Welcome back to the VXOC FORUM.
Sorry for our lack of support over the last year but MYBB is back and so are we.
Let's get the forum buzzing again... (March 25, 2022)x
With every car I've owned, I've always had it remapped live (ones that can be) on a rolling road as it can be tailored to suit my needs per vehicle whether it be for performance, economy etc.. and I've always thought (and still fairly certain) you will get better results from a live/custom map and certainly if you have various mods/alterations. I have always been a firm believer of a 'real custom' map for a vehicle and have to admit, have frowned upon people who have a box and tried to preach to me how much better they are.
Well yesterday I went against every fibre in my body and opted for a tuning box from Bluespark Automotive who seem to get good all round reviews and comments. It should be delivered tomorrow and I'm not sure what to expect apart from a decent manual.. The price is considerably lower than a Live/custom map which is good but slightly worrying at the same time however if it achieves similar results to a 'proper' map without effecting the reliability and mechanical aspects of the car, then I'll be super impressed!
The gains with the box installed seemed a little high and I did question this however they advised that they were an average of customer results that had been fed back to them and I also think rated at the fly - which most companies tend to do to boost numbers...
My car as it stands is completely standard so I thought this would be a fair test for this box however I will in the not to distant future do a rolling road session to see the results with and without the box as well as on it's various settings (which to me sound like they will over fuel etc.. But this is yet to be discovered! If anyone is based in the south (I'm in Essssexx- we're not like they are on T.V, promise!) and are wanting to do a RR session, we could maybe get a better price with 'x' amount of vehicles.. just a thought!
I see a few people on here have them but for diesels and would welcome any comments with regards to Bluespark as a company and the products they sell/how you get on with it.
Let's hope I'm proved wrong tomorrow 'aye?
Grande Punto Black ('06) - 2008
Grande Punto M-Jet Orange ('06) - 2009
Grande Punto Abarth White ('58) - 2010
Vauxhall Astra VXR Red ('08) - 2011
Volvo T5 Grey ('09) - 2013
Land Rover Discovery 3 HSE Black ('06) - 2014
Land Rover Discovery 3 HSE Black ('59) - 2014 Vauxhall Astra GTC White ('13) - 2016
I have the pro boost on my 2.0 cdti no problems good results but stay off max settings as bpf may block I use 4 plus 7 with no problems car feels grate
Grande Punto Black ('06) - 2008
Grande Punto M-Jet Orange ('06) - 2009
Grande Punto Abarth White ('58) - 2010
Vauxhall Astra VXR Red ('08) - 2011
Volvo T5 Grey ('09) - 2013
Land Rover Discovery 3 HSE Black ('06) - 2014
Land Rover Discovery 3 HSE Black ('59) - 2014 Vauxhall Astra GTC White ('13) - 2016
(24:th-Aug-2016, 10:27:38)Rusty2009 Wrote: Bluespark don't do anything fgor the J 2.0CDTI as they can't get passed the security..
I have the 2.0 VXR
Grande Punto Black ('06) - 2008
Grande Punto M-Jet Orange ('06) - 2009
Grande Punto Abarth White ('58) - 2010
Vauxhall Astra VXR Red ('08) - 2011
Volvo T5 Grey ('09) - 2013
Land Rover Discovery 3 HSE Black ('06) - 2014
Land Rover Discovery 3 HSE Black ('59) - 2014 Vauxhall Astra GTC White ('13) - 2016
25:th-Aug-2016, 05:46:46 (This post was last modified: 25:th-Aug-2016, 05:47:30 by JPW.)
I take it if you have only took your car to a "Vauxhall specialist " for servicing etc would they issue updates to block tuning boxes ? And is it different with gtc's ?
So first thought's are much like the comment above. It's made a difference, more so to the smoothness of power and it's not so aggressive, but that's what I've always liked about the VXRs.. It's not as jolty when pulling away and changing from 1st - 2nd, but in my opinion, it's not worth keeping for that alone.
I'm going to leave it on for a few more days to see if I like it and if not it will probably be going back. They offer a 28 day money back guarantee so hopefully shouldn't be any issues!
At least it's proved my point of sticking to a live remap, which is kind of a bummer but it's always a good day out! :-)
Grande Punto Black ('06) - 2008
Grande Punto M-Jet Orange ('06) - 2009
Grande Punto Abarth White ('58) - 2010
Vauxhall Astra VXR Red ('08) - 2011
Volvo T5 Grey ('09) - 2013
Land Rover Discovery 3 HSE Black ('06) - 2014
Land Rover Discovery 3 HSE Black ('59) - 2014 Vauxhall Astra GTC White ('13) - 2016
The box is now on setting 'D' having been on 'C' for a day.
The box I have is the Pro-Petrol Model.
Grande Punto Black ('06) - 2008
Grande Punto M-Jet Orange ('06) - 2009
Grande Punto Abarth White ('58) - 2010
Vauxhall Astra VXR Red ('08) - 2011
Volvo T5 Grey ('09) - 2013
Land Rover Discovery 3 HSE Black ('06) - 2014
Land Rover Discovery 3 HSE Black ('59) - 2014 Vauxhall Astra GTC White ('13) - 2016
26:th-Aug-2016, 14:27:24 (This post was last modified: 26:th-Aug-2016, 14:30:03 by marcus.)
Not sure how effective tuning boxes are on petrol engines but for diesel cars, manufacturers have certainly tried to keep them at bay with new software updates.
From my recent experience with my racechip one, over fuelling causes problems with the dpf sensor/dpf which can put the car into limp mode etc.
Diesel tuning boxes all work pretty much the same way (i.e. Extra fuel or (extra fuel and boost)) so it's not really the case of one tuning box is better than the other anymore, it's more about the manufacturers reeling in the fuelling tolerances to protect their engines. (added ecu security, dpf sensor tolerances etc..)
Disclaimer. I work in IT so take what I said with a pinch of salt...
I have the blue spark tuning box on my 2.0 CDTI auto, and I have to say I've been impressed at first I had it on the max torque map and wasn't too impressed, but put in on the other map (think it was sport, or best fueling) and that is much better and has noticeably improved the performance and surprising the MPG (I think the mpg is also been helped with the pedal box).
I've had 3 cars mapped in the past a mondeo TDCI, Almera TDCI, and a Volvo S40 T5, and I have to say the best results were on the T5 that was a beast on the Shark remap but downside was it was £600 and ducked the clutch (although it could be argued that it was 75K when remapped so probably just shortened the life of the clutch, and was fine with new clutch), with the mondeo I had it mapped once, and it was a terrible map loads of torque down low then nothing, totally spikey power delivery, and again duffed my clutch, but got it mapped again with a DPF delete and the map was much better, power all the way through the range and added 41BHP.
But with Astra I wanted a just a little more ommph but I just couldn't justify the cost of a remap/dpf delete (was quoted £350) and although the mapper I used was confident I know others have had issues with unlocking/writing to the 2.0cdti ecu and he hadn't done an auto before.
Normally I would be really against a tuning box, but I had the chance to get one second hand at a really good price and thought might as well give it a go, and I've been impressed so far not an astonishing difference in performance, but enough to make a difference and make the car better to drive.
Like others have said I think petrol cars are always better mapped, as I think tuning boxes can do more on a diesel as manufacturer strive to get the emissions really low on a diesel and restrict the engine quite a lot as a result