Remapping worth it?

Soldato
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If they knew exactly where the car was going to end up, and what kind of customer was driving it then yes.
but the engine sensors - air-mass /knock/temp ... enable them to modify map for the long-run optimal mpg for all kinds of customers;
trading off mpg in the map against emissions might be their out, though.
 
Soldato
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If they knew exactly where the car was going to end up, and what kind of customer was driving it then yes.

Instead they apply maps that have a huge amount of safety built in, to help stop the engine grenading itself when run on poor quality fuel, torque reduced to ensure that clutches and gearboxes last a reasonable length of time (even when driven by 70 year old doris revving the guts off it), and with emissions set to meet targets in all countries etc.

You make a good case. But the differences must be tiny - not sure if a proper remap would offer a decent return on investment, and I still think efficiency improvement would be tiny compared to driving style/environmental/tyres.
 
Soldato
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And don't use superchips ffs

You need to go somewhere that maps your car on a rolling road

There's nothing wrong with off the shelf remaps and tuning boxes. Depends what you want.
I've had a bluefin remap on my car (made by superchips) for years. It cost about £300 and massively improved the bhp and torque output. It's a highly tuneable engine granted (2.5t Ford S-Max same engine as focus ST). With no other supporting mods the bhp goes up from about 220 to 275. Torque was massively up. It came in a few days in the post and can be loaded and unloaded to the car within minutes easily at home.

Yes, if I wanted upmost power and complete control over the map profile, I'd go to a tuner. I wanted something off the shelf, easy, cheap, removable.

@OP, maybe have a look on forums and see what other experiences of the map are like? Some of the off the shelf ones can be quite progressive with a nice profile. Some of them are more spikey and "feel" more lively in their delivery.
 
Soldato
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There's nothing wrong with off the shelf remaps and tuning boxes. Depends what you want.
I've had a bluefin remap on my car (made by superchips) for years. It cost about £300 and massively improved the bhp and torque output. It's a highly tuneable engine granted (2.5t Ford S-Max same engine as focus ST). With no other supporting mods the bhp goes up from about 220 to 275. Torque was massively up. It came in a few days in the post and can be loaded and unloaded to the car within minutes easily at home.

Yes, if I wanted upmost power and complete control over the map profile, I'd go to a tuner. I wanted something off the shelf, easy, cheap, removable.

@OP, maybe have a look on forums and see what other experiences of the map are like? Some of the off the shelf ones can be quite progressive with a nice profile. Some of them are more spikey and "feel" more lively in their delivery.

I take you are compareing this with also having your car done on a rolling road, and not just chatting ****, because if you have nothing to compare it to, then you are...
 
Soldato
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I don't have any concerns with these tuning boxes. I used to have one on my old 595. I made sure though to go to a company to rolling road it, and they let me adjust the settings whilst there to see on the same rollers what it put out at stock, and then on the different calibration levels. It obviously doesn't beat a proper tune, but for me, it did deliver power. And what was informative about the rolling road session was that actually, the more driveable map, was not the one that gave the most power. :)

Managed to dig out my old pics. Hopefully my scribbles in the corner make sense. The torque was more usable on "C" whereas "D" came in a big lump between a certain range.

Bluespark-C.jpg

Bluespark-D.jpg
 
Man of Honour
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Managed to dig out my old pics. Hopefully my scribbles in the corner make sense. The torque was more usable on "C" whereas "D" came in a big lump between a certain range.

My brother had a map something like the second one on his car which was kind of amusing as it would get off the line crazy fast but then big hole of nothing before it started to pull again.
 

IC3

IC3

Soldato
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You shouldn't judge the tune by the numbers, the power curve and how the power/torque comes on is more important, especially on the road. Even if the gains aren't massive, you'll notice that the car becomes more responsive and no longer feels like you're towing a trailer.

BM3 Stage 1 on my old M140i, I regretted getting BM3, should have went with MHD... This is also a good example of a poor tune. :p Just to clarify, CTG didn't tune the car, only dyno'd it. Really nice guys BTW!

image.png


Edit:

If you can get a tuner who actually tunes the car on dyno, go for it. I would avoid OOB maps and god forbid tune boxes...
 
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Soldato
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I take you are compareing this with also having your car done on a rolling road, and not just chatting ****, because if you have nothing to compare it to, then you are...

