Kevin B

Has anyone read the Perspective section of the December European Car (with the TT on the cover)? The author dumps on chipping on specifically the 1.8T motor saying that a chipped A4 1.8T is "worse than stock" because "it made what was a pretty nice engine feel as though it was constantly on the edge of falling apart. There were soggy spots on the power curve, strange surges and hesitations, and a rough idle. It was dynamite on the dyno, pure gold when judged by the stopwatch, and sheer torture in the real world. And if it was indeed raising peak power substantially, it was also pushing vital components nearer or beyond their design limits." Being a somewhat new A4 owner ready to chip my car, I am a little worried about this. Is this guy totally full of it, or are these chips not what they seem to be(easy, inexpensive, and relatively says ways to boost performance)? I don't want to do it if a mere 50 hp is going to self destruct my engine and cause it to run rough, etc. What do you think of this guy's views?<br>

Zsolt

Let's try to argue based on facts. <p>1. There is nothing wrong with chipping the 1.8T to 180 hp, because that's what Audi did.<br>2. Considering, that there must be tolerances built into a car for the ignorant masses (for people who do not maintain their cars, abuse them, run bad gas etc) I am sure one can safely extend the power further, provided that you take GOOD care of your car: synthetic, good maintenance etc. How far is safe? Dunno. 10% gives you almost 200 horses.<br>3. Then you get into the heavy stuff, like 14lb. boost on a stock engine, bigger turbo,stage gazillions. I am sure it is safe to say certain parts will be stressed and maybe even beyond their limits, but ... so what? You will want an other car before this one wears out I am sure. On the Mobil site they tell you about their Million Mile test: ran a 325 for a freakkin' 1,000,000 miles with Mobil 1 oil, and internal parts were as good as new. Cut that by 50% and you still get fun for a longer time then you would ask for.<br>4. And for sure there are instances when mods go awry and your warranty will not cover them. I am not sure how many of these happens. There were people heavily modded and when the wastegate rod broke it was covered as it is a common prob. So? I'd say go for it, I sure will. S**t happens either way.

Andrew H

First, you must specify which chip. Tuners such as Hoppen have been chipping Audis for years. I went with a Wetterauer 1.0 bar chip recently, and I am VERY PLEASED. It improves puttering around as well as stomping on it because there is always just a bit more power to tap into across the whole range. I occaisionally notice a SLIGHT blip in power, but for the most part it is at least as smooth as STOCK, PLUS it drives better because there is more power to pull on. The engine with 5 valve technology is designed to boogie, in my opinion. Once you chip your car, you will understand that it is definitely worth it. Most people agree the turbo can handle the added boost, and even if I have to pay a grand to replace the turbo in a few years, I will just use it as an excuse to BUY A BIGGER TURBO!!! (That would require higher flow exhaust as well I believe). The car is a dream. The WETT chip, HOPPEN and TAP all have supporters, and this board basically agrees that the NEUSPEED chip is a good deal for the money, but it might not be as smooth....<br>Good luck!<br>Andrew

EricB

Did you also notice in the article on the TT it calls the stock 150 HP version "vastly underrated"? I agree with Zsolt's first point (in part based on the information in that same article about the differences betweenthe stock, 180 HP, and 225 HP versions of the 1.8T engine) and plan to chip my car to 180 HP after the 10 kmi service. A production car is a balance between many factors: speed vs. economy, ride comfort vs. cornering ability, cost vs. reliability etc. etc. By chipping you are moving the balance towards performance, and it is not unexpected to find some adjustment in the other areas (e.g. maybe idle is rougher at times). TANSTAAFL<p>Also, I would not buy a chip that didn't publish its torque and HP curves. Anybody can raise peak power, but what you want to see is a uniform increase in the torque curve.<p>EricB<p>98 1.8TQMS

MikeS

:-)

? and The Mysterians

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The grammer king

If you are going to write in Deutsch, please spell correctly. WAS IST DAS?

Sergio C.

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch! -

Todd W

<br>Ick leeba mine kwatro !!!!!!<p>

Tony

I really think that the guy who wrote the article is full of it. In the may issue of the same magazine (European Car), they had a comparison test on 1.8t performance chips. They loved the chips and recommended them to everyone. They had graphs comparing the chips as well as a decent write up. I'm not sure why the contrast in opinions. I agree with him in part, I wouldn't chip the car past 220 hp without changing the turbo and other engine components. The rest sounds like he based his opinions on one experience that he might of had with an out of tune chipped 1.8T. It's wrong for him to state that all chipped A4s are like that. <p><br>Tony 98.? 1.8 QTM no chip yet