Ok, so this weekend I decided to go WOT after my car hit 6K km. WOW! bone stock and it nearly ripped my head off. my last car was a '98 115hp jetta...and by the time traded it in for the evo i'm sure it was down to 90hp or less

i don't know why anyone would want more power than the evo on the streets...it pinned me back pretty hard and felt like a jet taking off...i will say though, the turbo lag is pretty significant. foot down, wait 2 sec, punch in the face...lol

i can see how this car can get you in trouble FAST! I'm still waiting to get an AP which should hopefully distribute the power more evenly across the tach as it doesn't pull very hard at highway speeds or from dead stop. sometimes, making a merge from a stop sign or driveway onto a 60-70Km/h road is pretty nerve racking as my MR just crawls until it spools up and i'm left wondering if i'm gonna get t-boned or rear ended.

 

haha glad you enjoyed that, just wait a few more weeks when you get used to the power, then youll realize why people always want more power. I'm already up well over 100WHP from stock and I dont feel a damn thing anymore.

 

Go ride in a 500 whp EVO and then tell us what you think....lol

 

You'll get used to it. Enjoy it while it still feels fast!!!

 

i'm going to take my tune off and drive it like that for a few minutes and then use the AP again and put the custom one back on just so I can appreciate the extra power ;-)

 

is your evo stock with off the shelf AP map from cobb? i'd like to hear your feelings on power gains/distribution the tune made. i still can't justify $700 for that thing. and i know it's the best thing i can get for my car if i decide to stay stock or throw simple things like a catback and some coilovers in a year or two.

 

I actually wrote a thread on my experience with the AP. My current tune is a custom tune through Mellon which was doing through logging and Chris adjusting everything and me sending him logs and such. The AP IMO is VERY worth it and you can get it new for 615.00 at some places. The stage 1 tune is quite an improvement over stock and you can flash it back anytime you want to stock, you can put it in valet mode so if you have it to a local shop they can't burn it up... you can disable it completely so it can't be stolen, you can put it on econ mode and get a little better fuel mileage, it's small and can be put right in your pocket if you need to do so, it gives you all of the data you need, you can read and clear codes with it. The off the shelf maps are very safe, and it's something that you can sell later for quite a bit of money IMO it is a great first mod and you won't need much more if you aren't looking to gain massive amounts of power.

 

Here is my post from when I first got the AP.

Cobb AP: Customer reviews/questions on product, features, and various maps [merge]

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I received my AP yesterday, and after getting in the house and getting settled I opened it up... wow, it's a little thing was my first thought lol. Good things sometimes come in small packages however and this was no exception. I read the installation instructions a few times all the way through to make sure there wasn't going to be some little thing that I missed that happened to be the most important thing to do. Finally I head out to my garage with the instructions and follow them word for word, no problem with the installation, I then go upstairs and get the software installed on my comp, and get all of the current updates. By this time it's begun to rain a little and the deer around here are horrible, so I had to be patient and wait until today. I wake up and it's pouring however. Mixing between snow, rain, and sleet, so my fiancee' and I just sort of sit around the house. She goes to work and I look outside a few more times, it has finally stopped raining and the wind has picked up a bit which means it should be fairly dry soon. My friend stops by and I ask him if he wants to go for a ride with me to test the flash out.

First drive: Though the roads are still a bit wet, i'm tired of waiting and decide to go out. I start the car, let it warm up for a minute or 2 and then slowly drive out of my neighborhood. I make a left out of there and ask my friend if he's ready " yep " ooook... and BAM!! lol I hit the gas and at around 3300 rpm's all 4 tires break loose because of the roads being wet, naturally however with the X's set up I have no need to worry and just continue to hold the gas down as it straightens itself right up, my inital thought is like others ... wow! It's once again 4G63 ish in it's acceleration now, only difference is the power doesn't fall off at 5500-6000 rpms like the stock Evo IX. As the stock set up pulls all the way to redline, also does Cobb's stage 1 flash, but with much more authority. I turn and get onto a main road that is much smoother and nail the gas again... again the wheels break loose.. a bit less this time as the tires have probably gotten a little heat in them... I shift to second and before I even realize it.. it's a bit over redline, i'm a bit over 60 mph, and the fuel cut kicks in... now I know what that feels like at least lol. Being as i'm on the street, at night with other cars around and trees that a deer could jump out from behind at any time I don't take the car over about 80 mph and that was only for a second. My last car was the 06 Evo RS with a TBE, LICP and works drop in. This car is now feels ( to me )every bit as fast as that was with just this flash, added weight and all, and we are talking the 300 lbs heavier the car is from the GSR, plus the what? 100-150 lbs lighter that the RS was, so with a 400 lb lighter car I am having the same results.

Without having tried other tuning options I cannot speak from experience when it comes to comparing. I can say however that just the little bit of driving I have done has told me that I made the right choice. The set-up is SUPER easy, I already had good experiences with asking Rob questions before I ordered and he always responded quickly, the car has responded phenomenally to the flash. Yes, there are tuners you can go to and get a lot more power from, then again I can do that with this too with a protuner, but until then I can flash to stage 1, flash to fuel econ mode when I want to save some gas, flash back to stock if I need to go to the dealer, disable the car if i'm in a bad part of town, cut the rpm's to 4500 in valet mode if someone else has to drive my car such as a shop where they may tend to want to see what your car's got... all of these tools make the AP a safe, reliable, fun, easy to use little piece of equipment. I must say i'm happy with it. I look forward to later on getting an exhaust and such and moving to the stage 2 map.

I will also be trying the fuel econ mode and letting everyone know what differences I see, since I myself had asked about it and have seen others ask the same thing.

So far on stock set-up driving from my sisters house to home I got 25.2 mpg combined. That so far was my best

I again drove to the same place last week and got 23.6 mpg, but did a bit more city driving, this was also there and back. I just thought I would make a record of this now in case I forget lol.

Hope this helps someone else make their decision, I think anyone would be happy with it. More to come later!

 

Nah, I've never wanted more than what I got when I purchased the car stock! After 1 1/2 years of ownership all I've done was buy summer tires and rims! If you do feel as though you've become stalemate with the EVO's stock power just jump into someone else's base econobox and drive around for a couple of hours! Once your back in the EVO it's like Christmas morning all over again!

BTW I hardly experience any turbo lag, however I own the GSR not MR =)

 

^ haha i envy...if I thought like you I would've saved myself thousands of dollars

 

I know what 500whp feels like. CRAZY FAST on streets!

This would be my ideal power range.

 

off the shelf stage one from what i read on cobb's site gives like 15-17% hp increase over stock. so we're looking at FQ330 territory? hope the MR SST can handle itself.

 

very cool. did you get any 0-60 times before and after? just curious to see if the tune actually makes that car faster in a straight line or not.

 

I enjoyed your video, the exhaust systems sounds very nice!

 

The "turbo lag" you could be experiencing is possibly the transmission downshifting if you are in normal auto mode.

Try manually shifting the car with the paddles or stick and you will experience a much more responsive throttle, especially in sport or super sport modes.

I run stage2 on my MR and manual shift 24/7.