waiting for; this Saturday, Aug 28th.

After reading how Andy ditched his Wett chip for the Garrett, I said "I don't want to make that mistake." So even though I don't know you Andy, I have read lots of your posts, and I took your opinion/review of the Garrett chip at full face value. I was not let down. It was the best $400 I ever spent. In fact I think I can safely say it feels like I just bought a new car for $400!

So I drive down from CT to Philly, PA. 4 hours, nice drive to have last memories of a stock A4 and to get my mileage up closer to 5000. The weather was excellent varying from mid 80's to mid 90's throughout the day. I arrived at AWE about 10 min before 4pm. I have never been to the "burbs" of Philly before, only in the city, and I must say it was quite nice. The cobble/brick streets are interesting, but I could do without the left over trolley rails in the road. Also for the record, right before getting to AWE I stopped at a Sunoco that offered 94 Octane, and filled up with that.

I walked into the AWE garage, and met Todd, and then this guy comes up to me and is like "Hi, I'm Garret Lim, I got your emails and your name is uncommon so it stood out, nice to met you." I was like WOAH, how LUCKY is this, I come down to set Todd at AWE and get my car chipped and Garrett is here to talk do and do all the work for me! WOO HOO!

So we started talking and kinda forgot about chipping my car. I found out so much from Garrett, about the new throttle by wire cars. He has already successfully done the throttle by wire TT chip(other chips cut out after 5min of boost) and while I was there a Turbo Beatle showed up and Garrett was going to also do its throttle by wire chip. I learned so much from listening to Garrett, and this made me feel even more confident about my chip selection/purchase.

So I watch Garrett download the program to my new chip, desolder my old one, solder in the socket, all of it, I got to watch and learn. Then we put the chip in and let it idle for 3-4min with the engine ON. After this I took it out for a quick spin, the car felt awesome! I mean this is a TRUE 1.0bar chip, there is no questioning it. I only got up to third gear, so 4th-5th would have to wait till the highway. That was the true test I was waiting for, but Garrett assured me it would please me. Also in my "test" drive I chirped all four wheels in a shift from 1st to 2nd!! So quick first impressions were, true 1.0bar, true 47hp increase, GOBS of power and torque. Also the stock exhaust sounds MUCH better and I love the whizzz of the turbo. Like I said before its like a "new car" It is also important to note that I had no(ZERO) pinging and that I feel the car shifts as smoothly or smoother(esp. 1st to 2nd) than stock. Also I installed the new chip at 4559 miles just incase anyone cares.

I came back to AWE with a HUGE grin on my face. I spoke with Garrett a little more and paid Todd for the upgrade. While I was there, Chris K.(who posts here and should be posting today about his
experience) pulled up in his '99 TAP stage 2 1.8T tiptronic. He came in to get replace his TAP stage 2 with a Garrett 1 bar and a tip chip. I
have a feeling that Chris's automatic is going to be DAMN fast now(well for an automatic that is ;)

So time comes and as hard as it is for me I have to leave. Have a long trip home. Off to the highway I am! WOW THIS IS THE CHIP! THANK
YOU GARRETT, THANK YOU ANDY! It pulls HARD in EVERY gear! Even in 5th it pushes you back in your seat. I am SO happy with the chip and my car. I am not trying to bash anyone, but the APR chip does not have what this chip as. I know they are the current "hype" but I really do feel bad for what the APR, TAP and neuspeed owners are
missing out on. Like I said, I am not bashing or flaming anyone, but I think you should give this chip a test or ride in someone else's car because you WILL want one. For this amount of money you
should get a chip that performs as advertised.
AWE has had a handful of chipped cars both k04
and k03(I am not going to mention chip names) on their dyno and they said some are a joke and some do deliver the perfromance claimed. Garrett also feels that his chip is VERY close to the performance of some of the k04 kits out there.

I can't even explain to you how transformed my car is now. On the long drive home I toasted a BMW 328i and a Lexus(not sure what model but
he did better than the BMW) on the highway on the ride home. The Lexus thought he could take me, no chance, I beat him in 4th gear and when I hit 5800(the shift point) and went to 5th I left him far and long behind. He was nice and flashed me and later acknoledged his defeat. None of the Audis I saw would race with me, 50% were driven by
women, but the other half laughed or waved me on, not sure why, because they couldn't have known I was chipped......anyways to sum it up, my quest for a full 1 bar chip proved worthy and I feel bad for the people that got sucked into all the hype that surrounds some of the other chips.

Other things to note:
Garrett moved the rev limiter to 7100rpm per my request and removed the speed gov. so my top speed is 160mph now.

The Garrett chip is now on version 24. He has an endless commitment and to improving his chip to its fullest potential.

Bosch and Audi Germany are sending him '00 TT and '00 Audi A4 European 180hp ecu's to work with. I saw them with my own eyes.

Under normal driving I am averaging 3-4 mpg BETTER than before the chip.

Neat things that Garrett told me:
"Its hard to fool some parts of the car and get a full 1.0 bar 14.1psi boost. Many other chips will cut out at a certain rpm or speed, where mine[Garrett 1.0bar] is full boost throughout."

"Some of the new ECU's coming out are encased in ceramic when you pop it open, so future programing may have to be entirly thru the VAG serial port." This is something that Garrett also has experience in.

He is VERY smart/knowledgeable of both VW/Audi/Porsche/BMW tuning. He is ALSO very knowledgeable of fuel mapping, ECU coding, performance tweaking etc.

I talked to him about Med school and the effect it could have on his support of his chips. He will continue to do this EVEN with residency(he has 1 year left in med school) and he is VERY dedicated to his customers. And support will not be an issue.

The upgrade software to go with a k04 turbo is only $20. I also got a spare stock chip to replace if I ever mail my Garrett chip to get software updated. I believe if you needed to get a new ecu(new car etc) socketed it is either $20 or $40, I forgot.

Garrett/AWE Pricing:
The spare ecu would be $689 shipping included. For a socket installed on your ecu it would be $400 + the cost of shipping 1 way(to him).
To drive to AWE in Philly, PA it costs $400+tax for the socket or a total of $428 even. It was totally worth the drive, esp. because got to meet
Garrett and have him do all the work for me in person.

Ok now for two negatives:
#1: I got to see what Don P. has a picture of on his website, and what others have mentioned. The GLOWING RED Turbo!! WOW in the darkness it is SO RED, kinda scary, I hope the installation of a new catback exhaust(leaning towards APR's) will help prevent this a little. I am giving the car 2 min idle to cool down after a "spirited" drive with the new chip.

#2: Lucky for me I didn't see any Police, but I am scared now. Need to get myself a Valentine 1 ASAP.

My car:
1999.5 1.8T QMS Spoiler/Garrett 1 Bar ~4900miles.

Links for refrences(to help):
Garrett: http://www.giacusa.com/welcome.html
AWE: http://www.awe-tuning.com/
APR: http://www.goapr.com/Home/home.html
Wett: http://www.chip-tuning.com

Garrett 1 Bar Dyno Graph from a FWD:
http://www.giacusa.com/images.dir/18.jpg


Hope my post helps ANYONE newbie or vet to make
an educated chip decision. Wating and reseaching is WORTH your time to find the right chip for you, your car and your driving style.

-Jenner