This is just a short review of what others here have already done. I hope the information is helpful for those that may be on the fence regarding these mods. I have now been driving the car for about a week with the installed mods, except the BMC filter which I installed yesterday. I will say I have no regrets and there is a noticeable difference in overall performance, although your results may vary.

As far as my background, I came from the Lotus community in a 2006 Lotus Elise. I was one out of a few that was able to install and test the first VF (Vision Function/Turbo-XS) supercharged and intercooled prototypes that is now one of the best and more reliable kits available in that market. My car was track tested as well, riding on Toyo R888's and weighing in around 1900lbs with ~300 RWHP. I eventually sold that car to a lucky buyer who is now enjoying the hell out of it. Nothing feels like a Lotus...but thats a whole other thread...

And now for the review and commentary:

First off, dealing with all of the vendors was relatively pain free. I ordered the X51 headers from Sun Coast, the 200 cell sport cats from A.W.E., and the Softronics tune and BMC filter through Vivid Racing. Everyone was very helpful, Vivid Racing being the brightest star of the bunch. Softronics needed to activiate my cable before I could use it, but other than that the only problem arose from getting a package from UPS that needed a signature. That was a PITA...but of course not the fault of any vendor.

Everything arrived quickly and my appointment last Friday the 6th with my local Porsche dealer went well. Labor to install the A.W.E. sport cats and X51 headers ran 2.5 hours, and I had to buy some locking nuts which ran another $50. Total spent was right around $400 for labor and parts...and of course they washed the car so it was delivered clean. Excellent service from the dealer and no headaches of me doing it myself and snapping header bolts. They did say one of the sport cat o2 sensor bungs needed to be filed on the inside just a hair, as there was a small piece of metal preventing the o2 sensor from being screwed in all the way. The overall quality and welds of the sport cats and headers looked excellent. A vast improvement over the stock pieces.

On the way home from the dealer I was able to get on it a bit, and I did notice an improvement in how the car sounded as well as responded to my inputs. The car seemed like it was a little more spirited and pulled a little better to redline. There was no noticeable loss of low/mid range power...in fact it feels better now. Also, the sound with the stock mufflers is just right for me...no drone and not very loud at all, but more "exotic sounding" as one friend suggested. A nice improvement overall.

However, once I installed the Softronics tune on Monday the car really woke up. It seemed to compliment the exhaust mods perfectly. The 7500 RPM rev limit makes a big difference believe it or not. It also helps to keep the car in the higher powerband when you shift to the next gear. My car is much more responsive than before and it really brightned the mid range for me. There is NO doubt that the car is quicker than before. Its very noticeable and if youre going to get the sport cats and headers, I would highly recommend the Softronic tune to top it off.

Also about the tune...I called and requested that my "sport mode" be always on. I wasnt sure if they had enabled it since I forgot to mention it in my DME file upload to Softronic, so I called and left a message right after I uploaded it. They emailed me back and said it was enabled in the file they sent me. However, if that is the case, the Sport Mode throttle that Softronic applies and the one by Porsche are not alike. The Porsche sport mode throttle is still much more sensitive than the sport mode by Softronic. In other words, when I push the sport mode button I can still feel the difference in the throttle input. This is unfortunate as I was hoping the only difference I would feel would be in the tighter suspension and not in the throttle input.

I will say though the "regular mode" throttle sensitivity is much improved over the sluggish stock version. All in all Softronic has an excellent product. Install was a snap and its nice to have a stock file to reflash when I go to the dealer, and I can do it all myself without having to send out my ECU.

As for the intake, I cant say much about it yet. I bought the BMC drop-in air filter because I wish to retain the stock airbox and I just installed it yesterday. Since it has only been one day, I will reserve judgement but at this point I cant tell anything has really changed. I think I have experienced significant improvment from the exhaust mods and tuning so that the drop-in is just not very noticeable...but, I will drive it a little more and post further results. I also bought the Fabspeed red silicone tube and cap used from Ebay for half price and will be installing that this week.

Thanks to everyone for the great forum and vast amount of knowledge available to the searching enthusiast. I hope this short review is helpful!

-Matt

 

So did you notice more performance form the Softronic Tune even when in sport mode? I worry that it will only brighten up the car in the standard setting....

Jason

 

Yes...I would venture to say the Softronic tune helped transform the car as well as the driving experience. It doesnt matter if youre in sport mode or not, there is a very noticeable difference and in fact even more so in sport mode since the throttle feels much better to me.

The tune does a lot more than just adjust the throttle sensitivity. I did forget to add that I requested the 93 octane tune...so those in states with 91 octane may not feel as much of a difference as I have. As I mentioned before, your results may vary from mine.

I have no plans to dyno my car...I dont really care enough to spend the time and money and she drives great as is. I spent so much money tuning and dyno'ing the Lotus, making changes and installing different things....I do not want to go down that path again. I bought this car to enjoy it...and other than adding my short throw shifter I am done!

 

What about new rev limit of 7500rpm?will be any problem with engine?

 

Matt sweet write up. Im debating if I should pull the trigger on a Softronic Flash now or wait til like March just in time for spring. But from what EVERYONE is saying you cant go wrong with softronic. Thanks for the post

 

Great add-ons and write up. But gotta ask... you made some great improvements, but still kept the stock boat anchors, er I mean mufflers? Add some mufflers and I think you'll see even better drivability not to mention sound.

...just one man's opinion...

 

I decided to keep the stock mufflers for a few reasons...

1. My Lotus was extremely loud and even shot fire out the back...no cats, with a single straight thru 5" muffler that weighed 12 lbs...After 2 years or driving that I dont want to have anything even remotely loud for a long time.

2. They sound pretty good stock to me with the X51 headers and AWE cats and would prefer to keep the car as close to stock as possible from a visual and acoustic stand point.

3. I'd rather spend the money saved on a new Nikon D300s.

4. Negligible performance gain (if any) for the dollar.

From what I understand, the stock mufflers are not a known bottle neck in the exhaust system. I have no experience personally in this matter, only learning of this from multiple searches on various online forums. Of course weight savings is another benefit but again I've been down that road before.

So I guess Im just not feeling it right now to change the mufflers...and I like that my wife doesnt complain the car is too loud when she rides in it...she HATED the Lotus which was sad...really awesome car.

 

Quite informative write up. Thanks. Rep point for you .

 

I loved the Softronic tune on my Cayman

 

Understandable. I have Tubi mufflers and sport cats, and it is barely louder than stock while cruising, but step on the gas, and you'll hear it two blocks away. My wife didn't even notice the change until I floored it.

 

I agree with your findings and conclusion about the mufflers wholeheartedly. I think that the exhaust note and volume should complement the sweet flat 6 engine sound, not overwhelm it. Thanks for the review.

 

Well done, Matt!

We appreciate your business, and thanks for taking to the time to do the write up.

For those of you that are not familiar with our brand, please take a minute to fill out our DVD request. We will send you one for free.

See here:
http://awe-tuning.com/dvd.cfm

 

Mike, DVD request form sent.

 

Mike,
Great move with the DVD! Well thought!

 

Great, thorough write up. Rep points for you. Interesting to hear that your dealer would install aftermarket cats. I'll be interested in the BMC filter affects, but it will probably blur with the rest of the changes. Add some nice tips and you've probably completed the exhaust changes. Next, try to post a sound clip - I've heard from others headers and cats seems to be the way to go - great sound and actual performance gains at reasonable cost.