GTD+

[Buddy]

Had to do a part fill at a motorway service stop this week so put in exactly 20 litres rather than fill up at those prices. Anyway filled to the brim again yesterday and that was 46 litres.

Total of 66 litres got me 685 miles.
14.58 gallons. So 47 mpg.

Quite a lot of motorway, using ACC more often than not (set to ECO). Plus some around town stuff.

The tuning box as I mentioned above has been in top setting for a while and the car has over 2.2k on it now. It seems to me that a combination of the car loosening up and the ecu calibrating itself to my driving characteristics with the box on has resulted in slightly improved power/torque delivery. V pleased with the extra beans!

MH: how much was the return postage mate? Did you use standard Royal mail? I am still planning to send mine back for the dual channel

It sounds like you're already noticing the difference without the box mate, and surely with having to press harder on the throttle for longer it'll worsen your MPG. £80 is not a lot at all over the course of the year, plus you've already made the outlay for the box.

As soon as I can get the cash together I'll be installing one in mine. Although will need to check with Admiral first about the implications.

Thanks for keeping this thread updated with such detail. Think you, mcmaddy and I should organise a meet up if you do keep the box to see how much faster the box is

You might have to change insurers to get the box if Admiral don't like you having the box. Brokers are generally the way to go with mods. Get your lowest quote on a comparison site without and then get brokers to come as close to that as possible. If it ends up doubling your premium you might think twice about having it (or declaring it).

Less throttle used with the box doesn't mean less fuel used as it uses more fuel at any given throttle pedal travel than without the box. The delivery of the whole stock throttle range seems squeezed into the first 3/4 of the throttle when you have the box on, with much more power to extract beyond. The box makes a hell of a difference to your power and torque, but no mpg gains using it normally, in my case.

Maybe I need to treat my GTD a little meaner. I hoofed it home today and literally lost 1mpg (indicated) for my troubles vs taking it easy yesterday. Driving a bit meaner might keep the active DPF regens at bay by raising your exhaust temp for a larger proportion of your journey.

If I saw the mpg increases their website claims trade on, I wouldn't even think about sending it back.

[monkeyhanger]

Buddy: Return postage was £6.95, Special delivery. If you want full insurance for the cost of the unit then it doesn't get any cheaper because the add on insurance will eat up the cost savings (Checked out a number of parcel sending options, f**k, i'm tight!  ).

I only sent the physical box back, whereas you'll be sending back the box and the harness, but the threshold size to jump up another pricing tier is bigger than the box your set was sent in, so it'll be the same price.

Special delivery insures up to £500 and guaranteed before 1pm next working day (not on a Saturday).

Looking at yours and other people's returns, I think V-power is really screwing up my mpg - costs 6% more and maybe giving you 10% less economy. If I were to get 47mph with regular Shell, that would mean V-power costs you 17% more per mile than regular.

I used Eco mode for a while and did absolutely nothing for me. If you want to drive with a feather foot in Sport or use medium throttle in eco to get the same effect then the mpg is the same in my experience. Town driving is when I need the power - some roundabouts in Newcastle (most notably "4 lane ends" on my commute) are insanely busy - you really need to put your foot down when you see a gap and take it.

Going to run out this V-power and brim with regular Shell.

[Buddy]

Thanks MH, special delivery it'll be then. Tdituning dispatch same day for next day so I'll be without for less than three days, which I can live with.
Excuse the unintentional & unrelated quote in my post above! Sausage fingers on the iPad here.

[Buddy]

I always have the engine in sport, but use the ACC/ADC in Eco. It makes for much smoother acceleration and deceleration when keeping distance to the vehicle in front, which makes for significantly more smooth, 'predictive' driving. Sometimes i feel my car just release a touch of throttle before I'm even consciously aware that the driver in front has eased off the gas. Very relaxing cruise control.

[Skinnee D]

I always have the engine in sport, but use the ACC/ADC in Eco. It makes for much smoother acceleration and deceleration when keeping distance to the vehicle in front, which makes for significantly more smooth, 'predictive' driving. Sometimes i feel my car just release a touch of throttle before I'm even consciously aware that the driver in front has eased off the gas. Very relaxing cruise control.

Second that Buddy - Sport and Eco just the same for me and seems to work well

[monkeyhanger]

Just received an acknowledgement back from TDI-tuning that they got my box. Wondering how long mine will take as it needs tweaking rather than straight replacement (unless they have a set of alternative maps ready to go on).

The reply was from their “multilingual sales coordinator” with an Italian sounding name. Maybe they need the foreign languages expert to deal with my case because I’m a Geordie?     

[monkeyhanger]

TDI-tuning.co.uk box MK2 (post-tweaking) is arriving back to me today. I will let you know what’s changed (if anything).

[monkeyhanger]

Got the box back yesterday lunchtime and fitted it before I went home. The box feels pretty much the same, maybe a bit livelier at the lower end than before. Indicated mpg changes are hard to gauge as this morning was the coldest commute I’ve seen this side of April (5.5C). Will run it a week until my fuel tank is nigh-on empty and see what the mpg is – I will base box MK2 mpg changes on the assumption that the first half of the tank was at the actual 42.4mpg I’ve been consistently getting. I’ll then give standard Shell a go without the box connected to see if my output and mpg go up like I expect it to.

It was returned in setting 4 of 7 and you can tell the difference over stock – livelier but not massively so like setting 7 was.

Buddy: Have you sent off for your dual channel system yet?

[Bruce]

Box arrived last week. Car arrived today. Took it for a quick spin without the box first and was fairly underwhelmed to be honest. Very smooth and flat torque curve. You find yourself at the limiter without really realising.
Couldn't resist fitting the box and trying it out so on it went on its max setting. The difference is very noticeable and it now feels like a reasonably quick car. Quite impressed with the Pirelli P Zeros on the 19s too, a bit of scrabbling on new tarmac in 2nd when floored but not too bad. Will fill it tonight and see what it'll do mpg wise over the next few days.
As someone previously mentioned it does stink after a good hot run - just the 'newness' burning off.

[Buddy]

Buddy: Have you sent off for your dual channel system yet?

Today was theoretically my last chance to send it back as it was an October deal apparently, so called this morning to see if they could hold off for a couple of weeks until I'll be in the area. All sorted, so will be having it calibrated and fitted in Chelmsford in 2 weeks time.

Long run today, motorways, in town and lots of b roads. Managed an indicated 55mpg. The penalty for going over 70mph genuinely seems to be reducing, but will see what the 'brimometer' says when I fill up.