WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD
There aren't too many "d" owners interested in improving power performance and/or diminishing turbo lag, but for those that are the choices are somewhat limited. I haven't been posting hardly at all over the past 1-2 years but a fellow 'Fester that I've been PM'ing with about this encouraged me to post this report. Over the past few years I have posted a fair amount on this subject, here and on bimmerfest.com. Prior to going with this decision I had been trending towards the Steinbauer PB, but for various reasons that never happened.
The basic decision is whether to go with a piggyback (PB) or a flash (bench tune) of the DME (formerly called ECU) + DDE. Once I had made up my mind that I wasn't interested in playing cat-and-mouse games with my service manager and trying to hide the fact that a PB or flash had been installed, the decision was easy--a flash tune guaranteed the best performance and safety profile for the engine. (BTW, I have a 2014 328d with the warranty expiring in April, 2018.) There is just no way a PB can deal with the dozens of parameters it takes to monitor and control a modern BMW engine's performance as compared to a bench tune.
But which flash programmer would I choose? JR AutoTuning Performance (
http://chiptuning.ca/) out of Ontario, Canada has had a presence on the forums for several years running. Jarek is the owner and lead technician there. He has partnered with Mega Speed Germany. MS is one of the most experienced and respected German tuners currently working with BMWs. Forum chatter claims that LEIB Engineering (
http://www.leib-engineering.de/ ) broke the elaborate protective coding BMW has used to discourage bench tuning about two years ago (
http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1019375), and Mega Speed Germany got into the game soon after that. After researching and finding a paucity of negative feedback about MS and and Jarek/JR Auto, that was the way to go.
That's the backround. Now to the installation story. I had previously discussed this matter with my wonderful service manager here at Santa Fe BMW. He was very clear that the warranty would only be voided if he could find a direct, causal connection between the tune and whatever powertrain dysfunction may arise. He said that there is sometimes a grey area but that would be unusual. I trust the man and his integrity and that's why I wanted to be upfront with him about the tune. (Don't believe anyone who tells you that BMW techs can't find evidence of tinkering with normal engine tuning parameters if they have a reason to look hard enough for it--whether it's from a PB install or a bench tune.) So the DME was removed and sent to Jarek in Ontario. (BTW, there is no reason to have this done at a dealership. You can do it yourself or have a friend or local garage do it for you. I was just being super-cautious about codes popping after the re-install. They didn't.)
I had told Jarek that I was more interested in improving low end performance and decreasing turbo lag as much as possible rather than optimizing top-end performance.
JR Auto will tell you that they can turn around the bench tune in one day, typically--so theoretically the unit can be sent on Monday overnight express, be tuned on Tuesday and sent back the same day overnight to arrive back on Wednesday. That may be the norm, but that's not what happened. The package was held up at customs for an extra day crossing into Canada. Then, on the return shipment FedEx lost the commercial invoice and had mechanical problems with their jet. The package was held in Memphis over the weekend and finally arrived on Tuesday, eight days after I had sent it! (Fortunately I have my other car--a 1990 E30.) That was the only downer of the whole experience.
Now, as to the results of the tune: Driving the car in Sport is like having a different engine in the car, no doubt about it. Everything--low end, mid-range, top end--feels like there's a tiger in your tank. It's a gas (excuse the expression) for sure! There is a small lag when opening the throttle, but then--zoom! You need to be careful about that in city/suburban traffic. Driving in Comfort shows a moderate improvement in initial lag, but then noticeably improved acceleration at all RPMs after that. The transmission only got caught with its pants down once, when I was a bit too lead-footed starting out in Sport. Otherwise, the tranny has had no problem with the reprogramming. Acceleration has never been anything but smooth and linear, with no dips or surges or strange engine noises. After all, all the flash does is turn the N47D20 performance into that of the Euro/Aussie 325d model.
HP 181>219
Ft/lbs 280>335
And no, I have not done a pre/post dyno or even a post dyno. Don't know yet if I'll do the latter.
The Spider Boot option is not available for the d. The total cost came to $849 plus ~$120 shipping each way. Yes, with shipping the cost is $300-600 more than your typical PB, but that's an insurance premium I was willing to pay for improved performance and less strain on engine components and therefore less risk of engine dysfunction down the line. Why less strain? Because a bench tune can accommodate MANY more parameters of engine function compared to even the most sophisticated PB. The more the control parameters work as they're designed to, the less wear and tear on material components.
Here is Jarek's list of some of the parameters the MS tune deals with:
- Boost Limiters
- TQ limiters
- Injection quantity limiters
- Start of injection advance maps
- Injection opening time
- Target boost
- Rail pressure limiter and maps
- Torque limiters for gearbox protection
- Torque limits for all transmission gears
- Target Lambda
--And also
Throttle maps
Finally, Jarek told me that he works with his colleagues at MS Germany and another in Poland on each of his bench tunes to ensure quality control (and he said that the N47 is one of the more difficult tunes to do correctly).
Sorry for the length of the post but I wanted to get it all out there for those few that are interested. Jarek and his office manager Justinia are very professional and have no problem answering any and all of your questions. Feel free to post any questions and I'll do my best to answer. This review was unsolicited by JR Auto or Mega Speed and I've received no remuneration for writing it.
BTW, Jarek has recently established a partnership with AA Rodriguez in Dallas, GA. That way you can avoid customs hassles, etc. if you want your tune done in the USA:
AARodriguez Corp.
1038 Merchants Dr,
Dallas, GA 30132,
United States
http://www.fixmyvw.com
phone 678-535-7172