First off, hello A3 friends!

I am new owner of a lava pearl gray 2006 2.0T A3 (w/ open sky, sport pack, XM, and 5 yr loan). I moved up from an '02 Civic Si hatch. I must say it is a giant leap forward. I love the little civic hatch but the A3 is a few classes above. My car is driving great and I only have 2 problems so far, which is common from what I've been reading. Both my front and rear open sky sun shades are busted. The front clips don't snap into place and the rear is missing a little hitch that the clip hooks on to. Replacements should arrive in a week.

I commute 50 mi/day one way so I've racked up 5K miles in 2 months. No trip computer but I've been getting about 425 miles on one tank of gas (~28 mi/gal) mostly highway. Just got back from my 5K maintenance and everything was great, especially since there was no charge! Also, I didn't expect it but they put synthetic oil in my car.

I've never really modded my cars, even my civic si, which many youngsters do these days. But I've always thought about it and never had the time or really the money. Also, I'm paranoid that modding will have adverse affects on the life of my car. So, about the topic of chipping and exhausting. I've read several posts that have mentioned this and that it will make me happy. My questions are:

1. Will a chip upgrade have any negative affects on my car on the long run? (engine, gas mileage, overheating, etc) I plan to keep this car for many years because well, the loan is 5 years.
2. Will chipping or exhausting void my warranty?
3. How much does a chip and exhaust cost?
4. Is it worth it?

Frankly, I have no problems with my current performance of the car. Its my daily driver and I rarely am flooring it or drag racing high school kids. It does fine for passing the many 18 wheelers on our roads and merging into traffic. But if I ever came across some extra money and time, I might consider modding. Right now, I'm only looking at getting a trunk liner and maybe some mud flaps.


Thank you!

Audi5Thou

 

The best bang for the buck is just chip it. The exhaust sounds nice but for the extra $1200 bucks it's not worth the power gain. As for the gas, I don't think chipping brings your mpg down, it's the fact that you'll drive the car more agressively and that will bring it down. As for the warranty, that's always dealer dependant. I've have my car chipped and exhaust since I first got it. It now has 22K miles on it and no dealer as actually said anything about it but I haven't volunteered any info on it to them either. In fact, the only trouble I've had with it is one I got the software upgraded to the latest revision. The download didn't go well and I have to have it redone. A chipping will run you around $400 to $500. The one's that most people have been going with are REVO, APR, Neuspeed, Giac and there are a few others. My suggestion is call up a shop that can install at least three of the big names and then just ask the guy, which would be the best for you and your driving style. Good luck.

 

welcome

i agree with T2T, i suggest the best bang for your buck is just chip it and you'll be MORE than happy, i got APR and i've had NO problems with it, my gas milage is still the same, except for that i have MUCH more hp and torque now. now that you gotten through your first 5000 miles, it's safe for you to chip it. you'll get roughly 240-250 hp and 280-300 ft/lb of torque, as for the exhaust........ it's up to you, but for 1400 bucks just to push another 10-20 horses or so, for me personally, it's not worth it........... not yet anyways........ hee hee.

 

chip it, and if your not sure. go and get the demo put on the car. its like five hours of colective driving time with the program. the exhaust I would say is worth it, just cus you will only be as fast as the next chiped A3 without it. go to www.goapr.com and look at the things they offer for your car.

 

i'm waiting for someone with a MT that is chipped and exhausted so i can race them to see the difference between exhaust........ or just chipped.......... although i race a chipped and exhausted A3 DSG and i beat him by 1/2 a car length from 0-60..... so i need to race a MT to see how much more difference in power......... actually......... i wanna race T2T......... he's got a MT/chipped/exhaust, i wanna see!!!!!! maybe next GTG, i'll race him

 

congrats on the kill. DSG sucks ***. I've heard that the euro program for the DSG is compleatly different thou and actualy worth it.

 

Thank you for all the info! I will look into this. Although it is not of great importance to have 30 or so more HP/torque, it sure wouldn't hurt! As for DSG, I like to use it on our back winding roads some times for more "spirited" driving. It takes some time to get used to. Some days, I wish I would have stuck with the MT. But the traffic sucks so bad around my way that I often don't miss it.



Sincerely,
Audi 5000!

 

Don't let him get you down on the DSG. It has a lag on the start so we can beat them in a drag race, but downshifting to pass on the freeway and the 50-70 accelerations, etc., than the DSG kicks our butt! Don't get me wrong, I own the 6 speed and love it, but the DSG is pretty slick for an "automatic".

Cheers!

 

The DSG is great! I agree with Chef; it's worse for launching from standstill, but better in other situations. But launching from standstill is pretty bad for the rest of your drive train anyway.

The shop where I got my "chip" (good call Chef!) recommended APR's reflash for DSG as it is smoother, although Revo have slightly higher peak numbers. The actual gains (integrated area under the hp and torque curves, respectively) are very close between the two companies' software.