I just bought a "metallic" black tiptronic 2001 Audi A4 1.8t yesterday for $8500! I have always been a Nissan man (Infiniti), but the price was right for the Audi and I'm excited to learn what the European market has to offer. I've already read a bunch of the FAQs and whatnot (probably not as much as I should), but I have a few questions. I apologise if any of them are foolish noob questions you've answered dozens of times over the years. (Feel free to ask me noob questions about Infinitis if you are so inclined :-)

A. I have decided to first get a GIAC chip. I found a local dealer (Evolution Motorsports) that is in my city. I want to be as informed as possible before I go in and talk to them to avoid getting swindled. The GIAC website http://www.giacusa.com/programs.php?mpid=56 lists two different chips for my car. What is the difference between the two?
Evolution Motorsports claim they will flash the ECU for $600, (I have removed the link because it annoyed me how it made the page rediculously wide) to make a professional looking website and provide shitty service.

B. It seems that the Forge 007 is the DV to get, especially since I want to upgrade the turbo to a K04-15 in the next year or so (whenever I win the lottery). Where should I purchase this? Or will the dealer (Evolution) be able to order it for me? I assume that if they do, they will jack up the price.

C. It seems the consensus on these forums is to think chrome cosmetic upgrades are tacky, but its my car and I like chrome. The taillights I was looking at are these http://www.migicute.com/96a4lc.html I'm rather fond of LED tail lights, my infiniti had them and I miss them. I decided that you folks are right and ebay is a shady place to buy such things, but do you think they will be okay from that site? Does anyone have any sites they do or do not recommend that carries this, or similar things?

D. I see that everyone reccomends using the larger OEM oil filter. How do I know if I already have that or not? And if I do not, where should I get one.

E. Lastly, I am curious about a "tip chip." How much will one cost on average, where would I get one, and how beneficial would it be?

I know this is an unusually long first post, and that is somewhat not kosher, but I am just very unfamiliar with this car and am in a hurry to get it optimized! If you've gotten this far, you get a gold star. No wait, a chrome star :-) Thanks.

 

A. The general consensus on the forums is that giac is the best for B5's. I thought that it usually costs ~$500, but I dunno. Also, many people have bought from Evoms before and I haven't heard any bad stories.

B. Go with the Forge 007. You can probably buy it from them and do the installation yourself if you are somewhat mechanically inclined. Its pretty easy and takes ~10 min. Stock DVs tend to fail when a car gets chipped. Sometimes it takes a week, sometimes as long as a year or more.

C. Many aftermarket tail lights that are sold on eBay are also sold on other sites at higher prices, so you'll probably be getting the same thing. I personally like the 99.5-2001 stock tail lights. I agree, LED lights are awesome, but there's nothing out there (that i know of) that looks stock and is of good quality.

D. You can buy the filter from ECS Tuning. I actually just bought one earlier today. Also, make sure that you use fully synthetic oil to prevent any sludge build up.

E. No comment, I have a manual.

Congrats on the 1.8T and welcome to the forums!

 

Thanks for the welcome, 96audia4!

Anyone else have more to say?
I was kinda hoping for more feedback than this....

 

A. Evolution Motorsport has a pretty good reputation. Generally the stock turbo tuning is 400 and the bigger turbo tuning is 600. Something may of been miscommunication or that includes install labor in the price. Especially if you were talking to them about a K04 600 would be the price.

B. The Forge 007 or the Bosch 710n DV are both work well with stock and K04 setups.

C. Not a big visual mod person so cant answer this.

D. If the oil filter diameter looks more like a coffee can than a regular store bought oil filter its the bigger one. Common companies for the bigger filter are Mann and Mahle(sp). I get mine at ecstuning.com You can get the singly, 5 packs or 10 packs from them.

E. TipChip if you have a tiptronic and like using the tiptronic shifting is well worth it. Have not purchased mine yet but I have used one in a friends car and its really nice. Most GIAC dealers will carry them. My local shop charges $200

Grats on the car if you do have any questions about a K04 setup in a Tip just PM me its what im currently running. See sig for mods.

 

hahaahaaha hAudi thats great

 

Welcome to the forums bud. . .

I don't have much to say because im so lazy right now but, PLEASE GOD do not buy those taillights. PLEEEASE If you want LED and you want quality like that then have you considered. . .

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/96-01...spagenameZWDVW

But yeah you are on the right track, with the Forge007 and the GIAC chip, both can be used before and after K04 upgrade.

Oh and oil filter, if you can't tell if its the bigger one or not, then chances are its not. . .

Congrats buddy.

ps. ill never understand why you would prefer a tip over a 5-spd

 

Cant help you with the chip because they dont make one for my car.

Cant help you with the DV, because they dont apply to my car.

Tip chip, yeah doesnt apply.

Cosmetics, hey its your car do whatever makes you happy.

The filter is easy to find, and like said above you will definately be able to tell if you have it or not.

Basically, I am useless to you on this particular occasion, but welcome to the forum its nice to see someone who thoroughly searched before his fist post.

 

Haha, alright. Would you say these...
http://www.k2motor.com/lta496jmled.html
are better? Same thing but in black, and my car is black, so they might look less tacky than chrome to you?

Well I just bought the car and it already has tiptronic transmission, so it really wasn't my choice. However, I can only drive auto right now anyway, and since literally 90% of my driving is stop and go rush hour bullshit, that suits me just fine. I think a 5-speed would be more of a pain in the *** than anything with my driving patterns. However, I have heard the tip chip can make the transmission respond faster, closer to that of a 5-speed? Or is that only if you use the manual shifting of the tiptronic? I have yet to ever use that (in my 4 days of driving), I just leave it in automatic all the time.

Thanks again for your advise everyone!

EDIT: Son of a bitch!
I took my car to the "stealership" to get it inspected prior to purchase, and they said it was totally in good shape except that the front right outer CV boot needed replacement (I have no idea what that is). They quoted me at $320, but I called the only other Audi shop in phoenix and they quoted me at $220. So I bought the car. BUT WAIT! I just got my oil changed today (mobile 1), and they guy at the shop told me that my car is leaking oil and transmission fluid! How the hell did the stealership not notice this when they spent 90 minutes inspecting my car and the guy who spent 15 minutes changing my oil did?!?! So now I have to take my car to a shop to get a new CV boot and also find where my car is leaking oil and tranny fluid, which sounds expensive. Now I'm thinking maybe this wasn't such a good deal after all.... :-(

 

The tip chip is worth it. I am getting one soon hopefully. It basically takes your shift times and makes it like super bike shifting. The average shift times with a stock trip-tronic tranny is about 1 sec in between gears. With the tip chip it cuts it down to about .2 sec in between gears. This also helps reduce the wear on the tranny because there is less time for it to wear on things between gears. I can't wait to get mine!

Josh

Oh and as for the lights. The black ones look 100x better then those chrome ones.