Malone Stage 2 tune on a 2010 TDI at 78,000 miles
Fuel economy……I’m on my 4th tank since the tune. Prior to the tune I would average 310 miles at the half tank mark. Post tune I am seeing 340 miles at half tank. Not super, but not bad. I was hoping for about 5% more better fuel economy on top of that.
Engine response…….the tune did not turn the Treg into some kind of fire breathing dragon monster Treg. It does not spin it wheels everywhere now or sound like Cummins or Powerstroke. You would have no idea that the engine was tuned just by listening to it. When driving 50 mph and less I do definitely feel a difference. NOT a mind blowing difference, but a difference none the less. The Treg moves with a lot less ease. I barely press the accelerator either from a stop or just accelerating a little and the Treg moves with no reservation at all. Speeds higher than 50 mph is where the tune really shows itself. All I can say is wow. Turbo lag is completely gone. I can be driving 70 mph and accelerate and feel being pulling back into the seat. Prior to the tune I felt that the engine revved too high before responding to acceleration. At 70 mph If I wanted/needed to pass someone I would have to press the accelerator rather far, the transmission would down shift, the engine rev up, there would be a turbo delay and then the Treg would take off. That doesn’t happen anymore. Now the engine seems to respond directly to gas pedal. I press on the pedal and the Treg just moves accordingly in response. No hesitation at all. No trans down shift, no high increase in rpms….it just takes off. And all this is in DRIVE. Put the thing in SPORT and…….who’s your daddy. I think if you kept in SPORT and drove like a maniac racing everyone off the line and punching it everywhere you’d probably wind up tearing the drive train apart and/or stuff would start breaking real fast.
The Treg was awesome before and I think saying, “Now it is how it should be from VW” is the wrong statement. I would say it now acts as a high end, sport model, diesel SUV. If the Treg and Cayenne truly have the same motor and drive train I cannot see how the Cayenne could be tuned that much better. I mean drastically better. The Treg responds now like a sports car. It just goes with no hesitation. And when you already are going/moving you can feel the acceleration like you were starting from a stop.
I have driven an Isuzu Pup, Ford F250 and Dodge Ram 2500 all diesel and all manual. The thing that I loved most is that on all of them I could put them into second gear and let off the clutch without giving them gas and they would just go. There was no hesitation. The vehicle moved instantly. And being manuals as soon as I pressed on the gas all would respond immediately and accelerate. Before the tune I felt the Treg lacked this immediate acceleration response. Mainly because it’s an automatic, but I still felt the engine wasn’t all it could be, I wasn’t, the gas pedal wasn’t directly linked to the torque. With the tune acceleration now reminds me of driving the previously mentioned pickups that were manual. I feel the gas pedal is directly linked to the torque.
