D2 S8 Remap - worth it or not?

[IT]

Originally Posted by Phil303

Tesco do a 99 but the flake keeps clogging up the fuel filter.

Class... Can't believe no one else commented on that one

[HPsauce]

My usual Shell outlet (Chiswell Green, just off M25 J21A) was closed when I passed it on Sunday.
Had to fill up with BP 97 on the A12 near Gants Hill. The S8 looked seriously out of place among the chavmobiles.....
(That's what happens when your younger son decides he's going to marry an Essex girl and live in her "manor")

[Duffy]

Very droll about the flake.......

Where this would be worthwhile is for anybody on LPG as you can remap to regain the loss that running this on a normal advance curve gives you.

Yes Will, this does mean you!

[Reffro]

Thought I'd chip in on this one. Against the prevailing opinion I am completely in favour of remapping the D2 S8.

Along with a few others here I had the REVO Stage 2 map put on my old car. It was totally worth it in my opinion as it made the car far more drive-able in normal conditions and gave it a more urgent top end.

The biggest difference was that is moved the torque further down the rev range. Before the map, the car really needed 4000rpm, before you would start to feel the push in the back. After the map, my car would pull from 2500rpm and then above 4000rpm it would start to stomp on again, with the final 6-7000rpm range being awesome. In fact it would rev out so hard and fast in the lower gears, the change up points where about 250rpm higher.

In daily driving the car felt much smoother, even though I had the most aggressive map for the throttle response. It was faster at Santa Pod, I gained 0.2 secs in the qtr mile.

Overall well worth the money I paid for it. The REVO map, felt entirely consistent on all the other cars I drove. In a side by side rolling test, two S8's with the maps couldn't be separated between 50-130mph. An added bonus for me was that when I forced to fit Sports Cats to my car, the map had already coded out the rear lambda sensors. Oh, it also removed the speed limiter, I had a GPS verified 158mph in Germany and it was still pulling when I had to slow for traffic.

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by Reffro

it also removed the speed limiter, I had a GPS verified 158mph in Germany and it was still pulling when I had to slow for traffic.

The remap on my old S8 also removed the speed limiter, though I never tested that myself.
The previous owner said he had reached 170mph in Germany, though I suspect that was indicated rather than verifiable.

[IT]

Imo 20bhp is really quite negligible in the grand scheme of things....

Bear in mind the facelift S8 is a mere 50bhp more than its 4.2 A8 younger brother and really the perceived increase in performance comes not from the 50bhp, but from the totally different final drive ratios.... If you want to make an A8 much faster, fit an S8 gearbox....

If you had it on a rolling road, it might be able to detect the extra handful of ponies, and it'd win a game of top trumps, but in the real world I can't see it making any difference....

Over the years lots, and lots of people have wanted more go from their normally aspirated D2, but in reality it just isn't easy. Or it would have been done time and time again. And it hasn't.

Option1: Supercharge
Option2: Fit a different engine
Option3: Lose lots of weight

These are the only 2 options I've ever seen that have actually made a difference, but they are somewhat intrusive....

[HPsauce]

There are 11 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

[Phil303]

I'm not interested in making the S8 significantly faster, so I won't be going down the weight reduction/supercharging route.

I was interested to know whether the mapping helped tap a little of the potential that's tucked away behind the factory set-up. From Reffro's reply, they are the results I would hope to notice; maybe not the autobahn speeds bit.

More excitingly; a quick visit to Revo's site shows me there is a dealer 10 minutes down the road. I'll pay him a visit this afternoon and see what he says.

[IT]

Originally Posted by HPsauce

There are 11 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

Yes, I clearly wrote the original piece with 10 options, then added a late entry and didn't review... Well spotted

[tintin]

Originally Posted by Reffro

Thought I'd chip in on this one. Against the prevailing opinion I am completely in favour of remapping the D2 S8.

Along with a few others here I had the REVO Stage 2 map put on my old car. It was totally worth it in my opinion as it made the car far more drive-able in normal conditions and gave it a more urgent top end.

The biggest difference was that is moved the torque further down the rev range. Before the map, the car really needed 4000rpm, before you would start to feel the push in the back. After the map, my car would pull from 2500rpm and then above 4000rpm it would start to stomp on again, with the final 6-7000rpm range being awesome. In fact it would rev out so hard and fast in the lower gears, the change up points where about 250rpm higher.

In daily driving the car felt much smoother, even though I had the most aggressive map for the throttle response. It was faster at Santa Pod, I gained 0.2 secs in the qtr mile.

Overall well worth the money I paid for it. The REVO map, felt entirely consistent on all the other cars I drove. In a side by side rolling test, two S8's with the maps couldn't be separated between 50-130mph. An added bonus for me was that when I forced to fit Sports Cats to my car, the map had already coded out the rear lambda sensors. Oh, it also removed the speed limiter, I had a GPS verified 158mph in Germany and it was still pulling when I had to slow for traffic.

I'd agree with this - I had the same remap done (as did Darren, I think), and it made a real qualitative difference to the drivability of the car (smoother, seamless response, better response at higher revs), and generally suited the car's character better. Slight improvement in fuel consumption too..