Mountune 375 Kit fitted

[oiler]

Any news from the launch night Kenny?

[Kenny]

Yes managed to pop up for an hour for the official opening.

Details on Dreamscience/Evans Halshaw Partnership:

Dreamscience performance packs for the Focus RS MK3 are now available from your local Evans Halshaw dealership. The packs cover Power, Cooling and Handling. Dreamscience will be offering a warranty on all parts fitted inside the Ford dealerships to run in conjunction with the Manufacturer’s warranty for the full three-year term! To reinforce their close working relationship with Evans Halshaw and the Blue Oval group Dreamscience only Supply Ford OEM parts for all their services.

[400andrising]

I like the black roof finish but have to say those vents are a step too far for me.

Kenny if you do get any of the fine print in regards to the Dream Science warranty and what it does / doesn’t cover plus any affects it will have on the Ford part, please can you stick up links to it?  Thanks!

[400andrising]

Got my FPM375 fitted last Thursday, and have to say I’ve been pleasantly surprised.
Whilst it’s not blow your socks off by any stretch of the imagine (some may think it is, I’ve been a bit spoiled in the last few years though), it’s well done, and the power has been allocated well throughout the rev range rather than just punch you in the face and then tailing off earlier like some other tuners have done – in other words, it’s mapped like the original car, just with more to give.

Have done a full review on FocusRSOC together with the pros and cons I had with it, I haven’t put a link up though just in case it’s not allowed.

[Kenny]

@400andrising – Feel free to post it up I am not like that regarding other clubs/forums we all have the same interest. Either that or you can even copy and paste it on here as I would and sure others would be interested to read it.

[9designs]

400andrising….   agreed, ……….it’s a heavy car and the update helps…………. interested to read your review.

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Magnetic Grey with all the best bits

FPM375/COBB/MSD-  Quaife LSD,  DSC+Tractive  Suspension,  HJS200 cell sports cat and MT Cooler. Sync3 upgrade.

Was UK seller for DSC & Tractive  Active suspension !!!

    

[400andrising]

No worries guys cheers @Kenny

Here you go, the formatting screwed up a bit when I copied it

http://www.focusrsoc.com/forums/topic/283098-fpm375-review-after-4-days/

[9designs]

Can’t read it not a member there…..

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Magnetic Grey with all the best bits

FPM375/COBB/MSD-  Quaife LSD,  DSC+Tractive  Suspension,  HJS200 cell sports cat and MT Cooler. Sync3 upgrade.

Was UK seller for DSC & Tractive  Active suspension !!!

    

[oiler]

Thanks Kenny

Any more detail on the warranty offered by DS and EH?

[400andrising]

 

Here you go – copied….apologies for loss of some formatting…

As promised to UK Jon, I thought I’d try and post up a quick review of my thoughts on the FPM375 kit after having it installed last Thursday at Mountune HQ by Fred & Co.

To offer a bit of background, I’ve come from a 470bhp Impreza (lairy for a daily), then a 420bhp v8 M3 (lovely car, but less involving to drive), so always knew the Focus would be down on power, but it felt like a good compromise between the two (excitement Vs practicality Vs cost).  I also felt on the test drives that with a decent map it should have more to give and feel a bit more lively so the FPM375 was always on the cards from the moment I put the deposit down.  I also had a dyno run beforehand for a base figure and will see what the difference is when I go back in a week or so.
I wanted to wait a few days for any placebo effects to subside and write a more focused (sorry) view on how it’s improved the car, so here goes.
Pros

• You retain the manufacturer warranty
• The difference is much more obvious in normal than sport; the car feels less lazy than before and you don’t necessarily need to switch into sport to get the car to be more responsive; it still makes a difference of course, and there is also now a little more urgency than previously felt in sport, particularly at the bottom and toward the top of the rev range.
• It’s not hugely explosive or thump you in the back like turbo cars of the noughties; linear delivery with a little more urgency is probably the best way to sum it up would be the expression I’d use, similar to the standard car but with a little bit more on tap.
  This does make it easy to moderate the power without overdoing it, and on a long straight the car builds speed notably faster than standard, so overtaking is easier as you can build “attack speed” faster .
• Pops and bangs are a bit more conservative and random in their delivery, which suits me fine as I felt they were too over the top in standard form
• Some people have complained about it being noisier but I opted to keep the bonnet insulation, and honestly I haven’t noticed a difference at all in volume / induction noise (although it’s not “driving with the window open weather” right now)
• Fuel consumption remains the same; I haven’t gone mad yet to see how bad I can make it  but for daily driving it’s unchanged.

