# Stage 1 Reliability



## -BigMac- (Jan 27, 2021)

Hi Guys.

To whoever has staged 1 their MK3.. have you seen any MAJOR reliability/mechanical issues after you staged?

Am thinking of getting mine staged in the next week or so.

Recommended/reputable brands?

Thanks


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## Steve2017TTS (Aug 2, 2017)

Hi,
I have remapped quite a few 1.8 & 2.0 Turbo VAG cars that I have owned.
The only reliability issues that I had on these cars following the update - were coil pack failures soon after the remap.
This could be coincidence - but the coil packs were notorious for failures - so maybe it was linked.
Cheers
Steve


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## MrOCD (Feb 9, 2021)

-BigMac- said:


> Hi Guys.
> 
> To whoever has staged 1 their MK3.. have you seen any MAJOR reliability/mechanical issues after you staged?
> 
> ...


MRC / APR / Revo or Racingline are your best bet.


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## 21tesla (Aug 29, 2016)

My 2016 TT has been Unitronic Stage 1+ ECU and TCU since 5,000 miles. The car now has 58,000 miles on it.

In terms of service, I had Audicare for the first four years. Since then, I have changed the oil myself every 5,000 miles. The DSG oil was changed at 30,000 and 45,000 mi and I will do it again at 65-70,000 mi.

All four corners got new pads and rotors at 40,000 mi


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## kevin#34 (Jan 8, 2019)

before current Unitronic Stage 2 I had their stage 1+, no failures, recovery or engine warning light


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## -BigMac- (Jan 27, 2021)

21tesla said:


> My 2016 TT has been Unitronic Stage 1+ ECU and TCU since 5,000 miles. The car now has 58,000 miles on it.
> 
> In terms of service, I had Audicare for the first four years. Since then, I have changed the oil myself every 5,000 miles. The DSG oil was changed at 30,000 and 45,000 mi and I will do it again at 65-70,000 mi.
> 
> All four corners got new pads and rotors at 40,000 mi


Thats awesome!
Thanks so much for the info - really eases my mind about the staging.

How significant did you find the performance/efficiency boost from the Stage 1?


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## -BigMac- (Jan 27, 2021)

kevin#34 said:


> before current Unitronic Stage 2 I had their stage 1+, no failures, recovery or engine warning light


Really comforting hearing that. Which brand did you go with for the stage?


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## -BigMac- (Jan 27, 2021)

Steve2017TTS said:


> Hi,
> I have remapped quite a few 1.8 & 2.0 Turbo VAG cars that I have owned.
> The only reliability issues that I had on these cars following the update - were coil pack failures soon after the remap.
> This could be coincidence - but the coil packs were notorious for failures - so maybe it was linked.
> ...


Hopefully just a coincidence :mrgreen:


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## -BigMac- (Jan 27, 2021)

MrOCD said:


> -BigMac- said:
> 
> 
> > Hi Guys.
> ...


Awesome!
I have a APR tuner down the road. Will probably go with them  I assume there isn't much difference between those brands?


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## 21tesla (Aug 29, 2016)

-BigMac- said:


> How significant did you find the performance/efficiency boost from the Stage 1?


The best way I can describe it is that it's way I thought the car should be. The ride is more of a sense of urgency to it. I have the DSG tune, too, that helps. Plus the DSG tune gives you D1,D2,D3... S1,S2,S3 in the display. For most of those miles, I have used the 93 octane tune (north america rating) but for the last year or so, I have switched to the 91 octane tune due to availability.

The car was stage2 ECU/TCU with a Unitronic downpipe for about a month. The power was intoxicating, you can squawk the tires from from rolling, and it was definitely louder with some DSG farts thrown in. I switched back to stage 1 and removed the downpipe due to the drone at 2800 rpm. I'm on the freeway a lot of it and I couldn't get used to it. I tried to install a Vibrant resonator on the midpipe like some Golf drivers have done but there was no room for it due to the placement of the driveshaft on the TT.


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## revulike (Jun 15, 2018)

No problems, now about a year after map.

Doesn't fart as much, which I do miss. Farts only really seem to happen with short shifting now.
Idle seems a tad lumpier, bit of shunting in first gear stop-start traffic (solved by putting it in second).
Map and rolling road session done at JFA,Maidstone. Would recommend. 312hp, plus whatever my Pipercross filter adds.

