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The Car Shopping Thread

Canadan said:
What are these stages you speak of?
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Tuning stages of the ecu and supporting mods. Stage 1 can just be a reflash of the ecu to get more tq, more hp, higher rev limits, and basically takes away the safe tune the manufacturer puts on for gas mileage and reliability. Stage 2 is usually another flash of the ecu and exhaust and possibly intake, and then they go from there. Subaru had about 8 different tuners with difference in stages so they all vary depending on tuner.

So on the Optima Turbo Stage 1 is an ecu tune with 35hp and 25lbs of tq gained. Stage 2 is downpipe, catback exahust, and intake optional. Stage 3 is stage 2 exhaust mods plus upgraded intercooler, spark plugs, and some other things in there.
 
Like Pumbaa said Stage 1 is an ECU reflash. Stage 2 is a new downpipe and flash, stage 3 is basically everything but the engine (new turbo, intercooler, maybe some engine internals). Thats for most vws and audi's. What I like about the APR stage 1 tune after driving it this morning was that in normal driving conditions (responsible driving around town and in normal mode) the car drives just like it did stock but you get a little aggressive and its a new car. With the ECU tunes though you tend to improve gas mileage along with all of the other gains.
 
Billygoat said:
Does the tune void your warranty?
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Not directly. VW and Audi will TD1 flag your ECU if they run a diagnostic. If you try to make a warranty claim, they can deny it if they can prove the tune caused an issue. For example if there is a brakes issue, they will fix it but if the turbo goes they can fight it. The key is that they have to prove that the tune directly caused the failure. You can also just flash back to stock and in theory it will be undetectable, you just have to flash back afterwards.
 
Nighthawk117a said:
Not directly. VW and Audi will TD1 flag your ECU if they run a diagnostic. If you try to make a warranty claim, they can deny it if they can prove the tune caused an issue. For example if there is a brakes issue, they will fix it but if the turbo goes they can fight it. The key is that they have to prove that the tune directly caused the failure. You can also just flash back to stock and in theory it will be undetectable, you just have to flash back afterwards.
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Thats what is great about a lot of these tunes they are undetectable for the most part. Cobb for Subaru was awesome you could take the tune off and they would never know.
 
pumbaa said:
Thats what is great about a lot of these tunes they are undetectable for the most part. Cobb for Subaru was awesome you could take the tune off and they would never know.
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Yeah. APR copies the stock tune and ECU flash counter so when you flash it back the counter goes back to zero.
 
How do you flash it back then? Is that something you can do yourself before taking it in for service or do you have to take it back to the tuner to be flashed?
 
Billygoat said:
How do you flash it back then? Is that something you can do yourself before taking it in for service or do you have to take it back to the tuner to be flashed?
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Depends on the company. If its a tuner/program you do yourself then yes you do it yourself. Cobb has a tuner module that you plug in and change the tune. Others may make you send it back or take it to an authroized shop to do it.
 
I am very familiar with the Moss-Magnuson Act. I had a fight with Ford when the Bullitt was under warranty and as soon as the words Moss-Magnuson came out of my mouth, they did the warranty work. I had a friend that used to own a GTR and there was some deal with the transmission that he got an attorney to fight the warranty claim under Moss-Magnuson.

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Bullitt5339 said:
I am very familiar with the Moss-Magnuson Act. I had a fight with Ford when the Bullitt was under warranty and as soon as the words Moss-Magnuson came out of my mouth, they did the warranty work. I had a friend that used to own a GTR and there was some deal with the transmission that he got an attorney to fight the warranty claim under Moss-Magnuson.

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Nissan knows about that issue too. Its not like the GTR transmission isn't know to explode.
 
pumbaa said:
Nissan knows about that issue too. Its not like the GTR transmission isn't know to explode.
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I'm not smart enough on the GTR to tell you exactly what the problem was, but there's a mode selector in the car that the dealer said if you put it in performance it voids the warranty or something to that effect.

That's like Ford putting a line lock in the Mustang a few years ago and then voiding the warranty for racing the car. What else would you need a line lock for?

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Bullitt5339 said:
I'm not smart enough on the GTR to tell you exactly what the problem was, but there's a mode selector in the car that the dealer said if you put it in performance it voids the warranty or something to that effect.

That's like Ford putting a line lock in the Mustang a few years ago and then voiding the warranty for racing the car. What else would you need a line lock for?

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Ohh the launch control, voided warranty issue. There was also the roush focus when the svt came out that had a nirtous bottle and if you filled it, it voided the warranty. Also Mitsubish going to track days and auto cross events and voiding warranties on owners that raced their evo's. I had to fight with Nissan about lemon lawing my car when I had a Spec v. That thing was in the shop 14 of the 19 months I owned it. They ended up buying it back.
 
dleavitt39 said:
2 weeks into owning an Audi A6, and am absolutely loving it. Most comfortable ride I've been in.

