I really do not think we are far apart on our opinions , believe it or not....

My driving used to take me all over the Uk 40K plus per year much in long motorway stretches and crawling around in traffic.

I totally agree that on the rare occasions you can ' drive' the car then there is an advantage but that is rare IMO.

I understand very well about power ( torque not BHP ) and in the cars I race that is all important but nowadays on the badly maintained , speed enforced , crowded rush hour roads any standard car does the job adequately if not excitingly.

jdubya wrote:

Whats best
A Blue fin remap or a rolling road remap for 30 quid more

Thats a very fair and accurate write up about the Bluefin.

I found the same when I had my old TD4 done, 6 1/2 years of hassle free motoring. I will for sure do my SD4 at some point this year. Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

Thanks Mav71.

One additional point i'd like to add, knowing what I now know.

If given the same choice (a forecourt with all manner of FL2's of about the same age etc and for around the same price) I would still buy a TD4 and a Superchips remap.

But that's also because I really don't know what the differences are between a TD4 and an SD4, apart from a chrome strip on the boot and the Bhp (remapped TD4?) boost. Having driven the Caffyns SD4 loan car a few times, aside from it being brand-spanking-new, pert-bottomed (DPF) FL2...and aside from a different layout of functions on the bloody steering wheel (that's a clue as to what I think of turning a steering wheel into a games controller), I really can't tell what an SD4 is that a remapped TD4 isn't.

>end rant... Whereabouts unknown stop going to follow stream until reach civilisation stop message ends

May I ask, does the installation of the Bluefin effect the manufacturers warranty? I have a new (2013) SD4 and am looking for better drivability not to bothered about outright speed.

All I can tell you is what the service guys told me. This is more or less what I was told.

If the car was involved in an accident and taken for further crash analysis, the remap would not be an issue because it is designed to work within the tolerances of the vehicle.

Here's some of what I think. Adding Bhp as per the Superchips remap, is not a reason to invalidate a warranty as it would not be a factor (accidental, mechanical failure or driver error) in the event of a crash. I would recommend that you give Superchips a call to discuss what they cover and what they advise. I found their answer to the question 'should I remove the remap prior to a service?' to be quite cagey but that could have been just the guy I spoke to. He told me to remove it and reinstall it post service. LR told me not to bother, so I didn't.

The thing is, Superchips are a programming firm, not a mechanical specialist, so their answers were more about their product than my car. How much Bhp, potential fuel efficiency increases etc. I think at the time that they were offering a money back guarantee but I can't recall much more than that. I have never had or heard of any issues arising as a result of their remap, so I'm in favour of it until LR offer such a thing. Merc Benz have Brabus tuning modules. I guess FL2s aren't high on their list due to their being discontinued at the end of this year.

The bottom line is, what you expect a remap will do for you. As always, there are many really awful remaps which don't take into account mechanical tolerances but they'll turn a car into a monster. I bought it because it almost entirely resolved the turbo lag. Personally, if I could choose a remap to do anything, it would be to remove turbo lag, smooth out gear changes and to increase fuel economy. Since I almost resolved the first with the remap, the second with taking some driving coaching and the last by adding two stroke oil on a regular basis, I'm fairly happy.

Please stay in touch and do ask any questions you have as I'll do my best to help. Whereabouts unknown stop going to follow stream until reach civilisation stop message ends

Kimosabi, just need to clear a few things up on the Td4/SD4 issue.

Your car being an 09 is not the 150bhp TD4. It is the original spec 160bhp TD4. This was the only Diesel engine available on Freelander 2 at the time.

In 2010 when the car was face lifted, and the chrome strip added to the rear, the engine line up changed. The diesels consisted of the 150bhp eD4 2wd, 150bhp TD4 and 190bhp TD4.

The 150bhp TD4 and 190bhp SD4 are mechanically identical, but have significant changes over the original 160bhp TD4 that you have.

The eD4 is mechanically the same but with smaller injectors.

Having driven a re-mapped 160 TD4 for 6 1/2 years and now own an SD4, the SD4 is far superior in most ways. Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

kimosabe wrote:

All I can tell you is what the service guys told me. This is more or less what I was told.

If the car was involved in an accident and taken for further crash analysis, the remap would not be an issue because it is designed to work within the tolerances of the vehicle.

Here's some of what I think. Adding Bhp as per the Superchips remap, is not a reason to invalidate a warranty as it would not be a factor (accidental, mechanical failure or driver error) in the event of a crash. I would recommend that you give Superchips a call to discuss what they cover and what they advise. I found their answer to the question 'should I remove the remap prior to a service?' to be quite cagey but that could have been just the guy I spoke to. He told me to remove it and reinstall it post service. LR told me not to bother, so I didn't.

The thing is, Superchips are a programming firm, not a mechanical specialist, so their answers were more about their product than my car. How much Bhp, potential fuel efficiency increases etc. I think at the time that they were offering a money back guarantee but I can't recall much more than that. I have never had or heard of any issues arising as a result of their remap, so I'm in favour of it until LR offer such a thing. Merc Benz have Brabus tuning modules. I guess FL2s aren't high on their list due to their being discontinued at the end of this year.

