One of these companies is Unichip Europe, which is now introducing a new plug and play “U-Connect” piggyback upgrade for the BMW 1,995 cc four cylinder direct injection engines (163 hp and 177 hp versions included). The powerplants can be found on the 120d, 320d and 520d models from 2003 onwards.
The company’s dyno testing sessions have revealed that the upgrade brings a power ant torque premium of 19 hp and 40 lb-ft. The test were perfected on a BMW 5 Series (the previous generation of the car), which developed a measured 188 hp and 252 lb-ft. The tuner says that the performance gains for the 120d and 320d are similar.
“Consisting of a specially premapped version of the renowned piggy back ECU, the Unichip makes subtle electronic tweaks to the BMW’s fueling and boost settings to improve all round performance, without compromising economy or reliability. Designed as a DIY fitment via its plug and play ‘U-Connect’ wiring loom, the Unichip is fitted (and removed) in minutes. It leaves no electronic footprint and is ‘invisible’ to main dealers during servicing and to ensure it’s totally tamperproof the ‘U-Connect’ unit can only be remapped by a qualified Unichip agent,” stated the press release.
The company added that the U-Connect piggyback ECU has no impact on the vehicle’s fuel economy. It added that drivers have actually reported a five to ten percent fuel consumption decrease.
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