Stage 1 remap

chris_brown

Active Member
Sep 3, 2020
28
4
Hi guys, and thanks for the add.

I've got a Leon Mk3 1.4tsi 150bhp FR and I'm having a custom cat-back non resonated exhaust fitted (only leaving a single box in the middle).

Also looking to get a stage 1 remap (not on a rolling road as I've heard that this isn't needed for a stage 1), but I've had so many mixed reviews from people regarding which company to use.

I've been looking at Quantum Tuning, but they only increase to 170bhp and 300lbs torque, which is the lowest increase from any company.

I'm based in between London and Oxford and don't want to travel silly miles to get one done.

Any help would be much appreciated
 

Charliessmith

Active Member
Jun 16, 2017
494
51
Lots of people have gone with Revo and Racingline but my local garage does Remaps and I went with them they use elite remaps and I'm on stage 2 with a cupra 290 and I've never had a problem.

Sent from my SM-N770F using Tapatalk
 

mdaw1985

Active Member
Aug 3, 2008
227
27
St.Leonards, East Sussex
AMD technik are near blue water. They can do rolling road maps but I believe that they just put a generic map on our engines when I've contacted them previously. Only thing is they are not what I would call cheap but are well respected. I have had cheaper quotes more locally to me in East Sussex for a custom map.
 

chris_brown

Active Member
Sep 3, 2020
28
4
Yeah I've just looked at the Revo maps for the car and they are £200 more than the Quantum one... l don't mind paying if the difference is worth it, but what are people's thoughts?
 

AndrewJB

Friend to SEAT UK & Cupra Racing
Aug 16, 2007
11,211
484
Maranello
REVO are worth ££££ over Quantum for example. You get what you pay for.

REVO/APR/Racingline are 3 big names in the UK which offer "off the shelf" tuning, which means their tunes have been tried and tested on many cars on rolling roads, real roads and race tracks. I know this because I have done testing with REVO/APR and I live 2 minutes away from Racingline HQ (formely know as Volkswagen Racing).

Then there are also some tried and tested "Custom" tuners for the MQB platform such as MRC, Unicorn Developments, R-Tech there files will be done live on the rolling road.

Quantum for example have a "massive" database of files for every brand car, the files will be bought from abroad and sold onto their dealers, Quantum probably charge a dealer about £50-100 for a file which they then sell you for £300-400. They flash generic files which quite often haven't been tested properly. You get in the car and it feels faster and your happy! you tell all your friends. Without logging it etc youll never be none the wiser. The file might actually be ok but in the past I've read a lot of dodgyness from Quantum or people using that name atleast.

For example, I recently purchased a MK1 Leon FR+ 1.9TDI PD150 as a daily car, when I purchased it, it had a "Stage 1" map on it from a local remap "specialist", I looked them up and emailed them some questions about the file. They couldn't really answer the questions to be honest. I then took the file off my car and looked at it in a map editor. OEM turbo on the PD150 is capable of making max 1.7bar boost but they were requesting it to make 1.9-2.0 bar boost. I then emailed them again asked them why it was requesting that much boost and then said it wasn't even though I screenshoted them the data. Turns out like 99% of man in a van remap "specialists" they basically buy discs off ebay with remaps on them, then flash them to cars. Joe Bloggs comes a long in his diesel mondeo with 120bhp, leaves with 150bhp, car feels fast, hes happy, tells everybody man in a van "knows what hes talking about"

In the end I spent around 4 hours live tuning my PD150 with a diesel specialist, logging the files and tweaking them, car is a hell of a lot faster now and a lot less smokey.

The amount of times, in my 12+ years on SCN now that I've seen people go to local companies and have issues, then come on here asking for advise, Sedox Performance was one company that springs to mind, UK dealer up north was selling Sedox files but they weren't even genuine Sedox files, The USA HQ confirmed the UK company was selling ebay remaps under their name.

Seeing as your only really needing a Stage 1 file, I would stick with a good tried and tested off the shelf file, REVO or Racingline would be where I put my money. As a long term APR customer it pains me to say this but dont bother with APR. They have stopped selling Stage 2 files now due to some US lawsuit so you wont be able to upgrade from 1 to 2 with them.
 
Last edited:

mdaw1985

Active Member
Aug 3, 2008
227
27
St.Leonards, East Sussex
Unit 18 automotive at 114 Tanners Dr, Blakelands, Milton Keynes MK14 5BP maybe worth a look if it's not to far from you. They are a dealer of p torque who are very reputable near Wolverhampton. I'm pretty sure they can do a generic map sent from p torque that they will have developed up in Wolverhampton or they can do a custom map I expect. The choice will be yours. Both p torque and unit 18 automotive are on Facebook.
 

AndrewJB

Friend to SEAT UK & Cupra Racing
Aug 16, 2007
11,211
484
Maranello
Racingline are a company based in Milton Keynes, they were formerly know as Volkswagen Racing and were a tier 1 supplier to Volkswagen Motorsport/SEAT Sport etc. They also ran the Volkswagen Racing Cup and Formula Ford champs.

They changed their name a few years ago to Racingline, They design, manufacturer and sell aftermarket VAG group parts such as the R600 intake etc.

