NRGz

Note: Due to messages I am receiving about this Ecutek eTune,I have decided to clean up the first post and put more of a personal review. I will include here;
Short introduction
First base tune review
First base tune REVIEW UPDATE.
-- 6 months later. Datalogging

DYNO #'s or any #'s ARE NOT PRESENT IN THIS REVIEW AS THIS IS A eTUNE Please read around the Tuning section to find out more about other individual mods and/or dyno#s associated with the mods. Again, I want to clarify that every tuner is different! This is just my personal review with EcuTek and Sebastian@SZ.

I had the chance to get the off-the-shelf base from Seb @ Specialty Z.
We have sent emails back and fourth to each other for a bit as I had a handful of questions about Ecutek; and surprisingly he had no problems answering my questions in detail.
His response time were out if my expectations. I would normally get emails back or even my new tunes in the afterhours.
After viewing UPREV v ECUTEK for a bit, I had decided to go with Ecutek per reviews as well as SZ carrying them w/ the option of etunes/datalog.

Ordered Thursday night; shipped on Friday. Recieved by Monday afternoon. Mind you, I believe SpecialtyZ is located in Los Angeles.

I picked up the package ASAP and was able to get my ECU# quickly and had sent it to Seb @ 5 or 6pm. Woke up to an email from him @ 10am with my stock and base tune and manage to throw the tune on the same day.
After flashing and transferring the map, some clunking is heard.. during your flash, the program will tell you to turn the ignition on and off..
He had supplied me with two maps; one for hotter weather [MAP A], one for a colder weather [MAP B], and of course, a valet map.
I had figured a tune is better than no tune at all.

--- First base tune review -- MODS: Stillen G3, Custom 2.5in Exhaust (This exhaust looked very familiar to fast intentions exhaust w/ the 12 inch resonators.)
Applies to both maps: Fan kicks on earlier. Throttle sensitivity. Idles are higher. Traction control (racerom?) settings. Buttdyno says yes to power.
MAP A: This map is for hotter weather. I can feel a difference in everything; hands down. Its smooth- but didnt feel like it put the UMPH in as in MAP B.
MAP B: This map is for colder weather. I feel like this one made a little more power than Map A.
Valet: N/A I have not touched this setting.

Throttle - Its more touchy. It almost feels like a crotchrocket's throttle. It didnt take much for the car to respond; sometimes i feel like its a little too much from trying to go from a stop or a slow.
Power - Again, my butt says yes. My tach also says yes. I can see the RPM climb faster than stock on third and fourth gear.
Sound - I dont know if many if you can hear a difference but it sounds like I have lost some sound from my Stillen G3's sucking in air. Possibly the tune fixed up the A/F?. I use to be able to hear the air/wind go through the Stillen piping, now it sounds a little dumbed down. But exhaust has a slightly more bass to it. Placebo?

End of base tune review:
After about half a year on the base tune I decided to go with the datalogging option. Summary of why is explained below.

MAP A Again. Its smoother than Map B. Felt a little underpowered in both colder weather and hotter weather compared to Map B. I did feel like I saved some gas though. [Ran this map probably 75% of the time]

MAP B Opposite of Map A. Map B felt rough. I tried to run it on both colder and hotter weather. Again, this one felt more "rough". Idle is a bit higher. Shifting points were higher in the RPM on AT MODE. More power than Map A. Shifting felt a little hard (due to increase of power?) I only ran Map B during the special drives- but never driven on this map on over 100 degrees. If I can recall, maps were based on temperature of 90 degrees and above, or lower. (HOT & COLD)

---Datalogging Feb 2017---- Current mods; stillen g3, NOW ARK GRIP Exhaust

I contacted Seb @ SZ again, It has been about 5-6 months since my base tune. He was very quick (still) to answering all my questions through email. Turnaround time has been below 24 hours. No major changes to my mods other than an ARK exhaust v Custom. I have decided to go ahead and do the datalog as I thought I was going to throw more power on there. Plans have changed and I have decided to keep my current mods for now.

I did some logs on the base tune and sent it in. Received my first Datalogging flash within the same day if I can recall. Sent in morning. Received by end of day. I have only driven Map A currently as this is my HOT map. We (are) currently only doing one map at a time..I have asked him to turn down the throttle a little bit. Everyone that had tried to drive the Z isnt trying anymore due to complaints of the car being too touchy.. which is good. But I was still barely getting used to it after this long as well, so he turned it down a notch. Now new throttle is something I like!

Flash #1 Difference instantaneously. I felt the difference for sure. EVERYTHING IS SOOOOOO MUCH SMOOTHER NOW! Throttle is on point for me. I love it. Power wise? As stated above its alot more smoother throughout the RPMS. Not only is it smoother, it felt like more power has been unlocked! It feels ALOT more better on power than MAP B on my BASE TUNE.

I dont know what else to say. This is still ongoing as of Feb 2017. I will update again at the end of our datalog or per flash.




For those who will go ahead and skip everything.. I'll leave a tl;dr here.
If you can cash out on the datalogging option. I say do it! I almost regret not doing it in the first place. If your mods are done, I would go straight to the datalogging if you are not near a Dyno. OR if you have little to no mods, in my opinion, THE BASE TUNE ITSELF felt worth my money.. until I datalogged.