Did some reading on Utecs...Need your opinions

[m4r10]

I'm intrested in purchasing a UTEC. Why? Because to the best of my knowledge, they work well with WRX's, I don't have to keep getting an expensive ecu reflash every time I mod my car, I don't have to be an expert turer to tune it to my needs and I can control boost saving money on a boost controler purchase.

Now, how off am I?

^^^^
These are the reasons why I want the UTEC. I don't have any power mods yet except if you count IC hoses. I don't. But I am ordering a Stromung TBE within the next couple of days.

IYHO, is the UTEC right for me?

Too bad Unabomber doesn't have an FAQ write up for this

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[2phless]

As long as you are willing to continue with the reading. There is a lot to know and it's fun to understand. But you have to be patient. Between the UTEC manual and 'The Ginge's ' manual you'll probably be a bit overwhelmed. But reading those well, several times, and asking enoguh questions, and being patient enoguh to test and see what happens when you lay hands on the tuning process... There is no substitute for careful, hands on tuning.

I'd get the Tuner while you are at it. Having the AFRs right there with your log makes it all a lot easier.

Not that there aren't other options. The Street tuner from Cobb looks promising, and they are releasing a "pro" version of that in the near (but who knows how near with Cobb) future. I'd bet their tuning setup won't have the transition hesitations that the UTEC has... but I almost like that utec 'feature'... lets me know it's working.

[mbiker97]

Originally Posted by m4r10

I don't have to be an expert turer to tune it to my needs and I can control boost saving money on a boost controler purchase.

That's off. True you don't ahve to be an expert tuner to make the car drivable. The purpose of any engine management is to get more power from the engine while still being reliable. Without a good dyno tune it's really hard to do. Your best bet is buying the tuner or a wideband if you want to tune it yourself.

[m4r10]

Actually, I'd rather have it dynotued so I can maximize horsepower. I would like to be able to mess with the different maps and be able to go back to the dynotuned one. So tell me why I would go with a UTEC or is there a better option out there for me?

[dosage0]

Originally Posted by m4r10

Actually, I'd rather have it dynotued so I can maximize horsepower. I would like to be able to mess with the different maps and be able to go back to the dynotuned one. So tell me why I would go with a UTEC or is there a better option out there for me?

I have dyno'd maps and then I also have my own maps. You just switch from one map to the next, and the changes are saved in the maps themselves.

If you want to mess with your car yourself, you have a few choices. You can go with a UTEC, a Hydra, a Streettuner, and a few others. Personally... the Hydra is a little overwhelming when you are trying to just understand the basics. The Streettuner is brand new and may be very nice, but I havent seen any reviews on it. The UTEC has been around for a while and imo is pretty simple to learn if you decide you want to.

The choice is up to you, but a UTEC and a tuna give you a whole lot to work with and its what I went with when I weighed in the options. Of course, at that time, there wasnt a Hydra or a street tuner... so if you wanted to mess with maps yourself there was only one choice.

Rob