The bottom line is, what you expect a remap will do for you. As always, there are many really awful remaps which don't take into account mechanical tolerances but they'll turn a car into a monster. I bought it because it almost entirely resolved the turbo lag. Personally, if I could choose a remap to do anything, it would be to remove turbo lag, smooth out gear changes and to increase fuel economy. Since I almost resolved the first with the remap, the second with taking some driving coaching and the last by adding two stroke oil on a regular basis, I'm fairly happy.

Please stay in touch and do ask any questions you have as I'll do my best to help.

Be very careful in what you write here. It is not as black and white as you state.

A) An insurance company will 100% have something to say if you have a re-map and an accident investigation proves this, and you have not informed them. If you have informed your insurance company, then you have nothing to worry about from an insurance cover point of view.

B) Land Rover will turn down any warranty claim where the re-map could be proved to contribute to a component failure. They have done and will continue to do so. So to say LR are not bothered is not good info to pass to other members. They will and have investigated cars where re-maps have been installed and failures happen. The fact that a TD4 is running SD4 power is irrelevant as you are still taking the car beyond the original specification.

C) Superchips are more than a software firm. They have a team of engineers that look at the mechanical specifications of different cars so they can establish the specification of components before any tuning software is written. A classic example is the Golf GTi re-map. They offer approx 260bhp for a re-map of the Golf GTi, but 300bhp on the Golf GTi edition 30. This is because Superchips did their research and established that the edition 30 runs the same high spec engine as the Audi S3 so more can be safely extracted.

D) Brabus are an independent tuning company and underwrite their own warranty for their tuning packs. So if your Mercedes fails, Brabus pick up the bill and not Mercedes.

This is not a dig at what you are saying, but it can come across as being not an issue when it is. Other members that don't have this type of understanding of the tuning world could get the wrong information and end up in a mess.  Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

Budweiser wrote:

May I ask, does the installation of the Bluefin effect the manufacturers warranty? I have a new (2013) SD4 and am looking for better drivability not to bothered about outright speed.

Kimosabe

I do not want to set back into this thread as I have already made my point, but do suggest others take note of MAV71's comments .

However on the following point:

As for rolling road. Can't say as i've never had one. Lots of the people I have met from Advanced Driving forums like rolling roads instead of plug in remaps but that's mainly because they're geeks who like seeing red lines on charts and enjoy surgery being performed on their cars while they loiter in rainy car parks on Sunday afternoons.

This comment is totally and utterly stupid , ONLY a rolling road can accurately assess the performance of a car unless the engine is out and you use a Dynometer ( which is better for engine tuning )

Why do think every race/rally or performance car is setup using this equipment .

I am not advocating that everyone should go down that route, certainly not for a low powered SUV Freelander but do not dismiss rolling roads as being for 'geeks'

Just dropped back into this thread....is it still going? Dear me....

I think you've misunderstood Kimosabe's comment.

I read it as that for the general consumer (the ordinary man on the Clapham Omnibus), plug in remaps (as we are discussing here) offer a simple way to achieve superior driveability and performance. Something I agree with and have had first hand experience of, as I have pointed out before.

Sure - you COULD go down the rolling road remap route - but I agree with Kimosabe, this is for the hardcore "enthusiast/professional" (a.k.a. "geeks"!! ) who enjoy either drifting sideways through a forest on a Sunday afternoon, or like comparing exhaust tip sizes after a burn-out in a McD's car park...

Sure - you COULD go down the rolling road remap route - but I agree with Kimosabe, this is for the hardcore "enthusiast/professional" (a.k.a. "geeks"!! Laughing ) who enjoy either drifting sideways through a forest on a Sunday afternoon, or like comparing exhaust tip sizes after a burn-out in a McD's car park...


How do you think the guys that superchip or whatever test their remaps or do they just guess what is best ?

Exactly.

They are the professionals ("geeks") we are talking about.

What's your point?

My point is simple a remap on a Freelander is not worth the money in the real world of driving ( original point )

Secondly the only way to ensure a car is running to its best performance ( torque curve/Fuelling / etc ) is to test what you are doing . under load on a rolling road.

As an aside ( and I stand to be corrected here ) I do not think that you can access the diagnostics fully on a Freelander nor where you could plug in a Lamda sensor to monitor ( and adjust ) fuel ratios.

Perhaps someone could clarify that point.

I've driven both TD4 160bhp with and without a blufin remap fitted

the mpg was the same, the remap was more perky when driving, and had less turbo lag

the remap, will, dependant on the garages point of view, especially if they have to cross check things with LRCS and mention the remap effect your warranty, as LR themselves don't approve them.

I know of two occasions that this has happened, one a while ago on here, were i had to remove all traces of the members mention of his remap, as the disgruntled dealer had shopped him in to LRCS and this effect a claim.

End of the day, its personal preference, more poke or standard poke, its whats preferred by the owner