Bluefin on sale is it worth it?

dg-1984 · Aug 31, 2016

H all, been thinking about going stage 1 with my 2007 S3, have been reading the forum a while and know revo highly rated but quite an aggressive map.
Wanting a smooth map and read shark are getting high praise, spoke with my local dealer BroTek and nice knowledgeable guy and £399 for the map isn't too expensive but if you want to go with the sts module would be £580.
I see bluefin are doing 20% off and you can pick one up including a k&n panel filter for £332, the filter is worth about £40-50. Which seems a good price.

What is the bluefin like on the S3 what figures does it return and is it worth going shark over the bluefin.
Also can return to standard with bluefin as it comes with the loader, could be handy.

Thanks

Ben2487 · Aug 31, 2016

It will all depend what your long term plans are for the car.

I had a bluefin on my car for 3 years and had it on the rolling road making 299bhp, my personal reasons for going bluefin at the time was there wasn't anyone near me selling an alternative and I also wanted to preserve the clutch. I wouldn't say there was anything wrong with bluefin but as you know they are down on power compared to the competition.

Since then an Apr dealer has came close to me so I made the move but jumped to stage 1+ adding another 35bhp which was more than I gained first time round and this power is a lot more noticeable than the first 25bhp gained. All I found the bluefin did was rather than the big hit of the turbo when it kicks in then very quickly dies off it spread the power more across the rev range.

So if your goin to stick at stage 1 and are happy with 300ish bhp then you can get a bluefin if you are going to go more power again your going to want more bhp for you £££ choose an alternative as I now feel I wasted all that money on the bluefin.

I will sell you my old bluefin controller and you can get it unlocked for even cheaper but have a good think of future plans

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

dg-1984 · Aug 31, 2016

Fut

Ben2487 said:
It will all depend what your long term plans are for the car.

I had a bluefin on my car for 3 years and had it on the rolling road making 299bhp, my personal reasons for going bluefin at the time was there wasn't anyone near me selling an alternative and I also wanted to preserve the clutch. I wouldn't say there was anything wrong with bluefin but as you know they are down on power compared to the competition.

Since then an Apr dealer has came close to me so I made the move but jumped to stage 1+ adding another 35bhp which was more than I gained first time round and this power is a lot more noticeable than the first 25bhp gained. All I found the bluefin did was rather than the big hit of the turbo when it kicks in then very quickly dies off it spread the power more across the rev range.

So if your goin to stick at stage 1 and are happy with 300ish bhp then you can get a bluefin if you are going to go more power again your going to want more bhp for you £££ choose an alternative as I now feel I wasted all that money on the bluefin.

I will sell you my old bluefin controller and you can get it unlocked for even cheaper but have a good think of future plans

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Future mods could possible be air intake and downpipe and sports cat or decat, nothing much more.
How much would it cost for you to reset the bluefin so you could sell it on?
What sort of increase in torque did you make? What was your before power on the standard map if you did a run good to see a before and after graph.
I am drawn to the shark remaps and I am hoping they will do a discount soon or over the Xmas period.

Ben2487 · Aug 31, 2016

I did phone them but I can't remember give superchips a call and they'll let you know, think he mentioned it's about £175 cheaper of the top of my head.

I didn't do a before run because this was about two after a the map was uploaded, I had to put it back to standard for the Apr map and the car made 276bhp but I did have the hpfp and intake on.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

HHS3 · Aug 31, 2016

dg-1984 said:
H all, been thinking about going stage 1 with my 2007 S3, have been reading the forum a while and know revo highly rated but quite an aggressive map.
Wanting a smooth map and read shark are getting high praise, spoke with my local dealer BroTek and nice knowledgeable guy and £399 for the map isn't too expensive but if you want to go with the sts module would be £580.
I see bluefin are doing 20% off and you can pick one up including a k&n panel filter for £332, the filter is worth about £40-50. Which seems a good price.

What is the bluefin like on the S3 what figures does it return and is it worth going shark over the bluefin.
Also can return to standard with bluefin as it comes with the loader, could be handy.

