Unitronic vs malone tuning! Need advice please!

tdidubbin

Member
Joined
May 10, 2009
Location
montreal
TDI
mk4 golf
Hi everyone, i dont post much here but i know when it comes to more HP this is the best place i can come too. I Drive a mk5 Jetta tdi PD 1.9.

My question is , which would be better for my car?

Unitronic gains alot of power and torque but doesnt deal much with diesels, im scared to have my clutch slip and have other problems occur.

Malone tuning ive heard great things about, he specializes in TDI but doesnt gain as much power nor torque but i trust more in someone who knows tdi's

Basically what i want to know is , has anyone had troubles with unitronic , or should i be safe and go with malone tuning

Thank you very much for you help
 

bugget

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2005
Location
Bainbridge Island, Washington
TDI
Jetta TDI GLS 2000
I was just looking at the Unitronic tuning page and I couldn't find any hard numbers on their basic tunes. There really aren't many people on this club that I know of running Unitronic at all. I found a couple of people on Vortex and NCDub with Unitronic tunes on PDs but they numbers didn't really seem that good.

So my guess is those power and torque numbers you see from Unitronic are not for diesels because if they were, and they were significantly higher than numbers from Malone tuning, from whom many people here have tunes, we would all know about Unitronic diesel tunes and you would see a lot more of them around here. So my vote would be for Malone on this one. But really the best thing you can do is contact both tuners and ask questions and see what you think for yourself.
 

VWDAVID

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2010
Location
tdi land
TDI
02 golf tdi
Hi everyone, i dont post much here but i know when it comes to more HP this is the best place i can come too. I Drive a mk5 Jetta tdi PD 1.9.

My question is , which would be better for my car?

Unitronic gains alot of power and torque but doesnt deal much with diesels, im scared to have my clutch slip and have other problems occur.

Malone tuning ive heard great things about, he specializes in TDI but doesnt gain as much power nor torque but i trust more in someone who knows tdi's

Basically what i want to know is , has anyone had troubles with unitronic , or should i be safe and go with malone tuning

Thank you very much for you help
I would go with who tunes more tdi's and thats malone. He will treat you well and he is usually pretty quick to get you tunes.
 

JSWTDI09

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
TDI
2009 JSW TDI (gone but not forgotten)
For an Mk4, you can't go wrong with either Malone, RocketChip, or TDTuning. Unitronic might be OK, but they are relative newcomers in the TDI world, so we just don't know much about their tunes.

However, as a Canadian, you might want to know that Mark Malone is also Canadian (in BC). This might influence your decision. RocketChip and TDTuning are from the US.

Have Fun!

Don
 

silverbox

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Location
Halifax Nova Scotia
TDI
jetta wagon 2003 silver
Marc Bronsard, AKA Red Rotors is more local to you, I have not heard much from hin in quite some time, perhaps some PQ members could let you know if he is still tuning.
 

Doc_Oc

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Location
Orangeville, Ontario
TDI
03 Golf TDI
Unitronic might be OK, but they are relative newcomers in the TDI world
Just because you never heared of them it doesnt mean they are newcomers.
Unitronic is a canadian company as well. HQ in Montreal. They do mostly gassers, but they have some mean, reliable TDI maps too.

It all comes down to which one is coloser to you and has the best support. Oh, did I mention price? :p

I'm sorry, I have to comment again. Turbodude1, did you use their maps?

Tdidubbin: search and you will get a lot of OLD comparisons and feedback for Unitronic. I think they were doing some "wonderful" things for these cars, before most of the othere players mentioned in this thread even started doing anything for these cars.
 
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yatzee

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 4, 2004
Location
Montreal, Qc
TDI
see sig
Marc Bronsard, AKA Red Rotors is more local to you, I have not heard much from hin in quite some time, perhaps some PQ members could let you know if he is still tuning.
Whereas I've never dealt with Marc, he's gotten a bit of a bad rap for not giving fast service.
 

OmegaRenegade

Vendor
Joined
Dec 15, 2005
Location
Brampton
TDI
2004 Jetta
I've driven both Malone and Unitronic tunes.

The unitronic tune was a very aggressive and a lot of fun! it wasn't refined at all just raw power under the foot! Some may say that kind of tuning is a mockery of the right way of doing things, but i can tell you that every time you step on the accelerator, you can be sure that there is a big fat smile on your face right afterwards.

The Malone tune is more refined, a linear power band and a cleaner tune. It will "feel" slower but the engine is more then likely putting out the same kind of power or just a little bit less then the unitronic. Malone's tune will be a little more reliable in terms of wear on engine parts and you can feel a little bit at ease knowing that when you romp on it that your turbo will more then likely be okay afterwards.

Both tuners have been around for a while both tuners are more then capable of tuning your stock car both tuners have a good product. If you were going anything futher then stock i would definitely recommend Malone Tuning. Anything more what you get now generally means bigger turbo and exhaust.

I ended up with Malone Tuning.
 

