MRT - Customer comment on Ecutek

"Hi Guys, Went for a bit of a drive this afternoon whilst waiting for my wife to get home.
I can say that:
1. The acceleration is now perfectly smooth. MUCH better than stock, where there were a few flat spots around 2500 and 3500 rpm, it's now smooth all the way to redline. The benefits of this are obvious.
2. More down low grunt, so it drives easier in traffic.
3. Definitely more pull from 4000 onwards all the way up. I can actually feel myself press the seat harder. I was expecting good things but am a little surprised at the difference just a tune can make. Nice work!!!
I'll report back in a week or two on the petrol situation.
Prior to the tune I'd get:
1. Driving 'nice' and using Intelligent mode as much as possible I'd get just a touch over 600km per tank. Around 9L per 100km.
2. Driving hard half the time and using S# as much as possible, I'd get around 460-480km per tank - around 13L per 100km.
Thanks for the tune and I'll be in touch soon to update you and book the car in for stage 2 and 3."
- cheers Craig

“So, after much deliberation and research, I decided to engage MRT here in Sydney with the EcuTeK retune. At the same time I also took Brett's advice and had a Cold Air Intake fitted as well.

Well, it's been over a month since I picked up the car from MRT and I can honestly say that the B4 is performing like a completely different animal, and yet returning similar if not better fuel economy than previously (very important especially now!). I can feel the torque coming on strong sooner in the rev range (around 2000 rpm, as Paul found) and the VOD transition is very different (hard to describe, but it's nowhere near as noticeable as it used to be). At the very least I don't have to be worried about changing gears at the wrong revs and being left in no man's land anymore. I have tried the B4 at various locations where I was familiar with it's shortcomings, and I can definitely tell the car is completely different. Where I used to have to, say, downshift a gear to be sure I was going to have enough pickup to drive out of a sharp corner or go up a hill, I now can choose to remain in the next gear up. There is still a hesitation as the boost builds, but where it used to take say a second or two before you would feel the car get going, it now only takes half a sec or one sec at most. Also, once the 2nd turbo comes on the surge is smooth but powerful all the way to the rev limit. I've also been watching the boost levels and they've been rock solid (at WOT in 2nd gear anyway).

Also, although the weather hasn't quite warmed up enough to really tell, I haven't noticed any more pinging. Where it used to ping a little (ok, a LOT!) even in mild to warm ambient temps (25 degrees, say) in traffic, after the retune there has been no noticeable pinging whatsoever. I know some of that can be attributed to the addition of the cold air intake, but even if I had just added that without the EcuTeK retune I'm sure I would still have had pinging (esp when the hot weather came).

So, to me, the EcuTeK retune has satisfied me on two counts: it's a safe and reliable (no pinging, max boost is around 15psi, and generally it's lower on the primary turbo regardless) performance enhancement that is fully backed by a local tuner (MRT here in Sydney), AND it has reduced my fuel consumption levels (because the performance has increased and the maps have been optimised, so I don't have to drive it as hard to achieve the same result and therefore I use less fuel).

I didn't opt to get a before and after dyno chart as I felt that if my 'seat of the pants' dyno couldn't feel the difference then there was no point anyway. I will however consider a dyno run in future if I do any further mods.

In this case, the difference was great enough that another friend (who has a stock B4) who drove my B4 after the mods was rethinking whether to do the same EcuTeK retune himself or not. This was significantly different to his original opinion, which was that it was not going to be worth the cost compared to other things he could spend the money on.

So, I wholeheartedly echo Paul's experiences and comments, and want to add that, compared with any other mods I have tried with my car, the EcuTeK retune and cold air intake are definitely the most worthwhile and satisfying.

Sorry to steal your thread Paul, I just wanted to support your vote of confidence and enjoyment as well :-)"
- Regards Danny Ma

"Brett,
I just want to thank you for the fantastic work you performed on my car. I drove back to Canberra as soon as I picked it up on Saturday and immediately noticed a dramatic difference in the driveability and the fuel economy (before the work was performed I was getting around 480km on full tank on the highway, on the drive back I did 300kays on half tank). The improved fuel economy is my justification for performing the work (in the eyes of those people who think spending any money on ‘enhancing’ your car is a waste of money) as the improved economy itself is paying for the enhancements done. Plus it’s so much more driveable around Canberra with less lag, I can’t not help driving it ‘enthusiastically’ around town.

It’s just a credit to you guys for the great work you do. I think I’ve caught the bug and now looking really forward to doing more work on the car, most probably when my tax return comes through.

