Helloooo,
Did a search on this,but couldn't quite find what I'm looking for.
I've just bought a new mk5 GTi, which will be delivered next wednesday. I'm not new to VWs having owned 2 mint MK2 GTI 16vs and a Corrado VR6 Storm back in the 90s. I used to own a 1995 Audi RS2, a 2005 WRX PPP and have owned various turbo powered Saabs in between, so I'm not new to turbo cars and tuning them... or in the case of the Saabs...fixing them

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With the Subaru and Saabs, I found that there was always a select bunch of products and tuners that were much better than the rest, that most people in the community would use - Nordic, Maptun and Hirsch for the Saabs and people like ECUTEK for the Subaru.
My question is, what suppliers of remaps does this community think are the best for the MK5 GTi, and why? What are your experiences? There are loads of stg1 remaps to choose from I see, Superchips Bluefin, MTM, ABT, AmD technik, Revo etc.
By best, the criteria I would use is:
Is the tune safe ?: does the tuner just up the boost map or does he also balance the fuel and advance/retard maps so the car doesn't lean out through the entire set of rev range, engine load and throttle position permutations?
How is the drivability of the car affected?
How intrusive is the upgrade? Does it require the ECU box to be removed/swapped or is it a reflash via the OBDII port?
Are the claims accurate? : Does the remap generally do the numbers the tuner says it does when the car is rolling road checked? Is the service good?
Are the instructions good? : If it's a DIY install.. are the instructions and diagrams clear?
Are there discounts on stage increase remaps? : Say I buy the hardware (race cat, bigger downpipe, larger free flowing exhaust, intercooler change, intake change) will they supply software to take advantage of that at a lesser cost, because I bought the stage 1 software from them already?
What happens when the dealer overwrites the upgrade? : Do they offer a free service to correct their upgrade software?
Are security features and other car functionality affected?
What's the price of the upgrade, compared with the above?
That sort of thing?