Hi, just a quick post to add another flavour to the emerging options for UK customers wishing to tune their i4's.
Finally, there are various routes to more power including cloning your OEM ECU or fitting a tuning box. I won't comment on which is best, as they all have their place but in my experience the i4 doesn't particularly lack performance. It's really easy with a turbo charged car to chase numbers (and achieve them). Whilst I welcome more power, it's the drivability of the car, particularly when pushing on, that really affects the driving experience. I've found the OEM engine map to be very good in it's delivery (although some extra top end rush would be nice) the weak link for me is definitely the way the DSG transmission behaves. It's sub par and really holds the car back. Extract some extra boost and bigger numbers from the engine and the issue is made even worse. If you've ever driven a pdk GT Porsche you'll know just how much a well sorted transmission adds to the experience.
So, after spending a long time working with a variety of tuners for my exiges (both i4 and V6 configurations) I asked around as to who I should be speaking to for a solution for the AMG hardware which is a whole new ball game. After a long chat with EST Performance I dropped my car off with them to have the ECU fully unlocked as well as having a new virgin CPC module (this is a separate transmission ECU) fitted so they could remap the transmission. EST have vast experience with the M139 A45S engine and conservatively achieve 540+ bhp and 700Nm with simple bolt ons and a gearbox and engine remap. Their demo car is a total revelation - I cannot imagine what that engine and gearbox in an Emira will feel like.
As per my preamble, in their experience with the A45S, the extra power just highlights the transmissions poor performance.
They will have my car for the next 3 weeks, we'll start with just an engine tune and then move on to the gearbox and then a stage 2 with some basic bolt on hardware, etc. I'll post the numbers as we have them.
They have good experience of what's required to aid the cooling for those that like to do track days too - more on that later.
Exciting times