Once again thanks heaps will most definitely be in contact in the coming months to discuss my options, probably upgrade to XC with upgraded TMIC (P-25 would be nice but just put deposit on house so settling for next best thing) and maybe the exhaust as well as you said Brett that it wasn’t a good design, so maybe replace the whole exhaust or the areas that are flawed. Thanks heaps guys"
-David Do

I was extremely surprised at the power/torque gains considering that the car does not even have an after market airfilter let alone exhaust or other mods. Driveablity, throttle response and urge have all been improved enormously whilst maintaining stock look and reliabilty. The other thing I noticed was improved fuel economy in spite of the gains in performance.

I have previously owned a WRX with 180 kw atw and and an R32 GTR with 300kw atw and I have tried just about every mod possible . I think that the Ecutek represents exceptional value for money in Bang for Bucks stakes and no one even needs to know you have made any changes."
- Nick Jensen

"Hi Brett, I just wanted to send you a few lines to say how impressed I was with a recent ECUTek upgrade I had performed on my MY03 WRX.

My car is effectively a standard WRX. With only some minor suspension and brake enhancements, along with one of your Automatic Water Spray Systems and the new style Silicon intercooler Y pipe. The Exhaust and Inlet on the car are standard, except for the removal of the intake resonator. I purchased an MRT1 ECUTek upgrade from S&J Automotive here in Adelaide. The improvement in the cars performance has been truly outstanding, and everything that the advertising led me to expect was delivered. For a basically standard car, it has been transformed and is quite amazing now.

The service and support I have received from Sean, Joanne and Josh at S&J has been exceptional. They are very friendly, knowledgeable and extremely competent. They have been an absolute pleasure to deal with. I want to offer my personal thanks and congratulations to you, Paul and everyone at MRT, and especially to Sean, Joanne and Josh at S&J for a job well done." - Trevor White.

We installed our first ECUTEK changeover ECU yesterday with fantastic results, at the customers request we didn't do before and after power runs, but the improvements were certainly there. I was a bit concerned because this guy is the fussiest customer I have ever had, and is ready to point out any issues even before they are issues. But I reckon I broke him this time, I saw him actually smile during a rapid test drive (him driving).

It was an MY00 with a VF23, we installed a "TEK 2" as ordered to suit the application, then I hooked up my laptop to the coupling under the dash (previously for Subaru Dealers use only!). The laptop is carrying the ECUTEK Delta Dash software and license key, which now allows me to go online "live" with any Subaru MY99 or later. I can watch the operation of any signal or sensor in analogue or graph form, I can watch and save as many graphs as I wish.

After our first test drive I was overwhelmed and impressed, I rang Paul @ MRT, who is responsible for this at MRT Performance, to ask a couple of tech questions, and mentioned that even though the car is performing well I noticed that the total timing at max load was only 11 deg. He said drive and watch. As it turns out Paul puts 10 deg in @ max load then if it is safe and all of the sensors are working 100% the timing increases as you drive, with the knock sensor in full control (self tuning at last awesome!).

The only little bit of actual tuning I had to do was finding the correct size oriffice (in the wastegate hose) for perfect boost control, which I might add is the best boost control I have ever seen. 18 psi in first and second gears and 16.8 in the taller gears, opposite to normal, impossible to achieve with a bleed and perfect for performance and safety.

The air/fuel ratio was running at a safe 11.6:1 (exactly as Paul had said it would), with the cruise mixtures and all other drivability parameters unchanged.

All of this for $1500.00 RRP.To me as the installer/tuner one of the best features is only being 1 phone call away from the person who actually wrote the program, not unlike any of the dealings that we have had with MRT so far.

MY01 & 02 coming next week and STI in January, we are installing TEK 2 in our MY02 next week and having Autospeed do an independent analysis. Full report then.

"'I had a Tek1 and exhaust fitted through Maximum Motor Sport here in Perth. Other that Leaning out issues with the APS pod, which I have since removed my MY03 WRX is going very nicely indeed. The strange thing is that my fuel usage has dropped noticably, I am getting another 70kms a tank before the fuel light comes on. With the Exhaust and ECUTEK I certainly have not been driving any lighter than before. I have put three tanks through with the same result." Regards, Phil Jack

"I Just had a 3" turbo back SS exhaust and a level one remap done on an MY03 WRX and Brett from GFB is absolutely right the results are truly awesome the torque and response and power from as low as 2500 rpms is nothing short of amazing I am totally impressed with your workmanship you certainly know your stuff when it comes to Subaru's. When i take off the front actually lifts up big time and it never had the power to do that before and it sounds awesome too. So the next thing to go on looks like it might be the Group A Rampod.
So the last thing a can say at this stage is a Big thanks Guys at MRT For an out standing job and I hope to see you soon."
Russell

MRT Customer Comment on EcuTek product