Cobb Accessport 93 Octane Tune
10-06-2011, 12:24 PM
#21
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You can download Stage 2 off the Cobb website, a bunch of 3 series guys are already running with this tune but you shouldn't run Stage 2 without mods.
This is what Shayne from Cobb told me:
Len
I am glad to hear that you are enjoying our tune!
Stage 2 require an aftermarket downpipe, at the very least. We also recommend an upgraded intake and cat-back exhaust system.
Stage 2 + FMIC requires an aftermarket downpipe, intake, and FMIC. A cat-back exhaust upgrade is also recommended.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Shayne Covey
Sales/Tech Support
ph: 866.922.3059 Ext 1104
shayne.covey@cobbtuning.com
This is what Shayne from Cobb told me:
Len
I am glad to hear that you are enjoying our tune!
Stage 2 require an aftermarket downpipe, at the very least. We also recommend an upgraded intake and cat-back exhaust system.
Stage 2 + FMIC requires an aftermarket downpipe, intake, and FMIC. A cat-back exhaust upgrade is also recommended.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Shayne Covey
Sales/Tech Support
ph: 866.922.3059 Ext 1104
shayne.covey@cobbtuning.com
10-07-2011, 04:39 AM
#22
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My Ride: 535i
Model Year: 2011
I don't know who else makes downpipes for the 535. I'm satisfied with the tune just the way it is so I won't be doing the downpipes or exhaust.
I might get some 100 octane fuel and try running the 93 octane tune one day.
If I need a speed rush, I'll jump in the vette instead.
10-07-2011, 05:22 AM
#23
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My Ride: 2007 530xi: Sport, NAV, PDC, HUD, Cold Wthr, CA, Logic 7, HD Radio, SAT, Custom NCS coded options 2008 535xi: Sport, Night Vision, NAV, PDC, HUD, Cold Wthr, CA, Logic 7, SAT, Custom NCS coded options, Rear Seat Heat Retrofit, Passport 9500ci
Model Year: 2008
Engine: N54
Modbargains can get you a set of AR downpipes either no cats or race cats for our 535s.
10-07-2011, 07:49 AM
#24
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My Ride: 535i
Model Year: 2011
02-09-2012, 11:52 AM
#26
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Ok, so I finally got my Accessport in the mail yesterday, needless to say I was EXTREMELY excited to install the ROM.
So here goes:
The box and packaging are top notch, this is no POS module that comes in a brown box with crappy wrapping, you can tell your money was well spent upon opening it from the slightly larger box it ships in. Your money is well spent overall, but I'll get to that in a minute.
Hardware hookup was fairly straightforward, hook up the cable to the OBD II and the Cobb and continue. The unit is a bit smaller than I thought, but it doesnt matter, the color graphic user interface and instructions are so well designed a ten year old could figure it out. Long story short, it takes about ten minutes to do the full install, five minutes to download and store the factory ROM and five minutes to upload the "tuned" ROM, I chose the 93 Stage 1 as I dont have any modifications to my car. Thanks god I dont live in Cali with 91
It's quite intimidating seeing every single error light go on and off for a bit, but its part of the process as the factory software is actually removed from the car to replace with the tuned ROM.
Initial impressions:
- the install was quick and I was quite pleased with how easy it was.
Now the drive:
At first I got on the gas a little and could automatically feel the power curve had changed a bit, not much, just a bit. But then I said ah, what the heck and dropped the hammer. The car revved up and moved nicely but then one second later the boost hit amazingly strong. It was almost like a little bit of "boost-creep".
Is the car much faster: HELL YES !!
It pulls like a freight train on the freeway. These are not 1/4 mile cars any way you look at it, so me dropping the hammer in the local streets (yes the streets were clear) did give me an indication as to a significant change. . . but it didn't really do the tune justice like it does on the freeway. If you're doing 60 mph and get down, you'll be doing 120 mph before you know it. The rush of the power and the sound of the turbos are very obvious, I had so much fun on my 20 mile drive to work this morning.
