ok guys i just got a 98 1.8t....i love the car but i want to chip it....i have around 500 to spend the problem is that is my only car.... so i cant ship the ecu or anything that leaves me with out my car for more than a day....what do i do? is there a good chip that is plug and play? some thing i could install my self? please help me out thanks....i like the apr chip that claims to give you 200 hp and 2 somthing torque....

 

Search in your area for a local shop or even better an APR location near you. Make an appointment on a day you are free, take you car in, chip it, drive home !

 

Ok so I found a apr dealer 5 miles from me....they say they will have to ship the ecu and some bullshit......so I found another shop in baltimore about 2 hours from me I called them and they saiid 500 will get me out the door.......I can't wait for my taxes

 

Where are you located? RAI Motorsport is near Baltimore, as well as Speedtuning USA. For $500 you'd be able to get a tune in-house at both of those places in about a day. RAI is a Unitronics dealer, Speedtuning has their own proprietary tune.

 

I am in northern va...what do you mean by in house tunning?also do you mean they will install the chip and tune it or just tune the car with out a chip? I don't even know if you can do that just wondering

 

The words "chip" and "tune" are pretty much interchangeable. The term "chip" comes from actual solder-in chips from the earlier years of ECU tuning. "Tune" started being used more when companies like GIAC and APR started using flashed tunes instead of soldered chips.

By in-house, I mean that the dealers I listed can load your tune using a lap top and a VAG Com cable in like 10 minutes.

 

The guys I talked to said my car needs a actual chip it can't be done with a flashed drive......where is that place you are talking about located?

 

Speedtuning is in Spencerville MD. I think they're actually having a group buy right now on Audizine, so you should see if you can get in on that because its only like $150. I talked briefly to Oliver at ST, sounds like a good guy.

RAI is a hair south-east of Baltimore. I know Clint and I've been in the shop up at RAI, they're legit as hell.

 

So what would you recomend? Speedtuning, rai or apr?any difference?

 

Oh yeah plenty of differences.

Speedtuning only offer's a "stage 1" tune, so you can't upgrade to BT/BAT later unless you get a new ECU or take yours back to ST later and have them remove their chip. It's also well known that the ST chip doesn't produce as much hp/tq as the other big companies (APR,GIAC,Revo,etc). That said, it's WAY cheaper than all the other companies, so that's a huge selling point.

RAI is a shop, the software they sell is made by Unitronics. I've heard mixed reviews about the quality of their tune, but that was mostly from the big turbo crowd. Their stage 1 tune is a bit more pricey than speedtuning, but i believe still less than APR or GIAC. They also offer 440cc+ maps for big turbos if you want to upgrade in the future, although there's no discount if you buy the stage 1, then a year later decide to upgrade. I'm almost positive RAI doesn't need to mail your ECU anyplace for the stage 1 chip.

APR is arguably the most well known tuning company for the B5 platform, but their stuff isn't cheap. Like Uni, they also offer software for big turbos, but don't sell it independently. That is, if you want APR stg III, you have to buy the whole kit from an authorized APR dealer (tune, turbo, manifold, intake, exhaust, intercooler, etc. etc. etc.) I forgot to mention this earlier, but our local APR dealer is NGP Racing. They have locations in Lorton, VA and in Aberdeen, MD near the proving grounds, but since you need an actual chip, you'll have to take your car to the Aberdeen location.

Ultimately it comes down to your budget and your goals for the car. If you want to squeeze a little more fun out of your DD on a tight budget, go with ST. If you have big plans for the car I would go Uni or APR.