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Computer/ECU Tuning for the Turbo4 and Turbo6 NG 9-5

37K views 67 replies 16 participants last post by  Joshinator99 
#1 ·
So I know a number of other tuners exist, anyone hear of a Turbo4 tune thats not Hirsch? The $1350 is insane and I'll probably wait until BSR comes out with theirs but just wondering.

My history of ECU mods to my '02 9-3 SE:

JZW Stg1
BrewCityBoost Stg3

My Wife's '08 Aero:

BSR Stg1
We are now offering tuning for the 2011+ 9-5 Turbo4. I have not updated our website yet, but you can PM me if you are interested.

Cheers,
Brian
 
#3 ·
Vtuner

I have made a deposit on a Stage Zero tune from Vermont Tuning, to the best of my knowledge they are the only company other than Hirsch to tune the LHU (Turbo4) engine. They tell me that the tune will be a port of the Regal GS so I'll be looking at peak power of 270hp and 295ft/lbs of torque well within the GM certified specs.

The only reason why I am going with Vtuner for the NG 9-5 is because they already have tuning experience tuning the same Engine/tranny combo in the Cadillac ATS.

BTW, a group of NG Owners including myself have started a group buy for the tune and are getting a pretty darn good deal.

Additionally JZW is now beginning to tune the LHU engine so if you are anywhere near Denver/Longmont I would give him a go for some real-time tuning. Since neither company has had much time with either platform he may be willing to work with you on a competitive price point and who can really beat drive-by tuning ;)

I'll keep you all posted.
 
#4 ·
I have made a deposit on a Stage Zero tune from Vermont Tuning, to the best of my knowledge they are the only company other than Hirsch to tune the LHU (Turbo4) engine. They tell me that the tune will be a port of the Regal GS so I'll be looking at peak power of 270hp and 295ft/lbs of torque well within the GM certified specs.

The only reason why I am going with Vtuner for the NG 9-5 is because they already have tuning experience tuning the same Engine/tranny combo in the Cadillac ATS.

BTW, a group of NG Owners including myself have started a group buy for the tune and are getting a pretty darn good deal.

Additionally JZW is now beginning to tune the LHU engine so if you are anywhere near Denver/Longmont I would give him a go for some real-time tuning. Since neither company has had much time with either platform he may be willing to work with you on a competitive price point and who can really beat drive-by tuning ;)

I'll keep you all posted.
Has anyone gotten this? What do they think? What kind of deal did you get?
 
#7 ·
Imspace2, I was wondering as well how the new tune has performed? There is another company pushing over 300 hp on just a tune as well, so want to weigh my options.
 
#8 ·
I would probably say that you would be weighing reliability as well. I stuck with the 270hp 294lbft that Hirsch originally offered. The automatic transmission in this platform is already terribly sluggish and clumsy and probably can't safely hold much more torque.

I am not sure of the actual limits of the hardware and I am not really sure that anyone really does know them. I would be careful going anything more than the 270hp on stock exhaust for the turbo and transmissions sake.

Please look up Saab 9-5 on Facebook for an extra outlet for your NG 9-5 questions.
 
#9 ·
The Hirsch tune was 260 HP, while the VTuner is 270HP if I understand correctly. Which one did you get?

I was hoping you would tell us the difference in drivability versus stock? How is the throttle response, power, etc? Any pinging at high temp/high load? Did it sharpen the auto trans up shifts? Thanks for your input!
 
#10 ·
Have you tuned any other Saabs? it's not as aggressive as a JZW but feels good, as far as I know there are no changes to the transmission programming as it still shifts when particular rpm/torque points are reached. It is much more spirited when high revving in manual mode though.

Okay so talking numbers the calculated hp and torque are 270/294ft lbs. not sure how that works out and I don't believe that anyone has actually dynoed a T4P so yeah. I might dial up the power a little bit in the future but only if I get a sportier exhaust which hasn't even been prototyped yet.

MPGs not sure why anyone that gets a tune really cares about this but it's all about the same or slightly better at highway cruising unless you lay into it which you are going to with the new power. The wife and I average 18mpgs combined with our driving habits.

Still works perfectly fine on any mixture of E85 as well.


