Has anyone with a 4.4 SDV8 had a stage 1 remap?

What are the real world differences and benefits?

Thanks

So I have just had my 2019 RRS A/B 4.4 SDV remapped by Superchips.

Simon attended and was very helpful, allowing me to watch all the proceedings. He explained why they won't upload via the OBD port (safer to interface directly with the ECU).
He hooked up a diagnostic to OBD to check engine health first, soot levels in DPF and any fault codes.
Then after warming the engine, he connected his laptop to the appropriate pins on the ECU which was fortunately very accecssible.

The current map was downloaded from the car and sent to the office. As it is a well known map it was checked for consistency (fingerprinted) to ensure it was the OEM one and not another custom map, then a Stage 1 map was returned which was uploaded to the car. This all happened in less than 5m.

Simon informed me that the Stage 1 has been designed to work within the tolerance of the vehicle, increasing torque from 700nm to 821 and bhp from 335 to 389. I was interested in how close to tolerance this was to the ZF gearbox as its rated for 700nm.

Simons view was this is within the tolerance for the gearbox and there have been no reports of early failures with it. He also explained that they could go for more extreme maps but then you start decreasing reliability although you do get a lot more turbo whistle and wastegate chatter.
Im happy without this!

So how does it drive? It feels very much like my previous L320 5.0 Supercharged RRS, but still returning sensible mpg. The pull from 30-100 is frankly laughable and lots of fun. I will only use the full potential occasionally but its nice to know you can (almost) keep up with the SC when you come across it.

As Superchips have a half price offer on in Feb it was an easy decision... MY20 L494 4.4 A/B Chipped Indus Silver
MY19 Velar D300 Dynamic Chipped Indus Silver
Evoque HSE Dynamic Santorini Black
MY12 L320 5.0 Supercharged A/B Indus Silver

That actually sounds like it's pretty worthwhile!

I have a 2015 4.4 SDV8 and at lower speeds feel like there's a delay from when I put my foot down to anything happening. It's most noticeable approaching roundabouts, seeing a gap and accelerating to go for it, but the vehicle being very laggy.

Do you think the stage 1 would help with this, or eliminate it altogether?

Definitely will help. Mine seems to have vanished almost completely. Thats probably the biggest plus for me with normal town driving MY20 L494 4.4 A/B Chipped Indus Silver
MY19 Velar D300 Dynamic Chipped Indus Silver
Evoque HSE Dynamic Santorini Black
MY12 L320 5.0 Supercharged A/B Indus Silver

So almost a year into the remap. No black smoke, good mpg and good throttle response. Hasn't chewed up any ARB bushes either which I was worried about.

One other thing, I thought that the remap which claims increase of torque from 700nm to 821 might be a bit spicy for the 8HP76 gearbox rated at 760nm. However I need not have worried, some of the beemer drivers who have same 'box are running tunes up to 1000nm (and some over) on theirs.

So still recommended and no issues to date.


 MY20 L494 4.4 A/B Chipped Indus Silver
MY19 Velar D300 Dynamic Chipped Indus Silver
Evoque HSE Dynamic Santorini Black
MY12 L320 5.0 Supercharged A/B Indus Silver