Motor Characteristics:
Upon start up, you wont notice anything, it'll be stock virtually. This morning when I started the car, I noticed it was at about 1400 RPMs, then slowly fell to about 700 RPM. Normally the car would start at 1000 RPM then fall to 700 RPM. I'll monitor this a bit more over the next few days. Gear changes when driving civilly are stock as well. But anything between slightly aggressive and very aggressive is noticeable, more so than stock at least. Its definitely not herky-jerky. It's just more sports-car like, the shifts are more pronounced and are a bit more obvious. The exhaust note is more noticeable as well, I mean the higher flow, power and combustion have to be expelled somehow right, so that doesn't bother me at all. Once again, this is under wide open throttle.
One thing I did notice and I'd like you other Cobb guys to chime in on is the way the motor responds with regards to the way the gas pedal is moderated. I personally floored it on the freeway yesterday (by this I mean I floored it as fast as one possibly could) and I felt as if the turbos didn't make boost or the car didnt make the power I felt it should, it felt like the engine revved out in that gear and then went to the next gear . . . like an NA car, except this wasn't a 350+ hp NA car, it felt like a 200 hp one. That left me scratching my head. . . although in the Cobb AP's defense, even with the stock ECU I experience that flooring it hard won't yield the best results.
To get the best results out of either the stock or tuned ROM, I found that you should aggressively and I mean very aggressively moderate the throttle from it's nominal position (whatever speed you're going) and gradually feed it/feel it as the power comes on and get down accordingly. Like I said before, these are not drag cars, they're grand touring cars. When the power does come on, it hits hard, its very IN YOUR FACE-ish and you feel almost invincible. The car at that moment becomes a completely different animal.
Fuel Economy:
In a sentence, it's virtually unchanged, especially when driving normally like you would in the stock tune. Hammer it consistently though and you'll definitely see a difference. I'll add more to this, it's only been a day, but I personally feel the fuel economy has remained unchanged for the most part.
In Conclusion:
I personally am VERY pleased with the product and can't wait for the Stage 2 to be released. I feel like I'm driving a luxurious, livable, daily bullet, I can assure you if you're looking into this tune you will not be disappointed. It is by far the easiest, most comprehensive tune available. That coupled with the data logging features, the upgradable potential and the ease of use and you have on hell of a product. It does cost more than a JB4 but you get what you pay for. I know JB4 is awesome, I was very close to pulling the trigger, but when I considered my car still having 50K of warranty life, I decided I'd go this route just in case I had to hop over to the dealer or my car had to be towed. You get what you pay for, no two ways about it.
Finally Cobb AP for N54 =
So here goes:
The box and packaging are top notch, this is no POS module that comes in a brown box with crappy wrapping, you can tell your money was well spent upon opening it from the slightly larger box it ships in. Your money is well spent overall, but I'll get to that in a minute.
Hardware hookup was fairly straightforward, hook up the cable to the OBD II and the Cobb and continue. The unit is a bit smaller than I thought, but it doesnt matter, the color graphic user interface and instructions are so well designed a ten year old could figure it out. Long story short, it takes about ten minutes to do the full install, five minutes to download and store the factory ROM and five minutes to upload the "tuned" ROM, I chose the 93 Stage 1 as I dont have any modifications to my car. Thanks god I dont live in Cali with 91
It's quite intimidating seeing every single error light go on and off for a bit, but its part of the process as the factory software is actually removed from the car to replace with the tuned ROM.
Initial impressions:
- the install was quick and I was quite pleased with how easy it was.
Now the drive:
At first I got on the gas a little and could automatically feel the power curve had changed a bit, not much, just a bit. But then I said ah, what the heck and dropped the hammer. The car revved up and moved nicely but then one second later the boost hit amazingly strong. It was almost like a little bit of "boost-creep".
Is the car much faster: HELL YES !!
It pulls like a freight train on the freeway. These are not 1/4 mile cars any way you look at it, so me dropping the hammer in the local streets (yes the streets were clear) did give me an indication as to a significant change. . . but it didn't really do the tune justice like it does on the freeway. If you're doing 60 mph and get down, you'll be doing 120 mph before you know it. The rush of the power and the sound of the turbos are very obvious, I had so much fun on my 20 mile drive to work this morning.
Motor Characteristics:
Upon start up, you wont notice anything, it'll be stock virtually. This morning when I started the car, I noticed it was at about 1400 RPMs, then slowly fell to about 700 RPM. Normally the car would start at 1000 RPM then fall to 700 RPM. I'll monitor this a bit more over the next few days. Gear changes when driving civilly are stock as well. But anything between slightly aggressive and very aggressive is noticeable, more so than stock at least. Its definitely not herky-jerky. It's just more sports-car like, the shifts are more pronounced and are a bit more obvious. The exhaust note is more noticeable as well, I mean the higher flow, power and combustion have to be expelled somehow right, so that doesn't bother me at all. Once again, this is under wide open throttle.
