Stage 1 tuned my stock 640i GC for £160 UK

[ex46fanatic]

I never wanted to pay £250-350 for a tune, for someone to do an hours work whether mobile or not, so i found a local guy, casually texted him and liked his responses, the next day and for only £160 he came round and tuned my car.

The car was tuned the day before yesterday with just over half a tank of fuel left. Ive done 428 miles so far since the last fill up and have an 8th of a tank of fuel left. Guage was showing 70 plus miles remaning, now showing under 50 as ive been driving local today. Majority of mileage was on highway, 56mph all the way, cruise control on, boring yes but all for testing purposes. I like to play the mpg game.

Previous best i have seen with an 8th of a tank of fuel remaining was about 330miles driven.

Biggest change is the above for me as I drive alot but most of the time conservatively, only in sports mode or flooring it when i feel like showing off.

Performance - not fully tested as the top of 4th gear is licence losing territory. I can say the sports displays were changed to 400bhp max (i would have preferred 360bhp max). And at the top of 2nd or 3rd gear im seeing it hit 350bhp on the sports display. Eco pro mode has become WAY more driveable than before. I can feel the car feeling "lighter". Im impressed. But I would need to do some more testing.

It feels like performance has improved by 10% and economy improved by 15%.

This was done in Bristol, UK - if anyone wants the guys details im happy to pass them on!

[JeremyPL]

15% improvement of fuel economy sounds great. I'm curious what would it be in my 650xi. I was wondering of doing stage1 but was a bit afraid of engine/turbo issues.

[Plastic Sith]

I've been looking at packages to tune up to 400bhp and 570lb/ft torque but this is beyond the rating of the gearbox and I've yet to receive any convincing assurances from tuners the gearbox won't eat itself

[ex46fanatic]

The stage 1 i have is hitting 350bhp on the so called inaccurate sport display... very safe. And the improved fuel economy when cruising is a big plus. 400 bhp would make me wonder too on gearbox/engine - all depends on how heavy your foot is as well. I dont find myself driving aggressively, unnecessarily, with this tune at all.

Im going to get my sport display recalibrated to 360bhp which is what it should be with this tune. No need to show 400bhp max for stage one on sport display.

[ex46fanatic]

Originally Posted by JeremyPL

15% improvement of fuel economy sounds great. I'm curious what would it be in my 650xi. I was wondering of doing stage1 but was a bit afraid of engine/turbo issues.

Same as you - kept debating it with myself, especially given the cost, it is not like we can keep experimenting with different £300 tunes. You want to do it once and do it right.

For £160 i decided to take a gamble. For £250-300 you end up expecting more. I can say its totally worth it, for economy and slight performance increase.

I would recommend you go with a gentle stage 1 tune. Im guessing they are making more use of the turbo and whatever else at a given rpm, giving us better economy (as long as you drive the same), and especially when cruising.

Very pleased here still.

[rasa bmw]

what tun8ng equipment is that ?,i only ask as all the decent tuners use k tag/kess v2 etc

[ex46fanatic]

The picture just shows the charger. In the car was his equipment, some master slave item which connected to the tuning files server.

He used a service online where they sell the files and the tuners upload them. He had a laptop and something else in a "briefcase".

[rexpontius]

wish tunes for the N63TU platform were that affordable....
I litterally spent over 2K on tunes (local tuner, Mission Performance, BM3, now finally Heatsync)

[JeremyPL]

Originally Posted by rexpontius

wish tunes for the N63TU platform were that affordable....
I litterally spent over 2K on tunes (local tuner, Mission Performance, BM3, now finally Heatsync)

With what results?

[rexpontius]

Originally Posted by JeremyPL

With what results?

The local tune was terrible
Mission Performance was OK but had issues under aggressive acceleration > 5k rpm
BM3 was actually pretty good, insane low down torque (nice for awd drifts) but lacked top end power.
heatsync first attempt no good at all, second attempt best so far. Car has zero issues and is more than "zippy" :-)

Achieves consistent boost of ~20psi up until redline, so should be good for 550 crank HP+