So I've gone a semi unique route with tuning my car. I've always said I don't mind driving a slow car (more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow, and I don't need any more excuses to lose my license than I already have), however the OEM TCU programming just has. to. go.
So I tuned my TCU first instead of doing both the ECU and TCU at the same time, and here are my thoughts 5 days in:
The Good:
Shifting action itself is greatly improved. Downshifts and upshifts are smoother. In D, S, and M. In this sense, I agree with everyone who always says "it should've come this way from the factory."
Upshifting while getting into the throttle, say 50%+ throttle, is way better. It just hammers through so much smoother and cleaner and you really feel the lack of interruption/throttle change between shifts. I very much enjoy seeing the TCU shift from 2-3 at like 5700RPM at full throttle, it reminds me the thing actually knows that the engine doesn't make any power up top. Again, "should've come this way from the factory."
The Bad:
Downshifting response (say, in response to a punch on the throttle) is still way too slow, basically OEM.
S mode is still too Sport-y for me, and D is still too Drive-y for me.
More on D being too Drive-y: SHIFT POINTS ARE ENTIRELY UNCHANGED. The absolute most annoying part of the OEM tune was that it basically wouldn't give you 3rd gear if you were any less than 50% on the throttle. That was my #1 complaint, above all else. Just shifting from 3-4 *immediately* after the 2-3.
It still does this. And it still shifts to 5th as early as 34/35 mph on light throttle. and It still shifts to 6th at 44mph.
Takeaways:
I will be *EXTREMELY* dissatisfied if the above complaint is not remedied by matching my ECU tune to the TCU tune. It is my sincere hope that doing one without the other is the source of the OEM-ness of the shift points.
So stay tuned for my impressions post ECU tune. Before I say anything on the matter I think I'm going to revert TCU to OEM, then go ECU, THEN go TCU. I'm wondering if there's any sense of dependencies between one or the other. We all know the experiences people have tuning their engine without tuning the TCU, so I really hope my concerns are assuaged.
P.S.
If you've seen me around these forums over the years, you know that Murphy's Law really dictates the fuck out of my life. I had several, several issues attempting to flash my car last week, including multiple "Retries" and getting locked out of Uni's database ("no tune file detected"), tune getting stuck at 0% and providing me with no way to exit out of Uniconnect safely without bricking my ECU. Making matters worse, of course I was doing it outside of their business hours (because their business hours are MY business hours, lol) so support could not really come in time to help me.
I've learned a lot of hard lessons over the years, and I've learned to do as much research as humanly possible. But it seems no matter what I do my shit never works out easily, smoothly, efficiently, or without spending more money than was necessary in the first place.
So I tuned my TCU first instead of doing both the ECU and TCU at the same time, and here are my thoughts 5 days in:
The Good:
Shifting action itself is greatly improved. Downshifts and upshifts are smoother. In D, S, and M. In this sense, I agree with everyone who always says "it should've come this way from the factory."
Upshifting while getting into the throttle, say 50%+ throttle, is way better. It just hammers through so much smoother and cleaner and you really feel the lack of interruption/throttle change between shifts. I very much enjoy seeing the TCU shift from 2-3 at like 5700RPM at full throttle, it reminds me the thing actually knows that the engine doesn't make any power up top. Again, "should've come this way from the factory."
The Bad:
Downshifting response (say, in response to a punch on the throttle) is still way too slow, basically OEM.
S mode is still too Sport-y for me, and D is still too Drive-y for me.
More on D being too Drive-y: SHIFT POINTS ARE ENTIRELY UNCHANGED. The absolute most annoying part of the OEM tune was that it basically wouldn't give you 3rd gear if you were any less than 50% on the throttle. That was my #1 complaint, above all else. Just shifting from 3-4 *immediately* after the 2-3.
It still does this. And it still shifts to 5th as early as 34/35 mph on light throttle. and It still shifts to 6th at 44mph.
Takeaways:
I will be *EXTREMELY* dissatisfied if the above complaint is not remedied by matching my ECU tune to the TCU tune. It is my sincere hope that doing one without the other is the source of the OEM-ness of the shift points.
So stay tuned for my impressions post ECU tune. Before I say anything on the matter I think I'm going to revert TCU to OEM, then go ECU, THEN go TCU. I'm wondering if there's any sense of dependencies between one or the other. We all know the experiences people have tuning their engine without tuning the TCU, so I really hope my concerns are assuaged.
P.S.
If you've seen me around these forums over the years, you know that Murphy's Law really dictates the fuck out of my life. I had several, several issues attempting to flash my car last week, including multiple "Retries" and getting locked out of Uni's database ("no tune file detected"), tune getting stuck at 0% and providing me with no way to exit out of Uniconnect safely without bricking my ECU. Making matters worse, of course I was doing it outside of their business hours (because their business hours are MY business hours, lol) so support could not really come in time to help me.
I've learned a lot of hard lessons over the years, and I've learned to do as much research as humanly possible. But it seems no matter what I do my shit never works out easily, smoothly, efficiently, or without spending more money than was necessary in the first place.
