Powerchip Stage 1 Flash

[LateBraking]

Unfortunately, I don't have a dyno to back up my claims, but I hope that everyone can bear with me and my unsubstantiated butt-dyno.

Long story short, I ended up getting the Powerchip Stage 1 tune a few weeks ago. Stage 1, because I had a minimal amount of power mods. (BMC Filter, Remus Mufflers, Rogue Engineering Pulley (removed pulley, more on that later)) I thought that it'd be pretty nice, but mostly over-hyped drivel like a good number of products on this forum.

Open mouth insert foot.

The first things that you'd notice are that there are improvements feel-wise. The vehicle seems slightly louder, and there are nice improvements to driveability. The accelerator sensitivity is between the sluggish normal and the trippy sport modes, it feels much better than before. It's also become noticeably easier to get moving from standing starts.

Now for performance. Foot down from a standing start, the car pulls noticeably harder than before. Let off the gas and get back on it again, and the car has no problem pushing on. The low and high range have benefited from the tune, but it really feels nice and meaty in the mid range now, it's an improvement all across the RPM band. Even when the weather got hot in Vegas during Mfest, it didn't skip a beat. It kept up with my retarded attempts at drifting at the Vegas Speedway Autocross, the multi-digit speeds on the drive up through the hot desert, and the multi-digit speeds on the drive back down.

I'm totally pleased with the Powerchip tune, and I'm glad that I did it. It's been great for me for the month that I've had it, and it's also reassuring to know that my friend Amir has run it for a year without any issues.

Just my personal thoughts/opinions, hope it helps some.

[Fen335i]

Good review....sounds like you're pretty happy with it. Do you notice any difference in gas mileage? Good or bad? What's it feel like in "sport" mode?

[LateBraking]

Originally Posted by Fen335i

Good review....sounds like you're pretty happy with it. Do you notice any difference in gas mileage? Good or bad? What's it feel like in "sport" mode?

Oh yes, I'm completely satisfied with the Powerchip tune.

As for "sport" mode, I never drove the car in sport mode even prior to the tune, so I haven't given it a shot post-tune.

And as for MPG, yes, if my digital MPG gauge is to be believed. Prior to Mfest, my MPG display went for 16.8 to 17.5, mix of city and freeway driving. After Mfest, I came back down to 17.1, but I mean, the speeds being done and the autocross didn't help MPG any.

Another thing that other people have noted is that the idle becomes smoother at start-up. This is true, although I wouldn't say it becomes drastically different. Just noticeably so.

[MrHarris]

Why'd you remove the RE pulley? Glad you like the tune