GRistopher
Totally Hooked
- Oct 23, 2023
- 527
- 835
- 128
Hahaha. I had been thinking that you'd all be waiting 
. I've been trying to get some sound clips and stuff to do a thorough write-up but I'll give a condensed-ish version. I only went in on Thursday, and until today, I haven't had the chance to drive the car on some fun roads.
First up Mike at tuning developments was very pleasant to deal with. While the work was being done we chatted a lot about cars, karting and he took me out in their GR86 with their turbo kit installed, which of nothing else, served as a very good sales pitch.
With regard to how my car is now, I love it, but I have a feeling that my wife will only ever go in it once as the noises that it can make are insane
When I handed mike the keys and he drove it round to the workshop, he came back and said, "your exhaust is loud isn't it"
bear this in mind while reading. I have an AWE touring, which is quite loud, has a nice deep sound, but no drone. It's also quite civil when cruising on a light throttle.
I'll start with the cold start and firing up the car. The initial firing up has an aggressive bark, and settles in to a cold start (dialed back in the map) which is of a similar noise level to how it was before, just a bit more throaty as it's free-er flowing. With the UEL headers, its quite a deep sound so its not as harsh as it could be. It seems to settle down to a normal idle quicker than before. I was hoping the cold start would be eliminated all together, but I don't think that's possible, or they haven't figured it out yet.
The normal idle is a lovely deep subie burble. It's not very loud. Just a nice thrum which sounds very deep and subaruwey, which was also the way Mike described it.
Pulling away, the throttle changes are great. Apparently it's very difficult to properly change how the throttle position works as its based on torque request rather than throttle body position - or something like this, I'm no expert. Either way it's much nicer for pulling away smoothly. According to Mike, the throttle is less sensitive in the lower gears by design to make low speed driving smoother, I'm not sure how it scales in the higher gears as I haven't really thought about it until now but I certainly like the changes in the lower gears.
Light throttle driving has a bit more in car drama than before. It's possible to drive it "quietly" but there is always a very sweet sounding subie burble. Cruising on a VERY gentle throttle at higher speeds is still quiet in the cabin and I think this is testament to the dual nature of the AWE and the way it masks drone.
The power, or more so torque increases are really apparent when driving at mid speeds. There was a slight torque dip in the stock curve, whereas now (I'll post the chart at another time soon) there is actually a small torque hump around 4k which equates to a 30bhp increase at this point in the revs. In a spirited, but not balls-out drive, that extra mid-range is very noticeable. Peak power is up (from memory) around 18bhp at the top of the rev range. Everything about the new map is smooth, so it's quite tricky to really notice the power increase, I can feel it, but it's more noticeable at the end of a straight you know well, as you're carrying a dollop of extra speed. The car feels great to drive.
Now, the noise. Oh yes, there is a lot! As I said before it is possible to tickle it along and keep it civil but this really isn't the case most of the time. As I've said, I've got a noisy exhaust and this is not a daily for me so I've gone for this sound on purpose. It sounds flipping amazing!
Open the taps and a race car-esque deep subie, almost V8 like roar erupts into the cabin and fills the surrounding area.
I like pressing on, and I've always had either turbo cars, or NA cars with stock cats and tamer exhausts. I'm in love with the way this thing sounds blasting over a moorland road. It's absolutely savage! The way I'd describe the setup that I currently have is that it's just nudging the point of raspiness, so it's about as loud and savage that you can get, without it having that horrible ear bleeding rasp that I'm really not a fan of.
I met my brother this morning in the middle of nowhere and, the car being warm, I gave it some revs. It sounds like a race car
I've had a few blasts on some fun roads today and it has been a LOT of fun.
Now, there is a caveat to all this drama. The noise makes itself known when I apply anything more than a very light throttle. For example, 6th gear on the motorway, foot to the floor to accelerate, using that nice new torque, and it is quite noisy. I also drove with cruise control on up a very steep dual carriageway (Lindale bypass on the a590 for anyone interested) and it was quite loud.
This "unwanted" extra noise is more due to the combination of the decat headers and the AWE touring. I'm not really bothered by it, but my wife might think differently when she comes out for her first ride in it.
I'm sure a standard, or less rowdy aftermarket exhaust would be tamer.
I'm very happy so far. I recorded some before and after clips of the cold start and driving which I'll try to edit and put in a more watchable format, which I'll post, along with the dnyo chart in the next few days.
I hope you enjoyed this "short" write up.
