Gruppe M vs VF Engineering Intake

I have had my Gruppe M for a while now, and i absolutely loved it, but a fren needed a favour as he had a whiney VIP customer that wanted to exchange a brand new VF with a Gruppe M + top up, so i decided to help out

Gruppe M



I was quite impressed with the VF when i saw it, it comes in a 1 piece black anodised intake tube with 2 heatshields, one for the extractor area, the other for the engine bay. Fitment was perfect and it was done in under 25min.

Engine Cover had to be cut and modified to fit the VF, from the front u cant tell, but from the sides it looks abit Ghetto.

VF Engineering

Noise level - alot of ppl told me beforehand that the VF + Forge DV combo was like installing a thousand angry monkeys in the engine bay, but honestly, its not much louder then the Gruppe M. At certain specific rpms(3k-3.5k), theres a induction roar....but you can hardly hear it over the radio and normal road noise. If you are full at throttle, leaving the toll, and you go tru all 6 gears..you wont hear anything except the delicious roar of the 2.0T FSI

Butt dyno tells me theres better pickup across the rev range, but i intend to heat wrap the intake tube, it gets very very hot, hot enuff to burn your fingers if u touch it right after a long run



Conclusion - The gruppe M is double the price of the VF, so you cant really compare the 2 intakes, so i will call it a tie...both have +/- but are both great intakes



Gruppe M
Price --
Looks +++++
Sound ++++

Gruppe M is a must for anyone that likes the engine bay to look neat and OEM

VF Engineering
Price ++
Looks ++++
Sound ++

My gripe with the VF is the engine bay heatshield which does not extend all the way round the filter, bad design and it fails as a true CAI.

APR RSC 3" Downpipe with 200 cell Sport cat

Decided to take advantage of the APR summer sale and picked up a APR DP. Arrived yesterday and i decided to have it installed at Exquisite Marque in Kota Damansara



Installation was relatively straightforward, but had to fabricate a 3"->2.75" aadpter to fit the APR Centre pipe to my rear Miltek Muffler.

The APR kit came with all the adapters, clamps, even gloves for the installation, and as always, the DP is well made and solid.

First Impressions
Cruising around at 2-3k rpm, at normal KL traffic, the DP sounds totally stock. Your wife or mom could drive this car to the pasar malam and back without notcing the DP.

But when you go pass 50% throttle, the DP comes to life and theres a deliciously evil sounding PWHOOWAFAFAAAAAA ! :) Also notice a "Bliuffp" after every gear change...i love it.

Unlike my previous Cusco DP on my WRX, which was loud at all rpm levels, the APR RSC is totally silent at crusing speed, i took it it up to 120kph and it still sounded stock....

Part 2.

Have reflashed to S2 APR software, the lag is lessened and the increase in power is more noticible now. Before this, i was just toying with the idea of Brake/suspension upgrades...now..with S2..its a MUST! The car is barely able to cope with S2 power delivery, i can feel the body roll much more now, as well as the inadequecy of the stock brakes

As per my mod plan, i will be stopping at Stage 2, which i feel is the best compromise between power and reliability. Even with S2 i can already feel increased torque steer, which was not present at S1...so i can imagine that S3 would not be very drivable without significant suspension upgrades

Part 3 : have arranged a dyno shootout with my gay partner in crime, will update once done.

My setup:
APR S2 Testpipe remap
Gruppe M Intake
APR RSC DP
Miltek Rear Muffler

His setup
Revo Teknik remap
CFx Intake
JFA Catless DP
Miltek Rear Muffler


APR Vs Stock crummy DP

CFx Intake Install

Fren of mine came over to my place last nite to install the Cfx Intake. He had bought his GTI 2nd hand and didnt like the BMC intake that it came with...looked like a "Carbon Milo Tin" he said :)

Install was relatively straight forward, engine cover was fiddly as usual, lotsa cursing and sweating to get it on and off.

Cfx Intake looks good installed, comes with a drainhole for water drainage as well as aluminium handles to prevent the carbon cracking from over torque. Along with the K&N Drop in, the CFx is a very quiet set up....the Forge DV whistle is hardly noticible now, sounds like the stock DV




BMC Intake - For sale *Booked*

Review of RNS 510

This is a review of the VW OEM RNS510 CD/DVD/GPS etc Headunit, i will mostly compare this unit with the Witson 723V HU as I feel thats is its most direct competitor

I got the unit "pre-owned" aka slightly used, from Europe, so obviously when it arrives its not as impressive as the 723, which comes in nice packaged box with all the accesories, the 510 arrives with just the GPS Antenna and CD thats it



Radio
- Excellent reception all round, picks up all RDS station names and info
- Scanning was a breeze, and had all my fav stations loaded in under 5 min

CD/DVD
- Very user friendly interface, with crisp graphics which can be seen clearly in bright sunlight, track/folder selection is very well done, much better then the 723, which was abit clunky to use while on the move
- As per any VW HU, u cant play video DVD on the move without the addition of a Kufatec Video in motion add on. But it doesnt bother me, i dun watch DVDs when moving.

GPS
- Works, but has same offset issue that SG owners are reporting

Pro's and Con's vs the Witson 723

Pro
- to me the biggest pro is the stable user interface and the bright, high resolution screen
- HARD DRIVE!!! yes baby, this unit comes with a 20gig HDD, so we can load up all our favorite songs and never use SD/DVD ever again
- The ability to hook up Fiscon/Kufatec add on's like Video in motion, bluetooth and best of all Optical Parking sensors (like the BMW /Merc style sensors, the car + radar will display on screen)
- Its oem VW, simple plug & play, all the steering wheel buttons work, and should not have any issues with VW malaysia in regards to warranty

Con
- the 510 is DOUBLE the price of the 723, with no warranty
- No USB input, no ipod cables, no remote control etc etc
- No built in bluetooth
- Cant run igo8, garmin etc, can only run the proprietry VW GPS software
- Cant play video in motion

Final analysis:
Is the 510 worth rm2k+ more then the 723? dunno, its not something that I can answer, diffrent ppl have diffrent wants/expectations, you have to decide which HU will serve your needs better.

as always, both the 723 and 510 is available from the mod shop
email me at ryou.modshop@gmail.com for more info

EDIT: played around with the 510 for last couple of hours, its awesome, no wonder ppl pay rm8k+ for a new unit

GPS View

HDD View (I love this)DVD
Radio