Brianz24

Just picked up my brand new '99 Audi A4 1.8TQ last night. . I'd like to purchase a chip/filter upgrade for the A4 (more power!). I'm brand new in the Audi world, and the first thing I've noticed is that there are a wealth of different chips for this car/engine!

I would greatly appreciate it if someone would give me some insight as to which is the best (performance and value) chip to get. I've read a couple of sites so far, incluing TAP and APR.... But of which claim similar performance numbers.

I'm looking for something that's also reliable, as this is my daily driver.

Additionaly, a friend has recommended that I purchase a spare ECU at this time. Is that something that I can buy later on down the line when I'm ready to get rid of the car? Would it be available and reasonably priced?

Any thoughts will be appreciated!

Thanks. Brian

Rodney

Best chip? That remains strictly a matter of opinion. Different chips move in and out of favor here every couple of months. Best value probably goes to Neuspeed/Greedspeed (they use the same chip), about $200 for .8 bar. I've ridden in a car with a Neuspeed chip and it's a big improvement over stock, but I've ridden in cars with other chips (.8 and 1.0 bar) and they were even quicker (but also more expensive). For reliability, no hard data yet (these cars are just too new), but early indications seem to be good).

You can buy a spare ecu (~$900 from Audi I think). If you buy it in a package with a chip, some companies offer a MUCH better deal (ie. ~$600 for both).

Also, check out the archives...tons of info, and read the reprint of the European Car article comparing 4 chips, it's posted in the news archive.

Regards,
Rodney

'99 A4 1.8tqms

bew

an audi dealer salesperson offered a chip upgrade to 180 HP for $995. It includes: chip, labor, K&N filter,"turbo spring", "retuning", and what I found most interesting -- it would be covered under warranty as they do this and continue to service the cars.

My question is: how easy is it for dealers to discover the chip change? What does it do to the new car warranty? When chipping, do you need to add the spring and "retune"? Thanks.

Rodney

What does chipping do to the warranty? Well, that's kind of a trick question. Technically, as I understand it, Audi must prove that the change (chip in this case) caused XYZ problem to deny warranty coverage on that item. In reality, if your service manager says XYZ repair isn't covered because you have a chip, what are you going to do? It would probably cost more in money and aggravation to have a lawyer battle it out for you than to pay for the repair. Most dealers seem to be pretty reasonable about it, but I've heard about some real jerks here (for example, a dealer trying to deny warranty service because someone had gone to 225/50/16 tires as opposed to the stock 205/55/16). Feel out the service manager on the topic of performance mods...most seem to have a don't ask / don't tell policy, and won't give you a hard time unless you have something like a blown turbo.

How easy is it for them to discover a chip? Another trick question. In most cases, very easy...just open up the ECU box and see the solder marks or socket. How likely are they to do this? It won't happen. IF there is a problem with the ECU, they would probably ship it back to Audi, who would then open it to try to identify the problem...and THEY would see it. But if you had a bad ECU, I'd say send it back to the tuner to be fixed. Other than that, when you disconnect the ECU from power, it registers a power loss fault that will appear on the screen of their diagnostic tool. Of course, that could be caused by disconnecting the battery for any number of reasons, such as installing a cd changer for the stereo. Some chips used to list their name and version number, but I think most companies have stopped doing that.

You don't need to do anything else when chipping, unless the tuner who supplied the chip to you tells you to. Just plug it in and go, actually most require a few minutes to adapt or whatever, but that's pretty much it.

I'd be interested to learn more about the dealer installed option, if you could email me with the dealer's contact info., that would be great.

Regards,
Rodney

'99 A4 1.8tqms

red

What Audi dealer does this. Are they in the US? Where are they?

bew

Rodney, Thank you for responding to my chip questions. I am reluctant to name the dealer contact because it would quite possibly cause him and his customers problems. When I spoke to this dealer rep. and discussed the car, he brought up the subject of chipping and I asked about the warranty status. bew