TLDR: Desmond at Performance Destination is a fast-talking sleazy used-car salesman type of guy that will scam you out of your hard earned money and make your car run worse than ever. I brought my newly acquired evo 9 to him to have a fresh tune on it, but Desmond at PD created idling issues, the car threw codes and he blamed the car/me. He never tried to help, wouldn't retune it, wouldn't send me the original or new tune files so I could go back to how it was before leaving me with a broken car that didn't run compared to having a car that ran well when I brought it in. However, don't take my word for it, go to your local jdm car meet, talk to some evo owners, if you're in or around the SouthEast I guarantee you'll hear similar stories from folks with bad experiences.

I hate to leave a negative review for a small business, especially a business that attempts to support car enthusiasts and the Mitsubishi/DSM community. I'm 38 so not a young teen who is immaturely angry at a shop. I give a LOT of patience and leeway because I want to give people the benefit of the doubt, 2nd chances, 3rd chances, etc. I want people and businesses who support the car hobby and the cars I'm into to succeed. This is the first time I'm ever leaving a car related small business with a bad review but what happened was so bad I don't want other people to be victimized by this scam artist.

I bought a Evo 9 in April 2025. Drove it across the country from Wisconsin to FL, no issues. I did want to get a fresh tune on it once home to ensure it has an updated conservative tune that prioritized reliability, smoothness, drivability, and I wanted to make it as close to stock power levels as possible. I did NOT want more power, more boost, or any increase in performance and I shared that with Desmond when making the tune appointment.

The day of the tuning session, I showed up at 11:05am to a small business park and saw a dirty/unkept 'shop'. Desmond was working on someone else's car and he didn't start on my car until about 1pm. My appointment was at 11am, this is on a hot summer FL day, his 'shop' doesn't have an air conditioned waiting room and now I'm waiting for 2 hours for no reason. Not the best start.

He spent 2-3 hours doing whatever he did, he walked me over to a TV with a dyno chart displayed, and said he increased the boost and made more power to 375whp. He didn't and would not disclose the boost I was at, anything around other metrics or parameters he changed, mivec, ignition, no info at all. He said due to proprietary business reasons he never shares information related to the tune, he doesn't send any follow up information, basically he did his job, the car is 'tuned', and that's all I need to know. So there I am, left with 0 knowledge about what transpired, the state of my car, but before I process that he tells me to go around the block for a quick test drive together, tells me to say a lot of positive things about the tune to his camera phone which he now pulled out and is recording. Then he starts forcefully 'asking' me to leave him a good review online. Very, very awkward predicament when I'm alone in not in a good area and not a local to Orlando, FL.

That's why and how I think he appears to have good reviews online but it's all a facade. He coerces you into leaving him a good review but then if you ever need any help he gets defensive, blames you, blames your car, and it's your problem because he thinks he is the GOD of tuning. Like I said above though, don't take my word for it. Find other Evo owners in the community and ask them yourself, you you'll be saving yourself thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars in preventing damage he'll do to your car.

 

Quick follow-up, Desmond just sent me a text threatening legal action for posting my honest experience and review. Screenshot attached. Truly fantastic customer service that you can expect by choosing "performance destination".

 

It’s unfortunate, the state of Evo affairs is soo bad now.
Very few shops do actual good work and tuning these days and seems every year there’s less and less. I’ve just decided to do everything I can myself, including my own tuning, because of all of this.

Maybe ask the seller if he kept a back up of the tune the car had?
Wish you the best luck my friend.

 

Good work and knowledge does seem hard to find. I actually sold the car so I'm not concerned with fixing it anymore. The car needs to be retuned badly and the buyer knew the whole story as well but I didn't have the time effort or patience to keep looking for and scheduling time and logistics towards shipping the car to another tuner. I waited a a few months to post a review because I wanted to wait until any anger or frustration I had towards PD was gone so I could be calm and objective when writing the review.

 

I keep hearing the same. A local bought an engine from PD and it only had one oring installed, but the block was machined for orings. Imagine his suprise when he dynoed it and has issues. PD seems to be sketchy as ****.

 

Its unfortunate that things like this happen. Ive been telling people for months he is not as great as social media makes him out to be. Please do not waste your time money . After months of serching ive decided to tune with Ishortytech in Kissimmee . He is a very good knowledgeable tuner and gives you what you want. Performance destination, unfortunately, is known for hurting engines . Check out Ishortytech on facebook again great guy great tuner

 

Seems to be common in 2025 with EVO tuners like Black E said. I had similar experiences in recent years and regret not teaching myself. Being close to 40 it's very hard to pull one over on another full grown adult. I did see PD was traveling to tune so probably exhausted the local region. Social media gimmicks only get so far.

 

If you're in Wisconsin, boostin is next door in Illinois. Would have saved you a long drive and tons of time. Sorry to hear

 

I think I'm one of the fools who gave a shop several chances but later I realized that the community has given up on them a while back. the problems they gave me are just sickening and pure incompetence.
My new tuner/shop is better but still have episodes of incompetence lol. those damned entry level techs