When I first took delivery of my 2001 S4 sedan, I was impressed by the car but a little disappointed with the power.  My previous car was a 2000 A4 1.8T, which was a quick little car (but alas not fast enough). The S4 was deceivingly fast - you didn't realize how fast you were going until you looked down at the speedometer and realized you were already doing
95mph.  But to me, something was lacking.  At about 3000 miles I took the car in to a local performance shop and got the stage 1 GIAC chip installed while I waited.  An hour later, I took it for a test drive: WOW!  Talk about a night and day difference!  That $500 chip transforms the car into an absolute rocket ship and thus far (at 7,000 miles) there has been no sacrifice in reliability or smoothness.  After taking a few test runs, the car seemed to be a little stopped up because of the factory exhaust, so I invested another $700 for the Borla exhaust which also made a big difference.  Now the car absolutely screams.  I estimate it at about 330 HP and approx 340 ft/lbs of torque.  I have driven a friend's new BMW M3, and my S4 feels to all concerned to be the faster car by the "seat of the pants" comparison.  If you have an S4, I would chip it and change the factory exhaust for sure.  Best $1200 I have ever spent.

By: Michael    Email: mgmays@greatgearonline.com   (Mar-02)

Make & model of car the product was used on: 2001 A6 2.7

ECU & Tip Chip


For the record, I have driven over 12,000 miles with the GIAC ECU & Tip Chip and I have nothing but good things to report.  The car screams and the Tip chip is the perfect compliment to the ECU Chip.  In fact, you wouldn't want the ECU without the Tip.  The tip Chip advances the auto-shift pattern and the transmission shifts much faster and more aggressively.  Along with the K&N air filter, I'm probably getting 310 HP.   Just give your turbos time to cool after a hard run.  Thinking about doin the exhaust thing, but I' also thinking about waiting for the RS6 which should be hitting the US in coming months

By: Bryan Harris   Email: bryan@dilling-harris.com   (Jun-02)

Make & model of car the product was used on: 2002 A6 2.7T Tip

ECU + Tip Chip

Like the other chips, an increase in boost combined with optimized ignition and fuel timing is absolutely wonderful in these bi-turbo cars. But, when combined with the Tip transmission ECU chip, the transformation is awesome. The increase in thrust mated to quicker and firmer shifts is the perfect match. No flaring of the shifts as with a stock Tip under increased boost. No flaring equals longer transmission life also. I drove with just the Tip chip for a week (no ECU chip) and it is a big improvement over stock programming. Whether in "D", "S", or Tip mode, all shifts under boost are much improved. As with the chips, during little or no boost, you can not tell it is there. This is a worthwhile improvement, worth every penny IMHO. This makes the Tip equipped cars perform much closer to their manual trans brothers, but without the clutch abuse. If you have ever thought about chipping, do it. If you have a Tip transmission, get the Tip chip, even if you are not going to install an engine chip. It is the only way to fly. By the way, I can't say enough about Mike and Todd at AWE. They do a great job, and always do what they say!

I just purchase a GIAC chip from AWE Tuning in Willow Grove, PA. They did the install and everything.  These guys really know what they are doing and they are very professional. I would recommend going there. The chip is fantastic. My car has much more power throughout the RPM range. It's like driving a different car. It even has power with the A/C on. This is how it should have came from the factory. The turbo spools up faster and at 3,000 RPM at half throttle there is a rush of power all the way up to 7,000 RPM. What can I say, it was money well spent.