Sent from AutoGuide.com App
 
#11 ·
I have tuned a 4 cam Mustang Cobra and a 573 HP 383 stroker Firebird in past cars. I asked about gas mileage because if that suffers, it's usually a sign of tuning being off at non-WOT conditions. ;)

Another item I'll probably look into is attempting to reduce the shift time at WOT. In most vehicles you can make a tweak to shift points and line pressure through the PCM. The stock transmission programming is rather lazy, as you mentioned earlier.
 
#12 ·
Anyone tried JZW stage1 for Aero?

I wonder what are acceleration times.

I ve seen John posted on FB "0-60mph in 7.6 seconds, 1/4 mile in 16 Flat. My JZW Tune at : 0-60mph in 6.7 seconds" It looks like car is ****ed up, since it is much slower original \ hirsch data And they are fair with it. Also some journalist recorded better times. .
 
#13 ·
I wonder what are acceleration times.

I ve seen John posted on FB "0-60mph in 7.6 seconds, 1/4 mile in 16 Flat. My JZW Tune at : 0-60mph in 6.7 seconds" It looks like car is ****ed up, since it is much slower original \ hirsch data And they are fair with it. Also some journalist recorded better times. .
That's about what I get the T4 tranny is so damn slow and clunky.

Love that F40? In my Wife's '08 2.8T.
 
#15 ·
2011 9-5 Aero

It seems like the transmission is quicker to shift in normal mode vs. manual. Also shifting by the gear lever seems quicker than the paddle shifters. Another thing to consider with the 0 to 60 times is the fuel being used. My car definitely pulls stronger on 93 octane vs. 87 which is to be expected. What seems strange is that I've been getting slightly better mpg on 87 vs. 89 or 93 (23, 22, 20 mpg respectively). I do about 75% highway driving as I travel for work. I also had 2 bad fuel pumps since purchasing this car back in January. One was dead on arrival from Saab AB. Fuel quality is also very important as I've seen the highest fuel economy and performance using Mobil fuel vs. the local Shell, BP, Fuel 4, Jersey Oil, and Delta.

I hope we can get some sort of solution to the inconsistent trans. I just ordered the VTune myself and I can't wait! 400 lbs of torque should be as fun as the M5 I use to have with V10 had 383 ft-lbs @ 6100:cheesy:, and a little more than the 2008 RS4s that slip next to me who have 317 ft-lbs @ 6000 :nono;.
 
#16 ·
Vtuner

Early 2010 NG 9-5's were plagued with the same engine issues experienced by the Cadillac SRX. Perhaps not quite to the same extent - the 2.8T was trashy and extremely susceptible to engine knocks with any fuel less than pristine 93 octane. My car was plagued by these issues and it wasn't until I started working with world-renowned Saab engine tuner (Brian Blair) that the car's powertrain felt properly sorted. Now the car pulls consistently and fairly liner. Acceleration between 40-70 is fantastic and satisfying. The car now truly feels like it has 300 HP.

I worked with Brian for a few months to get it right. He would provide a tune, I'd test it and provide feedback, and he would analyze the data and refine the software tune. It was a process but well worth the work. One thing we found with these cars (at least mine) is that they are extremely picky about fuel - even 93 octane from Sunoco would cause engine knocks. Only Exon and Shell would return a knock-less datalog.
 
#17 ·
After Tune

I've emailed Brain a lot, but haven't heard back from him in a while. He did provide me with some really good information on our cars early on. Sunoco has 91 and 93 octane, and is the only gas station around me in Northern NJ to offer both in addition to 87 and 89. Mobil 93 octane, a new turbo, fuel pump, and Vtune has resulted in as much as 30+ mpg on the highway (Not bad for 400 lbs of tq:lol:). Since I've had the tune I've needed a new turbo put in, but this was due to it being a bad turbo period. Saab Secure came through for me on that. One thing that I do notice is that with the tune, my turbo gauge runs a bit higher at cold start ups. If I let it run for a min or two it returns to normal. Power wise the car feels a lot faster 40 to 125 mph (I haven't gone further). The throttle overall is more sensitive even from standstill. I haven't properly done any acceleration testing, but on a couple of occasions I pulled out the stop watch. In sport mode I've seen 0 to 60 around 5.8 sec up a small incline. I've played with Porsches, BMWs, Audis, Maseratis, etc on the road with no problem. There use to be a Hirsch quad exhaust for the Turbo 6. Does anyone know what happened with that?
 
