OK, here it is, done about 40 miles in it since fitment, this is the dual channel CRDT-2 box (rated 235PS)
Firstly, my car has been running a bit sh!tty in the 50 miles pre-box. Smack in the middle of a spell of DPF regenning, last night I had to give my cousin a jump-start when he flattened his battery in Newcastle City Centre last night and called me up, in prime pub-kicking out time. Spent 20 mins crawling around the 1/2 mile of road surrounding the Central train station, which made things worse and then 10 mins of 2000 rpm idling while he tried to get his sh!tty Citroen people carrier to splutter into life.
After a short spell at the Metrocentre this morning, I headed out to DTUK when Andrew confirmed he could meet me (and save me waiting for the postie on Tuesday). After getting there, Andrew fitted the box off his Skoda onto mine to see how it runs (set at 4+1, Andrews recommended top setting). The industrial estate consists of a 3/4 mile long road, and it was empty, so I did a quick spurt to 80mph and back down to sensible levels. Huge difference. Did same on the way back. Andrew then put the software onto the new box and fitted it to my car. Repeated the blast along the industrial estate, my box seemed a tiny bit better, or maybe I was just more confident in it's use. Came back, then had a chat with Andrew about TDIs we've had in the past etc (for about an hour!!!)
Firstly, I would say that I prefer this box to the TDI-tuning box I trialled - they are 2 very different animals.
The TDI-tuning box is raw and savage, some people might prefer that, but for me a sudden surge of power that causes wheelspin at 60mph in 3rd when you put your foot down is a bit of a widow-maker. At times with that box on setting 7, I felt I could quite easily James Dean the car.
The CRDT-2 has a much smoother and linear development of power - as smooth as the GTD's stock power range, but just more of it. Unlike my experiences with the TDI-tuning box, the idling was as smooth as stock - I experienced lumpy idling with the TDI-tuning box, but Buddy hadn't noticed on his. When we took my dad's TDI-tuning box off his MK5 GT 170 to trade in for his DSG GTD, his idling became smoother.
The car ran at the hot end of the spectrum for the 40 miles (24 miles home and 16 miles going to pick the missus up from work) I drove around on after fitting the box (minimum 95C, but staying at 102C for a good 10 mins, and then being happy to be sat around 97-98C for most of the time). I wasn't sure whether the running hot was down to me booting it a bit, or whether it was a continuation of the DPF regen that had been going on. I do think my stock GTD was running on the cold side, as if this was the main cause of my slightly poor mpg and frequent DPF regen.
A few days will tell if the boxed GTD has a preference for running at 95-97C, as my Scirocco did, if so, I might see my mpg and regen interval improve on that score alone.
The car feels complete now, like it was meant to be. At stock i'm feeling it is no faster than my Scirocco 170TDI.
Got onto the A19 at Killingworth, up a long and steep sliproad from the road below. Me and a Civic Type R got on the 2 lane sliproad at the same time and I annihilated the R. It was trying very hard, but not even close. Those things have no torque so maybe a standard GTD would outdo them up a hill (just).
Got home and 90 mins later I went to pick up the missus from work (overtime). On my rolling start run onto the coast road, for which I have measured previous cars performance against by the speed at which I pass a sign, I managed 88mph (it was quiet and I took it straight back down to 75
), compared to 81mph average on my GTD and 83mph average on my Scirocco.
The other thing that seems to have improved my drive is pull away from a standstill. The worst thing about the auto handbrake is that I always pull away ultra cautiously until after the autohold has fully let go - it feels like if you give it some for a quick getaway then you'll stall (it probably won't but it feels that way). My car doesn't feel like that any more, the car feels like it'll easily overcome the bite of the autohold for a better getaway. You've got to have a bit of restraint in 2nd - seems the easiest point of an acceleration move to wheelspin if you're not careful.
Over the moon with the box, and on the assumption that I won't get any more regens than I get already (time will tell), i'll have no regrets at all.
I reset my MFD "since start" mpg reading when I left DTUK. It had been an abysmal 41mpg due to all the regenning which followed the previous night's events. By the time I got home (24 miles later), it was up to 55mpg. I suspect that like the TDI-tuning.co.uk box, the indicated mpg will be somewhere in the region of 15% optimistic at the higher settings, making an actual 47mpg far more likely (about what I would have expected from stock with as much hooning around as I did from a hot start).
I will keep you updated with actual mpg/regen info. In fact I might top the car back up tomorrow just so we can see a "whole tank" mpg that isn't biased by the sh!tty run I had between filling up and fitting the box.