. I've been trying to get some sound clips and stuff to do a thorough write-up but I'll give a condensed-ish version. I only went in on Thursday, and until today, I haven't had the chance to drive the car on some fun roads.First up Mike at tuning developments was very pleasant to deal with. While the work was being done we chatted a lot about cars, karting and he took me out in their GR86 with their turbo kit installed, which of nothing else, served as a very good sales pitch
.With regard to how my car is now, I love it, but I have a feeling that my wife will only ever go in it once as the noises that it can make are insane
When I handed mike the keys and he drove it round to the workshop, he came back and said, "your exhaust is loud isn't it"
bear this in mind while reading. I have an AWE touring, which is quite loud, has a nice deep sound, but no drone. It's also quite civil when cruising on a light throttle.I'll start with the cold start and firing up the car. The initial firing up has an aggressive bark, and settles in to a cold start (dialed back in the map) which is of a similar noise level to how it was before, just a bit more throaty as it's free-er flowing. With the UEL headers, its quite a deep sound so its not as harsh as it could be. It seems to settle down to a normal idle quicker than before. I was hoping the cold start would be eliminated all together, but I don't think that's possible, or they haven't figured it out yet.
The normal idle is a lovely deep subie burble. It's not very loud. Just a nice thrum which sounds very deep and subaruwey, which was also the way Mike described it.
Pulling away, the throttle changes are great. Apparently it's very difficult to properly change how the throttle position works as its based on torque request rather than throttle body position - or something like this, I'm no expert. Either way it's much nicer for pulling away smoothly. According to Mike, the throttle is less sensitive in the lower gears by design to make low speed driving smoother, I'm not sure how it scales in the higher gears as I haven't really thought about it until now but I certainly like the changes in the lower gears.
Light throttle driving has a bit more in car drama than before. It's possible to drive it "quietly" but there is always a very sweet sounding subie burble. Cruising on a VERY gentle throttle at higher speeds is still quiet in the cabin and I think this is testament to the dual nature of the AWE and the way it masks drone.
The power, or more so torque increases are really apparent when driving at mid speeds. There was a slight torque dip in the stock curve, whereas now (I'll post the chart at another time soon) there is actually a small torque hump around 4k which equates to a 30bhp increase at this point in the revs. In a spirited, but not balls-out drive, that extra mid-range is very noticeable. Peak power is up (from memory) around 18bhp at the top of the rev range. Everything about the new map is smooth, so it's quite tricky to really notice the power increase, I can feel it, but it's more noticeable at the end of a straight you know well, as you're carrying a dollop of extra speed. The car feels great to drive.
Now, the noise. Oh yes, there is a lot! As I said before it is possible to tickle it along and keep it civil but this really isn't the case most of the time. As I've said, I've got a noisy exhaust and this is not a daily for me so I've gone for this sound on purpose. It sounds flipping amazing!
Open the taps and a race car-esque deep subie, almost V8 like roar erupts into the cabin and fills the surrounding area.
I like pressing on, and I've always had either turbo cars, or NA cars with stock cats and tamer exhausts. I'm in love with the way this thing sounds blasting over a moorland road. It's absolutely savage! The way I'd describe the setup that I currently have is that it's just nudging the point of raspiness, so it's about as loud and savage that you can get, without it having that horrible ear bleeding rasp that I'm really not a fan of.
I met my brother this morning in the middle of nowhere and, the car being warm, I gave it some revs. It sounds like a race car
I've had a few blasts on some fun roads today and it has been a LOT of fun.
Now, there is a caveat to all this drama. The noise makes itself known when I apply anything more than a very light throttle. For example, 6th gear on the motorway, foot to the floor to accelerate, using that nice new torque, and it is quite noisy. I also drove with cruise control on up a very steep dual carriageway (Lindale bypass on the a590 for anyone interested) and it was quite loud.
This "unwanted" extra noise is more due to the combination of the decat headers and the AWE touring. I'm not really bothered by it, but my wife might think differently when she comes out for her first ride in it.
I'm sure a standard, or less rowdy aftermarket exhaust would be tamer.
I'm very happy so far. I recorded some before and after clips of the cold start and driving which I'll try to edit and put in a more watchable format, which I'll post, along with the dnyo chart in the next few days.
I hope you enjoyed this "short" write up.
I forgot to mention that the Tuning developments turbo kit uses the same manifold and over pipe that I have now. there is a separate pipe after the collector that links the two which is the only part not carried over to the turbo kit.
