Regarding chips and programmers, I believe they can squeeze out some extra power in some instances. For example, the Hypertech programmer I had for my last car had some programming that would push advance a bit and alter fuel curves but it required use of premium fuel (which I always used anyway) as well as having the engine run cooler via lower temp thermostat and programming the fans to turn on earlier. Still any improvement was certainly not noticeable and barely measurable. The generic chips that just alter the rate of power delivery remind me of the days of carburetors where you can put different cams on the accelerator pump actuator so that the extra squirt of gas came in sooner rather than later so you felt like you had more power. My impression is that the engines and engine management systems are so optimized these days that there is no simple tinkering that can be done to eek out more power. You really have to get into the engine to derive improvements.

And regarding the so-called Sport mode on our cars, I have yet to feel any difference at all whether the switch is pressed or not. I realize that I drive pretty tamely but in my wife's TL having it in sport versus normal drive really makes a noticeable difference even with my driving style.

Doug

 

I am tempted to try the volo chip after hearing your review. I have my doubts about that bimmerfest dyno. People can "prove" anything with a dyno test, but if you say it was a worthwhile upgrade I believe you. I was looking into getting the fuel economy chip but do you think the performance chip would be better?

 

True, nothing beets marketing, that must be given the benifit of the doubt.

I guess they are both equally good considering all the marketing evidence, and unmeasured opinions.

Although you may want to consider their FS2-HHO version, that must be a fine combination as well.

Ask yourself, even if this 20mhz chip with lots of flash memory (what we obviously all miss) would actually change something, has it been thoroughly tested? Is it safe?

Are they able to provide dyno/test results for your specific car? At $89 you might get a box with letters/numbers on it that may resemble the model/year, but would that cover the development time cracking all these massive amount of different ECU’s for online modifications to it (which no one else in the world has done yet!), and in addition also have done enough dyno time/testing time to know what can be done safely with each individual car/model year?

If you believe so, than go for it I would say.


Edit: Just found maybe a reason why the bimmerfests dyno results didn't show anything:
http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main...&products_id=8
Here is what they say:
"As we all know, these are high end and sophisticated modifications. Some may be TOO sophisticated to actually show up on a traditional dyno"

 

04xtype04 - I can tell you this. To this day - if I take off the Volo chip and drive around - I can still tell that the engine runs smoother with it on. I dont know why or even have an explanation. It has a reset button that you can push each time to modify a something; (i:e exhaust upgrade, k&N airfilter etc..) And I will test again this weekend since I just upgraded my exhaust again to 2.5 " pipes starting from the cats all the way to the back.. All I can say that if you can tell the difference, thats all the matters...