# TT RS stage 1 to stage 2 with MRC - honest feedback*updated*



## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

Hi all,

I wanted to post this up so others who decide to purchase a TT RS and modify it can read this and potentially save themselves some hassle and some £'s too.

I purchased my TT RS last year and it already had an Apr stage 1 and milltek Secondary cat delete. I brought the car after selling my 2016 Mercedes C43 (also mapped) and quite honestly I couldn't believe how fast it was.

Cutting a long story short I ended up buying a full milltek decat system, Forge front mount, racing line intake and LOBA high pressure fuel pump. All these modifications did make a slight increase, not night and day though.

I felt that as I was still running an Apr stage 1 these modifications would justify themselves when moving onto a stage 2 map...

On Thursday last week I visited MRC, who if you haven't dealt with them are incredibly helpful and a very nice bunch to deal with.

The car went through to the rollers and after hearing the lovely sound of my car going through the revs the chap looking after me (Doug) came out to have a chat, he said the car is already running 420bhp and 651nm or torque and very high boost and because of that I wasn't likely to see the sort of gains that most people would want to see to justify spending £1k. I said it's fine let's push on anyway, I was already quite happy with the power and was more interested in the DSG map and crackle map as I'd been missing the noises that my Mercedes used to make.

After a bit of playing about the car came out 440bhp and 647nm torque which was a 20bhp increase and - 3nm torque decrease. The car now sounds amazing with their crackle map and gear changes are improved.

Overall I was very happy with the experience and the noise my car makes. However considering mods to date including this remap are over the £4k mark, I really don't feel it's really much quicker than when I brought it.

So if you've just jumped into a ttrs and like me you decide to start spending some money on it, I'd focus on getting a real nice exhaust that gets you the sound you want and a decent stage 1 map with a panel filter and as far as I'm concerned you'd have a car practically as fast as a stage 2 and a few £k left in the bank.

This post is not to moan or groan, I'm just putting it out there to give my honest feedback on stage 1 vs stage 2.

I'll post dyno below.


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)




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## qooqiiu (Oct 12, 2007)

Mine.










My advise to anyone considering mods would be de catted exhaust (OEM DP would be fine) & stage 2 map. That's really all you need.

Mine was REVO stage 1 prior to this. Only downside with this map is the rev limiter at 7k instead of Revos 7300. Meaning no 100 in 3rd. The limiter kicks in at 97... 130 in 4th. It's also a hard limiter and not a soft limiter. Biggest thing for me and the main reason for going with this is to stop the half boost/limp mode that kicked in with the revo when traction control was triggered. That was so frustrating. Thing of the past now.


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

qooqiiu said:


> Mine.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for sharing your dyno, very interesting comparing them. Yours is running more power earlier up the rev range than mine. Mine holds on to the power a bit longer but I'm convinced that's the fuel pump, I did notice a considerable difference in the power holding on as soon as I fitted it.

Also worth noting ambient temp when you ran yours was considerably higher than when I ran mine meaning yours could well have run higher if done at the same temp.

Doug felt something was holding the car back which is why the torque was quite low, he suggested taking the racingline intake off and fitting an open filter so this weekend I have switched to a ramair intake, hopefully going to get back over to mrc to see if that's made any difference.

At this rate given I've upgraded everything required I'm likely to stick a TTE500 before the summer.


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## qooqiiu (Oct 12, 2007)

Yes it was a hot August day when I went.

Only mods For me were an APR downpipe, pipercross panel filter and Denso plugs.


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

Also brought some standard rotors this weekend. Much nicer than the alloys the previous owner had put on:


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## Danny1 (Sep 2, 2010)

M3UMH said:


> Also brought some standard rotors this weekend. Much nicer than the alloys the previous owner had put on:


They do look better imo to, I want some titanium rotors for mine this year if I can get some at a decent price if not will go Neuspeed I think.


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## r_turner01 (Sep 12, 2018)

Good results, and as you say you are happy with it which makes all the difference!

This crackle map you speak of, that is something mine is missing, a visceral feeling, could you tell me more about it? :mrgreen:


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## Ryanbon91 (Dec 24, 2018)

I Have a 2010 RS but Manual..

