MTE Remap

[Beavis]

After several (well 6) months of thinking, i've taken the plunge and got my XC90 2006 D5 185 remapped.

Remaps to me seem to be an area that more people are venturing into as Turbo diesels become more popular, rather than it just being "boy racers" having them done.

I started to make serious enquiries a few weeks back. After various research on this site, T5D5 and a couple of others, i found that MTE had the best reviews from all the main players doing custom maps, and some off the shelf maps. Certain custom remappers didn't come out too well in these forums, so rather than just going for headline figures and sales guff, i chose on customer feedback/reviews, service and honesty.

Having made insurance enquires following a request to check this by Mrs StuT4, (which resulted in an increase of £80 over the remaining 10 months), i eventually got the green light.

Following a number of questions and queries about the remap and process, I placed and paid for the order with Don at Kalmar Union last Thursday afternoon. He very promptly sent me the softloader so it arrived on Friday morning and emailed the software needed to extract the starting info from my car.

I managed to set aside 30 minutes on Sunday to set the programme up, read the instructions and watch the following videos, which gave a lot of "piece of mind that you are doing things correctly".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUT9zujhQww
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyML5NTQmCg

I was now ready to connect the Laptop to the XC90 OBDII plug, and i have to admit i held my breath when it pulled the file it needed. All was over within 1 minutes, and the file easily located to my desktop to email to Don.

I sent this over late afternoon on Sunday. I was expecting it to take a good few days before i heard back, so i was astounded to have an email back at 4pm today (only 7 working hours later), with the installation programme and file.

Needless to say, with an itching right foot, i left work early and dashed home to connect the laptop back up to the PC (after notifying said insurance company of the change ). The first thing you notice is that the car speaks to the laptop, to make sure its still the same car/settings as were sent (1st stage complete). Then the 2nd stage kicks in....all warning lights/clock/radio die from the dashboard and the car looks dead.....the laptop is ticking along 0.1%,0.2%0.3%....and so on. Eventually after what feels like an eternity, but has only been 10 minutes the install is at 100% and all lights come back on the dash.

INSTALL COMPLETE....

Quick disposal of laptop and extension lead later, and i'm in the car heading to the open road.

I've only had time to take it for a 10 miles drive tonight, but initial thoughts are that it feels so much responsive from low down the rev range. although not much chance for a test drive in the overtaking performance, you can really feel the increased torque very low down which makes it feel as if its shifting along a lot quicker.

I went for a "medium varient" map, which gives 220 bhp, and torque is limited to 400nm in first, 450nm in 2nd and 500+ in 3rd-6th. You can most certainly notice the huge increase of power/torque in 3rd and it keeps accelerating up to 69 mph and beyond (to 70 ) even on a steep dual carriageway incline.

My test that i had in the back of my mind was on a nearby slip road onto a dual carriage (on the attached file). you have to pass through a "hairpin" which has a max speed c.25 mph, and then its a 100% acceleration up quite a steep increase onto the Dual Carriageway with National Speed Limit. On the attached file, this comes from the left side of the picture, through to the right. In the far distance on the dual carriageway, about 200-300 metres down the road, there are some marker signs - ideally i thought as a benchmark for showing the difference in the 2 maps.

Friday night - pre-remap passed the markers at xx mph
Tonight - post remap passed the markers at xx mph + 7.....

Will attempt this over the next couple of weeks as its on the way back from the fuel station and i get to do it late at night so its quiet.

The main reason i wanted it done, was to have a bit more confidence when overtaking on the country roads of Wiltshire. The weight of the XC90, (although 185 is certainly powerful), always felt a bit weak in the upper band when needed for accelerating, i always wanted that bit more in reserve to make an overtake easier.

Combined with reported gains from 10%-20% in mpg when driven sensibly meant it should pay for itself within 1.25-2.5 years (even factoring in £80 insurance cost per year).

I'll get more chance to take a few A/B road trips at the weekend.

Overall, Don was fantastic, I only wished i lived nearer so i could have visited him for the install (although it was very easy to do myself). Initial thoughts on the software are that it is certainly much improved over standard (will have to wait and see for further thoughts when i've driven more on more day to day drives). I will also report over MPG figures when i have more news.

I didn't just buy for the power, i was hoping MPG will improve. As the temperature falls, this may be hard to judge though, so i will try and compare against my MPG figures from my iphone app over the past 18 months.

Hope that helps for anyone thinking about this. Give me shout if there are any questions. I'll try and update as things progress.

