Seat Leon FR TSI EVO 130BHP

[SeatFRTSI]

Hi,
I have a Seat Leon FR TSI EVO 130BHP and I want to stage 1 remap it which will increase the BHP to 175 but my question is has anyone done this to theirs and has the cars internals been able to withstand the extra power and how many miles can I expect to get out of the engine until it’s finished?
Thanks Nathan

 

[Mr Pig]

I can't answer your question but I like the fact that you understand that upping the power of the engine will have consequences.

 

[SeatFRTSI]

I can't answer your question but I like the fact that you understand that upping the power of the engine will have consequences.

Hi, so have you remapped your car and he no issues to date and yes I do understand that their will be consequences but, if the car is regularly serviced maybe that will help with the longevity of the engines life span.

 

[Mr Pig]

Hi, so have you remapped your car and he no issues to date..

No, I've never mapped a car. I have thought about it, it's been a common practice for many years now, but I wouldn't do it. Not nowadays anyway.

When microprocessor control of engines became a thing, car manufacturers realized they could alter the power output of the engine by doing nothing more than changing the software controlling it. They could effectively build one engine and use it in cars with different power output needs which simplified production.

Car production is much more sophisticated today. Car makers do not over-spec parts if they can avoid it and they are pretty good at avoiding it!

To give a specific example. I discovered that BMW used the same size of piston in a very wide range of engines. Physically they were interchangeable but the quality of the piston varied depending on the power of the engine. I can't remember how many but say there were four different qualities of piston. This could be done in the manufacturing stage quite easily but to simplify things in the service chain they only supplied one piston. The best one. So if you need to replace a piston you'd get one that could be safely used in any engine. At a glance these pistons probably look similar, if not identical, but they're not. This is typical of how car manufacturers work today. They are not going to put a gearbox in a car which is able to handle fifty percent more power than it needs to. All that does is make the car more expensive for no reason.

I think you might be the first potential modder to openly acknowledge and accept this fact, well done :0) Other parts of your car and engine will not be designed to run that sort of power and you might have reliability problems. From what I've seen, upping the power of a car has a similar effect to neglecting maintenance. In the long term the car in unreliable and can develop expensive problems. They can be hard to sell or end up broken on the driveway.

A few years ago I read an article in Fast Ford magazine about a tuning company who could get an extra 50bhp out of the little 1L Ecoboost Fiesta. It was the cover feature. I contacted them, just out of interest really, and they said 'Yeah, you can do this, but don't!'. They had done this as showcase for what was possible but the car wasn't a daily driver and reliability wasn't a concern. He said that nothing else in the car was built to take that kind of power and ultimately, things are going to break.

He also said that the stock car's handling wasn't good enough for that kind of power. To make that more relevant to you, the VW group does not produce an MBQ platform car with 180 bhp which does not have independent rear suspension.

The arguments are typically ignored by guys wanting to have a fast car but not being able to afford to just buy one but the risks are real. Ultimately this cheap power might end up costing you a lot more than you think. Personally, I'd rather have a reliable car that's properly insured and which I'll be able to sell easily one day.

 

[SeatFRTSI]

that was one hell of a in-depth explanation, thank you Mr Pig!
You explained a lot to me which I never knew and it definitely answered my wandering questions which were hard to find an answer for and in that case I will not be mapping my car as 1. It’s on finance and 2.I’d rather buy a more powerful car that the internals can handle.
On the other hand I am a little disappointed because I really wanted to make the car more personal and unique which is doable but not a wise move once you price up the parts in the long run.

 

[SeatFRTSI]

do you think there’s any point in nodding my car cosmetically or just swap my car for a more powerful version after the finance?

 

[Mr Pig]

do you think there’s any point in nodding my car cosmetically or just swap my car for a more powerful version after the finance?

Again it's a personal choice. It's your car so you can do whatever you want to it. If you asked for my advice I would say don't make any cosmetic changes that aren't easily reversible. There are several reasons.

Sooner or later it's almost certain that you are going to want to sell your car. Most people do not want a modified car so you are drastically reducing your pool of potential buyers. You almost certainly will not get back the money spent on the mods and the car will probably sell for less than a standard one. The key word is 'personal'. The more the car reflects your personal taste, the less likely it is to appeal to someone else's. This is something most modders cannot fathom. They figure that if they think something is cool, then it must be cool, period. Like driving around with D&B blaring out of open windows feeling cool when the rest of the world just thinks you're a ****! ;0) I once had a guy on a Ford forum begging me to buy his modified Focus ST, I mean begging. He'd spend thousands on his car and he could not sell it.