You ok hun? :)
Which part of my post is me "chatting ****" ? So for my opinion to be valid, I have to pay to get an off the shelf product, then also go and get a custom tune and compare them, posting back here for your approval?
I simply stated my experience and even said that if I wanted to, I'd also get a custom map.
 
Soldato
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I don't think I've seen any efficiency gains after mapping our car, even when driving carefully.
But it is more fun now and even when just using a little bit of the mid range, it's such a better car to drive.
Insurance went up a out £70 a year.
Octavia 2.0tsi vrs.
 
Associate
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There is such thing as efficiency maps, unfortunately the extra speed,power and fun means that most people don't notice a difference to mpg lol.

Remaps from experience don't seem to have much of an effect on the reliability of it's a decent map and the engine is well looked after.

I had a couple vans "efficiency" mapped at work on a trial basis. Economy did improve in this example as stock the manufacturer hamstrung the engine meaning you had to wring it's neck out to keep up with traffic (was a 110hp engine detuned to 75hp)

Anyway, when we sold them the engines had done circa 285k miles with no issues..

That said when we replaced them we purchased the 110hp version from the off and all was fine.
 
Soldato
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Just got a new Polo GTI , 207PS I think.

I'm tempted to have remap, which one would you recommend? I like VUDU Performance, stage 1 around 260 BHP..that's a huge jump even without any hardware modification.

The only issue is that (I think) the Polo GTI is one-wheel drive (front) so I think it wouldn't handle 260bhp.

Thanks
 
Commissario
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I used to have a Van Aaken box in my 2000 Focus diesel. It claimed to increase the mpg but that was bobbins. It gave me an extra 25 horses and 40 torques and when I flicked the switch to turn it on and then booted it, it did chuck a lot of smoke out the back.
 
Associate
OP
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It might technically, it won’t realistically. You’ll be driving quicker all the time, hence using more fuel.

Easier way to improve economy is keeping tyres inflated properly and accelerating/driving more smoothly.
I drive like an old lady most of the time these days. Just like the idea of making the car even snappier and maybe maintaining the MPG
Just got a new Polo GTI , 207PS I think.

I'm tempted to have remap, which one would you recommend? I like VUDU Performance, stage 1 around 260 BHP..that's a huge jump even without any hardware modification.

The only issue is that (I think) the Polo GTI is one-wheel drive (front) so I think it wouldn't handle 260bhp.

Thanks
1 wheel drive? I didn't know that was a thing.:p
Lots of great comments, thanks guys. Still not sure if it's a good idea, I need to find somewhere semi local that does it properly and get a price. This is the first car I've had with a spring in it's step since my Impreza nearly 20 years ago, I think I'm rediscovering the 90's boy racer in me:D
 
Associate
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Has anyone ever seen an increase in efficiency with a remap? I get the feeling it's more theoretical than practical. My experience over two cars is they make the car more thirsty.

I had a Lancer Ralliart which had the 4B11T engine from the EVO X but running a smaller turbo. Standard fuel consumption at 230BHP was rubbish, circa 23MPG around town.

Remapped to 300BHP with the larger EVO X intercooler fitted I saw fuel consumption rise to 28MPG for the same use.

This is not going to be the same for every car, but the remap certainly improved both the performance and efficiency of my engine.
 
Soldato
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I had a Lancer Ralliart which had the 4B11T engine from the EVO X but running a smaller turbo. Standard fuel consumption at 230BHP was rubbish, circa 23MPG around town.

Remapped to 300BHP with the larger EVO X intercooler fitted I saw fuel consumption rise to 28MPG for the same use.

This is not going to be the same for every car, but the remap certainly improved both the performance and efficiency of my engine.

Did you calculate the mpg yourself or just take the readout from the car. It can be off after a remap apparently.
 
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Soldato
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North East
+33bhp? Pah... This gives +35% for £5!


Being serious, I had my Octavia VRS remapped (custom map on a rolling road) and it was noticeable, but not in every day driving.

I don't think I'd bother in future on a daily driver... Maybe I'd consider it if it was a car known for having the same engine as higher power models but with a more restrictive engine map.

I would consider it, along with supporting mods, on a weekend/track car.
 
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