Mods wise i have deleted the secondary Cats and Res delete..

Looking at putting a K&N Panel filter in and going for a map just with that..

Mine does pop a bit not sure if its the RES delete but does have Audi sports exhaust and sounds great!

Ryan


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## Danny1 (Sep 2, 2010)

r_turner01 said:


> Good results, and as you say you are happy with it which makes all the difference!
> 
> This crackle map you speak of, that is something mine is missing, a visceral feeling, could you tell me more about it? :mrgreen:


They change the timing etc on map so that on lift off it sends some unburnt fuel down the exhaust hence the pops/crackles, some say it isnt the best for your turbo some say it is fine your turbo your choice I guess 

On a side note I get pops and crackles/burbles on lift off with my system when in S , I have revo stage 2 with scorpion downpipe, sports cat and titanium valved cat back.

On the stage 2 figures etc at the end of the day you have more power lower in the rev range pretty much all the way through, is it worth the extra cost thats down to the person I guess, In general though I feel on any car stage 1 is the sweet spot of value per bhp but we all want more :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:


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## r_turner01 (Sep 12, 2018)

Danny1 said:


> r_turner01 said:
> 
> 
> > Good results, and as you say you are happy with it which makes all the difference!
> ...


Thanks Danny, interesting to know.

I was lucky as mine came with Stage 2, but ive never experienced stage 1 to compare. Mine has a supersprint system on it but would just love a bit more noise, not too loud to get banned from the track but just a bit, like you say the odd pop etc would be nice. Im hoping when the rear seat delete etc happens it might improve as friend told me that from outside it does sound good


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## french (Oct 7, 2018)

Mine came with a MRC Stage 1, K&N Panel, A set of Scorpion secondary decats & a new Fuel pump fitted , MRC managed to get 419PS (413(?) BHP & 668NM, a very good stage 1!


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## qooqiiu (Oct 12, 2007)

Anyone looking for a bit more noise I'd say ditch the parcel shelf. You would be surprised at just how much that muffles the sound. I took mine out to have it re trimmed and it's never been put back.


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## Enky08 (Dec 7, 2018)

Nice honest review.

I bought mines with it already APR stage 1 but standard hardware.

I did well to get it to stage 2 for relatively cheap:

APR Stage 1 to stage 2 £135
APR customer license transfer £150
OEM downpipe off Facebook £150 (I drilled out the cat) 
APR panel filter £70
Scorption secondary decat pipes £150
Labour install £150

So around £800 all in.

I think ecotunes dyno reads lower than mrc in hp but maybe higher in torque. They said if I swapped out the fmic for any of the aftermarket offerings I'd make at least 20hp extra.

The result..... No notable difference haha. It sounds alot better now obviously but in terms of dragy times I noticed bigger difference between timing when it was cold/warm than I did between stage 1 and 2. I did it on the cheap so I wasn't too bothered.

If I had known before hand I would have left it stage 1, bought secondary cat pipes and a forge intercooler instead. As heat soak is an issue.


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## Danny1 (Sep 2, 2010)

Enky08 said:


> Nice honest review.
> 
> I bought mines with it already APR stage 1 but standard hardware.
> 
> ...


Surely a larger diameter aftermarket downpipe would be much better and give alot more bhp/torque increase?


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## Enky08 (Dec 7, 2018)

Danny1 said:


> Enky08 said:
> 
> 
> > Nice honest review.
> ...


I'm not sure how much bigger the aftermarket options are for £600+. I did alot of research on this forum and its common on this platform for people to run the oem downpipe with the cat removed. The downpipe is not the restriction of these cars it's the intercooler.


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## conlechi (May 6, 2006)

I was at MRC on Thursday as well , in morning with my little ole MK1 tfsi conversion  
they said a TTRS was coming in later that day . Just a map tweak after a few more hardware mods for mine ... pretty good results but not running TTRS power :wink: 
Doug was good and explained the process and the results were good


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## Barr_end (Oct 19, 2016)

qooqiiu said:


> Anyone looking for a bit more noise I'd say ditch the parcel shelf. You would be surprised at just how much that muffles the sound. I took mine out to have it re trimmed and it's never been put back.


