The turbo in the 97 is solid, no shaft play. Although the engine does have a ton more miles, it's got near perfect compression and I think the stock cat (170k) has more to do with it than anything else. It's got to be crispy, a little clogged, and falling appart inside. I'm just waiting until I get bored enough to go pull and gut it out.

 

I'm not talking about condition, I'm talking about the fact that the turbos and engines are different. Isn't one a K03 and the other a K03s? What I'm saying is that I don't think you can really compare chips across two different cars...right?

 

Do you like the Speedtuning more then your GIAC?

 

No both are plain jane k03's. I think I can compare chips accross two cars with the same engines and turbos! K03s is in 01+.

I don't prefer one over the other. GIAC is ***** to the wall down low but falls off around 5k rpms. ST is just as ***** to the wall but not until ~500 rpm's later and pulls steadily to redline. Whats not fair to compare is that one a4 is fwd tip and the other is awd manual... I can never floor it in first from a stop and keep traction in the fwd, but with the awd its all grip and probably feels faster at least in 1st gear because of that.

 

Oh.

I thought the increase from 150hp to 170hp happened in mid 1999. Excuuuuuuuse me.

I still think that in order to really compare two chips, you'd have to try them in the same car. As you've said, there are too many variables (cats, transmissions, your face, etc). Plus, let's factor in the fact that SpeedTuning is like 25% of the price of GIAC or APR...if there are any differences and they're slight...who cares!

 

Amen. If I had to do it again I'd go ST without a doubt.

YOUR face...

 

...is amazing. I know.

 

Giac +1

 

I talked to Oliver via email and told him I couldnt be without my ECU for almost a week and he told me that he could ship me the flash loader (for a deposit) and could do it myself. Have any of you done your ST tune this way? For my scenario, this is the perfect tune as I only want to bring a little more life to my A4 with no plans of goin BT on it at all.

Thoughts?

 

You can do that, but you gotta put down a hefty deposit for that flashloader, i think. Should be a pretty smooth process though.