Quote:
Turbo Al said:
Are you thinking of getting a kit?
If, not from FVD.
A few comments (please understand that my comment in no means wants to bash FVD or any particular individual!):
1. without external antenna, the performance box results can be very inaccurate, even if you don't pass a bridge, etc. It is enough to be in a certain satellite view angle and even if the reception is interrupted for only a fraction of a second, the results aren't accurate anymore. GPS works great with navigation systems with weaker signals but not so great with accurate measurement and internal antennas. This doesn't mean the values posted are wrong, this only means that there is an error margin which has to be taken seriously.
2. the brake-throttle acceleration method maximizes performance but it is not a method used during daily real world driving (at least I hope so since it could seriously cause damage if used too often), this is why I never used it for the performance box measurements.
3. a rolling start also somehow changes performance and the measurement isn't accurate anymore
4. I asked for TÜV certification for a good reason: some tuners (I do NOT know if FVD is among them) offer non-TÜV approved kits for export, kits which aren't streetlegal and may also have pretty bad emissions output. I'm not a "green" type of guy but if we compare power kits, we should compare them accurately and at the same "level".
A "general" comment regarding performance kits since it seems that there is a misunderstanding: it is not a problem to squeeze out a lot of power out of the 997 Turbo engine, the problem is to squeeze out RELIABLE, SAFE power without changing stock emissions too much to keep it streetlegal.
I know for a fact that "some" Tuners offer different exhaust systems and sometimes even a different engine software mapping to please export customers and/or to save some development money because this wouldn't require TÜV certification (not cheap!) and a legal warranty.
Another point would be that "some" Tuners think that in speed limited countries, the chances to be in serious trouble from excessive tuning are not too big, so they don't care too much about "finetuning" or adapting their kits in a proper way. The engine software development has already been outsourced by most tuners, the software is coming "ready-to-go" from specialized software developers and the tuners have the possibility to take it like it is or to adapt/finetune it.
This doesn't mean that a certain product from a certain tuner is necessarily bad but there are tuners who are specialized on modern Porsche cars and others who take care of older cars. RUF, Techart, Gemballa, 9ff, RS-Tuning, Manthey as examples have a lot of experience with "post-993" tuning, others not that much. Please be aware that I'm talking about GERMAN tuners only, I can't comment too much on others, simply because I don't know them or I didn't have too much customer feedback from them. EVO seems to be an interesting and promising US tuner from what I heard from various (even international!) sources, I can't comment on the others because I don't have enough information.
Yes, you usually get what you're paying for but the difference between the 997 Turbo tuning kits is marginal, both in power and software. The real difference starts with parts quality (exhaust, cats, etc.), software finetuning and streetlegal certification and of course warranty (and I'm not talking about the warranty for the WORK and parts but a warranty which covers all tuning related damages if Porsche refuses to pay for it due to the tuning). This is where the difference starts...