One thing I did notice and I'd like you other Cobb guys to chime in on is the way the motor responds with regards to the way the gas pedal is moderated. I personally floored it on the freeway yesterday (by this I mean I floored it as fast as one possibly could) and I felt as if the turbos didn't make boost or the car didnt make the power I felt it should, it felt like the engine revved out in that gear and then went to the next gear . . . like an NA car, except this wasn't a 350+ hp NA car, it felt like a 200 hp one. That left me scratching my head. . . although in the Cobb AP's defense, even with the stock ECU I experience that flooring it hard won't yield the best results.
To get the best results out of either the stock or tuned ROM, I found that you should aggressively and I mean very aggressively moderate the throttle from it's nominal position (whatever speed you're going) and gradually feed it/feel it as the power comes on and get down accordingly. Like I said before, these are not drag cars, they're grand touring cars. When the power does come on, it hits hard, its very IN YOUR FACE-ish and you feel almost invincible. The car at that moment becomes a completely different animal.
Fuel Economy:
In a sentence, it's virtually unchanged, especially when driving normally like you would in the stock tune. Hammer it consistently though and you'll definitely see a difference. I'll add more to this, it's only been a day, but I personally feel the fuel economy has remained unchanged for the most part.
In Conclusion:
I personally am VERY pleased with the product and can't wait for the Stage 2 to be released. I feel like I'm driving a luxurious, livable, daily bullet, I can assure you if you're looking into this tune you will not be disappointed. It is by far the easiest, most comprehensive tune available. That coupled with the data logging features, the upgradable potential and the ease of use and you have on hell of a product. It does cost more than a JB4 but you get what you pay for. I know JB4 is awesome, I was very close to pulling the trigger, but when I considered my car still having 50K of warranty life, I decided I'd go this route just in case I had to hop over to the dealer or my car had to be towed. You get what you pay for, no two ways about it.
Finally Cobb AP for N54 =
Nice review. I got my AccessPort last week and am also running the 93 octane map (v2.03). I've been blown away by how much faster my car is. I'm almost scared of it, because when I goose it, it pulls like crazy and just never seems to stop pulling harder. Wow! My only concern is that my 535xi tends to understeer, and I'm still getting used to it. I've never had AWD before, and this car handles way differently than my prior RWD's, especially under heavy throttle. That issue is exaggerated with the ridiculous power I'm now getting.
Just updated the firmware and maps over the weekend. Was running 2.x, with 93octane Alternate Throttle map and would get error messages every now and again [same thing people get with the sprint boosters]. Seem the newer firmware addresses this, and I haven't seen it happen again, put about 100 miles on the car since.
Totally agree about flooring it, you don't seem to get as much oomph as when you go just to the point of pedal resistance, but I think this is cause flooring while in motion may cause a downshift which takes you to 5000+ rpms, which is where hp starts to drop and tq is already sliding.
I think you do loose boost after 5500 or so, at least looking at the dyno graph, and as mentioned above, certainly feels like it.
About the maps, never tried to change them on the fly [cause uh, I'm driving], but have uninstalled/re-installed for 2 dealer visits, and changed maps several times. Only takes a few minutes to change a map, ie less than 5 mins to change, and about 10 to install/uninstall. There are bunch of maps to choose from, as well as a stock map, tho not sure why you'd want it [maybe if your kids want to borrow the car], and a valet map, which I think detunes the engine more, but not sure.
Have had my Cobb since May, totally love it, would recommend it to anyone and everyone.
Totally agree about flooring it, you don't seem to get as much oomph as when you go just to the point of pedal resistance, but I think this is cause flooring while in motion may cause a downshift which takes you to 5000+ rpms, which is where hp starts to drop and tq is already sliding.
I think you do loose boost after 5500 or so, at least looking at the dyno graph, and as mentioned above, certainly feels like it.