When Shark Performance closed down, Racingline bought Sharks back catalogue of software and it became Racingline OEM+ software. They only focus on up to date cars now. So for example my MK1 Leon they wouldn't touch. But MK3/MK4 Leon they will.
 
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chris_brown

Active Member
Sep 3, 2020
28
4
Just had a quote of £480 from Revo, is it me or does this sound like silly money?
That's £240 more than the Quantum one, £120 more than the More BHP one and £180 more than the TopGear one.
Is there that much of a difference?
 

Titchy

Active Member
Jun 10, 2017
520
208
Buckinghamshire
Racingline are a company based in Milton Keynes, they were formerly know as Volkswagen Racing and were a tier 1 supplier to Volkswagen Motorsport/SEAT Sport etc. They also ran the Volkswagen Racing Cup and Formula Ford champs.

They changed their name a few years ago to Racingline, They design, manufacturer and sell aftermarket VAG group parts such as the R600 intake etc.

When Shark Performance closed down, Racingline bought Sharks back catalogue of software and it became Racingline OEM+ software. They only focus on up to date cars now. So for example my MK1 Leon they wouldn't touch. But MK3/MK4 Leon they will.
Am i right in assuming that racingline HQ in MK dont actually physically sell the Map ie i cant go directly to them. I have to go to a reseller like Unit18?
 

motty225

Polestar 2
Sep 11, 2008
953
219
Ashby De-La Zouch
Just had a quote of £480 from Revo, is it me or does this sound like silly money?
That's £240 more than the Quantum one, £120 more than the More BHP one and £180 more than the TopGear one.
Is there that much of a difference?
You're paying for the hours and hours of R&D that goes into the map, not just a generic off the shelf file
 

Mtailor

Active Member
Aug 9, 2018
245
136
London
i've got the Racingline OEM+ map, and when there are updates, these are usually put back on free of charge. Again that's dealer dependent.
Doubt you will ever get updates from 'man in van' with shelf file
 

chris_brown

Active Member
Sep 3, 2020
28
4
I'm getting the Powerflow exhaust done on Monday and they have said they'll do the TopGear map at the same time for £300.
I had the TopGear map on my 2.0tsi Audi and it was perfectly fine...
The Revo one that is recommended by several people is £480.
Does anyone on here have experience with the TopGear maps?
 

AndrewJB

Friend to SEAT UK & Cupra Racing
Aug 16, 2007
11,211
484
Maranello
Never heard of them for remaps, my guess is they have just bought a load of files from abroad.

I do however, have top gear raceheaders on my Porsche.
 

AndrewJB

Friend to SEAT UK & Cupra Racing
Aug 16, 2007
11,211
484
Maranello
Am i right in assuming that racingline HQ in MK dont actually physically sell the Map ie i cant go directly to them. I have to go to a reseller like Unit18?

Yeh that's correct, you will be invited down to HQ if they don't already have files for your car.
 

chris_brown

Active Member
Sep 3, 2020
28
4
I've posted this same question on the Facebook forum and I'm getting slated for not looking at a custom map done on a dyno.
For a stage 1 I've always been told that a dyno is not needed?
 

Mtailor

Active Member
Aug 9, 2018
245
136
London
I've posted this same question on the Facebook forum and I'm getting slated for not looking at a custom map done on a dyno.
For a stage 1 I've always been told that a dyno is not needed?

Chris.

I apologise for sounding condescending,
But the Facebook group is filled with a bunch of 20something year old children who know a lot about nothing!! Get a custom map, get a dyno, get this map... all of there ‘research’ is all ‘hearsay’. They have no evidential research behind their hypothesis. Some of these groups spend up to £2.5k+ on insurance - so other compromises have to made, and hence cheaper mapping.

Now let’s get to the nitty gritty where I am going to sound a little shitty, and again I apologise if I offend.

Some of those ‘boys’ are number chasers. They want to see top number BHP without really taking into account of the drivability, hell we may as well say “hey, how bigs your **** cos mine is bigger!!” Not one of these boys will go on track and legally use the power, they will use the roads like a racetrack, crash, send insurance premiums high, or worst case hurt/kill someone.

Whether it’s this forum, or any other car, I’ve seen the same thing over and over again, and it’s always the 20something year olds. It’s only about the numbers. F**k me, most can only drive fast in a straight line! impressive! Like a **** on my shoe.

As you may have guessed, I’m not in my 20s or 30s. And yes I’m having a bad day!!

It’s ultimately your choice in the direction you want to go, I’m with Andrew on the r&d element of mapping. In this case you get what you pay for.

I’d suggest Racingline OEM+ as they used to do stuff for VWRacing.

Revo have a good map too. I’ve heard good things.

Reach out to us if you have questions. There are some very knowledgable, clever, highly educated and ‘lived a little’ people on this forum with real life experiences.

Rant OVER and OUT
 

AndrewJB

Friend to SEAT UK & Cupra Racing
Aug 16, 2007
11,211
484
Maranello
Much better off with a decent off the shelf file from a tried and tested tuner than a "Custom" file off some back street garage, the file will be anything but custom.

You really dont need "custom" tuning when your running OEM hardware, if you had a none normal turbo etc then yeh.
 
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