Mod update:
As you guys have probably guessed by the teaser, I went ahead and had the velos stage 1 put in the car. The tune has been installed for just about two weeks now with about 600 miles on it. I will update the review after a few thousand if anything changes. The review will consist of tune selection, installation, and thoughts of the tune itself.
Tune Selection:
So as anyone would I began my quest for a tune by researching all the big name players. I looked at what they had to offer. The main thing I noticed was that all of the tunes available provided just about the same gains. One had a warranty, but no way to load the tune yourself, and the other two were near identical in features and power when lining up the graphs. I then noticed there were a couple up and comers that had quite the positive reputation building so I added them to the mix as well.
Since all of the tunes avaible were so similar the deciding factor would become customer service for me. I began making contact with vendors inquiring price while letting them know I was more researching than anything as I had not planned on ordering a tune right away. I made contact with vendors offering both big company software and new company software. Average response time was a day from inquiry with the exception of two. One took multiple days to respond and then did not respond at all once I let them know I was researching. The other responded within 30 minutes. I was completely blown away by the response time as that has never happened to me before, especially when the initial inquiry was done publicly and not privately. Further conversation was had, with each response taking less then 30 minutes. I decided right then and there to go ahead and order the tune that day due to the exceptional customer service received. So I ordered the tune from Omar at Velos and received fedex tracking within the hour with complimentary 2nd day air to Hawaii. Doesn't get much better than that service wise.
Installation:
The box arrived two days later with everything needed. The personal tuner, flash drive, and appropriate cables. The instructions provided on the flash drive were so thorough that I did not have to contact Omar at all during the whole process. Installing the software and updating the tuner was done in less than an hour. Took the tuner to the garage and setup for the read.
Here is a pic of the license plate frame Omar hooked up and the instructions of the oem battery charger I used:
Battery charger hooked up:
Reading the oem ecu. The whole process took about 90 minutes:
After the read was finished I emailed off the file to Velos around 8 pm Hawaii time and received the tuned file around 4 am Hawaii time the next morning. Again I couldn't believe how quick they got the tune out to me as 8 pm in Hawaii is 2 am in Florida. So by 10 am their time they had it all sorted and sent back. Got back from work, uploaded the tune to the tuner, and went back to the car and hooked the battery charger back up. The writing was much quicker taking maybe 30 minutes to install. Idrive was going crazy with error messages and the car was buzzing loudly in the rear. I was told this would happen so I didn't freak out at all. The writing finished and everything was back to normal.
Tune Impressions:
Normal that is except now the car went from a civilized beast to a roided out monster that still manages to wear a suit and tie when needed. I figured the power increase would be noticeable, but I had no idea it would be this noticeable. The best way I can describe it is a point and shoot warp drive experience. You see an opening in traffic that you want to be at, you push the loud pedal and you are there. No waiting, no will I make it to the opening before it closes, just immediate response in both power and throttle. I really can't stop laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. This is a 5000 pound tank, it shouldn't be capable of this type of lunacy.
However the thing I'm most impressed by is how the tank is still civil. One would think with adding this much power it would become edgy, but it's simply not the case. Part of my daily drive includes stop and go traffic that can last over an hour on some days. There is no overheating, no jerkiness, no nothing. In fact it is smoother in stop and go than it was with the stock programming. Tully impressive stuff. Keep in mind that I only drive in M mode with full power, mdm, and manual shifting via the paddles. I'm sure it would be even more docile if I drove it with old man settings on, but I couldn't imagine why you would need to. Another plus is that my mpg has improved, which I wasn't really concerned with in the first place, but figure it is worth mentioning.
Overall I highly recommend the Velos tune for this car. It is the true definition of a Jekyll and Hyde experience. I also want to say that I'm sure that all tunes available for this tank are good, this is just my opinion of the the tune I chose.