Cons

The below must be taken with a pinch of salt given that Mountune were working within strict parameters supplied by Ford, so I do understand that they were effectively working with one hand tied behind their back – still, they remain bugbears for me that I wish could have been addressed with the standard performance and warranty friendly map.

• The overboost facility remains in place; personally I’m still not a fan, and whilst the overboost coming in seems less obvious with the FPM375 than it was previously, would like to drive two cars back to back – one with, and one without (Revo?), to see the difference.  I’m firmly in the “would rather have all the power all the time” camp rather than having to hit the throttle hard to get the extra 10-20% the car has to offer.
• This isn’t aimed specifically at Mountune, probably more at Ford’s original Map / ECU setup, but I hate the fact the car doesn’t remember the last mode you were in when it starts.
  I had the same gripe with my M3 and the fact you had to press the M button every time you started the car to put it back into the setting you wanted.
  Why manufacturers don’t realise this is an irritation is unknown to me, I suspect many of us don’t want the mode reset every time the car starts.
  Surely this must be programmable – I know Motorsport Developments can programme Stop / Start to be off by default.
• The map doesn’t appear to limit revs when the engine is cold like I believe Revo’s does.
  This for me is a missed opportunity and one that Ford should have put in place as standard to protect the engine, especially as temperatures are dropping now.  The moving rev counter on my old M3 was brilliant, moved mechanically as the engine warmed up, wish all cars had similar.
• The cost – there’s no getting away from the fact that £1k for what’s essentially supplying and fitting an induction kit, recirc valve and remap is not a cheap price; the main cost is evidently against the remap and considering you don’t get an access port equivalent included in that, I wouldn’t necessarily say it represents incredible value for money, but there is an obvious plus point of keeping your warranty intact that the handset won’t give you.  For me that swung it.

 

Summary

• Ford Warranty intact
• Noticeable increase in power, particularly at the bottom and top of the rev range, definitely livelier to drive
• No noticeable impact on mpg or noise (except a few less artificial pops and bangs – which I’m grateful for as you look like less of a chav)
• If you’ve previously owned quicker cars don’t expect this upgrade to set your world on fire, but it is still worth having in my opinion
• Overboost is still there, and there’s no rev limiting function for when the car’s cold, and no additional functions exposed by the new map.
• There are cheaper alternatives which offer more, but lose you the warranty and for some who are on finance, that will be an important deciding factor.

Hope some of you will find that useful, any questions let me know.
….

Since then I’ve driven the car a bit harder in sport mode and the ECU seems to have learned a little more as it seems altogether more urgent and rapid in terms of responsiveness.  Definitely feels much torque-ier with very little if any lag now, very pleased overall, and with an intact warranty I’d say it’s an excellent all round package, not the cheapest certainly, but….I’ve done the figures chasing thing before and I honestly think bang for buck for a daily this will probably suffice for many for a while.

[9designs]

Great write up…. think I can relate and agree with all that… also getting the feel the ECU needed some learning time after loading the 375 map…. off the forecourt bit underwhelmed…. then the other day after filling up thought whoooo what’s going on here as I pulled away….

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Magnetic Grey with all the best bits

FPM375/COBB/MSD-  Quaife LSD,  DSC+Tractive  Suspension,  HJS200 cell sports cat and MT Cooler. Sync3 upgrade.

Was UK seller for DSC & Tractive  Active suspension !!!

    

[400andrising]

The cars often run like a bag of spanners immediately after the map anyway as they’re effectively back to standard and having to learn all their params and re-establish everything again.  I remember Imprezas used to often stall when pulling off the rolling road at SRR after the ECU had been mapped and reset just because the car was re-setting idle speed etc.

[oiler]

I remember Scooby always having trouble after SRR, needed Jolly Green Monster (Simon) to do a road test and a few more tweaks!!

[400andrising]

Si’s untimely passing was one of the reasons I left the scene, just wasn’t the same anymore.

Great guy and a good mate, he’d been mapping my cars for nearly 8 years!

[oiler]

Yes Si is sadly missed. Couldn’t beat his personal touch.

Doesn’t seem quite right all these generic remaps for the RS just plug in and go, surely someone could provide a service similar to JGM with cars individually mapped.

 

 

[Author]

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