Need Advice ~ APR CHIP

[PoloGTI9n3]

Hello everyone!
It'd be greatly appreciated if I could get some advice on the APR ecu upgrade.
My GTI Polo has done 180,000KM and I would like to get the APR chip done to it, the thing that is making me think twice is the amount of KM's my car has. Will the chip put alot of pressure on the engine considering it's already been around the block ALOT of times?

I have spoke to two mechanics and they both had told me the 1.8L turbo engine is fairly weak and if I get the ECU upgrade the engine will start playing up. Although one drives a Commodore and the other a Honda Accord.

I'm trying to stay realistic and take in consideration the amount of KM the car has done.


Any advice as I said will be greatly appreciated

Marko.

[noone]

That's quite a few k's. A tune is likely to show up the weaker parts of the system, many of which are not the engine but the many peripherals.

I'd take it to a good mechanic, where do you live?

If the car is in good condition I would think all you're risking is the same as the rest of us, premature wear. Not heard many dramas of born turbos or anything around here, not to say it can't happen.

[h100vw]

Hello everyone!
It'd be greatly appreciated if I could get some advice on the APR ecu upgrade.
My GTI Polo has done 180,000KM and I would like to get the APR chip done to it, the thing that is making me think twice is the amount of KM's my car has. Will the chip put alot of pressure on the engine considering it's already been around the block ALOT of times?

I have spoke to two mechanics and they both had told me the 1.8L turbo engine is fairly weak and if I get the ECU upgrade the engine will start playing up. Although one drives a Commodore and the other a Honda Accord.

I'm trying to stay realistic and take in consideration the amount of KM the car has done.


Any advice as I said will be greatly appreciated

Marko.

Marko, who are your mechanics?

There's nothing inherently wrong with the Polo engine. There's countless thousands of them in service in different forms. Golf's Passats, A4 A3 Seats, Skodas etc etc.

Leave them to their Honda and Commodore........

As long as you have a decent service history, you should have no issues.

My own S3 has 260000 km on it and I also have a Polo like yours, which is up to 150K now although I did just swap the motor out, due to the timing belt stripping it's teeth.

You mention APR for a tune but have you considered any other tuners.

9N Polo GTI tuning

Gavin

[PoloGTI9n3]

I live in South Brisbane. The car's in great condition and its never missed a service..

[PoloGTI9n3]

Marko, who are your mechanics?

There's nothing inherently wrong with the Polo engine. There's countless thousands of them in service in different forms. Golf's Passats, A4 A3 Seats, Skodas etc etc.

Leave them to their Honda and Commodore........

As long as you have a decent service history, you should have no issues.

My own S3 has 260000 km on it and I also have a Polo like yours, which is up to 150K now although I did just swap the motor out, due to the timing belt stripping it's teeth.

You mention APR for a tune but have you considered any other tuners.

9N Polo GTI tuning

Gavin

Hey Gavin, I have a great service history, the mechanic's I spoke to arent my mechanics, they're just mates with I guess their own opinions. Although they've never owned a european car them selves. I havent considered any other tuners because I mainly have just heard of the APR garage and not any others.

[h100vw]

Hey Gavin, I have a great service history, the mechanic's I spoke to arent my mechanics, they're just mates with I guess their own opinions. Although they've never owned a european car them selves. I havent considered any other tuners because I mainly have just heard of the APR garage and not any others.

APR have a great marketing machine and great software but don't think that's your only choice in Brisbane. I am not one for blowing my own trumpet but Custom-Code have quality software too.

I have a loan ECU so you could try before you buy if you like.

Cheers

Gavin

[Guy_H]

Marko, you can pop down to Coorparoo & we also have a 6 hour free trial of our software.

There is an in house dyno here, and we always give your car a check-over before programming.

We have in excess of 200 9N polo GTI customers, so we know them pretty well.

I have customers with well in excess of 160,000kms on their cars that were stage 1 from new - have several customers running our tunes in high heat NT with no issues, so as long as your car is in good shape, I wouldn't worry.

We actually built the worlds first K04 9N Polo tarmac rally car back in 2006 & ran it quite successfully for a couple of years, so we know the limits of what they handle & the common issues & problems.

Feel free to drop in & see us.

[seangti]

As noone said, it's the peripherals that are most likely to show signs of wear or fail. If the clutch is still stock, than that'd be getting pretty worn so the added power will add that wear rate.

Diverter valve will be best replaced when you get the tune done, perhaps turbo intake pipe too. Cold air intake is worth a thought and makes power delivery smoother. Whether the car is new or old, bank on these additions to optimise the money spent on the tune.

If the car is maintained, I'd wouldn't be concerned about the engine itself, but be mindful of pipes which have aged which may fail or need replacing in due course.

[noone]

If it were me, I'd take it to Jmac as the resident Polo guru (assuming thats not too far) and get Gav's loan ECU to try (assuming you're competent to pull the old one out).

With a tune (and car of that age), I'd do the following without thinking:
- New sparkplugs
- PD160 Intake
- Decent diverter valve
- Check all major bushes (control arm, torque arm, top mounts)
- check / clear ECU faults

I'd want to know the following had been done recently:
- Gearbox oil (if you get any whine / crunching)
- Oil and filter if >10,000 kms ago

If all good, go nuts. If it goes well you will likely be thinking about how to get the new found power down. Plenty of little tweaks to get the most out of the 1.8T, but the chip, diverter that won't leak your new boost levels and better intake pipe (PD160) is all you need.

Jmac, Gav and Guy are the resident Polo experts, I only know what I've read on here and elsewhere (and from playing) TBH.

[kaanage]

If it were me, I'd take it to Jmac as the resident Polo guru

Great advice except that Jimmy has given the servicing game away Alba European Wrap up
He still does some aftermarket stuff through