Chipped TDI

OK...I just read that Andy MCL has chipped his TDI. This wasn't an option I though would be open to me when I started my crusade to be a T5 owner. Andy (or someone else who has done it) can you wax a little more lyrical for me and tell me what you had done and perhaps mention a few figures (cost and performance). I used to own a 405 TD and it went really well from stand still. I like the idea of a TDi but like the idea of a fast car even more. Pray, do tell more.

Kind regards

Richard Whennell
Soon to be a T5 owner, or not?!

[Andy Mcl]

Hi Richard

THe car is basically standard except the modified ECU This is done by superchips www.superchips.co.uk
The orginal chip is taken off the circuit board and the new holder and chip programme is uploaded
and re-installed. Takes just over 1 hour or so and the change is quite startling.
Power wise the car goes from 140bhp to 170bhp
Torque is more interesting however it goes from 210ftlb to approx 250ftlb
this makes the car much more drivable. THe pwer delivery is totally deceptive it doesn't feel fast but you have to watch the speedo to realise how quickly you're moving.
To give you some idea of go it accelerates almost as fast from 100mph as it does from 80mph. Don't know how fast it will go - need a trip to Germany - but it will get from 50 to 100 in a very short time.
I always fancied a T5 put not it's thirst - this gives me the next best thing and 40mpg!!
Costs: Superchips are more expensive than some of the other plug in devices but it comes with a 1 year warranty against failure caused by the chip. Price is £530 so it's not cheap but it is definitely the way to go for diesel tuning.
I also have a Skoda Octavia 110 tdi and that was also chipped bringing it upto 152bhp and torque of 210ftlb but the economy was the real mind blower - it went from an average of 48mpg to 54mpg.
My V70 will do about 45 if I am careful but I cannot be bothered most of the time - it's just too much fun. Oh and by the way it eats tyres.

I hope this is of some use in decision making - for me I will not by another pertol for an every day car as the torque of a modern diesel makes travelling much more relaxing.

Cheers Andy

Andy,

Thanks for the info. 170 bhp is pretty good (!) on a diesel but the torque is, as you say, the exciting bit! I will keep an even more open mind on things.

Regards

Richard

[warthog]

Richard,

I'll confirm what Andy says. It really is a different beast. I was very surprised the other week when we both went for a blast and whilst mine has the edge, it's more than made up for by driving style. The main difference is in the suspension set-up. The V70 is softer and not a taut as the T5, that said, with one person on board the T5's ride can be quite harsh on rough roads. The tyres don't seem to make much difference to the ride - we swapped wheels and tyres and the V70 can spin them just as well as the T5!

On a decent cross-country run Andy's V70 is achieving half as much mpg again that mine would, doing exactly the same thing. This has to be worth having. If I didn't need an automatic I would seriously consider a chipped V70 TDI manual.

Cheers

Brian

[Andy Mcl]

If you find that a V70 Tdi is too expensive the 850 tdi is a fair bit cheaper - but it is much harder to find a good one without stratospheric mileage - just a thought!
Cheers Andy