I did send an email inquiry. I will post what they say here.

 

Anyone get this mod? Did it work? Was it worth it? Was it merely and ECU flash or did it require a new pulley?

 

I'd forgotten about this thread. There are only a couple of tuners who have been widely used on the F-Type, and they are split on the issue of the pulley. One offers it, and the other doesn't recommend it.

The both offer significants gains, but you have to take into account that you are doing it at your own risk. In the case of an engine failure or serious malfunction, your warranty will be voided. Some tuners cleverly try to imply in their marketing materials that it can easily be flashed back to stock, implying that there is no risk, because you can reinstall the stock tune, but there is no way to hide the fingerprints of an ECU alteration on a modern engine. A pulley change is a dead giveaway.

Lastly, I'm not sure the V6 is leaving much on the table. As discussed in another recent thread here, the V6 and V8 in the F-Type are basically the same block design, produced on the same assembly line with somewhat different internals, most notably two less cylinders. But, it is significant to note that the stock V6S engine produces 127HP per liter, and the stock V8R engine only produces 110 per liter. Both can be pushed further, but at what risk? That is the great unknown.

 

I don't know where you guys are driving your cars, but my V6S is as much power and more than I can usefully use anywhere I can drive my car, and certainly anywhere I can drive my car legally.

I wouldn't even stump up the extra cash for the V8 unless I wanted more noise and an extra two exhaust pipes and I can't see needing either.

 

Yes.

 

I can honestly say that the V8's exhaust note is waay more intoxicating than the V6's will ever be...that alone would be reason for buying the car.

That being said,When I drive my base car through the twisties down Hwy 1 and get on it properly,it feels real balanced to me and you can place the car seemingly exactly where you want to put it.

For that reason,I could not see having the extra power,nose weight and certainly the extra cost...it just didn't add up for me.

Now from what I understand,the only real difference between the base car and the S is a tune and pulley(?) and that the only real power advantage is way up top in the rpm band...correct?

 

No difference in the pulley between base V6 and S model, just a tune. Yes, the HP difference only appears above 5K rpm. Torque is essentially the same across the power band. The base car is geared different, 3.15:1 vs. 3.31:1 for the S, which probably explains the slightly better published 0-60 acceleration numbers.

 

The V6 and certainly the V6S have plenty of high rpm power for a spirited sportscar. The low end grunt (torque), however is a bit lacking. A pulley and a tune would solve that, but whether the engine can handle it...

 

Honestly, after the living with this car for awhile now, and as a spirited, but careful street driver, I simply don't feel like the base V6 is anemic with regard to low-end torque. It comes on much faster in the F-Type V6 compared to my E93 M3, and the "kick in the butt" feeling is greater from a standing start. Of course, the normally-aspirated E93 required high-rpms all the time to extract it's power, and that's tough to do without drawing way too much attention to yourself on the street.

Obviously, compared to the R or my 7.0L, C6 Z06, there's no comparison. However, I simply couldn't use that Z06 power rationally on the street, which is why I got rid of it, and it's also why I wasn't interested in the V8 F-Types. On the track, the Z06 was astounding!

 

Cars like these are all about want and not need. If you get anything above and beyond the most basic car that meets your requirements, you're getting more than you need - no one needs a 500 hp plus V8 any more than anyone needs a 300 hp plus V6. We're all guilty of the same thing, just to different degrees.

 

Absolutely right. I also think a lot of the choice is a function what you've had in the past, which in my case is quite a few "over-powered" V8s. I just wanted to do something different with the F-Type, but at some point, I'll like go back to something that's "too much."

 

Yep, we are all very fortunate to be able to drive these cars. No bad choices, just different ones.

 

True. It's all a matter of priorities and tradeoffs: cost, power, transmission, AWD vs RWD, differential, weight, etc. Your personal priorities will determine the optimal (for you) choice.

 

It's interesting how we talk about having more power than you need for the street, but we never say the same for handling...

I sold a special edition Lotus Elise to buy my F-type V8 S. The Elise is one of the best handling cars out there. It can corner way harder than I could even use on the street and was very predictable to drive.

That said, I don't feel like the V8 S is lacking in handling at all. I have about 4 hours of mountain road driving with the car now and I can say it has a great feel, inspires confidence when cornering and I have all that torque that was missing from my Elise

Really the only handling characteristic I need to be careful of is using too much throttle when coming out of a turn.

As for the weight, I think it actually increases the feel of the car at higher speeds (maybe the width of the car and spoiler is adding to that too). It feels really planted to the road at 70+ MPH.

It's funny, when I told my car buddies that I bought the car, they had so many doubts and thought I could have got more car for the money, but once they see it, hear it and go for a ride, they have nothing but positive things to say.

Knowing that I'll be driving this on the street (with the exception of a few laps at Sonoma Raceway later this month) I'm really happy with the blend of performance, style and luxury. I'm more excited to drive this car than any other I've owned