Originally Posted by
BecksA3
Doing some research on tunes for my '16 A3 and see several great options. Most of which have their fans in here.
I think I have it narrowed down to the Uni 1+ and IE 1 or 2, but that brings up my question of "bang for the buck". Going strictly by advertised hp and tq figures, the Uni 1+ shows 310hp/347tq with no required hard part upgrades. IE 2 shows 327hp/399tq with another 2k+ in required or highly recommended upgrades.
I would likely do the TCU upgrade regardless, and 93 octane is all I have where I live.
I get that more is always better, but that doesn't seem like a huge bump for the investment? Especially if you could start with the Uni 1+ and spend maybe 1k on upgrades and come close to, or match the IE 2. Or, am I way off base?
From what I see, I would be happy with either one as reviews for both are very good, and I really like the ability to DIY in my garage as most dealer garages are several hours away.
...and...go!
I've gone through a few tuners over the years. On my 2017 A3, I had apr stage 1, then apr stage 2 and tcu tune. It was awesome. I loved it. When I bought my s3 though, I was looking for something different. I wanted to be able to do it from home, spend less money, get the most power possible, and also get something that was high quality. I did a ridiculous amount of research and decided on IE. If you search back through my threads, you'll find several specifically detailing every aspect of the different stages, the flashing process, and the tcu tune. I've been running stage 2 since this summer. Ran stage 1 low torque for maybe a week, got the tcu tune so went to stage 1 high torque, then once I bought my IE downpipe, flashed to stage 2 high torque with crackle. I absolutely love it. Everything is so smooth, and the car rips! I have a dragy and have clocked 0-60 in 3.3 with launch control. 0-60 in 3.7 without launch. And that's on my winter tires. Should see some better numbers once I get my summer tires back on. Too much power for a hard launch, and I have what are supposed to be the best performing winter tires, Michelin pilot alpins. Have raced some seriously expensive and more powerful cars, but have not lost once. Long story short, uni doesn't hold a candle to IE when it comes to performance or bang for your buck. I think they're a little more longevity oriented/conservative than other tuners. APR is the only one that I can do a good comparison of, and I like IE better. The ability to tune/untune from home in minutes, change fuel maps, set rpm for launch, diagnose, etc. is awesome. I hated having to go take the time and pay a dealer to hook up a computer and flash a file to my car. If you have any more questions feel free to pm me, but I would look up my earlier threads and read those. Haven't met anyone who disagreed with me on the matter.
Either way, start of with IE stage 1 high torque, they recommend the tcu tune so you don't burn up your clutch(increased clamping pressure is the most important part of the tune), plus it will increase your times if driving in sport, smoother in auto. you'll be in heaven. Later down the road upgrade intake and downpipe, etc and get stage 2 high torque. I wouldn't even bother with st.1 low torque. It's not much better than stock, and its the same price.
As far as doing uni stage 1 and adding 1k hardware, it would be the same as doing IE and doing the same. IE is just covering their asses by saying required/ highly recommended. Any stage 1+ is highly recommended you do an intake, and all stage 2 requires a downpipe. It's just different marketing strategies. Not to mention, $1000 is not enough to get good hardware that would equate to getting the power of the st.1 ht and tcu w/ an intake. One thing I love about IE is how thorough they are with everything. They show dynographs for every tune and say what supporting mods they're using to get those numbers, they show whp and bhp, etc.
If you have any more questions feel free to pm me, but I would look up my earlier threads and read those. Haven't met anyone who disagreed with me on the matter. Good luck and let us know what you decide on. You'll be happy either way. I just think you'll be slightly more happy with IE.
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