Hi all, I wanted to relay my positive experience with my recent purchase of an ECU Tune from Velocity AP for my V8 Vantage. I spent hours reading reviews before deciding to pull the trigger and noticed that most of the reviews are pre-2020 so, quite dated. I also felt like most of the reviews were for the earlier 4.3 liter cars and I wasn't sure that I was going to get any benefits for my later model 4.7 liter. Spoiler alert: I did! Most of the reviews I read said that the car should have come like this from the factory and I strongly agree. If you're in a hurry you can leave it at that. This was a very good $1200 ish bucks to spend on the car.

I'm not an auto-journalist and I don't really have my thoughts perfectly organized just yet. I'm going to take a first pass at a review but it would probably offend an English-teacher. Apologies.

Nuts and bolts: The Vtech controller software was easy to install and use and it was very fast (took less than 10 minutes in both directions) to download the original ECU file and install the new tune. I submitted the original file to VAP on a Friday and had a tune from them by Sunday. That was super-fast turnaround and I would not have minded if VAP wanted to take a weekend off! It is also worth mentioning that part of the cost of the tune includes remaps for future upgrades/modifications. The new tune was so convenient to install that I did it in a parking lot. This was not in the instructions but I decided to "risk it". As far as I can tell there were no repercussions. Note: my misfire corrections were already erased because I had the battery disconnected earlier that week. I have not done the misfire learning procedure yet. Mostly because I live in L.A. and have to wake up super-early in order to find a highway that is empty enough that I can do those 70-20mph coast downs in safely. I will likely do the misfire corrections tomorrow morning or when I get back from holiday travel. I'm not trying to be lazy with the car. I read Aston1936's nightmare experience of finding out that his car hadn't done a misfire procedure under previous ownership. I'm not trying to be part of the problem.

Likes: The Throttle Remap has to be the biggest benefit of the tune. Or at least that is my favorite part of the tune. I think that we all know that there is a little delay between pressing the gas pedal and the engine revving. For me, it felt like a slight disconnection from the car. It also made the car feel a little sluggish and heavy driving around town in traffic, and heel and toeing was always difficult for me. The updated map makes the car feel much more responsive around town. As a result, the car feels a little lighter. I really appreciate that for putting around the city. When you actually get to use the car, the throttle response is a blast. I feel like I'm getting wide open throttle in 1st gear now (never did before) and with the increased redline I think the car gets to around 54/55mph before needing to shift to second. That has to bring the 0-60 time down a bit but I don't have any numbers to back that up--just a hunch. Not that the Vantage is a drag racer anyway but it's another "nice to have" for me. During "spirited" driving I really do feel like there is a more even pull through the rev range in all of the gears. I would have to be an expert driver to tell if a 420 hp car has an extra 25 bhp--and I'm not--but the car does feel a little quicker and the acceleration is a little slicker. I did my "parking lot flash" at the base of the Angeles Crest Highway because I really wanted to to see what the tune felt like and I didn't want to be thrashing around the city to see if the tune was beneficial. I felt the better throttle response in the first 100' of driving and then of course up in the mountains it was even more fun than normal. My suspicion when I ordered the tune was that the car would just always feel like it was in sport mode. That was not correct. The tune feels better than the regular car in sport mode. Surprisingly, sport mode even feels better with the tune. The throttle response is just a hair sharper. I tried both modes during spirited driving and while I prefer the car in sport mode, I didn't think that the car absolutely had to be in sport to be fun to drive; which was definitely the case before the tune was installed.

I was worried that I might not benefit from the tune because my car doesn't have any modifications but I was wrong. My car has a fabspeed x-pipe (more of an aesthetic mod than performance), and a lightweight clutch and flywheel and PS4'. All the "critical' mods but no cat-deletes, exhaust, or headers (yet). The clutch is super-light and the engine is pretty happy to rev. The tune matches to the light clutch and flywheel makes the car feel much more like a sports car than a GT car. The lighter inputs with the more natural throttle response make the car feel lighter and more willing to go--as it should.

When other reviews say that the car should have come from the factory like this, I completely agree. I think the car would have been understood differently and wouldn't have gotten the GT label tacked onto it. I was cross-shopping the Vantage with a 997 911 and one of the biggest things I was worried about was the 300-pound weight difference between the two cars. A loooot of people said that you could feel the weight of the car. Having a big 'ol V8 in front of the driver adds some truth to that take but I think the heavy controls (clutch and throttle lag) exaggerated that feeling. I'm pretty psyched about the car now and would suggest that anyone on the fence about a tune should just go for it. There aren't a lot of $1000-ish modifications you can make that make such an appreciable improvement.

So, there you go. I am really happy with the tune and the overall experience working with Velocity. I feel bad that I can't be more concise about how great the tune is I even gave up and just lazily bolded some highlights above. I just wanted to get this out and share my experience--especially for anyone else like me that might be doing the "research" and not finding any current reviews. The car feels lighter, more responsive, and slicker. Highly recommended and kudos to the team at VAP.

Adding pictures just for fun:


Best Black Friday purchase

MIIR 6oz tumbler, perfect fit for cupholder...second best Black Friday purchase

Post Tune Glow

 

Great review, thank you!

 

Yes great review, I had mine install on my 2009 V8 Vantage 4.7 back in summer 2018 and loved every minute of it.

 

I did the VAP tune three or four years ago, along with 200 cell cats and the VAP dual clutch plate/flywheel. They are very helpful and will answer questions even if you didn't call to order something. My car is a 2011 V8V S. The difference in sound is great. It barks on start up.
I didn't know that they would update the tune at no charge. I should contact Irish and see if there are any improvements over what I have.

 

Nice write up, something I want to look into. But what is the "misfire learning procedure"?

 

this article from Aston 1936 explains the misfire correction.
https://aston1936.com/2016/03/18/rel...on-martin-db9/

 

Wow, I think this alone would turn me off on the AP ECU. I wonder if this procedure could be done on a dyno?

 

It's relatively easy to do if you can find a hill even easier.

 

Can you explain a bit about how a hill makes it easier?

 

It's a top gear coast down with no braking. If you are on flat ground it may take X amount of feet/yards to get to 25mph. If your going up a grade it could cut the distance to travel by 50%.

 

Thanks, that makes sense. Do you know if there's a DIY procedure for cars with Bosch engine management (2016 Vanquish)?

 

To be fair, I think the misfire correction procedure is only for later model cars. VAP’s website says only cars after *13435 need it.

 

All of them need it learned, the 2010 and up requires AMDS to clear the corrections to relearn. Prior to that the VIN quoted is a battery disconnect to clear stored corrections.

 

I have the same tune on my Vantage. I am curious how much of a difference you've felt since you have the VAP light weight fly wheel/clutch upgrade. I still have the OEM flywheel/clutch on mine. I do have the VAP secondary cat bypass along with the VAP Xpipe on mine.

 

@Janice, I live in L.A. and the vantage is my weekend car so my gas mileage is not a good representation. I am either in stop and go traffic, or I am having the time of my life (full throttle), but there's not a good mix between the two. My average speed is something like 30 mph and my average fuel economy is a little above 12mpg. Regardless, I would highly suggest the ECU tune. You get a lot of improvement for a relatively small expenditure.