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Remapping.

Passion, instruction, buying, care, maintenance and more, any form of vehicle discussion is welcome here
DrFfybes
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Remapping.

#449224

Postby DrFfybes » October 11th, 2021, 10:06 am

One of the options open now we have a modern turbo diesel is the opportunities for cheap tuning.

Now obviously if I'd wanted a fast car, I wouldn't have gone for a 1.6D Estate, butthe choice was prettly limited between lockdowns for 3-5 year old cars in our price bracket, and it was intended as a stopgap for the 400 mile weekly round trip up the M5. The claimed 64 mpg is a pipe dream, MrsF generally got 49 average at 75 mph on the late night return trip. Dropping nearer to 60mph improves mpg, which just confirms that it is wind mainly resistance that govern mpg on the motorway.

However, 12 months later and keeping it seems sensible, and the main trip now is along the A5 and up via Chester to see mum, and this is where the 1.6 really irritates.......

The gearing is 'wrong' for UK A roads, drop under 55mph, or hit an incline, and it wants you to change down, the end result being that with all the lorries/tractors etc you spend most of the time in 5th, or often 4th gear.

I went for an 'economy remap' from a local place, £250 no VAT as they had just started up. I figure they're all pretty much the same as each other, and all claim similar performance gains. 110bHp up to 140, 200 lbft up to 240, and a barely credible 20% fuel efficiency gain.

Initial runs were all aournd town, so the first thing I noticed was a bit more urge at very low revs, handy around town, but obviously you still need to get the turbo spooling above tickover. The second thing was how much more the car 'ran on' when coasting - you could lift off much earlier approaching roundabouts. It also seemed happier in 4th in 30 limits, similarly 5th is now fine at 40mph or so. Previously dropping a couple of mph required a change down.

The main driver (ho ho) for this was economy, and tbh round town it depends more on how many red lights I hit, and as I never really bother to check urban mpg as most of the mileage is elsewhere, I didn't have a proper comparator. However after each trip the mpg since startup is briefly displayed, and it has mainly been 40+, which is probably slightly more than previously where I notice a bunch of 30-somethings.

So, on to the A roads. Yesterday was the first trip to see mum since the remap, and previously with the mix of 40 miles of A road and then 60 miles of dual carr/mway to Oldham it did about 51. Yesterday the improvement was there, but not much, it managed 54 with MrsF driving. However she did keep her tendency to drive in a gear lower than I would, whilst I sit there adding to the dentist's pension pot, and did like the extra 'oomph' off roundabouts.

On the way back I drove, ignoring MrsF's glances as she thought the car was 'labouring.' :) I managed 54mpg for the trip, however when we hit Oswestry I reset the mpg meter for the last 20 miles. Oswestry is a regular stop on the way back (they have a 'holiday' Morissons [1]) and this bit of the run is a mix of dual and single carr, nearly all NSL, but often slower trafic so up and down the gears. It normally returns 51-53 mpg, except a rare time late one evening when quite, and I accelerated like Miss Daisy was in the back, cruised it all at 58mph, and got nearly 60 mpg. This time I drove normally with the traffic, hitting 70 (ish) on the dual carr, overtaking where feasible, and accelerating normally. Mpg for this stretch was 58, which is a good 10% above previous figures.

The tuners claim that being able to hold a higher gear means bettter mpg, and given this admittedly small sample, I'm inclined to agree. More trips in the next few weeks will reveal all :)

Paul

[1] Holiday supermarkets - like a standard English one, except laid out differently and the signs are in a foreign language :)

redsturgeon
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Re: Remapping.

#449231

Postby redsturgeon » October 11th, 2021, 10:15 am

Interesting stuff Paul.

In my Honda Accord 2.2 CDTI I actually appear to be getting better mpg than you report. Almost totally on the motorways I tend to hold it between an indicated 70-75mph and am returning 61mpg as indicated by the computer...which I think is optimistic.

Do you think remapping would be worth a try for me?

John

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Re: Remapping.

#449233

Postby ReformedCharacter » October 11th, 2021, 10:26 am

Presumably one has to tell the insurance company that the vehicle has been modified?

RC

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Re: Remapping.

#449235

Postby Sobraon » October 11th, 2021, 10:31 am

ReformedCharacter wrote:Presumably one has to tell the insurance company that the vehicle has been modified?

RC


Yes OP Paul please could you tell us the impact on your insurance cost? Percentage is OK. Thanks.

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Re: Remapping.

#449250

Postby bungeejumper » October 11th, 2021, 11:24 am

Wow, this takes me back ten years to the days when I had my B6 Passat. The VW owner forums were full of chat about how to remap a two litre TDI, and whether or not it would make your engine explode, and how close to the invisible red line you could tweak it without something nasty happening?

