Our experience with RACECHIP:
Rennzport has been a reseller of the Racechip since 2013. The product has mainly been a hit and miss experience for buyers of different car models. The chip faired better on diesel cars (sometimes) but on the higher spec petrol cars we have experienced and read about customer frustrations.
Some of the issues reported included:
* Lack of power
* Loss of power
* Erratic power delivery
* Finding the right power balance or mapping by tweaking the rotary dials on the chip
* Tweaking for the best fuel consumption
* A pretty BUT badly written installation and instruction guide
So here comes along the newest and latest "Racechip Ultimate Connect" and its available for a large number of diesel cars at this stage.
On the surface the packaging is the same. The familiar fiberglas reinforced plastic and watertight casing. The familiar easy to install plug & play harness and carrying over the Racechip Ultimate very fast 48MHz. processor. But that is where the similarities end.
Under the skin they very different:
Here is a picture of the old version with the rotary control switch.
Side by side. The new Racechip Ultimate Connect on the (left) and the previous version Racechip Ultimate on the right:
The new RaceChip Ultimate Connect is now all controlled via your smartphone. The app can be downloaded from the google playstore or the app store for free :thumbs::
The harness looks the same as the previous Racechip Ultimate but has an extra wire to the Racechip to allow bluetooth and internet connectivity; and to switch power modes and receive automatic updates without touching or removing the chip. Gone are the days of opening the chip to change performance settings or to revert the car to stock settings. More about this later. :=):
The package included a proper installation guide and instruction and troubleshooting guide:
Choosing the diesel test vehicle was easy :rollsmile:
Between the X1, X3, 120d I chose the Amarok 2.0 BiTDI
The 132Kw model is a fantastic, big pickup truck without question but oooooh..... the LAG on this car is frustrating which makes overtaking a carefully planned move :blueCry:
I was keen to see if the new Racechip could smooth out the driving dynamics.
Installation is pretty simple: Plug in the common rail and boost pressure plugs and you ready to experience the driving pleasure.
Then open the Racechip app on your smartphone. Scan or manually punch in the supplied serial number on the app to make a connection to the Racechip hardware. The software will identify your vehicle.
The app menu provides 3 drive modes: Efficiency, Sport and Race mode which can be selected by touching the app screen with instant map changes.
Efficiency: for more power & torque with the greatest efficiency.
Sport: for an immediate and significant power increase.
Race: for maximum performance with up to 30% more power.
As a safety feature maps can only be changed while the car is stationary. No...on the fly map switching.
A very cool feature includes a warm-up timer which determines the number of minutes from when the engine starts until the activation of the performance increase. The timer can be set between 0 - 15minutes. Its a great feature to allow the engine oil to warm up after a cold start.
If you prefer the cars OEM map you can switch to complete stock instantly using the app. :thumbsup: But I cant imagine that you would want to do this unless for troubleshooting purposes.
The app is easy to navigate and to personalise a profile to your liking.
Impressions:
So what do I think? Well I think Racechip has hit a home run with this major chip tuning upgrade. Its super easy to use, safe and fun with the most important benefit that it makes power.
I am happy to report the dreaded LAG is gone. After testing the various maps, I settled on the efficiency economy map. The power is enough for my daily use and fuel consumption is the added benefit. However, I did not notice much of a fuel saving in daily traffic but on the open road its very noticeable. I will review this after a few months again and compare fuel usage between stock and efficiency maps.
The race map is overkill for the Amarok maybe when pulling a caravan? I think its too much power and urgency for such a big truck.
If you still not happy with the power then you can request a more powerful map from Racechip which you can flash to the chip via the app. :blowheart:
I hope to put the ROK on the dyno soon and see the power differences between the maps :thumbs:
Six very cool features are worth a mention again:
1. Revert to complete stock via Bluetooth without opening the chip.
2. Engine warm-up safety timer.
3. Automatic updates via wifi
4. Search for updates or downloading new maps via the app.
5. Bluetooth connectivity.
6. A fast 48MHz. processor.
:ty:
Rennzport has been a reseller of the Racechip since 2013. The product has mainly been a hit and miss experience for buyers of different car models. The chip faired better on diesel cars (sometimes) but on the higher spec petrol cars we have experienced and read about customer frustrations.