About the maps, never tried to change them on the fly [cause uh, I'm driving], but have uninstalled/re-installed for 2 dealer visits, and changed maps several times. Only takes a few minutes to change a map, ie less than 5 mins to change, and about 10 to install/uninstall. There are bunch of maps to choose from, as well as a stock map, tho not sure why you'd want it [maybe if your kids want to borrow the car], and a valet map, which I think detunes the engine more, but not sure.
Have had my Cobb since May, totally love it, would recommend it to anyone and everyone.
Is it really worth it to add Downpipes? AR is obviously making catted ones now. Does anybody know if they will pass smog? If they don't what would be the point? What kind of intake is necessary to maximize the Stage 1 Cobb Tune? BMC?
02-10-2012, 01:23 PM
#27
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My Ride: 2008 535i, Sport, Premium, Navi, Comfort Access, USB/iPod Bluetooth, Cold Weather Package, Bi Xenon Cornering Headlights
About the tune, I can't go back honestly. The power is too much of a difference and I've gotten used to it, not to mention totally in love with it. I said it before and I'll say it again, dollar for dollar it was the best mod I've bought for any car I've ever owned, the Cobb AP ROCKS!!
Incredible. When you say "how much faster", can you explain in greater detail? Are you talking to stop light to stop light faster or just more "get up" when you punch it?
Thanks for your reply as well. Any new Maps you favor? Or have you added any bolt on mods?
Is it really worth it to add Downpipes? AR is obviously making catted ones now. Does anybody know if they will pass smog? If they don't what would be the point? What kind of intake is necessary to maximize the Stage 1 Cobb Tune? BMC?
Hope this helps.
02-13-2012, 09:29 AM
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02-13-2012, 09:52 AM
#30
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I too have the Access Port and a 2008 535xi.
I got my access port back in June or July and when I first went to install it, my engine wasn't supported. I looked up what I had to do and I had to download my engine mayo abs e-mail it to them. On the website it said it can take up to five days for a response. It was Friday morning and I was frustrated that I was going to have to have to wait over the weekend and a few days...I sent it around nine or regb in the morning and they had updated the downloads by mid afternoon! It only took a few hours! I was very impressed with this!
I feel the same way about hammering it versus easing on the throttle. Easing on it seems to be faster. When I had the 91 octane map on it, I raced a Mustang GT from a stoplight and I got the launch on him and slowly was pulling away up to about 70. The Mustang had Roush badges on it, but I have no idea on the mods.
After searching forever for 93 octane, I finally found a gas station they had it. When I pulled up I saw they had 101 octane....so I got a full tank of it. I put the 93 octane tune on it and.......WOW! It was a bit scary at first. I would say that it is right about equivalent to anE60 M5! The M5 has more peak torque and hp, but this N54 felt like it had more usable power.
I like how the AP allows you to monitor practically everything you would want to. I remember looking at my oil temp and seeing it was around 240 after a hard drive and freaking out a little. I let it idle in my driveway, went inside and read up...it turns out that is around the normal temp for these engines.
I would say hands down this is the easiest, least expensive and best way to get an extra 60-90 hp and torque. If you are going to do a power mod, start with this!
I got my access port back in June or July and when I first went to install it, my engine wasn't supported. I looked up what I had to do and I had to download my engine mayo abs e-mail it to them. On the website it said it can take up to five days for a response. It was Friday morning and I was frustrated that I was going to have to have to wait over the weekend and a few days...I sent it around nine or regb in the morning and they had updated the downloads by mid afternoon! It only took a few hours! I was very impressed with this!
I feel the same way about hammering it versus easing on the throttle. Easing on it seems to be faster. When I had the 91 octane map on it, I raced a Mustang GT from a stoplight and I got the launch on him and slowly was pulling away up to about 70. The Mustang had Roush badges on it, but I have no idea on the mods.
After searching forever for 93 octane, I finally found a gas station they had it. When I pulled up I saw they had 101 octane....so I got a full tank of it. I put the 93 octane tune on it and.......WOW! It was a bit scary at first. I would say that it is right about equivalent to anE60 M5! The M5 has more peak torque and hp, but this N54 felt like it had more usable power.
I like how the AP allows you to monitor practically everything you would want to. I remember looking at my oil temp and seeing it was around 240 after a hard drive and freaking out a little. I let it idle in my driveway, went inside and read up...it turns out that is around the normal temp for these engines.
I would say hands down this is the easiest, least expensive and best way to get an extra 60-90 hp and torque. If you are going to do a power mod, start with this!