The bottom line, IIRC, was that there were stage one remappings for economy, and stage twos for a bit more torque when towing, and stages three and four for 18 year olds and getaway drivers. You would be offered a series of charts showing various torque curves, and you'd choose the one that enlarged the size of your manhood sufficiently without risking permanent impotence five years down the line. :D

Because - and this may have been just a VW thing? - you had to feel confident that your cams and your big ends and your other gubbins could take the extra loading. The rumour was always that a 150 kw Passat was exactly the same as a 110 kw, apart from the mapping, and that they could all handle the same settings. The sad reality, though, was that VW made some of its identical-looking engines with lower specced parts, and you needed to do your homework if you wanted to keep your con rods inside the engine block. :?

There seemed to be a general consensus that informing your insurer was an unnecessary inconvenience, because they'd only start whingeing about wanting bigger brakes and fatter wheels and suchlike. And that a modded car was marked for life, even if you were just aiming for better fuel economy or better towing characteristics.

All this went well above my head, since I only had the 1.9 TDI with virtually no scope for remapping. Whereas my mate had a hard-chipped Honda NSX, whose electronics he ceremoniously de-installed every year before the annual MOT was due. I could never imagine why. :lol:

BJ

DrFfybes
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Re: Remapping.

#449291

Postby DrFfybes » October 11th, 2021, 1:44 pm

Sobraon wrote:
ReformedCharacter wrote:Presumably one has to tell the insurance company that the vehicle has been modified?

RC


Yes OP Paul please could you tell us the impact on your insurance cost? Percentage is OK. Thanks.


I'm old, the car went from slow to 'not quite as slow', it is an "economy remap" so not a performance product. Premium unchanged.

Paul

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Re: Remapping.

#449293

Postby Lootman » October 11th, 2021, 1:54 pm

Sobraon wrote:
ReformedCharacter wrote:Presumably one has to tell the insurance company that the vehicle has been modified?

Yes OP Paul please could you tell us the impact on your insurance cost? Percentage is OK. Thanks.

I would also want to know how this impacts any warranty on the vehicle?

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Re: Remapping.

#449309

Postby redsturgeon » October 11th, 2021, 2:54 pm

Lootman wrote:
Sobraon wrote:
ReformedCharacter wrote:Presumably one has to tell the insurance company that the vehicle has been modified?

Yes OP Paul please could you tell us the impact on your insurance cost? Percentage is OK. Thanks.

I would also want to know how this impacts any warranty on the vehicle?


Warranty what warranty?

John

DrFfybes
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Re: Remapping.

#449369

Postby DrFfybes » October 11th, 2021, 7:01 pm

Hmm, Warranty.

Well it is under warranty, but I think only by virtue of being Toyota serviced a month or so ago as they give you a year's warranty with a dealer service subject to certain conditions, and it only lasts until 100k anyway, so not really a concern. Although the original warranty might have been 7 years on these, rather than 5? Besides, it's a Toyota :)

And the insurance wasn't quite plain sailing, as it seems they had the Maserati on Cover even though I told them I'd sold it, so there was some uhming and ahing and the upshot was it will be reviewed at the renewal next month. There was some faffing as at the time it as a second vehicle with no NCD.

I just went to the meerkat and priced with and without the mod, went from £175 from a variety of mainstream insurers, to £226. Last year was (IIRC) about £260 but the Maserati was £180 with full NCD. Also the milage has gone up on the policy as we used it most of the time and had estimated it well below what we actually ended up doing.

Paul

DrFfybes
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Re: Remapping.

#453178

Postby DrFfybes » October 26th, 2021, 12:06 pm

An update on the insurance...

Admiral had only 2 years NCD on the renewal, so they moved the 25+ over from the Maserati. This made no diference to their £268 or so renewal. Removing 'commuting' and marking me as retired, and adding the magic "loyalty discount" reduced it to £245.

Adding the "11-20% performance increase tune" option put the price up by £6.52. So, quite a small increase, however the base premium isn't competitive.

Removing the remap got it back to £245, and then for a laugh we swapped only the reg no so it was quoting for the departed Maserati.

It went down to £205. It would seem Admiral pay more claims out on Avensises than maseratis :(

Paul

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Re: Remapping.

#453526

Postby redsturgeon » October 27th, 2021, 12:04 pm

DrFfybes wrote:An update on the insurance...

Admiral had only 2 years NCD on the renewal, so they moved the 25+ over from the Maserati. This made no diference to their £268 or so renewal. Removing 'commuting' and marking me as retired, and adding the magic "loyalty discount" reduced it to £245.

Adding the "11-20% performance increase tune" option put the price up by £6.52. So, quite a small increase, however the base premium isn't competitive.

Removing the remap got it back to £245, and then for a laugh we swapped only the reg no so it was quoting for the departed Maserati.

It went down to £205. It would seem Admiral pay more claims out on Avensises than maseratis :(

Paul


Because Massers are usually in the garage being fixed while Toyotas are charging up and down the motorways.

John


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