Inline-six engines are inherently balanced, alright, but they also sound good. Properly good if we’re talking BMWs, much better than most V6 engines. Like any powerplant, however, there’s room for improvement.
Take the B58 that BMW supplies to Toyota for the GR Supra, a 3.0-liter turbo that can easily take an E50 tune or level up to 1,000 horsepower with more serious mods. Though it sounds more than adequate as is, the engine has much more to offer from an aural standpoint with Fabspeed’s help.
With more than 25 years of experience, the tuner can spruce up the A90 with a sport catalytic converter downpipe. Priced at $1,895.95 and covered by a lifetime warranty, the better-flowing unit is Euro 6-compliant in Europe and it's also designed as a bolt-on replacement. According to Fabspeed, only the cat promises 13 more horsepower and 13 more pound-feet at the wheels.
Combining the sportier catalytic converter with the ExperTune handheld ECU tuner, you can squeeze out even more performance from the B58 “while keeping the operating parameters safely within the confines of reliability and longevity.” As expected, flashing the ECU back to stock is possible as well.
In terms of gains, Fabspeed lists both horsepower and torque as “to be determined” on its website. At $2,595.95 including the tuning software, you should expect pretty amazing numbers. Litchfield, for example, has extracted 420 horsepower (414 PS) by reprogramming the ECU. No other mods, yes!
Not only does it sound better with the Fabspeed sport cat downpipe, but the ExperTune should level up the A90 beyond the output ratings of the 2021 model year with the more powerful engine. At the time of writing, the tuner doesn’t offer any performance upgrades for the 2.0-liter engine (the B48).
“What about the transmission, though?” Well, the 8HP51 from ZF handles as much as 500 Nm (368 pound-feet) right out of the box, mirroring the torque rating of the 2021 model year with the most potent straight-six plant. Therefore, the tranny should be given some attention as well.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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