Quote:
Originally Posted by XC90Mk1
I don’t disagree that you can get more power from a car (that’s more power, not better).
My basic understanding is that there would be a few dozen command lines in a 90s Ecu and now there are thousands... starting off from standstill the ecu is monitoring many car conditions, many variables, providing the best compromise of power and economy and wear, these calculations are magnified many many times over. But some geezer with a rolling road and a few staff members can alter these thousands of variables, remain within limits and sell 2 upgrades a week at £300 quid. I don’t think so.
Look at an air filter and housing, the car companies do provide the ‘best’ solution, quiet, refined, good availability of throttle response. If all you want is an induction roar, loads of noise and perhaps a bhp or 2 more (not noticeable) then but an induction kit. It’s not better however.
Putting 20% more power through the drive line, 20% more torque through the driveline simple means that the vehicle oporates outside of specification, outside what it was qualified to do and outside what it was built to do.
By all means chip,it’s a laugh, but expect the bills to come in for clutches, steering and drive train components etc etc. It’s not for me(outside of dactorytunes).
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I completely understand where you come to your conclusions but sadly they're not quite right.
A mass produced engine comes from the factory with a 'best average' set up. This best average will work with every vehicle but it certainly won't be it's absolute optimum or it's absolute most efficient.
When you have a car mapped the technician analyses the 'best average' settings and make very small but very effective changes to unlock the car's potential. In essence they're just unlocking the hidden potential that's there all along but not accessed by the 'best average' settings.
It's not forcing an engine to do something it wasn't designed for, it's just unlocking the potential that was hiding there all along.
If an engine runs as efficiently as possible then it'll produce the most power it's efficiently able to do so but will also be as efficient on fuel as it can be because it'll be running at it's optimum in all respects.
All of the components fitted a car will have massive redundancy built into them, I would suggest probably 40% so going from 185bhp to 225bhp is still hugely within tolerance.
Of course of you own a car that's really worn out and you ask it to suddenly put up with a lot more stress then you'll run into troubles quickly. This is where you need to exercise some common sense.
My car is tight as a drum and I have no hesitation is having it mapped.