hello everyone, until recently i'd been talking about making a trip to detroit (ferndale technically) to visit the guys at VAST to do a little work on my 4.2, and i finally made it up there today. when i got there, everyone was super nice, and hands down some of the most excellent customer service i've ever had!

with that being said, i ended up going with a stage 2 ECU file and a stage 2 TCU file. holy crap just those two things seemed to wake the car up. throttle response is must crisper than it ever was, and the torque on the bottom end is awesome now. the car takes off like crazy now from a stop if you're not careful with the pedal! anyways, long story short, it was a great experience for me, i got exactly what i wanted and then some. they even fixed a couple of things that were broken on the car for free!

in closing, it was well worth the $$$ and definitely worth the time to drive up there (for me it's 6 hours up and back) and actually meet everyone personally. they're a great bunch of guys that really know they're stuff and they're the type of people that would help you out in a jam even if you weren't paying them. i can't really say enough good things about them, and there definitely isn't a single negative thing that i can even think of. anyways, VAST is great great great, and anyone with a 4.2 that hasn't given them a call yet is gona be taking a long trip on the FAIL-boat.

-mike

 

can you give a review on the tip chip?

Thx

 

the tip file works very very well. much quicker shifts, but not harsh. comfortable enough to still drive around daily and quick enough that when you switch to tip mode, it doesn't take 5 years for the car to upshift. also, they changed some of the torque values in the tcu someone, so that it lets more torque to the wheels, so that helps a lot with the quicker acceleration now. it'll actually snap your neck from a dead stop if you're not careful now. all in all, i think it was time and money well spent, i'm very happy with how it turned out.

now to get a bigger lunged exhaust and a better air intake and i'll be able to step it up to stage 3...

btw, the chips come with free upgrades for life. all i have to do to go from stage 2 to 3 is just call VAST, tell them what i want to do, they'll send me the new chip, i swap them real quick, and just send back the old one, and it's free to do. you could probably take it back in if you're not comfortable doing that, but you seem pretty well established as far as car knowledge, so i'm sure you'd be fine. prince said it was pretty easy to do, just a matter of having the supporting stuff to be able to do it first, ie exhaust and intake.

 

I noticed you had a 2.7t so I thought I would give my thoughts to you as well.

1st I HAD a GIAC tip file and the vast guys gave me a try it before you buy it .....bottom line is I felt bad selling someone my GIAC chip because I knew the vast file was 100x's better. it is a night and day difference if you are a chipped car already you are doing your self a favor for sure. you will not be dissipointed. it feels like the car never commes out of the power ban now..after my experence I feel like people who don't have tip programs now need to know there is a honist tip file now available

 

i second that ... i have a new file coming monday ... tighter shifting

 

another one again!? I thought the last one you got worked????

 

yea the last one was just to get me something that I could drive on because they wanted to create a better file and i couldnt be without a car anymore ... this was the best experience ive ever had involving customer service ... did you get yourtip chipand other work done ... how do you like the vast chip

 

i'm assuming that was meant for me?

i love the vast chips, they work flawlessly and are definitely worth the money. there was a big increase in throttle response and initial torque from a dead stop is waaaaaaaay improved. shifting is much much quicker, but still without being harsh. i got both the stage 2 ecu file and the stage 2 tcu file. i might be swapping for the stage 3 tcu file here in a week, but i still haven't decided on that. the car needs a week to "relearn" how i drive, so i'll see if i wanna get the more aggressive chip here in a week or so. the best thing is is that kurt actually wrote the files, so he can explain exactly how and why he did certain things. another awesome thing is that you get chip upgrades for life with the cost of getting the files, so if i decide i'd rather have the stage 3 chip, i just call and tell them, they send it to me, and i send them the stage 2 back, all for free.

 

agreed ---- gotta love vast ... they take care of us a6 guy and at the same time have the business mentality that keeps firms in the niche that they are in above the rest ....


GIGI DIDNT YOU GET A VAST TIP CHIP ASWELL?! INPUT?!

 

what is the difference between different stages? sorry I don't know much.

If I have a 2.8 completely stock, which stage should I get?

Also If I'm only going for either ECU or TCU, which one should I get first?