I'm still debating if the Access port is worth the money, I want to buy it soon... can I get anyone's input? I'm worried more than anything on reliability at this point with the maps being so new. I don't have mods yet but... should I give this a chance? What if I had technical issues? From my understanding if someone who has the program Protuner, that shop can make me a map to upload on my Access port to flash my ECU and I'll be good to go on my current set up, is that correct?

 

Getting a custom map now would be a waste of money (unless you're rich) if you plan on modifying the car down the road. The map would be worthless once you did anything else to the car.

Whether the AP is worth it or not, that all depends. If you don't need to worry about different octane maps, or the Live Data stuff, etc., a mail-in flash is a lot cheaper. And you don't need an AP to get a custom tune from somebody. They just flash your ecu directly.

I don't know if that helps.

 

In terms of the AP being worth it...I guess that depends....for me it is worth it.

I'm not too sure why getting a custom tune would be a waste of money...unless your car is not modded at all...if that is the case then yes why get a custom tune when COBB has a great stage 1 map already loaded on it.

I think the AP is great....I use the live data stuff everyday...usually leaving the AP set to view the knock sum....I haven't had to use it to view any codes yet...but I'm sure that will come in handy later on down the road.

I am going to get a custom tune soon myself....then next year I'll add cams hopefully...and at that time I'll want a race gas tune as well...then the whole switch maps on the fly thing will be worthwhile more to me.

IMO if you got the cash, I think the AP is worth the $$

 

CPA5,
He said his car isn't modded yet, so IMO he'd be throwing money out the window because once he adds an exhaust or whatever, that custom tune is worthless.

Unless he needs map switching (the reason I bought it), He could just skip the AP and get a custom tune now and another one down the road after modding. The cost would be about the same. The AP isn't necessary to get a custom tune. I think he may think that.

As for the Live Data, I believe an evo scanner(?) does the same thing, but for a lot less money.

 

doesn't the AP comes with 4 maps out of the box? 2 Stage 1 and 2 Stage 2 (1 for 93 and other for 91 octane).

If so, what does each stages support (mods wise)?

 

Right now (and who knows if it will change) a TBE and a Cobb intake are the only mods they have maps for.

 

Okay...I agree if he is stock....then why get a custom tune thru the AP.....open source would definitely suit that better....but he could use the AP just for the stage 1 flash.....I'd recommend that if you were definitely going to do more later and take advantage for more mods/switch on the fly stuff......anywho....

either way it is hard to convince most people that $695 is definitely worth it until they see it in person....once I saw a Subie AP in person I was impressed

 

Same here, my boy has an AP on his Subie and I was hooked. I didn't mind paying 700 bucks for it even though I could have saved more money using something else. Its just like buying a ralliart lip, you can get the same exact thing from another company for half the price. Your just buying the name brand, and people still buy the ralliart lip just because they want to.

 

Well guys, that's the thing, I want to be able to run w/e parts I have and run a machine that's reliable. The AP seems to hinder the ability for versatility. Designed for you to buy Cobb parts and tune your car with a switch of the thumb like an Ipod and still "hide" breaking the warranty. WHICH BTW, is pointless because a ECU male flash is just as realiable etc. The only convience you get is the ability to switch between stock and tuned... wth, so pointless... You can't "hide" breaking your warranty, that's a misnomer. Let me hide my Cobb Intake and Exhaust while I get my car maintanenced by the Factory... *rollseyes* Guess I should go with AEM EMS or something?

 

ECUFlash/EvoScan are the only worthwhile alternatives. To decide whether the AP is worth it, I think its necessary to learn a bit about how ECUFlash and EvoScan are used to tune a car and what features these tuning tools offer. The place to go to learn about these tools is the ECUFlash forum.

 

You can get a mail-in flash. Dynoflash (for example) has done thousands of Evo's so your worry of reliability is diminished. It's cheaper than an AP, as long as you don't keep changing mods. You'll have a couple of days down time with a mail-in flash though in case you only have one car. Or go with mrfred's suggestion.

On your map switching point, it's not really pointless. Aside from hiding the fact you flashed the ecu (having a TBE and intake are minor compared to that) as far as warranty, in my case I have 93 octane available in town, but if I travel elsewhere, 91/92 are almost always the highest octanes available. With my first Evo I had to go with a 91 octane flash because of that. Now I don't.

 

CDO---"On your map switching point, it's not really pointless. Aside from hiding the fact you flashed the ecu (having a TBE and intake are minor compared to that) as far as warranty, in my case I have 93 octane available in town, but if I travel elsewhere, 91/92 are almost always the highest octanes available. With my first Evo I had to go with a 91 octane flash because of that. Now I don't."

Very good point

 

HINDER ABILITY FOR VERSATILITY.........what does that mean? So far who has been hindered? There are allot of AP users now and only 1 or 2 cases of glitches. One of those glitches COBB just made a simple oversite on and was fixed within days of a report. The other 1 or 2 cases of odd stuff seems to only be geared around 1 or 2 cars.....not EVERY car.

Nothing is designed for COBB parts except their intake......and remember they have to make the base maps safe for every car......the easy way to accomplish that is limit the base maps to only a few mods. You can use any TBE....but the different intakes (ask anyone) can reap many problems if not custom tuned for that specific application. So COBB tested their own intake and included that as a safe point in the base map. If all someone wants is a base flash the COBB flash is excellent. I benefited on the stage 2 91oct map allot....on a Mustang Dyno the car hit 288wtq (peak) and 285 whp (peak)......a friend of mine with a IX RS and basically the same mods with a custom Dyno tune hit (Mustang Dyno) 295 whp and 290 wtq (give or take 1 or 2 on each as my memory is not perfect)......so the COBB base flash to me is pretty darn good.

As far as the AP hiding the flash and keeping your warranty....flash it back to stock....but we all know, as you said, that most dealers won't honor the warranty regardless what mods are done.....so past a certain point your warranty is gone anyways. But at least with AP you can get the stock readings back and give it a try (not to say you can't do that ECUflash)....but with a mail in flash you can't just get back to stock without other hassles and time.

If you went with an AEM EMS then I would assume you're planning on taking the car well past what the stock ECU would handle and then why would you ever consider a AP anyway?

 

Both glitches were on my car Just my luck.

 

Good point about the usage of possible hard to find octain levels CDO. The base maps again, are what attracted me to the AP to begin with however glitches caused a concern. What I mean by hindering versatility is the lack of being able to have different parts other than Cobb's. I suppose the ability to flash your ECU over and over again for $695 is cool... for that amount however you could have hired a tuner to get you the maps your really looking for, but that's just in labor alone. I guess it just depends on your lifestyle as well... I don't plan on going beyond what stock ecu can handle, I just need to have access to the different maps that I'll need with the different parts other than cobb's that I'll have. That's pretty much it, and I'm told that it takes super cash to get someone with ProTuner to do it... so still not so sure.