Yup, I agree, can always be chipped easily, for $$ which of course has to be added to the car's price to compare against others in the segment..... Plus, there are some other things people should know when comparing car prices.
One of our 2 cars is a 2.0T Jetta, not chipped, a previous 1.8T was chipped. If the car is a 6 speed manual, the stock clutch has trouble with chipped torque. A "Stage 1" clutch kit with much higher torque capacity will solve that, @ around $ 1k installed - ka'ching, now we have that and the chip plus the car...... But wait, there's more! A high pressure fuel pump would be nice to avoid fuel cutout problems - well over $ 1k. A bypass valve capable of dealing with the lovely engine because there have been problems with the stock unit, that one is cheap, maybe $ 300/350- installed. And when the dealer does a software upgrade because of a TSB or whatever, now you sign a paper saying the ECU wasn't modified but if it was, and the upgrade wipes it off, then VW isn't responsible.
Food for thought.....no for me its stock under warranty without question, and its the manufacturer's problem to produce something competitive and interest me in buying it. In this case I'm thinking of the new GTI to replace my Accord Coupe, depending largely on what performance it has.