Dan
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Congrats, Audi's are great cars. Our 2014 A4 is our 3rd Audi and we love it. Great handling and great in the snow.
 
pumbaa said:
Ohh the launch control, voided warranty issue. There was also the roush focus when the svt came out that had a nirtous bottle and if you filled it, it voided the warranty. Also Mitsubish going to track days and auto cross events and voiding warranties on owners that raced their evo's. I had to fight with Nissan about lemon lawing my car when I had a Spec v. That thing was in the shop 14 of the 19 months I owned it. They ended up buying it back.
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Kia was pretty easy to deal with when I wanted to lemon law my Optima. They sent an engineer to my local dealership to try to find the source of the electrical problems and after working on it for two days, they offered to write me a check or to work with me to get a new car. I had heard some horror stories about Kia and warranty issues, but they really took care of me.

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Nighthawk117a said:
Yeah. APR copies the stock tune and ECU flash counter so when you flash it back the counter goes back to zero.
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My buddy with an APR Stage 1 Audi had no problem with warranty on his A4 after flashing back the ECU before bringing it in for service on the mass airflow sensor. I'm going to do a stage 2 on my 2014 A4 as soon as my teenage son leaves for college next fall.
 
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Bullitt5339 said:
Kia was pretty easy to deal with when I wanted to lemon law my Optima. They sent an engineer to my local dealership to try to find the source of the electrical problems and after working on it for two days, they offered to write me a check or to work with me to get a new car. I had heard some horror stories about Kia and warranty issues, but they really took care of me.

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Good to know incase I have any issues
 
Still mulling the Polestar with the deposit lock-up coming up soonish. Threw a bunch of cars into the mix recently, and wondering if I should be going more vanilla like BMW X5 or XC90. I really want something that rides super smooth on NE roads, so I can be comfortable on longer road trips. However, if the Polestar had the Sensus touch system, and I probably wouldn't even think twice.


Meanwhile, that SS is shaping up quite nicely....
 
Well, after hitting a deer last week with my '07 Toyota Camry, it looks like Im suddenly car shopping. Im looking at getting a Honda Accord. I loved my Camry and really want something similar but I feel like the Accord is a better option.
 
After just having gotten my A6 3 weeks ago, I couldn't pass up a deal I saw over the weekend. Found a 2014 Mercedes C250 with the sport package and entertainment package up in San Jose. It was one of their loaner cars, so it has just over 10k miles on it, and they had .99% financing on it. Flew up there Sunday morning, and drove it back to Vegas Sunday afternoon. 2 cars in 3 weeks. Someone keep me away from car dealers, car sites, car....O look a Porsche...brb :clapp:

Dan
 
For Audi you can get a Stasis tune right at the dealership and you keep your warranty. Not all dealerships do the Stasis work though.
 
I have the new Phantom Black spoiler on order instead of painting mine. Can switch it out when I want to that way. And still have all the original parts. Plus my upgraded exhaust is in the works as well. Bow tie's and SS emblem painted next week. Can't find replacement Phantom Black ones... So I will paint these and order stock to have to keep all original parts. I'm so excited.
 
Bullfrog said:
I have the new Phantom Black spoiler on order instead of painting mine. Can switch it out when I want to that way. And still have all the original parts. Plus my upgraded exhaust is in the works as well. Bow tie's and SS emblem painted next week. Can't find replacement Phantom Black ones... So I will paint these and order stock to have to keep all original parts. I'm so excited.
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That's a good idea to have most/all of the parts to swap out if and when you sell it. As you know, all that cash for the extras won't make hardly anything on the resale unless you have the right buyer...not dealership trade in.....but you know that already. lol
 
Nighthawk117a said:
Thanks! After two months I still get excited when I know I'm going to be driving. With Stage 1, the thing pulls like there is no tomorrow. I picked up 83 ft-lbs of torque and it just throws you back into the seat. When I got back to work after picking it up I was shaking. Tomorrow it should be beautiful so after golf I'll get to launch it in much better conditions. Now to save up for stage 2 and eventually 3.
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Oh good, someone is talking about the APR Stage 1. I just bought a GTI MK6. Thinking about doing it to mine also. Worth it?
 
Wonton said:
Oh good, someone is talking about the APR Stage 1. I just bought a GTI MK6. Thinking about doing it to mine also. Worth it?
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Absolutely. The torque increase is just stupid. When I drove it with one of the guys from the shop to test it out we were both surprised on the gains. Launch Control is just out of control and got a teenage girl giggle out of me when I tried it. There was an immediate change in how the car drove but today it turned it up a notch, I guess the ECU fully relearned the tune today. The car drove like it was super pissed off, it was amazing. The only slight issue I have was that there may be too much torque for the DSG to handle at the moment. I slipped the DSG today pretty hard but its only happened once when I took a turn super aggressively and got on the throttle really hard to go out before a school bus. That was also after some "spirited" driving before hand. Otherwise the smile I have driving got a lot bigger. I could go on and on about it, best $800 ($600 for the MK6) I've spent on a car. Stage 2 is happening next year.
 
The Car Shopping Thread

Ok just throwing out some ideas for my personalized plate... The ones I like so far are

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Or I'm leaning towards this...

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Thoughts??? Choice has to be made tomorrow.
 
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