Perrin Stage I tune review
 

so I have 926 miles on the car and I can't stand it anymore, I decided to finally flash the car with the Perrin stage I 93oct tune purchased a few weeks ago. I've been breaking the car in carefully, I was easy on the car for the first 500mi and from there I'v been slowly increasing the revs but gentle on the clutch.


I haven't seen alot of comments/reviews on the Perrin flash so I wanted to provide some color for others. I've been modifying cars for about 10 years (alot of RX7s and RX8's so this isn't my first rodeo in terms of tuning ECUs) and I've even created base maps for cars with Megasquirt so I have some familiarity with what to look for in a good tune.

As this is my first boxer engine I chose Perrin due to their reputation and experience with the car and ECUtek. To be honest, I wasn't looking for the last HP or running the car on the ragged edge, I was looking for a safe tune that gave me the performance increase with peace of mind.

Install:

was a simple as Jeff's blog, just make sure everything is plugged in tight, takes about two minutes to write the ROM to the ECU. I do have the Perrin filter on the car which should be representative of other air filters on the market with a tune.

Startup:

Started up just as the car would normally, no hiccups, studders, fuel guage problems or idle wander. I let the car warm up a bit then took it out for a drive.

20 mile drive - Various Conditions:

I was a little concerned about what the "lazy pedal" would feel like but to be honest, I didn't notice to much in the way of laggy throttle even as I first drove away from the house. I ran the car in a variety of conditions, street driving, neighborhood driving, feeder road cruising, and highway driving at 70+mph, all without issue. I revved it up to a around 6k a couple of times and didn't notice any issues or see any unusual readings on my Scan Guage II.

Car is still not showing "Ready" on the Scan Guage so even after stoping and starting the car about 4 times during the 20 miles I still have some drive cycles to go for the ECU to relearn.

Performance Impressions:

Ok, so the car drives and feels like stock(stable idle, smooth acceleration, no issues with A/C turned on, no deceleration issues) but what about the extra performance? I didn't take the car up to 8,000 rpm yet, going to wait a bit longer and do a few more test drives but the car did feel more responsive in the mid range and had a bit more pull when cruising at 70 in 6th gear

The map select feature is really neat and I'm glad it remembers what map you select so you don't have to constantly select the stage 4 map with all the cool features like auto blip, launch control etc...

I wasn't able to get the autoblip to work at relatively low RPMs but that could be that its not needed if the revs are below 4,000 so its not active. I need to play with this feature a bit more.

I'm going to update this section with more comments over the next few days as I continue to test the car and get it past its learning period. i will also dyno the car in the not to distant future.

I'm impressed thus far with the stability and smoothness of the tune, Perrin really spent some time dialing the tune in and keeping the car feeling like stock while offering additional performance and features.

Stay tuned.....

I've got a tune from Perrin as well, but mine definitely does not remember the map I selected - how'd you get that? I thought the ECU itself was not capable of saving that through a restart and we would need some additional third-party hardware to make that happen.

I turned the car off turned it back on held back the cruise stick and it immediately went to 4,000 so I assumed it held the stage four map.

It will hold the map your on if you restart the car right away. After the car sits a while though it goes back to map 1.

I would like perrin to develop an Eco map for long trips that would eek out a bit more mileage but running ultra lean during cruise. Not going to be emissions friendly but would be nice to get another mile or two per gallon.

Update 1:

So its been about two weeks with the flash, still enjoying the extra power and smoothness. The temps have dropped but that doesn't seem to have messed with the tune as it appears to have adjusted without issue.

The car definitely pulls harder after 5,000 rpm and I haven't noticed any appreciable difference in fuel economy. I'll monitor my next tank just too see a true before and after.

The only issue, and I'm not even sure it is an issue, is that when I decelerate to a stop and the car is in neautral the rev's blip a bit as they fall under the 1,000 mark (around 800rpm) back to around 1,000 and then continue to slowly fall to idle. I can't feel this, its just something I see on tack. doesn't happen when the car is in gear, and the car may have done this stock and I never noticed.

Overall, I'm very happy with the tune's stability, power and features. I can tell Perrin put alot of time into this product.

i'd email Jeff about that ^ issue (He might say its not one, but doesn't hurt to find out), but as far as the features, you need to let the pedal reset in order for them to work properly. Auto blip should work fine now if you give it a go.

stupid question......whats auto blip?

My car does this and I am on stock tune, the rev would fluctuate a bit when approaching a stop in N

it blip the gas automatically when you downshift (aka "Rev matching")

I did email Perrin and they said it was normal so not concerned about it

Seems like a lot of money for 10hp...

Launch control
Flat foot shifting

also revised rev limiter so you can hit 60 in 2nd gear.