'13 V70 R Design - Remap
 

Hi all,

Currently got a 215bhp D5 R Design.

Thinking about a remap, common options appear to be;

Polestar - Circa 230bhp / Torque unknown - Not got a quotation yet

Superchips - 259bhp / 534Nm torque claimed - £274 (currently reduced from £374).

Anyone had experience of these or any other remaps?

Thanks

I've got the Polestar on my 215bhp XC70 D5, now 230 bhgp. It's very good and transformed the car but it isn't cheap. You need to find a dealer with an good offer. You cannot get the Polestar optimisation from anyone except a dealer but it's basic advantage is that it is integrated into the ECU and doesn't get overwritten and deleted if the ECU software is updated. It's not a huge gain, about 15bhp but I'm very satisfied with the torque increase. Cost me about £500 on an offer but I get back the VAT and its tax deductible so that about halved the price. Full price is nearly £800 IIRC.

I've had Superchips on my previous cars and again the increased power output isn't much different from Polestar but the price is about half. The problem is as above, it is overwritten if you have the dealer's free software upgrades if the car is serviced by a dealer. I think Superchip will put it back for a nominal charge. I found that the Superchip made for a smooth power take up which gave me about 12 bhp on a Peugeot 215 bhp petrol V6. Improved the car but didn't make it a road racer. :tongwink:

Think John Clark Volvo had an offer of £599 for Polestar. Lloyd in Carlisle sometimes have very good offers as well but only seem to last for a day or two

Torque is 470NM

Thanks for the posts.

Given the cost difference and reputation, I'm leaning towards Superchips. I'll give it some more thought & investigation and let you know what I decide.

I have quite a lot of experience from when I worked at an engineering firm 2 or 3 years ago. The blokes and youngsters ran anything from Suzuki SJ, polos through skid as and top was BMW 140I (at the time a £30,000 car).

The performance was significantly better, the M140I was a rocket. Sadly damage ranged from ruined clutches, through ‘bricked’ installs (car wouldn’t work after upload) to complete engine failure £9,000 bill....

Would I do it? Yes, if you love your car and want more power by all means do it. But absolutely bank on clutches, auto box replacements, blown turbos. Snake oil the whole lot of it. Yes, it absolutely will make your car faster, potentially a lot faster, no, it is absolutely 100% not reliable and WILL cause reliability issues.

That's the advantage with Polestar - it won't affect reliability. That explains only the modest increase in power and torque on offer. Of course you could go with a full fat remap from Superchips etc, and only enjoy it occasionally to save the wear & tear, but that would require the discipline of a monk.

I'm not sure that the Superchip remap for the D5 is that extreme. As I said in Post #2 here, I used Superchip for a Peugeot V6 and members of the Peugeot Coupe Club who had track performance pretensions all scoffed at my Superchip remap, but I was more than satisfied with it as a road going mod. Superchip have the reputation for relatively low power increases and they back their products with an engine damage warranty which their insurers wouldn't wear if they were engine wrecking snake oil vendors.

Superchip do a range of remaps through their Blue Fin range where the remap is owner demountable from a remote control and then re-installable using the same remote. That would allow you to take out the remap when the car went into dealer service and reinstall it when you got it back and that would provide the permanence that the Polestar product offers when software is updated. Sadly, however, Superchip do not offer the Blue Fin option for the D5 so if you have your car serviced by a Volvo deal, you'd be better boff with the Polestar product. I love my Polestar uprate.

What's the list of Guarantees on the Polestar remap, I.e. if cambelt is in date and snaps post map do Volvo cover..

I just think 600 for 15bhp isn't enough.

I don't remember being offered any guarantees on the Polestar but Volvo do not see it as a tuner's remap, merely a power option for the engine. There is no additional guarantee if you buy a Volvo with a more powerful engine than the base model. In some countries in Europe it is illegal to change the engine spec by tuning but the Polestar option is allowable, so it carries more weight under those circumstances.

Like you I thought that Polestar was expensive but since I wouldn't entertain any other after market remap, it was that or nothing and I do get tax allowances for vehicle expenses so for me it wasn't such an expensive job.

Would I go back to standard output and have the cash back in my pocket? No I would not. It has changed the character of the car from adequate to more than adequate and the only thing that irks me is why the car wasn't sold with this level of power output as standard as there is no mechanical modification, just one set of software instead of another and all the fuelling values were known to Volvo when they developed the car.