Hey guys... some of you may know my username from my big SEMA, TX2K, racing and tuning threads on Bimmerpost and Instagram and well now I'm on NAM because of my wife's Countryman S

I'd consider myself somewhat of a gear head with a bit of knowledge on tuning cars. My last BMW 2 series was full bolt on E85, blew the motor once and had 4 different tunes, (AFE scorcher module, JB4 stage 1, Jb4 stage 2 and stage 3+ GSR techniq ecu reflash) http://www.2addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1201454

Been debating on pulling the trigger on a tune for the countryman S for a few weeks now and I finally ordered the stage 1 and stage 3 race chip tunes. Went with Race Chip because it's simple installation and I've seen many forum members have this but never saw a solid review or dyno sheets or drag strip times.

Package arrived last Monday 08/29 and I wasted no time in installing the stage 1. Packaging is very nice and professional.









Installation was quick as it only connects to 2 sensors




Second sensor is located underneath the airbox on the intake manifold and can easy be accessed after removing the 1 torx screw that holds down the airbox and pulling the airbox up.

Complete installation took no more than 5 minutes.




Zip tied it into place and I was all done.

First impressions of the stage 1... It works great! Drives super smooth around town, power is delivered stock like with no drive ability issues or jerkiness. The wifey drove the car and noticed that it felt quicker and had faster acceleration (she's not a car girl).

Gas mileage... I didn't notice any gains or decrease in gas mileage. Race chip claims an increase in gas mileage but that is not something I care about.
Drove around back and forth to work for 3 days and it was great with no issues at all.

I would totally say it was worth the $250!

 

After the 3rd day I swapped out the stage 1 for the stage 3. Installation was quick and straight forward as it uses the same sensors as stage 1. The harnesses are different as the end plug that mates to the little tuning box are different between the stages.

Being the curious person that I am... I opened up the unit to see what was inside and this is what I found:



Race Chip instructions do state that if you'd like to fine tune the stage 3 you can do so by turning the dial on the pink **** in the lower left hand corner





I have not messed with it nor do I plan on messing with it as the car is driving great.

Initial thoughts on the first drive: Car felt way faster than stage 1, torque felt way more than stage 1, it even let me do a bit of a burn out on full acceleration off the line. Drives great around town with no drivetrain or check engine light issues. The wifey drove this one too right after I installed the tune and she too noticed it was faster than stage 1.

On Friday 9/2 I took the countryman on the roadtrip from So Cal to Phoenix Az and back and the car behaved great. I actually did not notice any decrease in gas mileage. It was about 114 degrees out there and the car felt quick as if was unaffected by the heat.

Overall I am happy with the stage 3 and I'd say it was worth the $550.

I'll be getting the car dynod with the stage 3 this coming Monday on 9/12 to see what the real numbers are.

Quick run down of the HP and Tq gains as advertised by Race Chip:

Stage 1 39 hp and 38 tq
Stage 2 44 hp and 47tq
stage 3 54hp and 57tq

Just a heads up... the car is completely stock besides the Race Chip tune. I do plan on doing a c@tless downpipe and intake system once I get a base line dyno with and without the tune.

Feel free to ask any questions

 

Dyno is scheduled for Monday morning

 

Trying to get the Burger tuner to work in my 2016 Countryman. So far two consecutive Burgers have been bad out of the box. Maybe look at this chip if Burger doesnt work out. Cant see the different stages on their website? Help?

 

Are you in Cali? You're more than welcome to try out my stage 1 to see if it works on your car.

 

Having trouble with JB+ is very very strange and rare. I'm curious what the little black box looks like and who you purchased it from.
For just a little more, we can put a real ECU flash on your CM. The others more power, more safety and its indictable
Here is a video of my CM going from 55mph to 114mph on a stage 2. The CM was painfully slow when it was stock :(

mQubed Motorsport, Manic Tuning Dealer

 

Is the stage 3 you're talking about the Racechip ultimate?
I have the JB+ now on the car and a Racechip ultimate sitting in my basement. Guess I'll have to install it and see the difference. Thanks for the write up and looking forward to seeing the dyno numbers

 

How did the dyno run go

 

That is correct I have the basic race chip being stage 1 and the race chip ultimate (stage 3)

Dynod once on Monday at European auto source in Anaheim and Tuesday I dynod at autowave in Huntington Beach.

I am currently back at EAS right now doing another dyno as I thought the first set of numbers were innacurate. Sent that info over to race chip and they sent me some details on where the little dials should be positioned within the tune box.

I've got video clips and pics and all the data. Will be posting that up sometime before Friday.

 

Looking forward to seeing your dynos. Did you happen to do a few stock pulls? I love having my ALL4, but not too many AWD dynos near me

mQubed Motorsport, Manic Tuning Dealer

 

Yessir I've done stock pulls on both dynos.

Good thing is I'm fwd plus there are tons of dyno shops in my SoCal area

 

Car looks great pal, what are the wheel and tyre size, i have just ordered Team Dynamics in gloss anthracite 8.5 x 19 et40 for rear and et45 for front, sticking 235 x 40 x 19 tyres.

 

Appreciate the testing info, just wondering why you bought two versions and are doing all this? Your average owner doesn't do this. Are you in the car biz?

 

You caught me!

Yeah I work in the aftermarket parts biz, I do it for fun and I like sharing this info on the forums so others can see what really works and what doesn't. I tend to do this and give reviews on all of the products I get hooked up with so heck why not share the info

 

Thanks for the love! These are VMR V721 19x8.5 et35 all around with 235/35/19

 

Well guys... final results are in. I feel bad posting them but it is what it is at this point.

Bottom line, the car made no more power than stock

Red is stock
Blue is stage 1
Green is stage 3

 

That's disappointing, do you think the RC just made the throttle more responsive, so it felt faster?
Thank you for posting the results, I know it wasn't a cheap and it took a lot of your time.
Mario

mQubed Motorsport, Manic Tuning Dealer

 

Mariokart... if you see the dyno sheet you can see the slight difference in tq between stock, stage 1 and 3. I'm assuming that is why the Race Chip butt dyno feels faster than stock?

 

I did notice the HP and TQ jump up a little faster. I will be in your area in a couple weeks, if you wanted to drive my CM

mQubed Motorsport, Manic Tuning Dealer

 

Yeah I'd like to check out what real hp feels like.
Shoot me a text whenever you're in town (951) 623-3140
Most of the day I'm at the office in Los Alamitos which isn't to too far from Downey.

 

Don't feel bad. I really appreciate seeing information like this. You just saved a bunch of people hundreds of dollars.

The thing to remember with things like this is that they aren't tuning the car, they are fooling the car. And in this case, I guess your CM wasn't really fooled.

For the same price (or less!) you could mail in your ECU and get a Manic stage 1 or 2 and then you have a remapped ECU with increased boost that is properly accounted for. And for a little extra, you get a switch to change the tune on the fly.

It's one thing to make small gains for small money, but the racechip isn't small money compared to better options.

E46M3LOL, it's a bummer that you didn't see real gains. At least both tunes did bump up the low end torque and top end a bit. That's worth something, right?

y8s

 

Race Chips will be shipped back...

Anyone have a JB+ I can test out for 1 day? lol

 

Here is my Countryman with a tune. 55mph to 114mph. x_l=0&x_locale=en_US

 

Im literally having the JB+ installed today. REALLY interested to see what your results are.

 

Are you doing a before and after dyno?