Sergio C.
12-30-1998, 10:25 AM
About two weeks ago, I posted about my decision to chip the car with the Hoppen (MTM) chip. <br>Well, as promised, here are my first impressions.<p>I am happy with the chip. It has a lot of low end torque, makes you feel your driving a car with a much bigger engine. The rush that comes after 3500 RPM is addicting! It has transformed the car from fast to a "little monster" as I call it.:-) One down side to it (maybe upside) is that my wife is afraid to drive it now after I took her out for a spin!<p>My car is FWD and I can see the benefits of Quattro now, even on the dry. Even though, the A4 has a great front four link suspension and the center axis steering, when you hit around 4500 rpms, you can feel some torque steer that you would not feel stock. Launching from a stop, it takes more finesse now; do it too hard and you'll be spining your SP8000E's to self destruction. I can get the tires sqealing even when shifting into second! Impressive.<p>Gas mileage on my first tank went from 24 mpg (average) down to 20 mpg, I was enjoying it too much!, my second gas tank went up a bit to 22 mpg. I am on my third tank now. I guess as I start driving as I normally do, the mpg will go back to its normal level or get better.<p>Engine idles as smooth as before, revs much faster but as smooth, and the turbo starts to wistle earlier (at around 2000 rpm, instead of 3100 as before). The turbo pitch changes after 4000 rpm until all you hear is kind of a WOOOSHH similar to that of a big carbutator engine sucking LOTS of air! Cool!<p>Driveability is the same as stock but with more power everywhere in the curve. Just pulling out of the driveway you can feel the difference. You don't need to press as hard on the gas to get the same acceleration as before.<p>The only complain that I have, is that the car has slight hesitations under load. i.e. If I am in 5th gear, going about 70 mph, +/- 3,000 rpms, and I start accelerating as to pass somebody, there are some slight "flat" spots that you feel in your seat. There are almost not noticeable, other friends that have driven my car cannot feel it, but I can. Almost like the power comes in "steps". I talked to Mike Hoppen, and he said that it is the knock sensors doing their job, changing the timing to avoid pinging. I have use 93 octane gas from BP and Amoco. I will try with 94 soon to see if this goes away. Mike said, that those small hesitations even occur with the stock setup, but there are not as noticeable since the difference in power is not that much, now is more pronounced.<p>I don't know if all the other chips do the same thing, or if anyone else has felt it, or if anyone has been able to minimize this with higher octane gas?<p>Sergio.<br>98.5 1.8TMS / MTM Stage 1<br>