minister of speed

Why is it that the brilliant British tuning maestros who cracked the new age (and prevoius) ecu's - have recently sold their product over to the Yanks (at Vishnu Tuning no less) who then sell it fitted etc. for £480 !!! ( 750 bucks)? Yet we are charged £ 750 here, ouch!

Their prime competitors at Cobb tuning (EX APS main agents U.S.A.) also cracked the ecu separately (so they say) and they sell preset remaps / flashes for £ 256 !!! (400 bucks)? Over here they sell for £650 via "agents".

Is this the "great britsh rip off" now affecting WRX tuning?

Makes you wanna go on hols to usa just to shop.

This is a polite moan to obvoiusly brilliant BRITISH firms and BRITISH agents.... why dont we get it cheap too???

Come on guys, you are the biz, how about some "looking after your own" mentality... please,

Or howabout some bright spark getting an outlet for Cobbs reflash ecu maps here in the u.k. and CLEANING UP IN THE MARKET!!!

N.B. This is just a thought from someone who will get a remap later this year for a new age car, and is hoping for a fair deal...

jimbob2

It's called the free market - you sell your product/service at whatever price the market is prepared to pay.

HOWEVER

How much more money could the guys that do ECUTEK make if they sold at a price more people would buy. Lets face it, the operating costs are low, there are very few specialist tools required.

Don't suppose many people who run tuning shops have MBAs though.

jimbob2

It's called the free market - you sell your product/service at whatever price the market is prepared to pay.

HOWEVER

How much more money could the guys that do ECUTEK make if they sold at a price more people would buy. Lets face it, the operating costs are low, there are very few specialist tools required.

Don't suppose many people who run tuning shops have MBAs though.

crowt123

£750 for ecutek remap on a new age? i paid loads less than that...and it's deffo worth it.

ZIPPY

£750 is for the Tech 3 which is done as a specific re-map for each individual car.
The version you got will have cost around £450-£500 at a guess and is just a file upload dependidng on what exhaust you are running.

The Tech 1 or 2 will still make a good difference over standard but nowhere near as much as a Tech 3.

Zippy

Pavlo

VAT? Don't forget to take that into account, the government takes a nice big chunk of your TEK fundage too!

CJRH

While everyone is on the Tech subject a quick question. How much gain does a Tech 1, 2 ,3 give you? The point of the question is MY99 with PPP and full decat currently gives 261BHP with 254 ft touque so would I have to go straight to a Tech 3 to increase this power level again and if so what kind of money am I looking at?

Cheers

Chris

john banks

Most people have been happy with the results and the value for money. I charge RRP and try to keep prices down by doing free remaps after later modifications (within reason), staying below the VAT threshold by keeping very small etc, and trying to provide the best performance I can whilst keeping it safe. I don't understand the US market so can't comment on differences in pricing or Cobb's offering, but I would say that with the quality and work involved with Ecutek products the price is well set for the UK market and very competitive with Superchips, Unichips and standalones.

The question re PPP and Tek... whose rolling road, when and how setup... seriously this is such a limit to actually giving any information worth having that your question is difficult to answer from a power/torque point of view, the best info is probably that on the Ecutek site with I think before/after on the same car which is as near as you will get to a controlled experiment. Personally if you have a decat PPP I would not bother custom mapping it though unless you do other modifications.

The PPP on the 99/00 does not run massive boost but runs a heck of a lot of ignition timing. Whilst in cold weather running Optimax with a decat you can run a little more boost, it is surprising on a hot day that it is already about as far as you can go. With a custom map you can usually get a bit more out of a car, but if you lean it out or increase the boost you usually do have to compromise quite a lot on timing, and the little TD04 really does limit you, and you have to limit yourself to consistent fuel octane. Some cars take more than others with very similar components, some feel good with less boost and more timing, others do better from more boost and less timing, but what I am saying is you are probably not going to get a huge improvement over your PPP with decat.

Decat PPPs have been rolling roaded from 240 to 285 BHP to my knowledge - this if from almost standard figures on some rollers to vaguely believable for such a small turbo on others. Decat only MY99/00 cars mapped with Ecutek have had a similar wide range. I honestly don't think there is a 45 BHP difference between these cars though, but in the large majority of cases there is an obvious and pleasing difference with the maps. I have sent the same ECU to one person who insisted it absolutely walked all over his PPP ECU and to another who thought the AE802 was just as good so he got his money back. Another found his Tek 2 was quicker because it was already overboosting. This is for cars with basically the same spec. I wish it was more simple!

myp1

i think the people doing ecutek are under subtle pressure not to offer lower prices..by the supplier that is..that is the way it happens in this country we have to take it up the rear on nearly everything and then smile and say thank u

CJRH

Cheers John. It's a very hard decision to make because at the end of the day it's a lot of money with no clear outcome!

Chris

ustolemyname??stevieturbo

iTrader: (1)

It is more expensive, but id say it may not directly be their fault.
Due to everything else in Britain being a ripp off, it will have knock on effects everywhere else.
There is very little here that is cheaper abroad, we pay over the odds for everything, and are heavily taxed again on top.
However some companies do ripp us off, plain and simple.
If you can, just buy abroad.

Callum Ferguson

iTrader: (1)

Interesting thread and I cannot contribute a lot more than Pavlo, John & Stevie already have but John has done some mapping for me recently.

CJRH
You say that there is no clear outcome but I tend to disagree

John clearly states that if you are unhappy with the results he will return the car to original & there will be no charge. I am sure that there will be others confident enough in the same product; either that or they are not using it to it's potential
John & others are also willing to provide lots of their time offering good advice which in some way or another needs to be paid for. As for the free remaps that John offers well I may be ready to take you up on the offer very soon John
I too have felt that one local supplier for my current project has taken the proverbial but I am to blame for this. There are nearly always alternative suppliers who are only too pleased to take a little less of your money
I was given some good advice by Harvey some time ago. He told me to set my tuning goals, properly research them and then stick to them. In haste, I partly ignored this to my cost but I have learned now. Lastly, I wish I had known about Roger Clark Motorsport before I started Fortunately I new Bob Rawle & Mark at Lateral Performance. John Banks, RCM, Bob & Mark are all extremely helpful & knowledgeable so FWIW take Harvey's advice & then speak to the right supplier & don't get ripped off.

Apologies to all for the essay.

Callum

John@Cobb

As far as I know Cobb tuning hasn't made any efforts to sell or market in the UK. We would be perfectly happy to sell UK guys a reflashed ECU for the same price we sell to the people over here but honestly I don't think having a tune designed for a US Spec car is going to do you much good.

(maybe if someone pays to fly us out to the UK...)


John