The car is almost slightly too fast now  (not for the handling, just rarely get to use all the power).


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## AWDRobert (Feb 9, 2018)

-BigMac- said:


> Steve2017TTS said:
> 
> 
> > Hi,
> ...


Same coincidence :? happened to my 1.8/20V. Replaced with new variant coil packs and no problem since. I sold the car at about 150kkm in 2011 and next owner installed K03 larger turbo and AFAIK Skoda Octavia 4x4 is still OK.


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## kevin#34 (Jan 8, 2019)

I stayed with Unitronic since the upgrade from stage 1 has a reasonable cost, done both ECU and TCU, and added a 200 cells donwpipe from Milltek.
Sound increased a bit, but not too much (good, since I do some highway drive at constant speed), farts also increased, and there are also some pops when downshifting in dynamic mode.
My original idea was to go for APR or Revo, but here we cannot move away from local region since beginning of December, so found very useful the possibility to upload the maps at the convenience of my garage, via the Unitronic Uniconnect tool



-BigMac- said:


> kevin#34 said:
> 
> 
> > before current Unitronic Stage 2 I had their stage 1+, no failures, recovery or engine warning light
> ...


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## powerplay (Feb 8, 2008)

Have had MRC or APR stage1 on current and last 3-4 cars. Never had any issues as a result of the remap.

Way back on a 2011 TT I had a few issues with limp mode and check engine light a few months after it was mapped. It went in under warranty and was diagnosed with a faulty N92 solenoid cooling system valve. Fortunately this was long before Audi were hot on checking for maps and it was fixed under warranty, no other issues in 5 years on the car.

So stage1 maps are usually completely safe, but anything can go wrong that's completely unrelated!


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## -BigMac- (Jan 27, 2021)

Did any of you get a TCU tune to compliment the ECU?


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## kevin#34 (Jan 8, 2019)

of course :lol: 
with ECU stage 1+ I had TCU stage 1, then moved to both stage 2.
a staged DSG is quite noticeable, shifts are quicker and also torque limiter is higher (a must, if you go for ECU stage 2 that delivers higher torque values)


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## red_TTS (Jun 27, 2020)

kevin#34 said:


> of course :lol:
> with ECU stage 1+ I had TCU stage 1, then moved to both stage 2.
> a staged DSG is quite noticeable, shifts are quicker and also torque limiter is higher (a must, if you go for ECU stage 2 that delivers higher torque values)


What about consumption figures in each of the stages?


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## kevin#34 (Jan 8, 2019)

almost same as stock if you drive gently and without using the extra power, otherwise slightly worse.. 
driving "happy" I moved from an average of 9 km/l to 8.3/8.2 (sorry but here we don't use MPG)


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## red_TTS (Jun 27, 2020)

kevin#34 said:


> almost same as stock if you drive gently and without using the extra power, otherwise slightly worse..
> driving "happy" I moved from an average of 9 km/l to 8.3/8.2 (sorry but here we don't use MPG)


Do you happen to have ECU software version 5? You can check with OBD Eleven.

I'm doing 8,5 L/100 when doing 120km/h in a relaxed journey of several hundreds km, which is in my opinion way too much. 6 speed DSG doesn't help neither.


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## kevin#34 (Jan 8, 2019)

I had 005 ECU version update right before switching to Unitronic 1+
8,5 litres/100 km equals to 11,7 km/l, but I think at the same speed I am around 10.5 km/l with current ECU/TCU stage 2


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## red_TTS (Jun 27, 2020)

kevin#34 said:


> I had 005 ECU version update right before switching to Unitronic 1+
> 8,5 litres/100 km equals to 11,7 km/l, but I think at the same speed I am around 10.5 km/l with current ECU/TCU stage 2


So we can say no matter which tune we get the general consensus is that at the same speed fuel consumption is worse after applying the tune.

There are many tuners who claim to achieve improved fuel efficiency for their Stage 1. In my experience this is not true and I see yours with Unitronic is the same.


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## kevin#34 (Jan 8, 2019)

being the ultimate goal of any tuner to get more power, I believe is normal to have a bit more of fuel consumption especially considering that the maximum power is achieved with a slightly lower A/F ratio than the theoretic 14.7:1; additionally, OEM maps are more targeting lowest emissions/fuel consumption possible (=lean mixture)


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