Thanks

dg-1984 said:
Future mods could possible be air intake and downpipe and sports cat or decat, nothing much more.
How much would it cost for you to reset the bluefin so you could sell it on?
What sort of increase in torque did you make? What was your before power on the standard map if you did a run good to see a before and after graph.
I am drawn to the shark remaps and I am hoping they will do a discount soon or over the Xmas period.

Don't bother with a panel filter mate it's honestly not worth it, you're better off just saving for a proper air intake instead (Revo or ITG Maxogen are the best). You said you could possibly get one in future anyway, as well as a downpipe (go BCS for this) which together is enough to go stage 2. All you would then need is a HPFP, Autotech internals for £330 or a Loba unit for £530, this is enough to then get you to stage 2+. Is your S3 DSG or manual? As on manual cars your clutch will slip at this stage and so you need an uprated clutch & flywheel, I'd recommend the Spec 2+ clutch & Steel SMF (as you're not going bigger turbo) which you can pick up for £870. Even if you plan on just staying at stage 1 or 2 then your clutch will eventually start to slip being an 07 car then I presume it must be around the 60K mark at least?

I'm not a fan of the whole bluefin approach to mapping so I'd 100% recommend going for a generic map like Revo/APR/Shark instead. You're already saving up a few hundred quid, so you might as well save that bit more for what is a tried & tested superior product which will get you better gains and a bigger grin. Whereabouts are you based? As custom mapping from a highly rated tuner tends to be cheaper then generic and better as it's setup specifically for your car.

I've been Revo stage 1 and am currently stage 2 of which yes they're aggressive maps but the power delivery is spot on, so I definitely wouldn't let the sound of it being aggressive put you off. I'm going to Storm Developments for my stage 2+ though as I want custom mapping to get the most out of all of the upgrades I'd have done by that point.

dg-1984 · Aug 31, 2016

HHS3 said:
Don't bother with a panel filter mate it's honestly not worth it, you're better off just saving for a proper air intake instead (Revo or ITG Maxogen are the best). You said you could possibly get one in future anyway, as well as a downpipe (go BCS for this) which together is enough to go stage 2. All you would then need is a HPFP, Autotech internals for £330 or a Loba unit for £530, this is enough to then get you to stage 2+. Is your S3 DSG or manual? As on manual cars your clutch will slip at this stage and so you need an uprated clutch & flywheel, I'd recommend the Spec 2+ clutch & Steel SMF (as you're not going bigger turbo) which you can pick up for £870. Even if you plan on just staying at stage 1 or 2 then your clutch will eventually start to slip being an 07 car then I presume it must be around the 60K mark at least?

I'm not a fan of the whole bluefin approach to mapping so I'd 100% recommend going for a generic map like Revo/APR/Shark instead. You're already saving up a few hundred quid, so you might as well save that bit more for what is a tried & tested superior product which will get you better gains and a bigger grin. Whereabouts are you based? As custom mapping from a highly rated tuner tends to be cheaper then generic and better as it's setup specifically for your car.

I've been Revo stage 1 and am currently stage 2 of which yes they're aggressive maps but the power delivery is spot on, so I definitely wouldn't let the sound of it being aggressive put you off. I'm going to Storm Developments for my stage 2+ though as I want custom mapping to get the most out of all of upgrades I'd have done by that point.

I was thinking could sell the air filter and get 40-50 for it making the remap even cheaper.
There is a niggling feeling for me to go with the shark one as I have read good reviews.
I am based in East Kilbride, not too far from Glasgow, BroTek are in Lanark which is not too far away either.
Not sure on decent mappers near me.
I probably would just go and get mapped installed and not bother with the sts module.
If wanting to go stage 2 the I think it's £100 upgrade from shark.

Car is a manual with 70k on it. I wanted a more controlled map so it would not assault the clutch so much.
Not an aggressive driver so hopefully the clutch will last.

HHS3 · Aug 31, 2016

dg-1984 said:
I was thinking could sell the air filter and get 40-50 for it making the remap even cheaper.
There is a niggling feeling for me to go with the shark one as I have read good reviews.
I am based in East Kilbride, not too far from Glasgow, BroTek are in Lanark which is not too far away either.
Not sure on decent mappers near me.
I probably would just go and get mapped installed and not bother with the sts module.
If wanting to go stage 2 the I think it's £100 upgrade from shark.