Another reason people avoid modded cars is that it flags you up as a certain kind of driver. When you see cars blat around town, racing up to the lights, holding in gear when they should change up. Pretty good chance you're looking at a modded car. Most people know this and avoid buying these cars. I've heard modders contradict this many times, insisting that they drive sensibly and look after their cars, but that's not the point. It doesn't matter what you car is like mechanically, just what potential buyers think it is like.

It also flags you up to insurance companies. They profile people to estimate how likely they are to crash and cost them money. Guess what?? ;0) So don't tell them? Do that and you effectively have no insurance as they may walk away from a claim if the car has undeclared modifications.

I'm not saying don't do it, just go in with your eyes open. If you want to do something, ask your insurance company about it. Did you know that many insurance companies won't insure wrapped cars? Only found that out myself last year. If looking to buy, would you buy a modified car? I wouldn't.

 

[SeatFRTSI]

I totally see the point you’re making and I think I’ve learnt a few lessons here.
I appreciate the response from you and I think I’ve made my mind up now and think smart and not to rush into something that I’m going to probably regret in the long term.
Thanks Nathan ??

 

[Mr Pig]

It's mainly young people who modify cars because they've not really thought it through, I've done it myself. But it's a free country, sort of. If you have the money and don't mind the down sides then go for it. As long as you are happy with what you're doing that's all that matters. I'm just trying to make you think about the bigger picture but at the end of the day it's your car.

 

[BigJase88]

I have a racechip 1.5 TSI tuning box sitting in the cupboard.

will post it out for £50 if your interested, that way keeps warranties in tact upon removal.

it won’t blow your socks off but it is a small increase.

 

[SeatFRTSI]

It's mainly young people who modify cars because they've not really thought it through, I've done it myself. But it's a free country, sort of. If you have the money and don't mind the down sides then go for it. As long as you are happy with what you're doing that's all that matters. I'm just trying to make you think about the bigger picture but at the end of the day it's your car.

In that case, I’ll probably wait and save for a performance car, I’ve been thinking about the Subaru WRX 2017 model, do you think this would be an appropriate upgrade? or please can you suggest a car? ??

 

[SeatFRTSI]

I have a racechip 1.5 TSI tuning box sitting in the cupboard.

will post it out for £50 if your interested, that way keeps warranties in tact upon removal.

it won’t blow your socks off but it is a small increase.

Thanks mate, but I think I’m gonna leave my car the way it is.

 

[Mr Pig]

..or please can you suggest a car?

Not really. I have no idea what you'd like, want or can afford. I'd recommend joining forums for the cars you're interested in and getting opinions on them. Beware of course that owners will all say their own cars are great! And find out insurance and running costs, depreciation, that kind of thing. You can lose huge amounts of money on cars if you're not careful.

Good luck.

 

['& Son' managed]

The car maker, (be it VAG, FCA, GM, PSA or any other) spent a lot of time and money to reach a compromise on each model
that would work best for a wide range of driving situations, (including extremes of road conditions, climate and fuel quality)
and nearly always at the lowest production cost they could manage.

This wide envelope does offer some scope for tweaking, (modifying) a car more to a personal bias of more performance,
more comfort, sportier looks or whatever away from the factory standard. Any mod that can be easily/cheaply reversed is
probably fine, assuming it does not impact on your insurance by an unacceptable amount, (always check with them first.)

As Mr Pig has mentioned, there are also issues of ease/value of car resale to consider for most, if not all people. Some popular
modern mods like suspension lowering and/or fitting larger diameter wheels often do not always improve the car at all, apart
from arguably a looks/cosmetic perspective, so research about what actually works, (car performance upgrade) rather than
just cosmetic, (sporty-looking upgrade) if that's just as important to you.

Unusually for me, I now own a common/popular car, (Golf 7.5) that is so competent overall that it doesn't really need any
such 'bias tweaking' - but the urge to make it more 'mine', (even though I bought it new) was strong. So, I've fitted non-VAG
lighter/wider alloys with better, (but same size) tyres, a fancy weighted shift knob, tailored luxury carpet mats and a few other
minor trim embellishments that make it subtly different - although only a few Golf owners/fans would notice and nobody really
cares about other people's cars of course.
Although re-sale shouldn't be a consideration for many years, all my alterations could be reversed within a couple of hours at
zero further cost and none have impacted on the price of insurance.

Point is, modifications can be fine, but more serious changes need to be thought-through to satisfy yourself before you commit.

 

[Mr Pig]

I'm not saying there is definitely a copnnection but....

LINK

 

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi.
If you have any issues with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.