Utec or Nothing

[WRB04]

I just joined tri state like two weeks ago, i have a stock '04 wrx well except for tein h springs. I was offered a utec at a really good price, just wanted to know if it would be worth it to invest in one. I am only planning on doing a few mods to the car in the future.

[S4toSTI]

Utec is a good system on paper... in practice alot of people on this site have had trouble with it. Troll Or TehWagon can offer alittle more insight into that but personally i have a cobb acessport and love it.

[BlackBulletTSi]

Doesn't Ivan have one of them to?

[TROLL]

the utec is only as good as the tune thats on it. the base map that it comes with is not very good at all and i would not recommend that you run it for longer than a couple of months without getting a custom tune.
luckily there are a handful of guys in the area that can set you up with a tune for it, and thats a great way to go.
the difference with the accessport is its basemaps are a little better and it has the ability to self adjust long term when it sees knock, so its a little safer to run untouched. still... getting it tuned is where its at.

[silver05bullet]

definitely the accesport is better i think and getting any car professionally tuned makes a hell lot of diffrence

[S4toSTI]

However if you plan on getting it tuned right away the utec is just as good what is the price on it?

[WRB04]

However if you plan on getting it tuned right away the utec is just as good what is the price on it?

The guy just said dirt cheap, his 04 wrx got totalled and now he has an 06 sti so he does not need it. Ill be talking to him this week about the exact price.

[WRB04]

the utec is only as good as the tune thats on it. the base map that it comes with is not very good at all and i would not recommend that you run it for longer than a couple of months without getting a custom tune.
luckily there are a handful of guys in the area that can set you up with a tune for it, and thats a great way to go.
the difference with the accessport is its basemaps are a little better and it has the ability to self adjust long term when it sees knock, so its a little safer to run untouched. still... getting it tuned is where its at.

He said the same thing that with a good tune that i would make a difference even stock so i am glad he was being honest about it.

[WRB04]

Utec is a good system on paper... in practice alot of people on this site have had trouble with it. Troll Or TehWagon can offer alittle more insight into that but personally i have a cobb acessport and love it.


cool thanks

[WRB04]

thanks

[WRB04]

the utec is only as good as the tune thats on it. the base map that it comes with is not very good at all and i would not recommend that you run it for longer than a couple of months without getting a custom tune.
luckily there are a handful of guys in the area that can set you up with a tune for it, and thats a great way to go.
the difference with the accessport is its basemaps are a little better and it has the ability to self adjust long term when it sees knock, so its a little safer to run untouched. still... getting it tuned is where its at.

one more thing if i do get the utec should i wait to use it till i do my mods or put it on when the car is stock any recommendations?

[C'DALERIDER]

one more thing if i do get the utec should i wait to use it till i do my mods or put it on when the car is stock any recommendations?

it depends on the extent of the mods you will be doing. Id tend to lean toward getting the utec, mods and go see Andrew/Xotic and have him tune you. he can tune a utec with 3 fingers and one eye closed, But wait till he is done with my car to bother him :wink: . Utec is still a good em choice, imo.

[WRB04]

it depends on the extent of the mods you will be doing. Id tend to lean toward getting the utec, mods and go see Andrew/Xotic and have him tune you. he can tune a utec with 3 fingers and one eye closed, But wait till he is done with my car to bother him :wink: . Utec is still a good em choice, imo.

the only thing i want to do right now is an uppipe, downpipe and cat back exhaust. i might do a turbo upgrade later though, but not for awhile, i think your car will be done by the time i have the parts.

[TROLL]

cheap is a relative term around these parts... that could mean anything really so dont get too worked up over it until you've discussed details.

[wgknestrick]

If you are thinking about getting tuned professionaly (which I highly rec), The ECUtek (just a flashed ECU) is the best for light mods. I am not very impressed with the stock Cobb maps, and the Utec has it's own quirky set of problems.

Xotic can tune ECUtek flashes so I would just go to them and get it tuned once you are finished with all planed mods. Pick up a used/ catless turbo back exhaust for $500 and call it a day. You will be very happy with the gains.

[WRXD]

Cobb AP here too...you either hate it or you love it. I love it.

All the haters claim 'problems with the OTC maps' and I have yet to see one. Yeah, its not a custom tune, but it gets the job done.

[Evolved]

I have a Utec but I have an Evo and not a WRX, I'm happy with it.

[EIXVO]

you can use the base maps effectivily? I was just gonna go have it tunned and installed but if you can run a base map id do that until I built up my bank. ?

[sisforsurfing]

If you are thinking about getting tuned professionaly (which I highly rec), The ECUtek (just a flashed ECU) is the best for light mods. I am not very impressed with the stock Cobb maps, and the Utec has it's own quirky set of problems.

Xotic can tune ECUtek flashes so I would just go to them and get it tuned once you are finished with all planed mods. Pick up a used/ catless turbo back exhaust for $500 and call it a day. You will be very happy with the gains.
This interestes me. ECUtek seems to be the least talked-about type of management for WRX's, but I rarely hear bad things. Since I only plan on doing up-pipe/turboback and maybe some simple stuff like i/c hoses, would ECUtek be a good alternative to Cobb (which seems to be almost everyone's choice.)

You can pick up an AP for ~$500 used, but then paying for a ProTune after that makes it more expensive than the ECUtek flash.

Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse with more WRX management talk, but I haven't heard all that much about the ECUtek... all the talk is about the AP and Utec. (other than this post by bryan http://www.tristatetuners.com/forum/showpost.php?p=177102&postcount=11 )

[WRB04]

Thanks I think i am going to go with the cobb ap unless the utec comes really cheap.

[DanFromPA]

UTEC : It is a fine product. You can adjust timing, boost, and AFR. I believe Timing works independantly like stand alone. It is not altering the signal on the ECU like piggy back systems. Only thing that you might not like about UTEC is that you have to consistantly change the MAP to be perfect! The problem is on the timing on the SUBARU WRX or STI. The closed loop to open loop transition is not so smooth with the UTEC. This is the part that you have to tune. If you log the timing you can see that sometimes difference in timing is +4 - +8 degrees... This will definately be felt and take away the smootheness of the engine... Other than that, it is one good system to use.... Their knock control systems are one of the best....

ACCESS PORT: I used to run this on the STI. It is good while the adjustment is absent without the ACCESS tuner (additional cost). The downside about this off the shelf tune is that you either get lucky by matching the parts with what COBB tuned with on a given car or you make it to work against you.... Everycar has different flow characteristic with same parts. That variance is not well compensated if the off the shelf tune is used.... (only mechanism it has is really the SUBARU adaptive timing systems on the ECU).... I believe they tune with IM set to MAX initially but that could be degraded if your car does not adapt very well... This in turn will lower the timing you could run and will see the degrade of the performance.... So, it would be smoother than the UTEC on certain conditions but will also miss WHP you could get....

With my limited experience, having both is the best way to go... Reflash with ECUTEK or whatever out there, then having UTEC to log and change little bit of timing, boost, & AFR (if you have WB O2 sensor installed).....