Has anyone tried one of those OEM BMW parts called innovative performance power pack from Amazon claiming to boost engine horsepower by 35hp and fuel mileage by 5 mpg on a 2015 320i Plug and play.
Amazon.com/ oem bmw parts. Thats all i got for you MG. I bought one for $69 hope it will not void my warranty. I plan to yank it before going for my 10k service. Meanwhile im only at 3k
I presume you mean this: http://www.amazon.com/Innovative-Performance-Chip-Power-Programmer/dp/B00WFIJQL4/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1454975536&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=Innovatie Performance BMW This appears to be the maker's website: http://www.gainmpg.com/performance-chip-for-bmw-3-series Sounds like you're aware that this is _not_ a BMW OEM part. The language in the website sounds like a tv infomercial - I'd be skeptical of the absolute validity of "not voiding the warranty" claims, that's not terribly specific - likely doesn't/can't void the vehicle's entire warranty, but I'm not so sure about specific parts of the car's electronics or ecu. I wouldn't be surprised at all if a dealer saw this or anything like it connected/installed and IF there was a problem with the ecu or car's electronics, says sorry, this thing, being tied into the car's electronics, may have interfered with (insert name of malfunctioning bit of expensive electronics/module/box/etc here) and, as such, it's now not covered by the original warranty. The replacement cost for said box/etc is x-many thousands of dollars, which is what we can do. Point being, despite Innovative's claims, I wouldn't be surprised that as far as BMW's warranty, it's still 'try-at-your-own-risk'. That being said, this, and any of the other products out there that might be similar, must generally work without posing undue risk, or else the makers wouldn't be able to stay in business. The broad-scope 'one-size-fits-all' induces some skepticism right off the bat. For one thing, the BMW 3 series has been around for 40 years now, starting with the E21 in 1976, & we're now into the 6th generation chassis, the F30 (others being E30, E36, E46, E90). There are so many differences between each series as they've evolved, I would venture to say there is _no_ product that engine or technical-wise would blanket-cover all models. Their website's model selector gets no more specific than the BMW 3 series. If it doesn't specifically say F30 (your chassis) or N20 (your engine) somewhere along the line in the product description, that leaves open the question of just how specifically applicable this product is (which brings up the question of how it must work then - more on that in a bit). Their website's url alone shows the focus - seems like most places stress performance gains - if there's an increase in mpg, that's a side benefit. However, it probably takes tame driving to reap real-world mpg gains. Me, that would go out the window with the temptation to hammer it taking advantage of hp/torque gains. I'd like more install specifics - looks like it may be some sort of piggyback thing, which works, in as much as others do it, but - an ecu flash is a more elegant solution. I'm not sure anyone has an ecu-flash-only (vs. a piggybacked box) yet for N20-engined cars. There may be, I hardly have comprehensive knowledge, but some quick googling & checking, I didn't come across anything. If it's not truly plug-n-play, and gets into cutting or splicing wires, I'd be wary about doing that. I suspect the dealer wouldn't be too keen on it, warranty preservation I'd think would mean 100% removal of it before any maintenance work with no evidence of it having been there. From Innovative's site, apparently how this thing works, it changes a particular sensor signal to trigger (trick) the ecu to run one of the ecu's own different fuel & timing maps. For the price, it does fall into the category of sounding 'too good to be true', at least compared to others that this appears similar to: http://burgertuning.com/BMW_N20_Turbo_228_328_528_Performance_Upgrades.html http://store.activeautowerke.com/collections/f30-2011-13-3-series/products/328i-428i-active-8-tune http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-2...i-328i-f32-428i-f22-228i-e84-x1-f10-528i.aspx http://afepower.com/shop/details_ne...e=engine&engineid=118&groupid=BB4&brandID=122 Why such a big price difference between this & what's listed above? My guess, besides, yes, some profit margin - Burger, Active, aFe, or others with BMW-specific offerings have much more invested in developing the product tailored to the specific engine. Which gets back to what this tuning product does & how it does it... when you look through Innovative's website & see it's the same product for every single model offered by 44 different manufacturers, compared to the prices of offerings from places above (which are also for a more-limited number of manufacturers), you know it has to be a relatively simplistic product as a one-size-fits-all, & for Innovative to be making some profit. So, that means it must be based on some commonality between all vehicles, almost assuredly the mandated OBD-II system. Which explains the rather modest performance claims, and the infomercial-like, sales-patter-sound of the website's verbiage. Note that it says UP to 5 mpg. and UP to 35hp - there's no claim that you'll get that; if the product delivers +.0008 mpg & +.0002 hp, it's fulfilled its performance claims. The others say that as well, but, with their price points and overall marketing, they also know expectations for results will be higher and, with easily-found feedback in numerous BMW forums or other places through the internet, they had best deliver close to claimed results lest they find that word-of-mouth has sales plummeting. Whatever alternative factory fuel/timing/etc map it gets the ecu to switch to, there's only so much that can be gained there - BMW and any other car manufacturer, by necessity, has to make their cars be able to operate safely and reliably in a vast variety of conceivable conditions. For longevity & reliability, the factory tunings that control the engine's running have to be inherently conservative. That's why there's some performance gains to be had by such relatively simple means in the first place. An engine is essentially a large air pump - the more air you can get into it, the more fuel you can get into it, and the bigger the BOOM! you can get from the ignition of the air/fuel mixture, and the more power you can make. The more power you want an engine to make, the more you have to do to it. So, in this case, as in so many, I think you may find you get what you pay for - I would expect this product to work, but, don't be too surprised if you find it doesn't seem to do too much. Again, if you can't just plug it in and the install is cutting or splicing any wires or wire harness, I'd skip even trying it. BMW has some history with making some pretty big boom with small-displacement 4-cyl. turbos - here's an article on their early-80's F1 engines, which used extreme turbocharging to get some 1500hp from a motor with similar displacement as your F30's turbo N20. https://racingotaku.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/best-f1-engine/
MG, first off I have to thank you for taking the time to respond in such a agreeable comprehensive way that you get what you pay for. The last thing I needed at nearly 70 is more horsepower than a standard 2.0 turbo 320i offers. But I'm intrigued. Come to find out the 328 has the same two liter turbo charged engine so I go to the dealer and I talk to the techs and I ask them why? it's the polished heads? different pistons? and they tell me no no no it's all in the mapping and computer tuning that gives 60 more horsepower than my base model. Being a valued amazon customer I go to OEM BMW parts and this powerpack pops up the rest is history I thought how bad could I get burned for 70 bucks let's give it a try I've yet to receive it and try it but I'll let you know It's all for fun and discovery
The major difference between the 320i and 328i is the pistons are different and the 320i has a lower compression ratio then the 328i and of course the mapping is different because of this. I'm with MG that I would not advise to do any wire splicing.
thanks Charles, i would never consider doing any wire cut splicing beyond plug and play. But i appreciate your input and would like to keep you updated to any improvement that may follow. Its all for fun and knowledge.