Car is a manual with 70k on it. I wanted a more controlled map so it would not assault the clutch so much.
Not an aggressive driver so hopefully the clutch will last.

If I was in your position with BroTek being the nearest dealer that offer good remaps, Shark in this case, then I would go with that option as well mate. Shark are up there with Revo and APR for the best generic maps and so you'd get your moneys worth with going down this route. The STS module is handy but not essential, it's always something you can go back for later if needed.

I have no local knowledge to your area, the nearest rated mapper I know is Rick at Unicorn in Stockport or another Unicorn dealer in Northumberland but these are 3 hours from you and as you're not planning on lots of engine upgrades etc. then it isn't worth the trip over BroTek.

It depends on the clutch's history in how it's been treated but as you're not an aggressive driver then it'll probably last a very long time at stage 1 without drag/launches. Mine only slipped at stage 1 and slips at stage 2 if I redline it and drop it into 1st, I'm an aggressive driver though so expect it to go next year which means time for an uprated clutch & flywheel!

dg-1984 · Aug 31, 2016

HHS3 said:
If I was in your position with BroTek being the nearest dealer that offer good remaps, Shark in this case, then I would go with that option as well mate. Shark are up there with Revo and APR for the best generic maps and so you'd get your moneys worth with going down this route. The STS module is handy but not essential, it's always something you can go back for later if needed.

I have no local knowledge to your area, the nearest rated mapper I know is Rick at Unicorn in Stockport or another Unicorn dealer in Northumberland but these are 3 hours from you and as you're not planning on lots of engine upgrades etc. then it isn't worth the trip over BroTek.

It depends on the clutch's history in how it's been treated but as you're not an aggressive driver then it'll probably last a very long time at stage 1 without drag/launches. Mine only slipped at stage 1 and slips at stage 2 if I redline it and drop it into 1st, I'm an aggressive driver though so expect it to go next year which means time for an uprated clutch & flywheel!

Appreciate the reply, I will hold out and see if they run any xmas deals on the shark remaps, liked what the guy at BroTek was saying sounded like he really knew his stuff.
Cheers.

dg-1984 · Aug 31, 2016

Well just asked Mark at BroTek if running any offers etc soon as in no rush to get mapped, and he said was in luck running a 25% discount in the month of September, so this takes the shark remaps to £300.

Looks like it will be getting remapped sooner than I though.

Sherv · Aug 31, 2016

dg-1984 said:
I was thinking could sell the air filter and get 40-50 for it making the remap even cheaper.
There is a niggling feeling for me to go with the shark one as I have read good reviews.
I am based in East Kilbride, not too far from Glasgow, BroTek are in Lanark which is not too far away either.
Not sure on decent mappers near me.
I probably would just go and get mapped installed and not bother with the sts module.
If wanting to go stage 2 the I think it's £100 upgrade from shark.

Car is a manual with 70k on it. I wanted a more controlled map so it would not assault the clutch so much.
Not an aggressive driver so hopefully the clutch will last.

SOS Motorsport in Falkirk is great. That's where I went but just an A3 quattro.

HHS3 · Sep 1, 2016

dg-1984 said:
Well just asked Mark at BroTek if running any offers etc soon as in no rush to get mapped, and he said was in luck running a 25% discount in the month of September, so this takes the shark remaps to £300.

Looks like it will be getting remapped sooner than I though.

That's a great offer, looks like all systems go!

mechanic69 · Sep 2, 2016

I started with bluefin stage 1 for the quick self install fix. after spending money on the stage 2+ hardware I went straight to the bluefin stage 3 upgrade for 50 quid. although the map is good, the power delivery seems all to be in the first squirt of the throttle. pulls good in 4th love it. but after a year I've decided on an Rtech custom remap and rolling road session. they say the bluefin will likely be around 340 bhp and with a custom map could go to 380. 350 well spent.

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Bluefin on sale is it worth it?

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