Re: Newbie question about S6

[Brett Dikeman <brett@pdikeman.ne.mediaone.net>]

Intended Acceleration, Total Audi Performance, Wetterauer(sp?) and 
Hoppen all offer S6 chips to varying degrees.  The lowest stage chip 
is always aimed at people like you who want more power, but within 
safety.  I run a TAP chip in my 200q20v which brings it to 265hp. 
I'm not generally happy with it however, and many a lister has 
questioned Igor's(the owner of TAP) business practices, manners, and 
product quality.  Buyer beware.  I wasn't particularly happy with the 
way they treated me either(among other things, a TAP representative 
told me they didn't have any mods for the 200q20v at the Mt. 
Washington event, which was a flat out lie, and I asked the guy "hmm, 
then how come I have a TAP ecu in my 200q20v?"  He just sorta 
shrugged, grunted, and scratched himself.  When I called TAP and 
asked for any docs which came with the ECU, or a leaflet, or 
anything(got the ECU second-hand), I was promised one but it never 
appeared(a catalog did, however.)  A couple of listers have said 
slightly-less-than-flattering things about Igor, the owner, but I 
think that could be chalked up partially to personality conflicts. 
200q20v owners(including myself) have had trouble with the TAP ecu, 
specifically, it seems like it does a half-assed job by only 
remapping -some- of the tables in the ECU...the result is timing that 
goes all over the place, causing missing and uneven acceleration.  My 
mechanic has seen it before in S6's, so you may want to steer clear 
of them.  I'd see if you get any comments from S-car owners, see what 
they think, before you jump to conclusions.

Ned, who runs Intended Acceleration, does his own chips, stands 
behind his work, and used to contribute on the main lists. I would 
recommend him any day, even though his mods cost a little more.  Most 
listers feel the same about him; I don't think I've heard of a single 
person who hasn't been happy with Ned or his mods.  Check his website 
for what models he covers,

http://www.intendedacceleration.com


Hoppen Motorsports seems to also be pretty popular and have a decent 
reputation from most, but they simply resell other chips from Lehman 
and other european tuners(and the stage I chip doesn't come from the 
same guy as the Stage II, etc.)  That information has been "heard 
through the grapevine", so it may be inaccurate.  One or two listers 
have communicated displeasure in dealing with HM.

Wetterauer(sp?) mostly aims at the A4's and such; they don't have 
anything for any Audis older than the S-cars.  2 years ago, they 
chipped an S6 right on the spot at the Mt. Washington hillclimb. 
They pulled the ECU from the car, the guy set up his soldering 
station, modded the ECU, checked it over, popped it back into the 
car, and he and the owner zoomed off for a spin, all within 20 
minutes or so.  The owner came back, all smiles.  Aside from that, 
I've heard little about them(mostly because I don't listen in on 
a4-type stuff, probably; Wett. also doesn't do much in the US market 
if I recall; they're from Germany) and none of it was negative(except 
for complaints about how they didn't have mods for older cars, but 
that was more like whining :)


Brett
200q20v listadmin


At 6:27 PM -0800 11/2/99, John Pollard (EXPEDIA) wrote:
>First time poster.    I have a '95 S6 sedan with 90K miles.  It is in great
>cosmetic condition, and it was dealer serviced 1K miles ago.   I bought the
>car used a year ago roughly, and I'm very satisfied.
>
>My question for the gurus is whether it is wise to pursue any performance
>mods at this point in the car's life, and if so, what I should begin with
>that would let me tap into the engine's reserves without harming the car or
>too much risk of endless servicing.   Experiences, general advice much
>appreciated.    Sorry to bore the veterans on the list.
>
>Thanks

----
Brett Dikeman
Artel Software				617-451-9900
381 Congress Street			617-451-9916(fax)
Boston, MA 02210				http://www.borisfx.com