Remap Question

Good Morning All!
My 2004 MK5 Golf GT TDi ( 140 bhp - Decat and straight through exhaust and the rest is stock ) is in to be mapped on Saturday morning. However, I am aware that it's done 130k but has just been serviced and had £500 spent on bits and bobs that needed doing before a remap. The tuning garage offer 3 different stages of maps:
Economy > 160 bhp
Performance > 185 bhp
Hybrid ( Best of both ) > 170 bhp
So, I'm unsure which one to go with. I don't want to kill my car but at the same time, I don't want to pay out for a remap and be disappointed with the performance results.
What are peoples thoughts/experiences and which option do you think would be the best?
I'm swaying toward the hybrid map but still not made up my mind as yet.
Thanks in advance and I look forward to your input
Cheers! Lee.

130k is pretty low mileage.
The engine internals are bombproof for a lot more torque, so the main questions are on clutch and turbo durability. Clutch should be fine if in reasonable condition, and provided the max boost is sensible and under control I cant see why 185bhp option would cause any durability issues. Worth asking what max boost they'd be targeting. 1.5bar?
Which company is it please?

Wouldn't be concerned with the mileage, remap is going to go a long way so you'll be happy either way. A 1.5-1.6 bar tune on a pd140 with a 3 bar map sensor would be fine in the 170-180bhp range. Max performance tune should be fine for you too though but if it's heavily abused that file could cause more harm than the hybrid or economy setup.

We're pretty big on the hybrid approach for daily drivers. The smoke and reliability concerns from really pushing for that last 5-10% isn't all that worthwhile. It's always best to step up to larger components/additional mods that are better suited for your power goals rather than pushing the limits with what you have.

Hi Owain! Thanks for the reply. I do a 154 mile round trip every day for work so I do a lot of motorway driving which was why I was swaying toward the hybrid 170 map... To throw another spanner in the works, my boss told me today that i'm getting a company van so now I'm thinking I might want that bit more power for when i'm toodling about on weekends. I'm a pretty normal driver and I do stick to speed limits etc, I just like to get to them quickly!

Its going into Midland Mapping in Wolverhampton. The car generally is in decent mechanical condition, previous lady owners but did need a bit of TLC for just the usual stuff.. Wheel bearings, brakes, pads etc. Clutch and turbo seem fine but I guess Midland mapping will give me the verdict on that prior to the map.

There is no such thing as economy OR performance tune, it´s only for marketing. Good tune has good sides from both without features suffering from each other. Top power does not affect regular cruising consumption.

Go with custom and have all features what you want from it.

Go for the 185 map you don`t have to flog the guts out of it all the time.
I had my new golf gttdi 4 motion mapped to about 180 in 2005, it was a rocket.

p0wer said:

There is no such thing as economy OR performance tune, it´s only for marketing. Good tune has good sides from both without features suffering from each other. Top power does not affect regular cruising consumption.

Go with custom and have all features what you want from it.

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I think I will go for the 185 bhp map in that case! Thanks mate, appreciate your response

dervdave said:

Go for the 185 map you don`t have to flog the guts out of it all the time.
I had my new golf gttdi 4 motion mapped to about 180 in 2005, it was a rocket.

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That's true mate, I don't drive like a lunatic any of the time so I guess it makes sense to go for the 185 bhp map.. at least its there if I need it or fancy a bit of fun! Did you encounter any issues after your map?

185 is quite much from uncehcked a mechanically unoptimized 1749VA, hope this "tuner" will check how boost pressure will behave on different circumstances (usually they dont). This kind of softwares which are marketed as "economy" or "performance" are usally quite poor. "Performance" can really have higher consumption if maps has been done badly on normal driving situations. I´ll bet changing it to another tune will cost again (and now you may twig this kind of business principle). They may tell, that higher hp tune will give higher consumption, which is BS. Good tune will not raise it.

Bradders79 said:

That's true mate, I don't drive like a lunatic any of the time so I guess it makes sense to go for the 185 bhp map.. at least its there if I need it or fancy a bit of fun! Did you encounter any issues after your map?

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I`ve had all my past and present diesels remapped without any problems

Cheers Dave! Well its booked in for 11am tomorrow. Decided to go for the 185 bhp map, hopefully I don't encounter any problems!

Good luck with your remap, I am sure you will enjoy it very much. If you keep your foot out of most of the time, you should still get quite good economy. It will be a LOT of fun to drive now. The next thing will likely be suspension to keep the car flat under all of your newly gained power.

remap

Morning all! Remap was carried out. Went for a 175 bhp map in the end as they recommended this map first due to it having 130k on the clock. They did say I can go back after a few weeks and tweak it up a bit more if I wanted.
Just done my first long commute to work and I have to say, it really has transformed the car.. Smooth power delivery, idle is now very stable and has no weird judder like it used to have. Second gear is pretty ferocious/fun and third just keeps pulling! Appeared to do better on fuel too but I will see what its saying by the end of the week..
Pleased I took the dive and really happy with the results! Midland remapping did a fantastic job and I will be taking any cars I have in the future there. Highly recommended!

Thank you for all your responses, really appreciated!

Great to hear sir!