#20 ·
Exhaust



Was there a performance benefit of the quad exhaust other than the awesome sound that it produces? They still have the quad exhaust for the Turbo 4 up on their website. And Brian from VTuner mentioned the Turbo 6 not having forged pistons, but stated that he could make them for around $2,000. I'm guessing that's a standard price for these cars.
 

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#21 ·
4000 more miles

I travel for work so I rack mileage pretty quick. Car has been running good since the last oil change when the new turbo was put in 4000 miles ago. As you can see my gas mileage is probably better than most. 19+ in the city and 30+ still on the highway with the 335hp 400 lbs/tq V6. I also changed the Tranny oil around 43,000 miles, which made a huge difference in performance. I plan on doing the spark plugs before 60,000. I change the oil between 4,000 and 6,000 miles. Mobil 1 Synthetic and Valvoline SynPower seem to work great. I've been getting mixed answers as to how much oil the car actually takes but it's somewhere between 6 and 7 qts:roll: I'm not sure which oil filter is best, but I'll consider suggestions. Dealer charged $470 for Tranny oil, air filter, and cabin filter replacement. That's a bit steep considering the filters can be found online for cheap. The air box is annoying to take off (torq screws are in some tight spots).

Where on the east coast are you located IMspace2?
 
#22 ·
You are getting awesome mileage on the highway! Best I see is about 27. I do not have the Vtune but have thought about getting it. I may drive the same streets as you....I'm in Bergen-Passaic County area of Jersey. When I have to I go to Park Ave Saab in Maywood. No crazy gremlins popping up since going to Vtuner?
 
#23 ·
Cool. I live in Bergen and use Park Ave as well. I have a bunch of gremlins in general (pre and post). I'll probably make a movie.:lol: the Tune is good. I hear Brian can custom tune it too. In some cases he turned down the tq for people. Right now my only gremlins are multiple nail punctures in the ContiPros (just ordered Hankooks for $139 each shipped!!:cheesy:), Turbo gauge runs high on cold starts (been like that since I bought it), even after the turbo and fuel pump change (just let it sit a couple mins), and my Turn Signal Canceler (back ordered).
 
#27 ·
Turns out there was an add on insurance on my Saab Secure warranty that covers minor scrapes and scratches to the rims. I just put in a claim, and I'm waiting for a call back from a local rim repair shop. The 18" turbine rims use to be $239 for this car less than a yr ago online. Now I see them for $300 each.
 
#29 ·
i see year since last post, how you doing with those tuner, some reports with mileage any issues ? just got 2011 aero and changing from 2008 9-3 XWD with stage 0, ng9-5 feels so damn slow and slugish, so im thinking about same, thx
 
#42 ·
So my family has 3 saab's, mine is an 09 2.0t manual with Hirsch tune, sister's is an 11 2.0t 9-3 auto with Hirsch tune, and mom's is an 11 9-5 2.0t with Hirsch tune. As this is the 9-5 section I'll comment on my mother's car, which I actually began driving surprisingly much since the tune was put on. First let me say that I don't believe we payed full price for the tunes on any of our cars. My sister's was first at 700, then my mother's 9-5 at 500, and then mine I believe at 400 or 450... Quite reasonable. Partially the discount was due to us only needing one Hirsch tuning kit, as we then downloaded the other tunes onto the computer with the same kit. But the 9-5 really gets an added punch with the tune. First gear is slowish, even though now if you floor it from a stop the tires will spin before it shifts to second. But what is really the best is acceleration on the highway! It really pulls hard up there and you can happily cruise at 100 mph (on the Autobahn of course ;), and if you were to floor it at that speed you can reach 140 without too much trouble. Very stable at high speeds too due to it's size and weight.


Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk
 
#50 ·
Update 1/30/18:

I reached out to Hirsch about this and this is the reply I received:

Good morning Josh

We do not change anything with the speed limiter in this tuning. The car is limited for the US market. It is 130 MPH. This is done in the Body control modul.
We can change it, but only if the car is in our workshop in Switzerland unfortunately.

Best regards
Felix


So US-spec Turbo4’s are factory limited to 130 MPH and the Hirsch tune does not change that...
 
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