SimonsMerc
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2004
- Messages
- 1,147
- Location
- Sudbury, West London
- Car
- Merc S212 E350 CDI BlueEfficiency Sport 256bhp, Suzuki GSX-650F, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Dynamic
Well, I've had my tuning box for a couple of weeks now, and I figured I'd report back how nice it is 
Firstly, fuel economy. I am quite frankly gobsmacked. Regular readers of the forum will know that I've had serious problems with fuel economy on my car; I've been regularly getting around 25-27mpg in mixed driving, perhaps 30mpg on the motorway if I'm lucky, and as bad as 18mpg if only driving around town. This is based both on the trip computer and on brim-to-brim tests.
Well, I recently did just over 500 miles brim to brim (well I had about a gallon of fuel left). That works out at around 34 miles per gallon, which is pretty damn reasonable for a mixed run! I'd say that was about 70% motorway 30% city, but the city time was London traffic (ugh). Bear in mind that the best I have ever previously had on a full tank brim-to-brim was 415 miles - which was 100% motorway driving, and had 0.2 of a gallon left when refuelling. So I'm extremely pleased now!
The mpg on the onboard computer currently over-estimates, but not by too much. For this 500 miles, it was showing 36.5mpg - so about 2.5mpg too much. I guess that's a reasonable mistake to make, considering that more fuel is actually being put into the common rail than the computer thinks!
The most impressive part, though, it the difference in performance. I think my wife put it best. She said that, before we got the chip, you could feel that the car has to work to move the 1.8 tonnes of metal plus passengers. Now, however, you just hit the accelerator and it moves - it's no longer labouring under the effort. I'm quite willing to believe, after driving it, that the increase in torque is 35% or more. It simply *feels* more willing to drive. Also, overtaking on the motorway is amazing. You touch the accelerator and you're past the car before you realise it. It goes from 80-120mph so smoothly that you'd think it's doing 20-60.
All in all, I would thoroughly recommend that anyone with a CDI engine go for a tuning box. I have refrained from putting feedback in to tandem_tuning (the guy on ebay I bought it from, for £229) until now, just to make sure I have a chance to test it if unhappy. I called him today to see if he'd take a refund (he offers a 28 day money back guarantee), and he instantly without any questioning or persuading told me the address to mail the device back to, and that as advertised the only charge to me would be the 3% paypal fees and the cost of sending it back (£10 total or so). I am going to keep the device, but it's nice to know that he'd accept the return if I didn't want it! Now I'm off to give a glowing ebay feedback; well worth buying
-simon
Firstly, fuel economy. I am quite frankly gobsmacked. Regular readers of the forum will know that I've had serious problems with fuel economy on my car; I've been regularly getting around 25-27mpg in mixed driving, perhaps 30mpg on the motorway if I'm lucky, and as bad as 18mpg if only driving around town. This is based both on the trip computer and on brim-to-brim tests.
Well, I recently did just over 500 miles brim to brim (well I had about a gallon of fuel left). That works out at around 34 miles per gallon, which is pretty damn reasonable for a mixed run! I'd say that was about 70% motorway 30% city, but the city time was London traffic (ugh). Bear in mind that the best I have ever previously had on a full tank brim-to-brim was 415 miles - which was 100% motorway driving, and had 0.2 of a gallon left when refuelling. So I'm extremely pleased now!
The mpg on the onboard computer currently over-estimates, but not by too much. For this 500 miles, it was showing 36.5mpg - so about 2.5mpg too much. I guess that's a reasonable mistake to make, considering that more fuel is actually being put into the common rail than the computer thinks!
The most impressive part, though, it the difference in performance. I think my wife put it best. She said that, before we got the chip, you could feel that the car has to work to move the 1.8 tonnes of metal plus passengers. Now, however, you just hit the accelerator and it moves - it's no longer labouring under the effort. I'm quite willing to believe, after driving it, that the increase in torque is 35% or more. It simply *feels* more willing to drive. Also, overtaking on the motorway is amazing. You touch the accelerator and you're past the car before you realise it. It goes from 80-120mph so smoothly that you'd think it's doing 20-60.
All in all, I would thoroughly recommend that anyone with a CDI engine go for a tuning box. I have refrained from putting feedback in to tandem_tuning (the guy on ebay I bought it from, for £229) until now, just to make sure I have a chance to test it if unhappy. I called him today to see if he'd take a refund (he offers a 28 day money back guarantee), and he instantly without any questioning or persuading told me the address to mail the device back to, and that as advertised the only charge to me would be the 3% paypal fees and the cost of sending it back (£10 total or so). I am going to keep the device, but it's nice to know that he'd accept the return if I didn't want it! Now I'm off to give a glowing ebay feedback; well worth buying
-simon
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