Hi, I have rather tentatively been researching the idea of chipping my '02 Mondeo Ghia X TDCi, it certainly goes well enough however the idea of a significantly more performance for a few hundred quid appeals.
I have had a look at the archives on the diesel car website and Superchips and Bromleys/Tunit both quote 130 TDCi's as producing 145 - 150bhp as standard, in the case of Tunit they tested an '02 Ghia Estate TDCi and an X-Type 2.0d which produced 148 and 147 bhp respectively before they touched them. Likewise an Audi A4 TDi 130 Quattro tested at 147bhp in standard form, this being more than the 2WD TDi 130's, the comment is that the Quattro ECU is set differently to the 2WD by the factory. However a Rover 75CDT tested at 116bhp, spot on stanadrd spec.
Makes me wonder how many cars are infact more powerful than that quoted by the manufacturer.
Also, my car has 83k (mainly motorway miles) on the clock though is in good order, can anyone say from experience whether I am likely to encounter any mileage related problems if I were to go down the chipping route.
Regards.
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Ive had a Merc Cdi and a VW Tdi chipped by upsolute and an highly delighted with the results. The upgrade is well within the tolerence of the engines and I found that sensibly using the extra torque available gave improved fuel economy as less gear changes are needed.
Upsolute eill do the upgrade at your home and you can watch and ask questions.
The price is about £325 and includes a socket so that you can swap the chip for the original.
I have had no engine problems, I suspect that if you don't drive like a boy racer all the time and pay attention to regular maintenance the engines will last as long as standard.
Liverpool Victoria do not charge an extra premium for these modifications.
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Mark - If what i read elsewhere is correct, Liverpool Victoria have done an about turn on chipping mods, and are no longer taking on new business for modified cars - their home page gave that impression last time I looked, and i've seen postings in the past few weeks/months from people with chipped cars saying LV are telling them they will not be offering them a renewal when the policy runs out.
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from the Liverpool Victoria homepage -
we cannot insure :-
Cars which have performance enhancing modifications
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Hi,
thanks for that I guess a lot more people will not be declaring the mod. I seem to remember that elephant and confused.com have sections for declaring mods. Can't remember how much extra they charged.
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Thanks for the points re insurance guys.
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With about 4 months to go on the policy, elephant quoted me an increase of £17.46 for an increase in power of up to 10%. From 11% - 25%, it would have been £75. They would not quote for an increase of more than 25% - they said they would cancel the policy. That was for the Passat TDi 110 insured in my wife's name. For the Seat Leon TDi 110 in my name, the price was significantly higher - over £100 for the <10% increase, even though my driving record (unlike hers) is clean! I guess it was probably because I'm male and a couple of years younger than she is.
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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This is all very puzzling, because when I took out my insurance with them back in early October, I told them about my mods (Saab 9-5 with Stage 1 tune, up from 150bhp to 192bhp via ECU upgrade), they didn't even make a note of it - they just told me that, in the event of a claim, they might want evidence that it had been installed....so if they don't note the mods, they presumably don't know they are there.....so effectively I don't need to tell them unless I claim. By the same token, when/if I *do* claim, if I was of a mind to tell porkies, they would never know anyway.
(scratches head and goes to lie down)
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It might be for a similar reason to that given to me by the AA as to why they couldn't cover it at all - I live in NI and while both elephant and the AA sell car insurance here, there will be number of companies they broker for in GB which do not operate in Northern Ireland.
By the way, I would still ask your insurer (elephant, I take it?) to record the fact that you have informed them of the modifications and that your insurance is unaffected. I would also ask them to confirm it in writing. In fact, it might be a good idea to have a good look at the small print in your policy before contacting them, to see if it specifies anything about modifications.
It would appear from comments I've read elsewhere that it is indeed possible for an ECU upgrade to be detected, if the insurance company wants to find it. In the event of your having to make a claim, they could try to use the fact that the mod is there, yet not recorded in your policy details, as an excuse not to pay out - even though you have informed them!
That Saab must be fun, I am jealous ...
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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