Leon FR TDI 170 owners - I have a question ?

[barryg]

I got my mk1 fr 150 with 19000mls on it, it was exactly same performance as mates 130 golf. Very disapointed with the power at the time. 2 months later, about 4k mls of me trashing it (sensibly when engine warm etc). It will leave the 130 golf in its wake... very noticable performance improvement.

Diesels using the egr and ccv tend to get sluge built up in the intake intercooler etc. I believe driving it on helps clear it out.

By the way mate with 320d had same problem when he got his car. few weeks of pushing it on seems to have sorted it.

 

[Davidp]

yep, have a read in the TDI FAQ about running in TDIs. The general concensus is that to drive it quite hard from the start, as long as the oil is up to temp. it will bed in quicker and give better performance and mpg sooner than one thats grannyed.

Thats intersting, is the ecu intelligent enough to learn your driving style?
I ran mine in for the first few hundred and now 35k further on really enjoy hoofing it and the car goes great and averages 44mpg. Girlfriend gets over 50mpg when she drives, (why is that i wonder!)

 

[sssstew]

i seem to remember something about the ECU being adaptive..... would need to look back through

 

[LEONFRTDI2K6]

Well I will tell you a story!!!

I'm interested to know whether the TDI FR will perform better after a few thousand miles if the driver thrashes it from day one, foot to the boards etc. I've heard that thrashed turbo diesel cars are more responsive if they've been hammered?

Is this an old wives tale or absolutely true??

Should this car be run in?

How have you TDI owners driven yours from new?

After picking up my TDI FR, the first thing I did (by accident) was wedge it right up to the red line.... You see not an hour before I had been driving around in a 1.6 FSI Golf (115ps) so expecting a lack of response I just give it some welly...After having my socks blown off I couldn't resist giving it the odd race not real trash, but I would say I broke the breaking in rule quite a few times during the period..... At the moment it is like lightening and is well and truly broken in now just coming up to 6000k so fingers crossed nothing goes wrong...

 

[Davidp]

After picking up my TDI FR, the first thing I did (by accident) was wedge it right up to the red line.... You see not an hour before I had been driving around in a 1.6 FSI Golf (115ps) so expecting a lack of response I just give it some welly...After having my socks blown off I couldn't resist giving it the odd race not real trash, but I would say I broke the breaking in rule quite a few times during the period..... At the moment it is like lightening and is well and truly broken in now just coming up to 6000k so fingers crossed nothing goes wrong...

Rumour has it the ECU is intellient and adapts to your driving style. Obviously it got the message that you like to 'kick ass'!

Perhaps ecu learning is why remapped engines take time to develop full power?

I have never understood why diesel engines should get better with mileage though but after 35k mine goes better and ave mpg has gone up.
On the other hand maybe the car has broken me in

 

[LEONFRTDI2K6]

Rumour has it the ECU is intellient and adapts to your driving style. Obviously it got the message that you like to 'kick ass'!

Perhaps ecu learning is why remapped engines take time to develop full power?

I have never understood why diesel engines should get better with mileage though but after 35k mine goes better and ave mpg has gone up.
On the other hand maybe the car has broken me in

The myth of intelligent ECU's has been around for ages and to be honest I agree with it, so it doesn't really matter whether you break it in hard or not eventually it will adapt to what you want out of it....

 

[OLDOILER]

Rumour has it the ECU is intellient and adapts to your driving style. Obviously it got the message that you like to 'kick ass'!

Perhaps ecu learning is why remapped engines take time to develop full power?

I have never understood why diesel engines should get better with mileage though but after 35k mine goes better and ave mpg has gone up.
On the other hand maybe the car has broken me in

ALL my chipped cars have been quicker has the miles went up best perfoming was a 100k and still did 42+ but not many people keep cars long enough in the UK. ...................

 

[LEONFRTDI2K6]

Oh it is, definitely! It had about 600 miles on the clock when i test drove it, and it drives a lot better now. Still makes me smile everyday.

Mine does for me too!!!! BIG SMILES!! AND THE MPG IS GETTER BETTER!!!

 

[LordElric]

My fr tdi has 5000 km's on clock.I drove for the first 3000 km's not over 2500 rpm.After that i just couldn't old it.I've also installed a turbo boost bar gauge.Does anyone knows what should be the appropriate readings on?I am talking about the higher level the turbo works.I couldn't find that on car's papers....

 

[badtastebear]

On our mk1 FR we respected the gearbox (didnt rag it) for the first 500 miles then we had fun fun fun

 

[Gazza999]

Give it a couple of hundred miles to ensure that the tyres and brakes are OK, then just thrash it to death....That's what turbo-diesels seem to thrive on. Only downside is that they do burn oil, and sometimes blow the odd-turbo (I've had turbos replaced under warranty on both Audi and VW 2.0l turbo diesels)

 

[illustrious]

I fetched mine a month ago, drove it fairly nicely for the 1st 1100k. Tried to keep below 3k RPM most of the time, but did have to belt it occaisionally.
Fuel consumption was rubbish to start (compared to my 30k Mk1 FR) but is improving.
Acceleration is also improving and now she's done 1,500k she's havin' it regularly once the engine is up to temp. Not afraid to hammer her anymore. Feels like she's getting better all the time.
Does anyone else find it nigh on impossible to just stop driving their FR and find something else to do? So damn addictive...