Your experience getting it all going is what makes my nervous ass only go flex fuel route if I go ethanol tune. Glad you got it started. Should do an impressions video(s) about your mods. I am APR Stage 1+ (everything bolt on but the downpipe and stock sport catback). I am another twin: nardo grey but 2018. Bought mine two years ago with only 14k miles on it from Carmax of all places. Specifically only looked for 2018s due to the no-OPF, it has very subtle crackle on downshift in sport mode from 4th to 3rd and 3rd to 2nd and loved that it came that way factory. But if you plan on doing a downpipe then the year doesn’t matter at all. The tunes add in crackle but some tunes are a bit aggressive with it. I recommend unitronic downpipe if you need a downpipe with a cat. In my state they are particular so I would need a high flow cat version.
Dude I just bought my 2018 nardo grey rs3! So torn on what to do cuz this car has been completely stock its whole life. Everyone says uni or ds1 but for the price I can’t justify it. No one talks about IE or 034 though. What made you choose them
I originally was going to go with Unitronic as they are the company that offers the most tuning for the RS3 (they over upgraded turbo stage 3 where as everyone else only offers up to stage 2). I didn’t go with Unitronic due to their cost compared to others. I only for now plan to stay at Stage 1 as I don’t want to go through the hassle of installing a downpipe to go Stage 2. If I were to do upgraded turbo I would switch to Unitornic as they support the TTE700 and offer flex fuel. I live in California and like to support local companies and 034 is located in California. They are the most open with everything they do (watch their podcast). If you chart every tuning company’s dyno numbers 034 comes out on top from their own stock baseline number to their stage 1 E85 numbers o their dyno. But you can’t go wrong with either company. Honestly they will all make about the same amount of power, the only difference is the driveabilitu and how each tuning company decided to make the car perform under normal driving conditions. If your waiting, I would definitely tune your RS3 to stage 1, it requires no hardware, just the ECU and TCU tune 👍
@@4enthusiasts awesome I appreciate your input on it man. I’ve been chatting with some guys in my local group that have had rs3’s for a long time now. Pretty chill but also kind of know it alls with deep pockets and they said if it isn’t uni or ds1 then it’s trash. Over $2k for a stage 1 tune. Uni still has a soft limiter, and ds1 doesn’t do tcu tunes. lol Only other is IE or APR, and IE has zero reviews I can find plus no tcu tune, and apr you can’t put on yourself anymore. 034 seems like a safe happy medium. I’ve got no interest in being the fastest guy, just don’t want a soft limiter and want a little more power that isn’t going to blow up my car haha
Yeah I get it. If you go with the 91/93 stage 1 from 034 it isn’t a night and day difference but you can feel the additional torque. Stage 1 E85 is where you will feel a huge difference. Another benefit of going with 034 is that they only have one TCU tune that works for both Stage 1 and Stage 2 ECU tune. I will say that the valves are still closed on dynamic mode under 4000rpm if you tune it so I would get a CETE valve controller if you want the valves to stay open all the time in dynamic mode
Yep. Even though at idle the valves may be closed in dynamic or sport mode, once you start driving the valves close until about 4000 rpm. It’s an audible sound when it open/closes. Some tuning companies disables this features but only on certain tuning stages. 034 told be they disable it but it didn’t for stage 1
Yes but only because I keep starting and shutting off the car to see if it would start after switching from gasoline to ethanol. If your just doing a basic 91/93 tune then a battery tender won’t be necessary but it doesn’t hurt to use one to be safe
