they have a chip (well, technically they reprogram the stock ECU) that gains 18HP on a completely stock setup. I just got off the phone with their UK distributor as I haven't received an email from SKN yet. The turnaround from their end is about 1.5-2 days and the price tag is just shy of 500GBP. This is including VAT tax (17.5% I believe) which you don't have to pay if you're outside the EU. In USD that would come out to about 775 dollars (the dollar is low as hell unfortunately for those based in the US). Hopefully I will hear from skn directly next week which might have lower pricing.

all in all I'd say it's definitely worth it. For those who don't know SKN, they are actually one of the more reputable chiptuning establishments in germany and have over a dozen chips/programs for audis alone.

What exactly are the supposed differences between the ECUs? as I understand they are both hitachi units... Any more details?

There's not really any differences in the engine and output and I've driven EU and NA models and I don't sense a difference. If the NA unit isn't chippable for some odd reason, it's likely swappable with an EU unit. But I really won't know until I call back and they just closed. So we'll have to wait until monday.

hard-code ECU. UK and Europe have Bosch ECU's. Those are chippable by anyone with a chip burner. A chip burner wont even begin to touch the Hitachi chip as everything is hard-coded on the chip. It is possible to do an alternate chip-set that the main chip will default to but it only defaults completely or not at all. That is to say it won't pick-n-choose programs which means to do it this way everything from door locks, window roll-down, timing, security, A/F ratios and climate control et-al MUST be on that new chip-set.

It just aint EVER EVER EVER gonna happen on a Hitachi ECU. The Bosch unit is radically different in programming, algorythems, and data harnesses. The Hitachi uses 4 plugs the Bosch uses 1. They are not interchangeable nor even close. I have spares of both and it's not even close. In 98 Audi started using the Bosch ECU for the world market instead of sending us the Hitachi. Thats why 98 ECU's even on the N/A cars are programmable.

Last time I talked with "Colin" at SKN he said... "Oh I didn't realize the 'yank' ECU wasn't the Bosch unit."

It's a dead horse lets stop kicking it.