Why diesel is the best tuning platform

Hi, glad you’re here and today I’m going to share some of my own opinions and some facts about

Why diesel is the most suitable platform for tuning.

The dangers involved with tuning.

Power & Economy gains associated with tuning your diesel.

Work-force tailored tuning.

Street tailored tuning.

Lets get right into the meat and bones of tuning specifically stage 1 tunes and why diesels dominate in this sector.

Now you might be looking at the screen right now and be thinking “What in the hell is a stage 1 tune” Well simply put, tuning has different levels or “Stages” like how well you like your steak cooked, higher the level, bigger the hole burnt into your pocket.

The most popular tune and the tune that all now car enthusiasts used to get their toes wet was no doubt a stage 1 tune, you may now wonder why ?

Well, the answer to that is 1. Price and 2. Time. A stage 1 tune will take at most 2 hours to do on a car and can range anywhere from €200-600 (600 being the upper spectrum associated with the big name tuning companies e.g REVO & APR) resulting in the best bang for your buck.

Funnily enough its this stage 1 tune which yields the biggest improvement over any other higher stage tune when accounting for complexity, time and price!

A stage 1 tune “On your diesel !” can result in a 50% power increase, over 150Nms of torque additional AND 10% better fuel economy !

That can turn your sluggish 1.6tdi with a petite 105Bhp and 250Nms of torque to 145Bhp and 310Nms.

Above is a Dyno graph from DarkSide Developments a personal favourite of mine because of their excellent knowledge and public transparency.

 The tuned vehicle was a VW Golf 2.0Tdi CR before and after a stage 1 and as you can see the engines torque is increased roughly by 30Nms through the rev range

You may now be thinking “Sign me UP !” or you may be a sceptic like myself and think “Sure how are we getting more power but burning less ?” The explanation is long winded and if you are heavier on the pedal after a remap which is a very common thing as an increase in torque is closely correlated with better drivability and smoothness it will be less economic as more power does of course require more fuel,

However, the additional torque means you can hold onto higher gears for longer and utilise the torque rather than revving higher in the lower gears.

The gains in power and torque as you can appreciate isn’t always exact car to car but these power increase percentages never fall below 20% but can be as high as 60% !

The risks involved with tuning

During these recent times thankfully the stigma around tuning has shifted greatly to a “upgrade every car should have” compared to “The upgrade that will melt your turbo”

And both are true ! A poorly done tune will be catastrophic to an engine and can lead to a bang in a myriad of ways. I won’t go into the depths of the many ways your engine can blow up but I can provide advice, some knowhow and things to ask or look out for so you know what you’re getting into.

Firstly, case A- your car is already tuned and you’re worried it’s causing damage. As we all know engine wear is an inevitable act your engine experiences on a daily basis whether it’s brand new or 20 years old