This is very true! Back seats out also adds another nice little increase to noise too...
And there is a solution avaliable for the uselessly small rear seats and the look once they are gone



















conlechi said:


> I was at MRC on Thursday as well , in morning with my little ole MK1 tfsi conversion
> they said a TTRS was coming in later that day . Just a map tweak after a few more hardware mods for mine ... pretty good results but not running TTRS power :wink:
> Doug was good and explained the process and the results were good


Also this is quality 8)


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

r_turner01 said:


> Good results, and as you say you are happy with it which makes all the difference!
> 
> This crackle map you speak of, that is something mine is missing, a visceral feeling, could you tell me more about it? :mrgreen:


Hi mate, I'm planning on getting the go pro out and doing some videos driving around but here's what it sounds like sat still: 




Mrc's crackle map is fairly subtle, if I downshift and revs get above 5k it really does make some awesome pops and bangs but likewise unless you're driving in an aggressive manner (or purposely making it pop and bang) you wouldn't notice it was there.


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

Ryanbon91 said:


> I Have a 2010 RS but Manual..
> 
> Mods wise i have deleted the secondary Cats and Res delete..
> 
> ...


Id say that's a good plan mate, although having now installed this ramair air intake which I got brand new on ebay for £120... The noise that comes from the engine bay now is amazing lol. Might be worth buying at that price if you like induction noises. They are listed at £160 but I used a voucher on ebay and got 20% off.


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## R77C (Feb 1, 2019)

M3UMH said:


> Ryanbon91 said:
> 
> 
> > I Have a 2010 RS but Manual..
> ...


Interesting, are these new noises turbo whooshes and hisses? Or are you getting actual engine intake noise?


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

R77C said:


> M3UMH said:
> 
> 
> > Ryanbon91 said:
> ...


Here is a short video: 




Let me know what you think


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## Ryanbon91 (Dec 24, 2018)

Here is a short video: 




Let me know what you think[/quote]

Does sound well have you got any pictures of it installed?? be interested to see it from past experience after market kits dont drag cold air in as well.

Ryan


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## R77C (Feb 1, 2019)

Ryanbon91 said:


> Here is a short video:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Does sound well have you got any pictures of it installed?? be interested to see it from past experience after market kits dont drag cold air in as well.

Ryan[/quote]

My thoughts too. It's always that trade off between noise and optimum intake temps with an open cone like that


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

I'll be able to tell you the difference between the ramair and the racing line intake next week when it goes back to mrc. Doug felt that the inclosed racing line intake could have been hindering performance.

I haven't taken a picture of the ramair installed but here is the photo from the ebay listing:


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## R77C (Feb 1, 2019)

Looking forward to hearing more then, very intrigued!


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## Enky08 (Dec 7, 2018)

Get your dragy out!


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

Enky08 said:


> Get your dragy out!


Wow they are impressive figures. I don't have draggy but using my head unit with torque app the best I've recorded is a 3.47 0-60 no idea how accurate it is to be honest. Might invest in one of these draggy boxes.


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## Enky08 (Dec 7, 2018)

M3UMH said:


> Enky08 said:
> 
> 
> > Get your dragy out!
> ...


I'll try running my torque app and dragy at the same time and find out for you!

Dragy should be about 100 from awesome gti


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

r_turner01 said:


> Good results, and as you say you are happy with it which makes all the difference!
> 
> This crackle map you speak of, that is something mine is missing, a visceral feeling, could you tell me more about it? :mrgreen:


Hello mate, I posted a couple of videos on youtube where you can hear the crackle map, there is a bit of wind noise, I realised afterwards I hadn't positioned the go-pro the best way round to cut the noise out. Also I should add that as I was trying to record the crackle and pops I was tapping the accelerator after downshifts which prolongs the crackles, if you don't tap the accelerator it crackles for a second or 2 then stops (I did this more so on the second video). The reason why it's fun to do this is every so often it makes a very loud crack. Also I had no idea just how much it does crackle, inside the car you can hear the very loud pops and bangs but no so much the quieter ones. Let me know what you think:

Vid 1: 




Vid 2: 




:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

Tried a 0-60 post map using Torque app...

