Review: Ashley Chetty & Xcede Performance

CharlE

New member
Hi all,
First time poster here and just wanted to share my experience with Ashley and Xcede.

I reached out to Xcede around end of September 2025 to get some work done on my BMW 340i F30. This was for a Stage 2 package which consisted of decatted downpipe, TU pump, software and XHP software.

Xcede put me in touch with Ashley and upon dropoff Ashley seemed like a decent enough and knowledgeable guy, and spent some time chatting and informing me about the steps ahead. He did keep me well updated with pictures as he progressed.

I went to go pick up the car the next day and the car felt so much stronger and quicker than before. When picking up the car I did notice some heavy scratches on the boot of the car. I pointed it out to Ashley, as im very sure they were not there beforehand. He told me no It could not have been them, as they never closed the boot which does not really make sense. They quickly tried polishing it out, and got some of it out but there are still alot of deep ones left. I chalked it up to a mistake and left it there, but still gave me an uneasy feeling. The car was not dynoed, which was a bit of a letdown considering the amount I spent. The car itself felt good except for some infrequent jerking between shifts which I just thought could be because of the gearbox software.

Fast forward to January this year I took the car in for some work and inspection at a very reputable Cape Town workshop. Upon inspection they discovered the bank 1 oxygen sensors were unplugged. When plugging them back in the car would start running very rough, jerking and overfueling. I also took the car to a 2nd workshop and they confirmed exactly the same.

This makes me believe the car was tuned with the 02 sensors unplugged. Ashley might have damaged them in the process of the installation of the downpipe, OR the sensor was faulty and for whatever reason he did not mention it to Xcede or to me, which feels very unprofessional. I did reach out to him recently and he of course denied it. The day before I booked in my car with Ashley, the car was in for a service and inspection at a BMW dealership and they mentioned nothing at all wrong on the vehicle. The last person who did any work on the car was Ashley.

I have now replaced the 02 sensor and the car seems to be running fine again and lucikly I do not use the car that much as it seems I have been driving with the o2 sensor unplugged since September last year. I have since heard of a few very similar stories relating to work Ashley did on some cars, which is quite dissapointing as I had hoped it wasn't true. I would definitely not use his services again, and my goal with writing this review is just alert people to be careful when using his services. I have spoken with Juvan from Xcede and he has apologised about the situation, and I do believe they did not know about the sensors.
 

AshG108

///Member
Welcome to the forum, this is disappointing to hear because Ashley's service is normally quiet stellar.
Sorry about that, many of us are devoted Xcede clients for years and we use Xcede because of their consistent service over these years and they go out of their way to ensure the client/s is/are happy.
Thankfully your car is running well now and it was just the sensor, sorry for your bad experience.
 

Xcede Performance

BMWFanatics Advertiser
Official Advertiser
Hi Charl,

As discussed earlier Ashley is no longer apart of Xcede since 01 October 2025 and now trades as Autobots Performance with no affiliation to Xcede Performance.

Sincere apologies for the damages and your putrid experience with Ashley.

This is not level of service we strive to deliver.


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KR_19

Well-known member
Sorry about your experience and welcome to the forum. This is unfortunately not surprising for me. I haven’t shared my past experience on the forum, but they were negative and played a big role in why I was always hesitant to get a custom tune or any further work done on my car at that branch. I’m glad to hear that Xcede HQ is no longer affiliated with him, and I hope we see another branch open in Cape Town in the near future.

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CharlE

New member
Thanks for the welcome. I was hesitant about posting about this at first but I do feel in Cape Town we all have had some kind of bad experience relating to car maintenance or modifying which is a shame, but best to be aware of who to trust. I will also say im sure I would have had a much better experience if I was able to send my car directly to Xcede HQ.
 

SanM

///Member
Thanks for the welcome. I was hesitant about posting about this at first but I do feel in Cape Town we all have had some kind of bad experience relating to car maintenance or modifying which is a shame, but best to be aware of who to trust. I will also say im sure I would have had a much better experience if I was able to send my car directly to Xcede HQ.
No bud, was very informative since we’re in a self-regulated industry when it comes to non-OEM servicing and tuning, and the bad ones especially need to be named and shamed.
 

TurboLlew

Honorary ///Member
my 2c on this is that it is tough having a great business and then relying on a partner to expand into other cities. Unfortunately I don't think this works alot of the time. I remember stories from the past similar to above where the quality cannot be maintained across the franchise (eg: Stealth, CPI IIRC) or there is falling out with partners etc. Ultimate the entire brand is affected.

I think the way that Xcede has handled it in terms of cutting ties can be commended. There was a recent incident in the Alfa community where someone ended up having major work done by a 'trusted' third party workshop in Cape Town and ended up with the car shipped up to JHB to be worked on by actual competent people.

At the same time one must always keep service providers honest and report on this because sometimes HQ won't even know. Always check and double check because folks make mistakes or even just have bad days dealing with fallout from something that went wrong elsewhere, time slipping on other projects etc. It's the nature of running a small business. How one responds to these mistakes/mishaps makes all the difference in the world. Sounds like the CPT dude got what was coming to him, but I think even @General.Massacre and other guys who have moved from JHB to CPT have noticed the lack of quality/trusted workshops across brands for more 'advanced' work.
 
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