Just curious has anyone compared performance of an MCS w/ a JCW tune to a MCS w/ just the Dinan Elite?

 

Welcome to the forum. NC mountains huh? Are you going to next years MOTD?

 

just for some price comparison, Bytetronik is offering a $725 special (hopefully still there since it was black friday) for a true tune (not a piggy back) which is cheaper than getting the elite.

or is the only reason you're paying a premium is to continue to have warranty? i've been on my bytetronik tune since i'd say July/August with great results. improved my top speed at the track compared to my JB4 from 123MPH to 129MPH.

 

We have to send our ECU in if we go this route, dont we?

 

Yep.

 

boo

 

Okay, so today I had a morning appointment down the Coast in Newport Beach, CA. About a 15 mile run down Pacific Coast Hwy through Huntington Beach then up a nice little twisty hill to my destination.

Typical Southern California Winter morning. 68 degrees and sunny. Catalina Island in full view 26 miles out to sea. Usual drill would be to fire up the old V-12 Jag, put the top down, crank up the seat heater, and cruise on down the coast.

But today I took the MINI. In Sport mode with the auto tranny in sport/manual mode.

Traffic was very light. The maximum speed through the Bolsa Chica wetlands stretch is a whopping 60MPH. Go over 65 and it's a ticket for sure, so it becomes all about getting from zero to 60 and then downshifting for the red lights, then hitting it hard and going through a few gears using the paddles to get back up to speed when the light changes just ahead of you. And leaving the lumbering SUVs in your rear view mirror as you pull away, much faster than the other drivers imagine a MINI will go.

Enter the Dinan Sport Tuner. It must have known I was considering forsaking it for the Elite. Don't know if it was the mild air temp or being at dead sea level, or if, as I suspect, the car knew this was a test.

The long story would be me bragging about how friggin' wonderful it was to cruise down past the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, through Sunset Beach and then Surf City USA on a clear sunny winter's day in my MINI, while the rest of the world was elsewhere doing important things, like work.

Short version is the car hauled, and purred, and roared, and burbbled on downshifts and generally pulled like the dickens and did not stumble or hesitate in any way shape or form.

Trying to imagine how, given the way I drive, the Elite could do much more for me.

And I learned that keeping the car in Sport mode and keeping the tranny in sport smooths out the little bit of rough edge I have noticed with the Dinan.

I've got to believe the Sport settings, especially on the 8-speed sport automatic Clubman S All4, change fueling and timing and whatnot in ways that really are more in sync with what the tuning box is telling the engine to do.

Also, around town my usual driving style is more subdued due to traffic and idiots and not wanting to toss my wife around too much. I've got to remember to use Sport settings all... the... time!

Bottom line. The car, with the Dinan Sport, wants to be flogged a bit. And when it is flogged, it really delivers nicely.

I'd love to make the same run up and back with the Elite just to see. But it's hard to imagine how it could be better. I got to 60 so fast, and the car was begging for more.

 

You need to do this in the mountains with the elite. lol Play this in the background.

 

When I was stationed on the central coast and my GF lived in Santa Monica I made the commute every weekend. I would always get off 101 in Oxnard and take PCH all the way to SM. Loved the stretch from 101 to Malibu. One of the few things I miss about CA. I imagine even that stretch of road has changed a lot since the early 80's though.

 

We used to think nothing of bombing up 101 to have lunch in Montecito, or eat pastries in Solvang and then head home, taking Route 1 from Oxnard through Malibu and down through Venice. Now it would be unthinkable. Stop and go, mostly stop, on the 405, 101, and PCH is a parking lot up through Malibu.

Plus, no more hippie chick hitch hikers. Just lots of Caddy Escalades with deep tinted windows and 22 inch fancy wheels with stereos going thump, thump, thump while we all sit in traffic.

 

Man, I am getting old.

Think I'll keep my Sport tuner instead of springing for the Elite. I'll use the extra money I save to buy drugs, like Viagra or something useful.

 

Just make sure you dont shift the wrong shifter if you are all hopped up on Viagra

 

lol.

Sadly, there is no mistaking the tall, straight, solid shifter on my MINI for ... the other. Ahh youth......

 

yeah, it's not a big deal. taking the ecu out of the car takes all of 10 minutes.

 

Yeah, it's the not having a functioning car for 3 days though

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ni-jcw-gp.html

If you don't do mods, race/track the car, I can't think of a really great reason to pull your ECU, risk warranty issues, loss of ECU and car down time for it. For most street MINI drivers the Elite will be more than sufficient IMO.

And then the entire point of this thread was Dinan Elite vs. Dinan Sport not should we be doing an ECU tune.

 

the first post was about seeing other gettings tunes, so i was giving my perspective, but if it's bothering you so much, i'll see my way out.

 

It's a free site, you can post whatever you want wherever you want. Just seems like you are pitching Bytetronik pretty hard. I don't run the thread, so not up to me.

 

From the first post:
So, staying within the Dinan world, for those who have had experience running the Dinan Sport in their cars and have upgraded to the Dinan Elite, please report the specific differences/improvements/issues you have thus far experienced. 'Splain why, exactly, you shelled out the extra bucks for the Elite, after having run the Sport.

Lets try to keep it civil folks. Marco makes a good point that a piggyback will never equal an ECU tune, and he's right. But this particular thread is about the differences between a single input Dinan/NM vs the Dinan Elite.

 

Well, I started this with a primary interest in understanding what people feel they are gaining by upgrading from a single input to something like the Elite.

I enjoyed reading what Marco Polo has pointed out about the relative cost for an ECU flash.

Of course, this brings up the thing about the constant updates that MINI is doing and how that erases whatever coding one has done (another entire topic of the various coding options and approaches).

I hope we can all agree that a full on ECU tune is the most comprehensive solution.

But, from what I'm understanding, the Elite, and perhaps some other European plug-ins, come darned close and do work around the challenge of factory software updates.

And, those of us in plug-n-play world don't get involved in ECU removal, which, despite the speed and ease of it, can, indeed, open warranty worm cans.

So, let's keep hearing from those who are forking over for Elites, as some of us really are interested in the specific differences/improvements/drawbacks real users we trust are experiencing.

BTW, this afternoon I was all excited to show my wife that the Dinan Sport, with the car in sport mode and the tranny in sport, was all smooth and seamless.

First thing she says is, "Do you feel that little hiccup when the car is first accelerating? I just did." She who knows and sees all. And, yes, the hiccup was definitely there, no matter how much I wanted it not to be.

 

Game over, might as well order it as even Sisyphus can't roll that rock back up the mountain. (Junior HS taught me something)

 

What can I say???? Waiting reliable reporting from Minnie the Moocher, who, in addition to being a student of Greek tragedy, will also be a reliable and completely objective reporter.

 

Guess I'd better cancel that Viagra order....

 

I was impressed at Minnie's patience in pulling the
trigger on The Elite. I believe it totaled about 3 1/2
minutes.

 

Well, he's a student of ancient Greek literature and thus takes a long and deep view of things.