[daddywack]

Hi Stu,
Thanks for the post, I am really interested in what mpg you acheive, just bought an XC90 for the wife and crumb snatchers (185 SE facelift) so please carry on with your report/posts about your remap - and how much did it cost? because I am not sure if I should try one of the £70 'chips' off ebay or a remap? Any advice from anybody would be gratefully appreciated. Basically I am looking to run it well and cost effectively..
Cheers

[Beavis]

Originally Posted by daddywack

Hi Stu,
Thanks for the post, I am really interested in what mpg you acheive, just bought an XC90 for the wife and crumb snatchers (185 SE facelift) so please carry on with your report/posts about your remap - and how much did it cost? because I am not sure if I should try one of the £70 'chips' off ebay or a remap? Any advice from anybody would be gratefully appreciated. Basically I am looking to run it well and cost effectively..
Cheers

Hi Daddywack,

i'll report back soon. my MTE remap was £435. You can get an "off the shelf" one (1 size fits alll) for about £200, but i was concerned with these in case of problems. I took the view i'm keeping the car at least 2-3 years so thought of it as another "couple of tyres" cost. Various people i've spoken to and heard from report 10%-20% increase in fuel economy. On 10%, for 10k miles pa, i've worked out my payback period would be about 2.5 years. 20% increase would be about 1.25 years. I get from 23-25mpg (70% town/30% out of town) at the moment, so i'll report how it goes. This is even factoring in the additional insurance cost.

I steered clear of the plug in chips as i was concerned about their quality and impact on the engine. For a £15k car, i didn't want to run the risk on that type. Hence why its taken me so long to take the plunge.

I'll report back on mpg on the next fill. I dare say it would have dropped a bit with playing with the extra power in the short term. But i'll report how it goes.

fregards

Stuart

[catbert]

Great right up. I must admit, power ( or lack there of) and fuel economy are 2 of my 3 biggest gripes on this car, with the third being build quality. Perhaps 400 quid will fix those 2. Will wait for my next service and then give it a go.

[Beavis]

I found it difficult to track down anything relating to the XC90 D5. Although a fair few people have had their V70 D5 remapped on T5D5 forum. But wanted to report, as although its the same engine, its a different beast.

[outnumbered]

Originally Posted by StuT4

I found it difficult to track down anything relating to the XC90 D5. Although a fair few people have had their V70 D5 remapped on T5D5 forum. But wanted to report, as although its the same engine, its a different beast.

yes a bit heavier.
mike

[JimG]

Thanks StuT4,

Good review. Certainly MTE and Polestar seem to be the favourites.

[Beavis]

I have to add it is so much easier to overtake on A roads when you're following cars doing 40-50mph. It pulls with ease and gathers pace so quickly for the overtake.

It doesn't change any of the gearbox "takeup" time. So when pulling away from a roundabout/junction, you still need to anticipated the pull away prior to moving.

I have been using the extra torque a bit in the low-mid range, but not thrashing it.

I have refilled twice since it was remapped, and it MPG appears to have dropped a bit (by about 10%) The last 2 refills which is exactly same type of trips as always done have returned 22.5 mpg . Previously mpg was 24-25mpg looking back over the iphone app i've got data on over the last 18 months. I've yet to see if this is the recent drop in temperature, dipping the throttle a bit more to feel the power or the map itself. I was told before buying it that during the first month or 2 some people report a drop in mpg as you experiment a bit more with the power.

I will report back once done bit more mileage on it.

I did have a full service prior to the map, so its not due to that.

[galloot633]

stu
great write and youve just answered my next question , has it cured the take up time ? i see not , i find my xc has more than enough power for me, but in rush hour cut and thrust I have endless heart stoppers while the car seems to sit there for an eternity before it accelerates
dave

[Beavis]

Originally Posted by galloot633

stu
great write and youve just answered my next question , has it cured the take up time ? i see not , i find my xc has more than enough power for me, but in rush hour cut and thrust I have endless heart stoppers while the car seems to sit there for an eternity before it accelerates
dave

MTE acknowledged upfront it would not change the gearbox settings, and they were not aware of any tuners in the UK which did. Rica on their website seem to state theirs changes things, but i have not heard from anyone who had it done who could confirm this. Most of the stuff i heard about Rica put me off. The initial 1-2 seconds of setting out is the same, but after that (if booting from standstill) is significantly quicker. Although not as fast as my S60 T5, it pulling/power of it feels very close when it pushes you back in the seat. Not bad for 2.25 tonnes.