tmarino

After a lot of forum reading on tuning for my NA 911S, I finally loaded a tune in over the weekend using the Cobb Accessport with PDK tune. I recently purchased the Cobb unit from a fellow Rennlist member who had purchased the unit , never installed it and then sold his car. It was reasonably priced and since my Birthday was Saturday, I said what the hell, I need a present! As I have always been a NA BMW guy for the last 30 years, this was my first foray into Porsche and tuning ECU's with a flash. Boy have we come a long way since the 'chip' days!

Using all the info on YouTube, and the informative Cobb website, I was able to get the ECU and PDK flash installed on Sunday but I had one error pop up during the install, I was bit concerned. I sent the info to Cobb Support last night and they promptly replied this morning and walked me through the uninstall and re-install which in the end was very painless. It took about 2 hours of back and forth mainly due to flashing time but Cobb Support was awesome, I couldn't have asked for better support for sure. My hats off to all of the Cobb Support Team!!!!!!!!

Finally got a chance to take it for a ride after work today and the over all drivability has improved tremendously in all modes, the most noticeable is Normal mode. What was once a less responsive mode is now like another Sport mode between the ECU and the PDK tune. Throttle response is instantaneous and shifting is crisper than ever. Sport mode is another notch up on the performance ladder and all that I will ever need off the track for sure. What the actual figures are in the end really doesn't concern me as I am not trying to compare my car to someone else's 911, nor am I concerned with comparing it to a turbo tune. I was more concerned with the overall performance, as it relates to every day driving, and not looking to lay claim to massive HP and TQ increases which seems to be all everyone cares about. Why the last of the Porsche NA cars has to become a red headed step child is beyond me. Back East we drove and raced BMW NA M3's that are still wicked at any track and that's where all my experience was back then. Moving to a NA 911S was perfectly fine for me as the car was everything I wanted and the overall Porsche performance, even stock, had intrigued me for years.

As the saying goes, this is one man's opinion! While others may scoff at a the thought of tuning a NA 911S, the proof for me in today's spirited drive using the Cobb software was worth every penny spent for the results gained in driving thrills and overall experience. Some software tuning manufacturers have 30 day money back trial periods and if anyone is on the fence about tuning, my suggestion is to try it for the trial period yourself. You have nothing to lose and may be really surprised at the results in the end.

Thanks again to all the Rennlist members who have posted their experiences for all of us to learn from and 'Thanks Again' to Cobb for some really nice software and the fabulous technical support.

Tom in Reno

fester

How’s the sport plus (assuming you have chrono?)

tmarino

Yep, have Sport Chrono and it is wicked! Rev limit is increased to 8K and shifting in SP sounds like a gunshot. Overall response, throttle and shifting, is addictive. I can’t wait to get it on a track or large open space to play with it.
Now that Normal and Sport mode is improved, I don’t see myself using SP on the street.

Tom in Reno

CarlJ

I've got the COBB with PDK tune on my 2013 C4S. It's been great! Not sure of any real power gains, but I bought it for the PDK tune. Normal mode was just horrible... Shifting just off idle, having to drop several gears every time you hit the gas hard... It was just lazy. Sport mode was mandatory, but maybe a little too much for around town. Now with the PDK tune, normal mode is awesome! Very responsive! Sport mode is what it should be for spirited back road driving, really holding the gears a bit longer. I did NOT have sport chrono, and now I've got launch control anyways is a nice bonus!

I do wish that with the aggressive tune, it didn't bump the rev limiter up. Somewhat concerned about what that does for the overrev counters (DME). Plus, after testing, my car tests slightly quicker with sport tune versus aggressive. It seems to struggle or delay the shift sometimes with the aggressive tune, not sure if it's loosing traction on the shift and the traction control is coming in a little, but definitely doesn't seem right quite a bit of the time. Be nice to be able to have the increased shift speeds on the sport mode or be able to have an aggressive minus the increased rev limit, or even better, have some of those options selectable...

tmarino

CarlJ,
I agree with the PDK Aggressive mode for sure. I first installed the Stage 1 ECU Tune and the PDK Aggressive and had the same opinion. When I re-flashed, I loaded the Sport PDK map and that changed the ball game entirely. Well worth the small bit of trouble I had learning. Now I can enjoy driving.............

Tom in Reno

Guards_Red_991

3.8L manual here.... You tempt me to pull the trigger on something like this.

tmarino

I see we have the Guards Red twins here..........nice color for sure!

As I stated above, I was on the fence never having done this type of tuning and boy am I glad I bit the bullet and tried it. I was on the fence as to whose tune I should try and when you read all the forum postings ( and is there a crap load of opinions out there!) you can get thoroughly confused for sure. Had this Cobb unit not come up at the right time, I still may be wavering although I was leaning towards the FVD Brombacher unit as they have a 30 day free trial on the ECU tune but since I was running the PDK, I was more inclined to try out the Cobb Accessport. Having never driven a Cobb tuned 991, I had no point of performance reference other than what I had experienced over the last 3 months and I was surprised at the overall result and the Cobb support.

I'm sure if you tried it out, you would enjoy it for sure. Too bad there isn't a way for you to try it out first before buying it

...........Good Luck and keep in touch,

Tom in Reno

Wolpertinger

I've been seriously thinking of adding a tune to mine too, but it's a CPO car and if anything were to happen to it, I'm afraid the warranty would be null and void.

garfunkle

Car looks great and you're right about there being many opinions! For what it's worth though, FVD does also have a PDK tune.

enve46

Great review! Ive contemplated a tune with mine and this is great to hear you enjoy it. Drivability for me is just as important as performance. Normal mode is just blah. This has definitely peaked my interest.

MidEngineRules

Right on

Only posers

Guards_Red_991

BTW Tom, your wheels are my fave.

tmarino

I've been driving in NORMAL mode since last weekend and WOW what a difference..........no more blah's for sure!

97supratt

Glad you enjoy your COBB tune! I’ve been preaching about COBB for a while now. It really wakes up the 3.8 especially if you have headers, intake, exhaust. The shifting is insane fast!!

tmarino

You bet it is............!!..Just getting ready to order Soul headers and exhaust. Just the basic Cobb Sport tune is fun I can't wait for the custom tune that Cobb recommends with the extras then in play. Stay tuned for updates for sure.

Tom in Reno