[TiredGeek]

I just spotted XHP have done 15% for black Friday.
I've been checking daily for a few weeks to make sure they didn't put the price up before putting on a fake discount, like Currys for instance, and it's been hovering around £288. It's now £244 so the discount is genuine 👍

[SkyJawa]

Yeah been watching this too, yesterday or day before it was near 300 quid for zf8, so took the plunge.

Ordered the xhp WiFi dongle from ML Performance 49.99 plus 7.55 fedex, still the cheapest I could find.

[moppity]

Flashed mine today

Did the 50 mile run in, seemed fine, so stuck Stage 2 on.

Proper test next week to see if it was 245 quid wasted

[Danj94]

I bought it, run it in, running stage 3 with some changes to the map and think its ace. worth the cash for me.

[moppity]

Originally Posted by Danj94

I bought it, run it in, running stage 3 with some changes to the map and think its ace. worth the cash for me.

What would you say was the biggest improvement for you Dan? How does it make the car feel 'better' to you?

Ta!

[Danj94]

Originally Posted by moppity

What would you say was the biggest improvement for you Dan? How does it make the car feel 'better' to you?

Ta!

I think the gearbox driveability in sport mode (gearbox in sport) is vastly improved, it doesn't hold on to the gears too long if you're cruising it still shifts around 2k but as you progressively push the pedal it will hold on to the gear for longer and longer.

I also find the shifting speed in general to be much faster (or at least it feels it) and the engagement of other gears can be felt a lot more which I felt was missing with the standard box. I understand some people might like the gearbox to be buttery smooth like it is at standard but I like to know I've changed gear with some mechanical feedback.. maybe that's because I've owned DSG cars prior.

Finally the throttle blips on downshift and torque reduction on upshifts really means you can get it sounding/performing just how you like personally. If you aren't keen on the settings you can adjust them in less then 60 seconds and for me this is the best feature of buying your own license. It's so adjustable I think everyone can find some settings they like and it will likely be different to the next persons.

Seems to be pretty bulletproof in terms of reliability too which is a great thing but guess remains to be seen for me personally.

Mine is also paired with MHD stage 1 tune.

[moppity]

So far, so good. I’ve only really driven around in Comfort and it’s noticeably better. That horrible lag on the throttle is more or less gone. It’s so much better to drive 😂

[SkyJawa]

Not had chance to do mine yet - maybe this weekend. Straight to Stage 3 I reckon

[danb1979]

This is defoo something I'll be doing come the New Year once I've got he box serviced

Is it literally plug n play; or is it best to find someone who has it to map my ZF8 etc?

[moppity]

Originally Posted by danb1979

This is defoo something I'll be doing come the New Year once I've got he box serviced

Is it literally plug n play; or is it best to find someone who has it to map my ZF8 etc?

Dan, I am a technical numpty, and I managed it

It's easy. Follow their instructions, and it's not a problem. I've started to make a quick video about it, which I'll hopefully stick on the youtubes next week…

(not like you need it, it's that easy )

[danb1979]

Originally Posted by moppity

Dan, I am a technical numpty, and I managed it

It's easy. Follow their instructions, and it's not a problem. I've started to make a quick video about it, which I'll hopefully stick on the youtubes next week…

(not like you need it, it's that easy )

Cheers for that

I'm fairly tech savvy when it comes to my Macs, hifi and stuff like that but with cars I tend to be more at home with my 12lb sledgehammer

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by danb1979

This is defoo something I'll be doing come the New Year once I've got he box serviced

Is it literally plug n play; or is it best to find someone who has it to map my ZF8 etc?

Very easy to do. XHP App, XHP Licence Pack, Thor OBD dongle.

Start off by selecting the Stage map that you want (I've tried them all, and have stuck with Stage 3).

Once the 50 miles bedding-in process has been done you can re-flash at any time in literally a couple of minutes.

There are multiple parameters that you can tweak, i.e. I set the max rpm for my 30d according to the Drive mode => 4000 for Comfort; 4300 for Sport; 4600 for Manual.

You can also set toque limits per gear, and a host of other things. The XHP website is the place to go and have a read - there's too much to set out here.

[MY340i]

For comparison senior performance was doing xhp flashes for £180

[Danj94]

Originally Posted by danb1979

Cheers for that

I'm fairly tech savvy when it comes to my Macs, hifi and stuff like that but with cars I tend to be more at home with my 12lb sledgehammer

If you have a smart phone from the last few years you can buy a USB C (or whatever charging port you have) to ethernet adaptor and then get and OBD-Ethernet cable means you can do it wired directly from your phone which is how I've done it.

Advantage of buying the license and map pack yourself is you can adjust it as much as you like or add new features as they become available within a few minutes.

Great mod.

[moppity]

Tried out manual mode yesterday. It’s rather good 😊

[TurboWeasel]

I don't mind paying full price if it sorts out 2 annoying things in comfort mode:

1) Hanging onto 2000rpm, or higher, for no reason when driving gently between 2nd and 3rd.

