I recently purchased a 2003 A6 2.7T with Tiptronic and would like to add a chip to boost performance. I am still very confused by all the different brands and warranty implications after reading threads in the archives. What is the best solution for my model and should I consider buying a chip and ecu to keep my original in case of a warranty issue.

Thanks.

 

warranty only on the items you change, and those items directly effected downstream. That means ECU, turbos, cats, tranny, and potentially the pistons. The law is on your side if you check out the Moss Magsnusson act, but Audi already has a head start in documenting how chips exceed the manufacturers limits. Some chip makers ( AMS/Abt for sure ) offer reduced torque chips for Tip cars to keep torque within limits specified by ZF ( the trans maker ).

'03 chips are only starting to reach the market in some cases. You will need the ecu number to ensure you get the right version.

Here are my overall impressions. Others may have different experience so feel free to chime in.

Neuspeed - Usually not the smoothest or the strongest, but they are almost always the least expensive. May set off higher than normal DTCs, but rarely causes mechanical harm.

APR - Offers an extensive range of programming options and the ability to switch between them. Decent all around performer. Longest continous history of offering the switching system.

GIAC - Starting to offer programming options like APR. Slightly more aggressive power compared to APR, but sometimes at the expense of making their early customers their test subjects.

MTM/Hoppen - Usually accepted as the most aggressive programming for any single application. Fuss free for most owners from a minor irritation standpoint, but hard on the car mechanically. Works as advertised. Base programming comes from Germany.

Abt/AMS - German tuning from the world's largest VW and Audi tuner. Slightly lower state of tune than MTM, usually with lowest boost/most power combination for the 2.7t. Since the chips must be adapted from German programs, often slow to market with new versions.

OCT - Austrian company new to North America. Looks to have solid background and medium strength output. Only downside is that the importer here does not have a test or repair facility.

I'll state up front that I work for AMS, and do so because when I worked at the dealership, they seemed to have the fewest problems and the best relationship with the service dept.

 

Hey there verdi girl!! Tell me why not having a shop (like OCT) is a big deal

 

indepth here, and will need to rely on a remote diagnosis or the customer will need to wait until the ecu is sent ot Europe for troubleshooting. OCT and Strat seem to have a fairly good record, but their market penetration seems to be small, so only time will tell what will happen when the sample set gets larger.

 

Do you know what it peaks and then tappers down to per chance? I've seen it in some past posts IIRC, but I wanted to confirm.

TIA for the info if you have it,

-st

 

but isn't everyone doing remote diagnosis anyway?

 

<ul><li><a href="http://www.advancedmotorsport.com/abt/datenblatter/audi/B50_127_310_AGB.PDF">In German unfortunately</a></li></ul>

 

Sometimes you have multiple variables.

An example is a recent job with an S4 running stage 5 software. The hardware was externally sourced. The install was done by a shop far removed. The customer had a number for DTCs and thought it might be the software. By carefully backtracking the process on a car in the shop for that purpose, we could figure out that the wastegates were not set at all before installation.

In other cases the ecu exhibits strange characteristics that aren't normal in 99.99% of chips sold. The only way to figure it out for sure, is to install that customer's ecu in a car and see whether it is a software fault, ecu fault, or hardware fault.

The problem is that you run into many variables when you use different hardware combinations and don't know the condition of the car on which they are installed.

 

very true! If I were a tuner, I would charge big $$ for non-standard cars

 

I wish they posted boost figures too - thanks for the info though! : )