Chip tuning the S3

[julians]

Its looks pretty tempting to chip the S3 using one of the well known chip tuning firms (superchips, revo , amd etc ), and get 300bhp for not much money, especially having come from many normally aspirated cars where those sorts of performance increase costs lots of money. But how reliable are the cars once they've been chipped?

Are there many cars out there that have done significant mileage with no premature wear on the turbo or engine or gearbox/haldex diff, I'd expect things like the clutch to wear out faster but they're consumables anyway.

How much real world experience is there out there? I'd presume not much given that the s3 hasnt been available for much over a year or so, I guess the biggest mileage we could expect to see is about 50000, but theres probably not many people doing that mileage that have a chipped car.

Its pretty clear that it will void the warranty (on the engine and drivetrain at least) if the dealer knew about it, but if I had my car chipped I'd not want any increased likelyhood of actually needing the warranty. Is this unrealistic?

Presumably if the car was chipped, it would be good practice to lower the service interval, or at least change the oil more frequently, any thoughts?

 

[JamS3]

I dont think we are near 12000 on a S3 yet let alone 50000 seeing as though they have only been out since Jan!

I had my previous 2 old style S3's chipped and had minor issues with both, diverter valves blowing loss of power etc so I promised myself this new one is fast enough and I'm leaving it alone.

I would be niave to think you will not cooause damage in the long term premature or otherwise as i agree with you that things are going to wear quicker! Of course Audi will allow for certain tolerances in the equipment but just how much do they?

 

[LDoR]

I think the only thing you might have problems with is the diverter valve. things like the transmision need to be tough enough to put up wiot drivers putting the car in 2nd from 4th from time to time so as long as you aren't stupid with a remap you should be ok. My previous Leon R was fine after 5 years.

I had planned to go to 300bhp as soon as money would allow with my S3 but the thing is so damned fast i've not felt wanting for power yet. I'll give the engin time to run in a bit and loosen up before i see about power hikes. Also having it on a 3 year lease makes me less interested in spending money on it.

If i was going to chip i'd be tempted to change th diverter valve but its quite a job apparantly and would be easy to void the warranty on it.

If anything i would suggest trying the demo codes you can have installed and see if you really want more.

 

[Shao_khan]

Mine did 6k miles in 4 months and no issues.

Mine was done by local Audi dealer so warrenty issues are less of a scarey prospect as there are both implicit and iplied warrenties by having this carried out by a dealer.

I think both Northampton and Milton Keynes offer this now.

APR in brackley are also a top bunch of guys and worth a look.

 

[57-S3]

damien at dpm in newcastle did mine a few weeks ago now and i've had no problems. really how the car should of been to start with.

 

[JamS3]

Stay away from the demo codes as they stay on the ecu memory efffectivly wiping the stock Audi code for whatever company you have chosen (its their own version of the stock code). They are never the same as the Audi code and often down on standard power!

Some people think this might be a marketing ploy.....have a nice powerful car on the trial then when it finishes its even slower standard than it was.......never!