Typical scenario.....see a gap at a junction or roundabout and give it medium pedal, then back off whilst straightening up. The revs rise WAY too much for the load and road speed.

2) Hunting between 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

Typical scenario..... the grounds where I work has a very strict 20mph limit. Sometimes I get stuck behind someone doing 18mph, then they'll accelerate to 21mph then drop to 17mph The car feels like it wants to maintain 22mph in 4th, but due to people not maintaining a constant speed, it keeps hunting between 3rd and 4th, sometimes 2nd and it's frickin irritating. Same in slow moving traffic.

Both are the firstest of all the first world problems out there, and both easily fixed by switching to manual mode. Sport mode is too thrashy when you just want to cruise along at 1100rpm quietly and smoothly.

But for scenario 1, another first world problem presents itself. Steering wheel mounted paddles instead of column mounted - where they should be!

Easily fixed by using the console lever instead I guess.

Hmmmm, looks like I've successfully talked myself out of spending £290 by just using features that already exist

But it would be nice to just get in and comfort mode behaves comfortably.

[moppity]

Originally Posted by TurboWeasel

I don't mind paying full price if it sorts out 2 annoying things in comfort mode:

1) Hanging onto 2000rpm, or higher, for no reason

2) Hunting between 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

But it would be nice to just get in and comfort mode behaves comfortably.

In the interests of science, and helping out a fellow Beema owner, I shall endeavour to test these annoyances and report back* TurboWeasel

Please hold caller…

Oh, caveat emptor, mine's a petrol. This could change things massively

* might be next week before I use the car again

[danb1979]

I've got my F31 in with Automatic Transmissions late Jan for a full box service and fluid change etc; so I'll do the XHP remap after that I think

I don't like how the ZFu8 hangs onto gears at times; it's not as bad in Sport; but in every day driving and Comfort, it's a bit too slow I feel at times

However; it's leagues ahead of the ZF5s I was used to in my E39s

[SkyJawa]

I really must get round to doing this FFS. What with weather and too many commitments its keeps dropping off the radar.

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by TurboWeasel

I don't mind paying full price if it sorts out 2 annoying things in comfort mode:

1) Hanging onto 2000rpm, or higher, for no reason when driving gently between 2nd and 3rd.

Typical scenario.....see a gap at a junction or roundabout and give it medium pedal, then back off whilst straightening up. The revs rise WAY too much for the load and road speed.

2) Hunting between 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

Typical scenario..... the grounds where I work has a very strict 20mph limit. Sometimes I get stuck behind someone doing 18mph, then they'll accelerate to 21mph then drop to 17mph The car feels like it wants to maintain 22mph in 4th, but due to people not maintaining a constant speed, it keeps hunting between 3rd and 4th, sometimes 2nd and it's frickin irritating. Same in slow moving traffic.

Both are the firstest of all the first world problems out there, and both easily fixed by switching to manual mode. Sport mode is too thrashy when you just want to cruise along at 1100rpm quietly and smoothly.

But for scenario 1, another first world problem presents itself. Steering wheel mounted paddles instead of column mounted - where they should be!

Easily fixed by using the console lever instead I guess.

Hmmmm, looks like I've successfully talked myself out of spending £290 by just using features that already exist

But it would be nice to just get in and comfort mode behaves comfortably.

With XHP you can change the shift points for each ratio, i.e. by +/- % value. I noticed that under light throttle the ZF wouldn’t change from 7th to 8th until around 2200rpm, so reduced the shift point % until I was happy with it.

The ‘box in my car has always suffered from hunting between 2nd/3rd at specific rpm and light throttle. The full rebuild improved it a little but it’s still there. I can’t say that XHP has made it any better or worse.

[TurboWeasel]

Originally Posted by moppity

In the interests of science, and helping out a fellow Beema owner, I shall endeavour to test these annoyances and report back* TurboWeasel

Please hold caller…

Oh, caveat emptor, mine's a petrol. This could change things massively

* might be next week before I use the car again

Much appreciated sir, although I suspect the petrols will have different shift and load points etc, so probably not as noticeable. Things are a bit different when you're Darth Diesel, crawling along at 200rpm!

[TurboWeasel]

Originally Posted by Watsey

With XHP you can change the shift points for each ratio, i.e. by +/- % value. I noticed that under light throttle the ZF wouldn’t change from 7th to 8th until around 2200rpm, so reduced the shift point % until I was happy with it.

The ‘box in my car has always suffered from hunting between 2nd/3rd at specific rpm and light throttle. The full rebuild improved it a little but it’s still there. I can’t say that XHP has made it any better or worse.

Interesting. I do like a bit of user adjustment

Yeah the reluctance to engage 8th happens to me everyday when I join the dual carriageway. When I hit 70mph, it hangs in 7th....but it seems to be proportional to gear oil temp. It's fine when hot.

OK, sounds like it's just the nature of the beast then. Manual mode it is then