Doc_Oc

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Location
Orangeville, Ontario
TDI
03 Golf TDI
I understand what "you're trying to say". But as I said, Unitronic has been arround for a good while. Also, I put 100k hard kms on Unitronic stage 2 with no issues to the turbo.
What I'm trying to say is, express an informed opinion. Not just an opinion.
Just my 2 cents. I'll shut up now :)
 

Doc_Oc

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Location
Orangeville, Ontario
TDI
03 Golf TDI
My previous post wasn't addressed to you. The other guy removed his post!
I know you have quite a bit of experience with both. And your impressions are right on.
 

loudspl

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2005
Location
Osakis, Minnesota
TDI
02 ASV w/ 02J
Keep in mind that once you get to a certain point, it doesn't matter where the tune is from the max output will be very similar

I have had "max" tunes from 3 different tuners and they are very similar in peak hp/tq output with the same platform & hardware. You can only "request" so much when there are software/hardware limitations

Each tuner has different characteristics and those differences are generally more noticeable in the milder tunes.
Ride in some cars from different tuners. Do research on here. There are plenty of flavors to choose from :)
 

Doc_Oc

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Location
Orangeville, Ontario
TDI
03 Golf TDI
rocketeer928: what stage unitronic? I had Unitronic stage 2 then RC 3. I can't say it was inferior. It was different. I can say that even though Unitronic was a stage lower, it would deliver similar power (slightly less maybe) but in a more violent way. It would boost up at 1600rpm all the way to 5500 then it would tapper off. RC3 was smoother. It would start boosting up at 1400-1600, increase the boost up to 2200-2500 and hold it till 5000-5200 then tapper off. Unitronic maybe was reving up higher. Same top speed, same times in 0-100. The Unitronic was fun to drive. The RC was definetly reliable. Still fun, don't get me wrong, just not that rough "reaped ape" "goes like stink" feel. Maybe less smoke for RC3 too.
I noticed yours dynoed only 114hp with Unitronic 2 and pp520. Mine dynoed 141 hp, but with Smog 218 nozzles. RC3 with a 11mm and PD150 intake and TIP, did 150 hp, but 340 lbs of torque.

loudspl: Do you mean stage 4, by max tunes?

I have been without a TDI for 4 years now, so I can't comment on Malone or Kerma, or any other ones. Maybe next year will get my new car (to me) to a tuning stage and I hope will be able to compare tunes and tunners.
 

loudspl

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2005
Location
Osakis, Minnesota
TDI
02 ASV w/ 02J
loudspl: Do you mean stage 4, by max tunes?

I have been without a TDI for 4 years now, so I can't comment on Malone or Kerma, or any other ones. Maybe next year will get my new car (to me) to a tuning stage and I hope will be able to compare tunes and tunners.

By max I mean max fuel, boost, & timing request for your given hardware....like Mark's 5 custom or RC6/7, etc.

A lot can change in just a few years! :)
 

rocketeer928

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2008
Location
Enfield, Connecticut
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS TDI 5-speed
I had Unitronics Stage 2+. When Jeff Robertson took a look at it before installing RC4 on my TDI, he said that the mapping was all wrong with the Unitronic tune. He showed me some graph, but to my untrained eyes I took his word...
 

TDIMeister

Phd of TDIClub Enthusiast, Moderator at Large
Joined
May 1, 1999
Location
Canada
TDI
TDI
Every thread asking what chip tuner to use is as predictable as the sunrise: You'll have the fanbois swoop in with their favourite tune vendor, 9 times out of 10 the ONLY vendor they've EVER tried and say its the bee's knees - the 1 or 2 here out of 20-something posts above who've actually tried more than one vendor bears this ratio out exacty.

The answer will be the same here and the umpteen times we've gone through this question. I'll just attempt to separate the wheat from the chaff here. There are several local and competent options to you; Unitronic, Mikrotuning and several other indies whose names you can find out from the Quebec forum. Unitronic is neither new nor gasser-specific. Most of the tuners are pretty good, but they approach the tunes with different philosophies regarding driveability and aggressitivity of go-pedal response and linearity of power delivery. Peak-for-peak numbers are roughly in the same ballpark for the same hardware, smoke can be quite different from one tune to another.

You can read people's impressions but nothing beats personal experience. Test drive a local member's car or two (again, go to the Quebec forum). Decide how important it is to you to have local and personal access to your tuner. Any of the tuners already named will do fine.
 

Ed's TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 30, 2001
Location
Victoria, BC, Canada
TDI
2001 Bora and 2016 Touareg
Something else for the OP to consider is ease of getting a tune. Unitronic looks like it would be "local" to him/her, while Malone would be a simple matter of getting a flash loader and receiving tunes via email, but RC is going to require sending the ECU off in the mail and waiting for it to be sent back which can be anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks from what people have posted from their experiences.

I can also vouch for Malone tuning as I've been a satisfied customer (and a reformed Upsolute owner) for a number of years. Mark goes above and beyond when it comes to customer service!
 

tdidubbin

Member
Joined
May 10, 2009
Location
montreal
TDI
mk4 golf
well i decided to go with malone tuning , my buddy had the flashzilla on hand , so it was easy for us to send him money thru paypal and upload the tune , im going to have it done saturday ( tomorrow ) .. ill give you guys an update on how i feel about the drive and power


I just wanna thank everyone who answered this post , you all been very helpful
 

boertje

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2002
Location
Coeur d'Alene, ID
TDI
'01, '01, '03, ‘06 NB - TDIs all.
I've driven both Malone and Unitronic tunes.

The unitronic tune was a very aggressive and a lot of fun! it wasn't refined at all just raw power under the foot! Some may say that kind of tuning is a mockery of the right way of doing things, but i can tell you that every time you step on the accelerator, you can be sure that there is a big fat smile on your face right afterwards.

The Malone tune is more refined, a linear power band and a cleaner tune. It will "feel" slower but the engine is more then likely putting out the same kind of power or just a little bit less then the unitronic. Malone's tune will be a little more reliable in terms of wear on engine parts and you can feel a little bit at ease knowing that when you romp on it that your turbo will more then likely be okay afterwards.

Both tuners have been around for a while both tuners are more then capable of tuning your stock car both tuners have a good product. If you were going anything futher then stock i would definitely recommend Malone Tuning. Anything more what you get now generally means bigger turbo and exhaust.

I ended up with Malone Tuning.
This is why I am running 3 of malone's tunes with my ALH engines. The throttle feels like a stock tuned car for normal driving but when you need the extra power, believe me, its there.
 
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