Winter Ready Cars

As winter approaches, we’re still grappling with the frustrating ECU issues on my 2012 Golf GTI Edition 35. Despite all our efforts, the car’s original ECU refuses to cooperate. After numerous failed attempts to flash it—using tools like KESS, MPPS, ODIS Engineering, and even BDM—we concluded that the ECU might have custom firmware installed by the previous owners.

To resolve this, we purchased a similar ECU with the same MED 9.1 version, hoping to cross-flash it with the correct software. Unfortunately, this didn’t work. Either we sourced the wrong ECU, or cross-flashing simply isn’t possible with this type of hardware. After spending nearly 300 euros trying to make it work, it became clear we needed a better solution.

Now, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and purchase a used ECU that should come with stock firmware pre-installed. While it’s going to cost around 800 euros, this seems to be the only reliable way to get the car running properly again. Fingers crossed that this will be the fix we’ve been searching for!

In the meantime, winter preparations are in full swing. We’ve stored our other cars for the season, but not before having a bit of fun in the snow. Check out some of the pictures and videos we captured during our winter escapades!