I was always curious about the changes it would make to the power output.
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15000kms update
My 1.5 DSG completed 15k kms last month and is already cross 16k kms due to a lot of running over the last month. The ownership has been uneventful except for some creaks that randomly appear from the dashboard and go away on their own mostly due to plastic panels rubbing against each other on rough roads. But it’s rare and I do not want to get the ASC guys to experiment with the dash which will just make it worse. I will have my own solution to this when I get more comfortable opening up the car and will eliminate these noises.
Apart from that, the car has been an absolute blast to drive and you never get bored of the way it puts down power on the road. Now I have begun to lose the urge to push it all the time and am more sedate, except for a few minutes of fun every drive. Surprisingly, even though I haven’t really been slow or careful, FE has tremendously improved. Gone are the days of single-digit mileage. I am not sure what happened, but even in traffic the FE crosses the 10kmpl mark and this is without even using the Eco mode on the Racechip ECU. I managed to get even 13-14 sometimes and this is not on the highway. In fact, on the highway, I get lesser mileage since I end up pushing the car hard.
Speaking about the Racechip ECU, I was always curious about the changes it would make to the power output and hence took it to Harmonix for a dyne run. Rahul at Harmonixx also wanted to get some logs and knowledge-sharing content so we ended up testing all the modes on the ECU and without the Racechip active.
The results were mixed – In short, the Racechip ECU improved midrange and low-end response, but the higher end was not really much different compared to the lowest and the highest setting. Needless to say, my gut feeling was similar when using the Racechip. It improves low-end response and the mid-range pull. But when pushed hard, it rather feels the same at higher RPMs. Attaching the Dyno results here:
The runs started only at 1500 RPM so there is some delay before the turbo spools up. And the power ratings were pretty on the optimistic side at 162 and 169HP but I was only interested to see the difference since the correction factors of these dynos can vary and the absolute numbers are not a good reference.
This time I checked the oil level after some 5k kms after service and compared to the first 7k kms where it had dipped, it was right at the top mark even though we had some high RPM runs on the Dyno(some 16 runs IIRC). And the oil looks very clear – an indication of how clean these engines are without a bit of darkening due to carbon or other contamination.
My car still has the user manual replacement recall and Airbag software update pending. I haven’t got time to visit the service centre yet for the same.
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