2016 S3 Lease car. Stick with DTUK or go for stage 1??

Big Matt

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Hello everyone i have a 2016 S3 on on a two year lease do I stick with DTUK or should i go for a stage 1 tune, I know about TD1 codes with stage 1 plus warranty issues and none with the DTUK box. Think the difference will only be around 25bhp maybe but will be a lot better to drive plus around £300 more for stage 1.
Plus when i get it serviced even if i put it back to stock will the Audi garage let every man and his dog know that its had TD1 code come up (stage1) including my lease company??
 
It's the lease companies car, don't mod it at all.
 
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I would bet that your lease specifically forbids even putting a DTUK box on it. As previous poster says - it's not your car and never will be.
 
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Really not worth the hassle ....The lease company could quite easily take you to court and claim for damages/breach of contract etc...
 
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Warranty aside, you would be absolutely mad to consider doing this to a lease car considering the TD1 horror stories.
 
Its yours to drive but you don't own it. Should you lose the lease company the warranty I can see it being very expensive for you. 310 not enough?
 
Thanks for all your reply's.. Think i will play it safe and stay with DTUK.
 
Thanks for all your reply's.. Think i will play it safe and stay with DTUK.

That really isn't "playing it safe".


Jesus, I can't believe people do this. As said above, if you damage the car, or flag up the TD1, you've destroyed the warranty and the residual value in the asset. The lease company will get back an unmolested asset worth £x, or they will force you to buy the car outright at almost zero notice.
 
Correct. It's not your car to play around with.
If you are set on it, ask the lease company for permission - that would be playing it safe.
 
Thanks for all your reply's.. Think i will play it safe and stay with DTUK.
I would put a tuning box on it. My mate remapped his and just took the map off before giving it back but I see it as a bit of a waste of money.

However I am pleasently surprised how quick the 310 is. I'm even contemplating not remapping it. I've never thought that before... so it's saying something
 
OK - if all goes right. What if there is a problem down the line and the lease company come after you (even after you have handed the car back)
It's a risk.
 
You do now that tune boxes can now be detected ?

It's your gamble at the end of the day but if anything I'd keep the box on or have it off and be happy.

If you map it then it's a big can of worms like everyone has mentioned, not to say a box won't either.
 
OK - if all goes right. What if there is a problem down the line and the lease company come after you (even after you have handed the car back)
It's a risk.
assuming when you hand the car back you have cleared any dtc codes then i would find it very unusual that you would get a backlash from it,

Hyperthetically if 2 months after the car was handed back there was a fault with the car, say weak injector, there would be a code present. This code would have happened obviously after the car was handed back. So they wouldnt be able to say its the previous drivers fault. Also (as an ex audi Q technician) you would work through a test plan that the computer decides, which can (and in this case would) include checking measured values. All you would do is check injection quantitys and lives, earths and signals to the injector and replace it if anything is out of range.

Ive never looked but im pretty sure you cant start looking at the history of injection quantitys or boost pressure etc... over months/weeks previous.

You would never start looking into a warranty job with the attitude of stitching the owner up.
A. becuase you would need a good reason too in the first place, and there wouldnt be.
B. because the technician wont care and just wants to get the job done asap so he is efficient.
 
Do not do this, I have a business lease for my car (in fact 95% of our employees have business leases), as I have had for my last 4 cars. If you read the leasing agreement it will more than likely explicitly forbid modifying the car in anyway (mine does).

One of my engineers decided it was a good idea to get a DTUK box for his leased GTD and then told me about it, thinking "oh, he's a bit of a petrolhead so he'll think it's cool" my actual response was very far off that particular mark, because of what I stated above. I asked him to remove DTUK box immediately, which although i have no power to enforce (after all the tuning box is his property) he promises me he has done. His car goes back in November so we'll see then if VW can detect it's use, if they can it'll be a massive blow to us as we'll have to foot the damages bill, and the engineer in question may have put his career with in jeopardy, and faces at a minimum some form of disciplinary action.

Sorry for being a bit preachy, but if you get any kind of lease your pretty much saying I agree its not my car and I'll hand it back in the condition I got it in, do anything else and its a massive, massive financial risk.

We also have an opt out option in the company car scheme were you can take an allowance as wages and buy your own car, which is what I would of done if it was my intent to modify my car, and what the engineer in question will be doing from now on.
 
Do not do this, I have a business lease for my car (in fact 95% of our employees have business leases), as I have had for my last 4 cars. If you read the leasing agreement it will more than likely explicitly forbid modifying the car in anyway (mine does).

One of my engineers decided it was a good idea to get a DTUK box for his leased GTD and then told me about it, thinking "oh, he's a bit of a petrolhead so he'll think it's cool" my actual response was very far off that particular mark, because of what I stated above. I asked him to remove DTUK box immediately, which although i have no power to enforce (after all the tuning box is his property) he promises me he has done. His car goes back in November so we'll see then if VW can detect it's use, if they can it'll be a massive blow to us as we'll have to foot the damages bill, and the engineer in question may have put his career with in jeopardy, and faces at a minimum some form of disciplinary action.

Sorry for being a bit preachy, but if you get any kind of lease your pretty much saying I agree its not my car and I'll hand it back in the condition I got it in, do anything else and its a massive, massive financial risk.

We also have an opt out option in the company car scheme were you can take an allowance as wages and buy your own car, which is what I would of done if it was my intent to modify my car, and what the engineer in question will be doing from now on.

This will only ever be an issue if the car has a fault. which in 99% of cars there wont be.
 
This will only ever be an issue if the car has a fault. which in 99% of cars there wont be.

Whilst i will always be of the opinion that its no business of mine what other people do (unless if effects me directly), i will say that any kind of risk (measured or not) is a risk non the less.

The OP is going to do what he's going to do that's for sure, everyone who rolls the dice must live with the outcome. If it was me (which it isn't) I'd not be rolling them in the first place, for the amount of potential financial backlash even a 1% chance in this instance is too great.
 
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The dsg ecu records the highest torque value that has been through the gear box with time and date from what I have seen.

The ecu in the car also records lots of thing with times and dates so it wouldn't be hard for them to tell if it's been modified and put back to standard.

If they prove you have done this at a guess you will pay full rrp for the car I wouldn't say a few more ponies are worth that risk!!

You also need to tell your insurance the box is on there. If you don't and have an accident you have no insurance and by telling the insurance the lease company will have hard evidence that you did modify their car. So you will still end up paying for the car and any other damage you caused in the accident which could put your house and other assets at risk.
 
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