MPPerformance - Questions & Answers & A DEAL

[Debashis]

I asked a bunch of questions yesterday to MP Performance about the ECU upgrade and downpipe .... Matthew's responses are all below. Good news though, if you buy them together he'll take $100 off the downpipe, so thats $499 for the ECU and $249 for the downpipe. Combined that's $748 and still over $100 less than BSR WITHOUT the downpipe.

I have not ordered yet but I think I'm convinced ....

----------------

1. Do you have instructions on ECU Removal on a 2008 Saab 9-3 2.0T Manual? How difficult is it?

ANSWER - removal of the ECU is very easy. Disconnect your battery to begin. It is located under the plastic engine cover. You remove the three torx screws holding the cover on and remove it. Under the cover you will see asilver box roughly 5x6x1" in size next to the intake/throttle body. This silver box is the ECu and it will have two large wiring harness' (plugs)plugged into it. You simply need to remove the plugs by pulling up and back on the metal (silver coloured) straps. They may be stiff and we have had to use a flat screwdriver to gently pull them up. Once the plugs havebeen disconnected you can remove the four 10mm bolts and simply lift the ECU out.

---------

2. Is this ECU upgrade something my Saab dealer would readily notice? With my car having only 6000 miles, I still have tons of warranty left. What is the risk of me losing these?

ANSWER - It is unlikely they will notice the tune on your car, but if you go in for warranty work that has anything to do with the ECU then they could stumble upon it. As well if they reflash your ECU with an update you will lose your tune. My advice is to talk to your service rep, some dealers are fine with tuning, others are not. At least this way you know in advance if they will give you a hard time or not.

---------

3. After I reinstall the ECU, if you come up with a better flash/program,am I eligible for updates or will that cost me?

ANSWER - You are elgible for updates if we do any, but shipping your ECU to and from us is at your cost.

---------

4. Does your flash change the speed limiter?

ANSWER - Our flash does not change the speed limiter, even on the track I haveyet to hit the speed limiter so we don't feel it is necessary in North America.

---------

5. What is the difference with other tunes such as Nordic or BSR, other than BSR's ability to be flashed back to stock?

ANSWER - We took a different approach to our tuning, we partnered with a tuner that has solid reputation in the Audi/VW community and his approach is to tune the motor as opposed to simply increase boost as our competitors do. So we have managed to get better gains then BSR and Nordic in our stage 1 tune without increasing boost over the stock maximum. This is better forthe components in the long run as there is less heat and pressure.

---------

6. Is the downpipe required?

ANSWER - The Downpipe is not required for stage 1.

---------

7. Is there a package deal if I were to buy the downpipe at the same time?

ANSWER - We offer a rebate of $100 off the total price if you buy a tune andour downpipe.

---------

8. Do I need to upgrade the intake and if so, what do you recommend. BSR Optiflow, K&N, Simota?

ANSWER - There are no gains or need for any of the intakes on the market forthis car. Most people that install cold air intakes on the 9-3 SS do itpurely for the noise it makes. You do not require any change to the intake, the OEM one works very well. If you really want to upgrade thenwe suggest a K&N style drop in filter. That is what we run.

---------

9. Anything else you can tell me to convince me?

ANSWER - Sadly for this item, I can't say much...I am not much of a salesman. I can only say that I believe strongly in our products, and have been running the tune and downpipe for two years with many track days mixed in, and we have had zero issues. Only item I would add is that if your dealer is not in favour of tuning your car you could simply purchase our downpipe. It does not give the hp and torque numbers of our tune, but it makes a noticeable improvement in response allowing the car to maximize its power. Thank you, Matthew MP

[BennyBlanco]

I am also leaning towards the MP tune as well. They are only a couple of hours away from where I live so I'm sure they can tune my 2.0T in house.

I would ideally like the PPC because it has the capability of de-tuning, however MP's tune is a better bang for the buck IMO.

[Vector-SS]

I have had both the BSR and the MP on my car, and while both are great tunes, the MP does use more "engine" in their tunes and is a more linear tune than the BSR.

Matthew has been running his car hard with this tune for thousands of KM with no real issue, and so have many BSR users.