Some of the issues reported included:
* Lack of power
* Loss of power
* Erratic power delivery
* Finding the right power balance or mapping by tweaking the rotary dials on the chip
* Tweaking for the best fuel consumption
* A pretty BUT badly written installation and instruction guide
So here comes along the newest and latest "Racechip Ultimate Connect" and its available for a large number of diesel cars at this stage.
On the surface the packaging is the same. The familiar fiberglas reinforced plastic and watertight casing. The familiar easy to install plug & play harness and carrying over the Racechip Ultimate very fast 48MHz. processor. But that is where the similarities end.
Under the skin they very different:
Here is a picture of the old version with the rotary control switch.
Side by side. The new Racechip Ultimate Connect on the (left) and the previous version Racechip Ultimate on the right:
The new RaceChip Ultimate Connect is now all controlled via your smartphone. The app can be downloaded from the google playstore or the app store for free :thumbs::
The harness looks the same as the previous Racechip Ultimate but has an extra wire to the Racechip to allow bluetooth and internet connectivity; and to switch power modes and receive automatic updates without touching or removing the chip. Gone are the days of opening the chip to change performance settings or to revert the car to stock settings. More about this later. :=):
The package included a proper installation guide and instruction and troubleshooting guide:
Choosing the diesel test vehicle was easy :rollsmile:
Between the X1, X3, 120d I chose the Amarok 2.0 BiTDI
The 132Kw model is a fantastic, big pickup truck without question but oooooh..... the LAG on this car is frustrating which makes overtaking a carefully planned move :blueCry:
I was keen to see if the new Racechip could smooth out the driving dynamics.
Installation is pretty simple: Plug in the common rail and boost pressure plugs and you ready to experience the driving pleasure.
Then open the Racechip app on your smartphone. Scan or manually punch in the supplied serial number on the app to make a connection to the Racechip hardware. The software will identify your vehicle.
The app menu provides 3 drive modes: Efficiency, Sport and Race mode which can be selected by touching the app screen with instant map changes.
Efficiency: for more power & torque with the greatest efficiency.
Sport: for an immediate and significant power increase.
Race: for maximum performance with up to 30% more power.
As a safety feature maps can only be changed while the car is stationary. No...on the fly map switching.
A very cool feature includes a warm-up timer which determines the number of minutes from when the engine starts until the activation of the performance increase. The timer can be set between 0 - 15minutes. Its a great feature to allow the engine oil to warm up after a cold start.
If you prefer the cars OEM map you can switch to complete stock instantly using the app. :thumbsup: But I cant imagine that you would want to do this unless for troubleshooting purposes.
The app is easy to navigate and to personalise a profile to your liking.
Impressions:
So what do I think? Well I think Racechip has hit a home run with this major chip tuning upgrade. Its super easy to use, safe and fun with the most important benefit that it makes power.
I am happy to report the dreaded LAG is gone. After testing the various maps, I settled on the efficiency economy map. The power is enough for my daily use and fuel consumption is the added benefit. However, I did not notice much of a fuel saving in daily traffic but on the open road its very noticeable. I will review this after a few months again and compare fuel usage between stock and efficiency maps.
The race map is overkill for the Amarok maybe when pulling a caravan? I think its too much power and urgency for such a big truck.
If you still not happy with the power then you can request a more powerful map from Racechip which you can flash to the chip via the app. :blowheart:
I hope to put the ROK on the dyno soon and see the power differences between the maps :thumbs:
Six very cool features are worth a mention again:
1. Revert to complete stock via Bluetooth without opening the chip.
2. Engine warm-up safety timer.
3. Automatic updates via wifi
4. Search for updates or downloading new maps via the app.
5. Bluetooth connectivity.
6. A fast 48MHz. processor.
:ty:
