Looking at getting a unichip but I'm quite Leary as I haven't read anything great about it. My instinct tells me there's a reason for that. I would rather have a tune but I have no idea where my mods are going to end. Is it worth getting if I
can get one for under $200 or should I just keep the money for a better mod?

 

Remember...
A unichip still must be programmed (usually on a dyno) for you mods...
Most folks just use what is on it if the prior owners mods were "close enough" ...
My suggestion, save your $$.

 

Back in 2006 I bought a Unichip supposedly programed for my cars mods. Made my car ping like crazy, off it came & was sold on to another who promptly removed it too. Back in the early MINI days it was the only game in town. Now there are good tunes to me had. I don't have a tune, but everyone I know swears by RMW. Save your money & get a decent tune.

 

RMW usually goes to Helix in Philly once a year. Save your money drive down there when they come. You can get the tune adjusted as you install your mods.

 

Yea that's gonna be my best bet, thanks for confirming my suspicions.

 

We nicknamed it the Useless Chip for a reason. Don't waste your money.

We offer a basic quicktune as low as $250 that you will actually see and feel giving you a nice gain for not big money. Later after you've finish modifying your MINI then go for a full dyno tune.

 

Can't believe I haven't come across this option yet, this has definitely peaked my interest. How long would my car be out of commission with this option?

 

Whatever shipping time plus our 24hr turn around on shipping it back.

We've dyno tested unichips and the current record stands at 17hp gain from just REMOVING it while the car was on the dyno and not changing anything.

 

Which, in essence, is the same thing as an "Off The Shelf" tune from "Useless Chip". Unless you're logging ECU parameters and making iterative changes as you go, this is no better. The only advantage is that you're flashing rather than intercepting and altering as a piggyback does, which is generally seen as unreliable, even though I've used and tuned Emanage Blue, Ultimate, Split Second FTC, Apexi SSAFC, etc, and had good results.

If you are in fact logging or having the customer log runs somehow, then tweaking the tune, forgive the assumption.