From everything i have read these cars and like most diesels alike have about 200-300% more air then necessary with a clean stock filter and box. From my research of the TDI's these air boxes and intakes have more then enough airflow for stock to light moderate tuning/performance. K&N's are a joke IMO(Resource; Diesel mechanic & went to Diesel and Auto Tech school) firstly, you have to oil K&N's for them to capture dirt, this oil can potentially get on a MAF(mass air flow) sensor and cause it to read inaccurate or not work. How the sensor works(ik there is cold wire sensors and a few different MAF variations but the majority is Hot wire) is a hot wire that with incoming air charge removes heat which detects air volume and density and the computer can determine the density of the charge by resistance in the wire and the oil can coke on that wire which affects performance of the sensor. Second i have done many dyno runs on modern vehicles mind you, and most of the time i have not seen a increase with K&N's and if there is any its 2-4hp(IK ill get some flame posting this about how ur suburban gained 40hp on a K&N) Sorry personal experience. I have found a Tune + more efficient intake system will result in higher HP if you also have the Exhaust upgraded to expel the excess air(a internal combustion engine is a air compressor after all). Thirdly if you go to K&N's web site it says in black and white the dirtier the air filter gets the better it cleans... totally agree with that but the point is a freshly cleaned K&N WILL let dirt in and for turbo'ed vehicles dirt does nasty things to the compressor side of the turbocharger. If you dont believe this get micron ratings from K&N's and from VW's stock filter and compare.
Softrockrenegade is 100% correct about tire pressure and mph use the 120 rule and of course no K&N!!
I wish i could do that, I'd get lots of Birds flying at me lol. Hard to even do the speed limit which is 75mph on local freeway
If you maintain 55 using your foot instead of the cruise control you'll probably get slightly better than before (since the cruise control's throttle control is a bit erratic when driving on anything other than totally flat & smooth roads).
'I'm curious about this also' Why oh why are you waiting?confused: Do it now!
Once you get yours tuned, you WILL wonder why you waited.
Are you somehow afraid that VW will find out that you have had yours tuned?
Here is exactly what bhutchins said word for word: Malone stage 2 tune, keeping the DPF, gained me about 5 mpg highway (if you keep your foot out of it) and maintains emisions.
He then continues on and states:
I regret removing my DPF. It was expen$ive, no longer a clean diesel, throws codes, but gained about another 4 mpg with the dpf delete tune, and lower EGT. (For a total of apprximately nine (9) mpg gain!
What he does not say is the tremendous gains in hp and mainly torque that he saw.
The way I understand it, you must do Stage Two IF you plan on removing your DPF.
So why not get at least a stage one tune NOW and enjoy the extra hp and TORQUE!
I had my JSW TDI DSG done at 36K and then sold it outright at 43K miles
five months later, and I am not at all sorry I paid five bills for that tune.
You will not regret that kind of move at all, believe me.
I did not gain five (5) mpg, but perhaps three (3) mpg instead. Maybe I drove it a little bit harder.
It was so much stronger, it was hard not to enjoy that extra hp and especially the added torque.
BTW, I had a Neuspeed tune which may be a little bit different from the Malone and Revo tunes.
Good luck.
Derrel
Mark is working on the readiness. The car is rated 41 mpg rated stock, I got 46 on the highway after the stage 2 tune (47 once), DPF delete with retune to remove regen, I actually saw 51 on the MFD, but could not confirm with fill-ups
I commute 120 miles a day, three times a week and I find the same results as you. For some reason I have been plugging 54 MPH into my cruise based on my Escort Radar/Lidar detector's GPS based speed readout.
Indeed, the IC and the turbo will hardly be used when driving for economy. Hence the frequent advice on the economy forum to sometimes thrash the car in order to unstick/decoke the turbo...
This is from the self study guide on VW's CR engines.
These cars have both a MAF and a MAP. The MAP is used to control boost levels. It'll also dial back the boost if the IAT seen at the MAP is too high.
Seening a person who's concerned with economy will be using as little boost as possible (boost comes from heat of the exhaust, extra heat kills MPGs) there will be very very little heat passed through the system.
Now if a person is modding their car for performance, economy will take a back seat, and shedding the extra heat from higher sustained boost leves is needed.
So I don't think increasing the IC capacity is any sort of economy mod.
My 1996 Passat Variant M5 1.9L VE "1Z" with 400,000km with a stock tired IP and stock worn out injectors running Stage 1 Malone Tune with Dynamic EGR and 16PSI Boost;
