All I can say is HoLY #$%@ this car is fast!!! I just install the APR stage 2 1.0 bar chip and K&N filter. It totally unleashed the beast under the hood! The torque is instantly noted before 3000RPM and when the turbo kicks in ... WHoa...the sound was incredible and the force literally pushes you back into the seat! The K&N filter made the car sound more sporty.<p>I drove my wife nuts talking about it last night.. Wait till she drives it. =O)<p>Personally I think APR has the right ideas about tuning and their customer service is TOP NOTCH!<br>I highly recommend going with APR.<p>Thanks,<br>Sean<p>98 A4 1.8tqms APR'd, K&N'd

NONE!

Brett sent me another ECU with a slightly revised chip. This was to address some occasional pinging I was getting. He said he slightly reduced the spark advance at high intake charge temperatures. HE NAILED IT!<p>The pinging is almost completely gone. I went out to a steep hill by my house and replicated the pinging consistantly. Then I installed the new ECU and tried the hill again and again with only a couple of pings. I'm very happy.<p>I'm really impressed that Brett could tweak exactly the right thing right off the bat. I feel that APR really knows what they are doing and is genuinely interested in setting us up with what we want. I second Sean's recommendation.<p>Rich<br>99 1.8TAQMS APR K&N<br>

Congrats on your transformed car! I too enjoy the benefits of chipdom. although with another brand (Autothority.) <p>My services and test equipment are available if some sort of objective comparo of different 1.8T chip options was desired and possible.<p>Stan

.<br>

<br>nt

I think that pinging must be based on each and every particular car. Why else would some cars ping and others not, even with the same aftermarket chip installed. There must be some inconsistency in the production of the cars. (blocks, etc.) You can read about people who have pinging with stock chips (a particular Passat I know of) and then others that have had the same chip for months with no problems. I've also seen where some people say they have pinging and then ask what it sounds like. This makes me wonder if everyone is actually hearing what they think they are. Anyway, imperfections in production is all I can think of to explain why some people get pinging and some don't (with identical chips). Does anyone have any suggestions or explainations?<p>JonathanD

Sean:<br>Glad to hear you like your chip.. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the only difference between the stage 1 and stage 2 for APR, the addition of the exhaust?<p>When you say that you got the stage 2 did you get the exhaust also?<p>Chris K<br>98.5 1.8TQTS Tap Stage II

Woohoo, I'll second that! Although I haven't really punched it yet, since I have the classic suburb to city commute (stop & go, lots of traffic), I can say that car runs very smooth, with a very noticeable increase in power and NO PINGING!<p>I briefly had a check engine light, but it was user error. When I installed the K&N filter I think I loosened one of those plugs on top of the airbox, so I checked and tightened all of them as well as disconnecting/reconnecting the ECU and luckily no more check engine light. <p>My wife always asks "where are you going that you have to go so fast?". That's why she doesn't get to drive the car! :-)<p>Victor<br>98 A4 1.8tqms APR, K&N

Chris,<br>from what I understand the stage 1 is .8 bar and the stage 2 is 1.0 bar.. I only got the ECU/chip and K&N filter.<br>If you have any questions call APR they are very helpful and couteous.<p>thanks.<br>sean<p>

I have heard that companies basically share gasoline and the only difference between different gas companies is the additive package, but this does not explain Sunoco's being the only company to offer 94 octane. Obviously this gas isn't shared. Or is it? Anybody know for sure?<p>As far as consistency, I drove a '92 Saturn SL2 for a while (150K miles) that was VERY sensitive to changes in gas quality (or something). Once I found a good station, the quality seemed to be fairly consistent. It probably has more to do with the condition of the underground storage tanks at the filling station than anything else. <p>Perhaps others have a different experience? I know if you go to an area that uses reformulated gas there is a noticeable difference (for the worse).<p>Paul<br>'98.5 A4 1.8TQTipS in Pearl

Do you have any problem after chipped??<p>I'm so interest to hear your feedback/comment with your chipped tiptronic A4 since I'm driving a 99.5 TQTipS too and I'm so interest to chip it. But since most ppl chipped in here are having manual instead of tip, so please tell me about your thought on it.<p>And have you modified anything as well?? Or just swap the ECU with TAP.<p>How about the Garrett tip chip??<p><br>JJ