Vince's Stuff: Winter is here, we have the right car for the season!

Relatively clean Subaru

When we bought the STi, I wasn't sure if I was going to spring for a second key for it, so I ordered this suede STi keychain from China so that either Alex or I could easily identify and grab the car's key. I ended up paying to make a second key and using the keychain for myself (at least for winter!). It's such a small thing, it cost less than 5$, but when I reach into my pocket and feel the little piece of suede, it's a nice reminder that we have this fantastic car.

Inexepensive suede keychain

I've already described in detail why I love this car and how happy I was to replace our BMW 535 with a manual Subaru, but there was one issue that was bothering me: I was under the impression that the car was not properly tuned for the aftermarket parts that came with it. It stumbled at certain low RPM's and didn't feel that powerful at full throttle either. I theorized that the former owner possibly had a Cobb Accessport, a great little computer that you can use to load a new tune into the car and measure dozens of parameters. If you want to sell a used Accessport (worth 400-500$), you have to "unmarry" it from your specific car, and in doing so, you reset the ECU to factory settings. If the former owner did this, it might explain the way the car was underperforming. It's also possible the former owner simply did not have the car tuned or that she or he installed a poor tune.

Anyway, I called the premier Subaru specialists in the province, and it was going to cost around 1000 $ or more to have a new tune created and installed. This was a lot of money, considering how much we had already spent to buy this car (and buy a warranty, winter tires, etc.). The best option seemed to be to buy a used Accessport and pay one of the many tuners out there to create a tune for this car. This service was generally available for around 300-350US$, but I found one tuner who had a special price of 200$US. I bought a used Accessport and the very next day, we had begun the tuning process.

The process is actually fascinating for a car nut like me: I sent the tuner, AmbotTuned, a list of the parts already on the car, and he emailed me a map file to load into the ECU with the Accessport. Instead of running the car on a dyno, then making changes, then running it again, the E-tuner sends the map and gives you instructions on what to measure, and in what circumstances. Even without any data, the tuner sent me an initial map that immediately improved the car's drivability, but that was only the beginning. I recorded data while driving and sent in the data file by email. The next day, the tuner sent me a second version of the tune. We have gone back and forth a couple of times (losing a few days due to winter driving conditions) and I am now on version 4 of the tune. The car already feels so much better... the drivabilty at low RPM is perferct. Before, the engine felt miserable under 3000 rpm, now it feels tractable, like a modern German turbo 4-cylinder. After the first tune, the data that the tuner asks for is a wide-open throttle pull in 3rd gear, from 2000 RPM (40 km/h) to redline, and the only safe and legal way to do this is while getting onto a highway. I can tell that there is more usable power at 2000 RPM than there was before the tune, simply by how quickly the car now pulls to redline. I don't know how many more versions there will be, but even if the tuner were to tell me now that we're done, I would be satisfied with the result. The car has been transformed into a fully usable daily driver.

In the month since my last post, I have stored the Civic away for winter in the parking garage in the highrise where my parents live. I parked the M3 in the barn at the country house. Both of those cars are in pretty good condition. The Civic needs a couple of spot welds and maybe some new brake lines (I changed the soft lines in 2017) and the M3 needs an oil change. That's about it.

As of last weekend, winter conditions have set in, but it hasn't affected us much, since we don't drive that much around town. When we do have to drive in snow, we'll have the car for it!