It may sound excessive, but they’re not in business to give away stuff for free, so any reasonable reason might be enough for them.

I am also thinking of getting the Sport Exhaust Twin Pipe installed at my local Saab dealership. How much HP would it increase if any? I read somewhere like 6 ponies or so. I’m adding it more for the faster look rather than performance alla Paul Humpage.

It’s all a moot point though, because you’ll never blow the engine with software from a reputable place like BSR, Maptun, SQR, Nordic, Rica, etc because their staged upgrades are very well engineered to work with the engine setup that they require. Pretty much the only time you’ll blow an engine is when YOU are doing something wrong.

The same goes for the rest of the car, it likely won’t break unless you do something stupid. The Turbo-X is designed as a performance car, and the driveline has been engineered to handle the rigors of proper spirited driving.

A session on the track in a stock Turbo X a-la Wulf’s experience is far harder on the drivetrain (with it’s quick loading and de-loading of the various drivetrain components) than high speed cruising, passing, racing from a roll, etc in a stage 3 Turbo X would be. Of course you’ll blow a transmission with a staged car if you keep doing clutch-drops and no-lift shifts, but you’ll blow a transmission if you did those things in a stock car anyways.

So modifications can be a great addition to your car, you just have to be smart about them and you shouldn’t run into any problems.

As far as Tech II finding information if a software reflash (reprogram) has been done, there are things some things an experienced technician might see to indicate this.

The most common thing that happens is that during the reprogramming event the ECU ‘stops talking’ to other modules on the network and those modules will either store DTC information indicating this or reset as a result of the reprogram. Typically there are no lamps on the dash that illuminate as the ‘fault’ is no longer present once the key is cycled so the module just keeps it for history information.

Disconnecting the battery generally does not clear these codes so anymore, so you need a Tech II to clean up the mess after programming is done. The Tech II includes a function now so that after you reprogram/replace a module during service it will go out and clear codes from everything and indicate what other functions need to be re-learned. For example, when reprogramming an ECU on a 9-3 one of the most common things that happens is the window pinch protection (express up) gets erased from the driver and passenger door modules.

In my experience though, spirited driving (ahem) is easily identified by broken parts. Burned up clutch discs at low mileage, overheated flywheels and over-revved engines with bent valves are all neat things to look at.

Also, a Swedish news paper (I think DN) wrote that the SAAB engineer’s did not get to put an “S” button on the automatic version of Turbo-X. I love that “S” button…but it would make me think twice about tuning my car.

Especially if you have automatic (like I do! ) you´ll get 50Nm more 370Nm->420Nm. This detail also tells me that 370Nm limit is not because of transmission has limit so low, but it´s quite likely to achieve smoother acceleration. Does anyone know if the automatic is same for 2.8T and TTiD?

It´s time for me to start thinking good excuses for missus, why should I save +1000€ for software upgrade.

New brakes on the shopping list next though.
Then a new exhaust
Then a turbo
More ECU programming

Beyond that I’ll be needing a new clutch.

So, yeah, the only problem I’ve had/got is knowing when to stop upgrading, it’s potentially quite an expensive hobby.

My wife just rolls her eyes, if she complains I’ll just point at her shoe collection and raise an eyebrow.

On a day to day basis I’ve noticed a slight improvement in the fuel economy, maybe about 2mpg better – I’m putting that down to being able to use a higher gear because of the extra torque – eg. one or two of the hills on my way to work I can now go up in 5th instead of 4th. I can potter along at 30mph in 6th a lot more now too if the road’s pretty flat.

BUT. Spirited driving uses a noticeable amount more fuel than before – it’s quite addictive “booting it” with those extra horses at your disposal, so I tend to do it more often than I did before.

I suppose at the end of the day it depends on your driving style. On balance for me, with a mixture of sensible and spirited driving my fuel economy has probably stayed about the same. (24.5 mpg (imperial gallons))

I’d imagine the Linear stage one fuel economy would stay similar to before for you too. Just depends on how heavy your foot becomes after the upgrade.