[Audi A3/S3] Haldex ECU Upgrade

[TheReverend]

Hi Guys,

I don't know if any of you have thought of doing this yet but i got mine changed about two weeks ago at AMD.

I decided to do it after a period of faffing about thinking of changing it for Focus RS / Scooby / Evo. Decided that I am a little partial to my creature comforts and don't want all the spotty 19yr olds trying to take my scalp at every occasion.

I was hoping it would make the S3 a little more tail happy (fun) than standard.

Well here's the changes.

In the dry

It's like the car is much more like a permanent 4WD car. You get none of the tugging at the wheel through acceleration in the lower gears. The car is seriously unshakeable through corners now and understeer just doesn't even think of coming onto the agenda. The grip levels are astounding even compared to before. (I've had the car for 18 months and gone through 6 tyres so I've got a pretty fair view of what it can do)

You do feel that it's a touch slower off the line as torque gets "sent to the back" but to be honest it's still quick. Maybe again this is just a sense of it as you don't feel the steering wheel doing anything.

In the wet

Well this is where I found a big difference. Standard I found it would be prone to understeer before going into 4W drift at a push. I put a set of Goodyear GSD3 F1's on and it gripped well but eventually the torque bias at the front until they spin would make for pretty nose led driving.

Now it just grips. I mean really grips it's pretty surreal actually. You just get the wheels and the nose keyed in and there is no sliding or spinning at all. Really inspires confidence.

I've been able to push the tail out on lower speed corners under power (ahem - on private land ;-))which is something I found difficult to do without lifting off. Now you just keep it nailed.

Maybe I wasn't agressive enough with it when it was standard but now I've basically got two options.

Outstanding grip in all conditions

Tail out fun when the rain falls.

Would I recommend it? I think so. It does make you drive like a hooligan for a while and you can definitely sense the torque sent to the back.

What made me decide to go for it was that AMD were doing a deal on it as it used to be almost £700 but now it's £560. Steep, but put it this way; It stops me trading it in, taking a kicking from a stealer and then getting into some Subaru / Evo and paying a lot more to run it while sitting in the low rent cabin of an albeit great car.

[Simonl]

Any difference in MPG, your worship?

Great review BTW

[jules_s3]

Sounds awesome, great write up by the way!!

Is your S3 standard? How are your tyres finding it???

[TheReverend]

Re MPG - No difference that I can see so far. I'd expected to take a hit there but it seems just the same. I've done about 400 miles in it since the upgrade. Noticed the change in the drive instantly.

It's a Nogaro Blue '01 S3 with Bose, Heated seats, bose, symphony, PDC, etc

The car's had a few upgrades. Now with 18" SLine's with Avon ZZ3's. 265bhp Remap with Forge DV.

Tempted to upgrade the brakes now too as the pads & discs are showing wear.

[Scotty]

Quite a lot of guys have done this on TT-forum.co.uk

They all seem to like it.

[Hopsta]

I know that Simon Elman has done this to his Banana S3, along with a fair few others. All good reports from all accounts

[Paul]

that was the forge/mtm 50/50 switchable unless he has swapped it out.

[Wallachie]

What's the split between front and rear power after the upgrade? Does it remain constant now?

[TheReverend]

Not as it's been explained to me. You know the deal with the standard ECU (90% to the front wheels until slip is detected) Well this one doesn't wait for the slip.

According to AMD the Haldex System can't send more than 50% to the rear but it this immediately.

[DuncS3]

I got one of these too, bought it from the US - more info here:

http://www.eiptuning.com/eip/haldex.html

Dunc