Booked in for a re-map...

[AMGeed]

How do you know that a vehicle you purchase 2nd hand hasn't had an ecu remap?

You'd know.
The difference is night and day in performance.
Yes, a get out clause may be it was the first and only car you test drove.
I would also be asking the previous owner if its been remapped. Ignorance is not a get out clause. If in doubt, get it checked.

In essence, its up to you to show you made all due diligence when buying the car if there is any suspicion its not stock.

True story. My previous E55 was very quick in comparison to the other two I test drove. I asked the seller if it was mapped and he said no. I took him at his word but always wondered. At an MSL GTG I had a dyno run and up came 478bhp......stock horse power.
But the torque figure was much higher than stock at 570ft lbs compared to 507 stock. Was it mapped? I thought not as how do you increase the torque but keep stock bhp. I didn't declare a map.

 

[Chrishazle]

I'd owned a 968 tip coupe for 12 years when I bought my 968 tip cab, did not notice any difference in performance between the 2 but decided to change the ECU chip to a Powermax one specific to the 968, potential BHP gain of only 5bhp but smoothed out the variocam effect. When the ECU was pulled we found it already had a Superchip installed instead of the standard ECU chip - nothing from the previous owner or history invoices to show that had been installed!

 

[davidsl500]

You'd know.
The difference is night and day in performance.
Yes, a get out clause may be it was the first and only car you test drove.
I would also be asking the previous owner if its been remapped. Ignorance is not a get out clause. If in doubt, get it checked.

In essence, its up to you to show you made all due diligence when buying the car if there is any suspicion its not stock.

True story. My previous E55 was very quick in comparison to the other two I test drove. I asked the seller if it was mapped and he said no. I took him at his word but always wondered. At an MSL GTG I had a dyno run and up came 478bhp......stock horse power.
But the torque figure was much higher than stock at 570ft lbs compared to 507 stock. Was it mapped? I thought not as how do you increase the torque but keep stock bhp. I didn't declare a map.

I bought my car from a dealer so I couldn't ask the previous owner so that idea is a non starter.. The performance increase may be quite subtle from a remap and if the test drives are done round town and urban carriageways many remaps would go unnoticed. They don't all add 100's + BHP and Torque you know ! I drove a couple of 172's before buying mine. Same engine but vastly different test drives - town versus country, weather - Hot and Dry versus Cool and Wet, 17" Wheels/ 18" Wheels. I couldn't tell you which was quickest / most powerful. If I had all of them at a test track on the same day then that would be a different matter. Of course, if they were all remapped............ Am I suspicious that mine may have been remapped? Can't tell you because I haven't used it anger since buying it.

 

[Wighty]

I bought my car from a dealer so I couldn't ask the previous owner so that idea is a non starter.. The performance increase may be quite subtle from a remap and if the test drives are done round town and urban carriageways many remaps would go unnoticed. They don't all add 100's + BHP and Torque you know ! I drove a couple of 172's before buying mine. Same engine but vastly different test drives - town versus country, weather - Hot and Dry versus Cool and Wet, 17" Wheels/ 18" Wheels. I couldn't tell you which was quickest / most powerful. If I had all of them at a test track on the same day then that would be a different matter. Of course, if they were all remapped............ Am I suspicious that mine may have been remapped? Can't tell you because I haven't used it anger since buying it.

Also if you bourght the first car you test drove , then you would never know (nothing to compare it against )

 

[Larkone]

If you don't know if a car that you are buying is modified, then when asked by the insurance company if it has been modified you can say 'not to my knowledge and I have not been made aware of any modifications'. When I said that to my insurance company the rep said 'good answer'. At that point you have told the truth and it is logged.

 

[Srdl]

If you don't know if a car that you are buying is modified, then when asked by the insurance company if it has been modified you can say 'not to my knowledge and I have not been made aware of any modifications'. When I said that to my insurance company the rep said 'good answer'. At that point you have told the truth and it is logged.

As an aside, whenever I contact LV, I try to use their online “Live Chat” facility. Not only do you usually get a quicker response, but you also get an audit trail of the “conversation” which you can print or save in case you ever need evidence of what was said.

 

[SmartAmg]

One week today since my
re-map, have to say WOW it's fantastic, acceleration is very very fast, god knows what a mapped AMG E63 must be like . My only regret is i didn't do a lot earlier.
Highly recommended!

 

[Wighty]

One week today since my
re-map, have to say WOW it's fantastic, acceleration is very very fast, god knows what a mapped AMG E63 must be like . My only regret is i didn't do a lot earlier.
Highly recommended!

I did think I heard a sonic boom as you passed the sound barrier this morning

 

[davidsl500]

What's your fuel consumption like now you have found all this extra power?

 

[Blobcat]

What's your fuel consumption like now you have found all this extra power?

It will have improved more power and more economy, the re-mappers promise

 

[AMGeed]

It will have improved more power and more economy, the re-mappers promise

I can promise you it will go down, even driving around town and not using the extra performance. Staying in Comfort mode instead of Sport + will save a little fuel, but did we really buy these cars to save fuel?

 

[SmartAmg]

What's your fuel consumption like now you have found all this extra power?

To be honest I've not really checked, to busy enjoying meself, and also not really bothered, in my opinion you don't get a remap to get better fuel consumption, I know they claim better MPG
to be honest I think that's a load of bollocks, what I have got is a lot more SPG,
Smiles per gallon...

 

[SmartAmg]

I can promise you it will go down, even driving around town and not using the extra performance. Staying in Comfort mode instead of Sport + will save a little fuel, but did we really buy these cars to save fuel?

Absolutely not!

 

[Larkone]

Having a remap can improve fuel consumption. My re-mapped OM642 returned 48mpg driving through the hundreds of miles (well seems like it) of 50mph limits on the M4. I have done it so you don't need to - enjoy that shove in the back

 

[oigle]

Never trust the car's economy readout after a remap. Always do a fill to fill to see where you are.

 

[Gazwould]

Remap nothing is fooled , with tuning box ecu is fooled and mpg falsely improves .

 

[davemercedes]

Where does an owner stand if the have a purely "benign" remap -i.e.: for "efficiency" to gain an mpg improvement only?

In a former life in the capital plant industry we had a flare up where brake shoes were "failing prematurely"... in fact the brake drums were at the bottom of their allowed tolerance while the brake shoes were at the bottom of theirs. What this meant in practice was about a month after delivery, the brakes were pretty useless.

It follows that within allowed variable tolerances in production it's quite possible that you could end up with a car that cannot possibly meet the best optimal ignition/fuel performance. A remap could cure this and in turn save a lot of dosh on wasteful fuel expenditure.

I remember an article in Auto Express some 10 - 15 years common than I would ever have expected, where they found this precise issue with Vauxhall Cavaliers which was more rectified with a "tune-up" mod that arguably returned the car to its intended levels - i.e.: they modified it "up to" its specified performance. They didn't deal with the insurance aspects at that time.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

An 'economy map' still adds bhp and torque to the stock figures of the car (the car that they insured), and so it still is something that the insurance company will use to invalidate your insurance, if they can.

 

[davemercedes]

Hmm... So it's another insurance Heads I win, Tails, you lose!

 

[LostKiwi]

I can promise you it will go down, even driving around town and not using the extra performance. Staying in Comfort mode instead of Sport + will save a little fuel, but did we really buy these cars to save fuel?

If you bought a diesel....