Same engine, different tuning.

 

Exactly. VAG has locked the ECUs from model year 13+ for this very reason. They do the same thing with the 2.0T and the 3.0 supercharged. Same engines, different ECU programming.

Haven't heard of any tuners cracking these newer ECUs yet.

 

So will after market tuning like Racechip give the same results. I was always afraid of the chips so to speak.

 

I can't speak for a tune for a TDI engine but in my B6 Passat I did a APR Stage 1 Tune and the results are great, they really wake the engine up.
They have an option for Touareg APR 3.0 TDI ECU Upgrade

 

Although mine is an earlier model, having it tuned by Oettinger changed the character of the vehicle significantly, much more responsive, less gear changing and torque by the bucket full. When talking to them prior to the ECU upgrade, I was told that ealry units like mine could be reflashed in the vehicle via the OBDC port, however units from the new cars needed to be done on the "bench" with a purpose built harness to allow the unit to accept the upload.

Maybe the "locking" is simply that they cannot be done insitu.

Stuart...

 

I wouldn't recommended it while you're under warranty. Tune= voided powertrain warranty. Research "TD-1" to get all the details.

 

Wow....this is very interesting. So my 2009 TDI has the potential for even more power if the ECU is flashed? The ECU on the same engine in an Audi is just set differently? I wonder what happens to mileage?

 

My fuel consumption for normal driving, not towing, dropped by 1 litre/100 km ( about 2.5 miles/US Gal better) after the tune. Haven't really bother measuring with towing..

Stuart..

 

The Euopean market Touaregs have used a 258bhp TDi for 2015 and 2015 model years instead of the 240 bhp unit - I presume just another ECU update ?

 

Npt sure, there may be a physical difference. The 09-12 vs 13+ engines in north america differ with different timing chain design and a different turbo. So in this case the two engines are not just a tuning difference.

Also on the 09-12 engine in NA (225hp) it differed from the EU version of the same vintage in that it had a turbo designed for better torque delivery and less up top....so those engines had different turbos.