And as mentioned, the price point is a huge factor between the two.

Had my brother not totalled the car (had the MP on it), I would have probably stuck to MP.

[BennyBlanco]

here is a great thread describing both tunes in detail. Great write up!!!!

http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/sh...ht=Performance

EDIT: Oh it's previous posters thread. Thanks for that, I'm impressed with the write up.......

[pacotaco]

i got one question if some one could answer does the down pipe have a cat on it? because i want to pass emissions

[04_Aero]

Originally Posted by pacotaco

i got one question if some one could answer does the down pipe have a cat on it? because i want to pass emissions

Yes it has a cat.

[pacotaco]

k thx!!

[lazykhoe]

I believe I'm one of the first users of the MP Stage 1 Tune. Coming up on my 1 year from purchasing the tune here's my 2 cents. Overall, a very good tune, as many have stated most of the power seems to come from the engine rather than boost alone. The shipping process was very easy and not as nerve racking as I thought it would be. The cons though that I have at this point in time is that I simply want more. 1st gear is still boost limited to 10 psi, max psi is only 15lbs which I wouldn't mind a bit more (may have changed though since i suggested to Matt to up it)... and with no clear date on Stage II release with MP I feel limited as BSR has come out with Stage III. So if you're easily content with just a Stage 1 tune, MP is a very good deal... If you're wanting more like me, maybe wait a bit longer and see what happens....

[CallipNCSUsaab]

^ was there a night/day difference after install? Did that last or did the car start to settle down after a week or so?

How long did it take you to get the ECU to and back? What did you do without your car for this time?

[pacotaco]

well when you guys say the power is more engine does that mean that the bsr uses more boost than the mptune because i fell like if it was more engine tune you could slap full boost on it. anyways dosent it make more power than the bsr or anyother tuner or tune

[bparker5512]

Keep in mind shipping costs. . If you're like me and are a good distance from Ottowa, shipping with a 1-2 day turnaround is $200+. Which leaves BSR and MP around the same price. I personally don't think you can go wrong with either. They both have their perks. .

[ADouglas]

I have the MP dp and really like it. MatthewB at MP was great to deal to with and very professional.

However, I think (like others have mentioned) I am going to be forced to go with Stage III from BSR as Stage II from MP doesn't seem like it going to ever come out.

I have yet to hear a bad word about the MP Stg 1 tune but the wait for Stage II is getting to be too long.

I could have sworn in other threads that release date they were hoping for was like Jan 1 of this year or something like that. All I know is projected dates for the release of Stage II have come and gone without any updates that I have heard of.

[pacotaco]

so theres suposta be a "stage 2" whats the bsr stage 3 isnt it just catback downpipe filter and ecu? what coould this stage 2 have that makes it different

[Molitoth]

Originally Posted by pacotaco

so theres suposta be a "stage 2" whats the bsr stage 3 isnt it just catback downpipe filter and ecu? what coould this stage 2 have that makes it different

MP's stage 1 improved on dyno results compared to BSR Stage 1.
MP's stage 2 was to compete with BSR Stage 3, although we haven't heard anything of it in quite sometime.

[glowing626]

ive purchased the tune and DP from Matt and very satisfied, i went to ottawa to do the tune and matt was there at the tapp shop..

You can trust him and you will not regret anything!!

A big thumbs up for Matt!!

[lazykhoe]

Chris tapps tunes are very well known in the audi world. I think there was drama with his employees trying to steal his files on the tuning. He used to have some pretty agressive files for the a4 i think... But the saab tune is nice, runs rich if anything and doesn't have a rediculous turbo peak boost level.....but now with my DP in I want more boost please

[pacotaco]

has anyone noticed an increase or decrease in mpg?

[Wilder]

IS the torque limiter removed in 1-2 gear?

[04_Aero]

Originally Posted by Wilder

IS the torque limiter removed in 1-2 gear?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that boost is still limited in 1st and 2nd gear with MP's tune. Is that what you mean by "torque limiter" as far as I know, again I may be wrong, the only thing limited in 1-2 is the boost.

[9-3gotboostAERO]

still boost limited in 1st and 2nd gears