Was very impressed considering I'd brought some new alloys and they had 225 wide "black lion" tyres which have now been changed to some 255 tyres and it was damp when I did this run:


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## Wolvez (Jun 22, 2018)

The human brain don't care how fast 0-60 mph is and it also don't care how many Horsepower the engine makes. Search how fast the cruising speed of a commercial jet. Can you feel it moving?? Acceleration is just all about the tilting of the head. [smiley=book2.gif]


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## Danny1 (Sep 2, 2010)

Wolvez said:


> The human brain don't care how fast 0-60 mph is and it also don't care how many Horsepower the engine makes. Search how fast the cruising speed of a commercial jet. Can you feel it moving?? Acceleration is just all about the tilting of the head. [smiley=book2.gif]


Give it a rest man its not the first time your saying this and wont be the last im sure, why cant you accept that people like using bhp, 0-60, 0-100, 1/4 mile etc as comparisons for their pride and joy(and ego we all have it).


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## Enky08 (Dec 7, 2018)

Exhaust sounds sweet mate. Would like some overrun burbling myself but not into the Golf R pops n bangs stuff!

The figures look good! Must be in the ball park with the mods you've got. Is the 7.7s time 0-100mph?

Wish I had the cash for fmic and coilovers at the moment but will have to wait I think. Alot of dough for a toy haha


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## marteemoose (Mar 4, 2018)

Danny1 said:


> Wolvez said:
> 
> 
> > The human brain don't care how fast 0-60 mph is and it also don't care how many Horsepower the engine makes. Search how fast the cruising speed of a commercial jet. Can you feel it moving?? Acceleration is just all about the tilting of the head. [smiley=book2.gif]
> ...


Every Forum has someone that likes to ruin it for others, all you're doing is feeding the troll, saying that it's nice to remind the less fortunate when to stfu, well done you :twisted:


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

Update on this:

Just got back from second visit to MRC and it appears Doug from MRC was spot on and it was the intake holding back the power. Car is now running 451ps and 726nm of torque which means a total increase over the stage 1 APR of 31ps and 75nm.

To explain the runs below:

Green: last run on my last visit
Red: Same map but with the ramair intake
Black: Final run today after map tweek










Hat's off to MRC, they didn't charge me for looking at this map again, their customer service has been second to none and Doug demonstrated his competence by identifying the bottleneck on the first visit. I couldn't recommend them highly enough.

Now to wait for some decent weather to see what the 0-60 comes out at given I now have some proper tyres on the car (255 wide).


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

Enky08 said:


> Exhaust sounds sweet mate. Would like some overrun burbling myself but not into the Golf R pops n bangs stuff!
> 
> The figures look good! Must be in the ball park with the mods you've got. Is the 7.7s time 0-100mph?
> 
> Wish I had the cash for fmic and coilovers at the moment but will have to wait I think. Alot of dough for a toy haha


Thanks mate.

I'm the same as you, i'd prefer some overrun crackles, it seems to do it sometimes but not often. It sounds better standing still revving than it does driving along.

The 7.7 is the 1/8 mile time, to be fair I was only actually going for the 0-60 (bottom left @ 3.349) although I was flooring it slightly past 60 to make sure so I have no idea how accurate that number is.


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## Danny1 (Sep 2, 2010)

Good result, I run the revo intake on mine so good to see the results for your open cone.


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## Enky08 (Dec 7, 2018)

M3UMH said:


> Update on this:
> 
> Just got back from second visit to MRC and it appears Doug from MRC was spot on and it was the intake holding back the power. Car is now running 451ps and 726nm of torque which means a total increase over the stage 1 APR of 31ps and 75nm.
> 
> ...


451PS  now you deffo need to get dragy haha! 8)

I get some burbles at low speed in first with flapper mod and 2nd cat deletes but would love a bit more!

7.xxs is right in the ball park for 1/8 mile so must be reasonably accurate!


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