PaleAle

Buffalosojah and I had the same question in a different thread so I thought I'd bump it. My next investment after my exhaust and wheels is going to be a tune. What's the difference between a tune from Kevin and a Cobb. My buddy that started me down the 996tt road keeps raving about the Cobb and how simple it is.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Road King

I can't speak firsthand about a UMW tune, although Kevin's reputation is stellar and everyone here is absolutely thrilled with his tune.. I have a custom Cobb tune from Sam @ By Design on my '02. Can always meet up on the Peninsula for a ride...I'm in SF.

my04996tt

I just went with the Cobb OTS tune and am happy with the results, a tune really wakes up the car. My to do list is similar, probably go with the Kline, and new rims.

bansasn

I was in the same boat Cobb or UMW. Many research and reviews I end up with UMW. It was a $$ well spent. Everything about the car performance is so refine now. I think both tunes are good. It's the service and connectioning Kevin provide I like. He's very flexible and the guy live and breath 996tt.

manimal

Based on the time Kevin has spent chatting with me on the phone, despite the fact that I have never purchased anything from him -- I would say it's at least worth giving him a call.

bw1999

Kevin has been incredibly helpful getting my car dialed in. He gets my vote.

BauerR

Cobb. If all else is the same, at least you get data logging capability with the Cobb.

PaleAle

I hadn't planned on looking at this yet after having to pin my coolant pipes last August. However, Cobb is now down below $900 retail so it's getting very tempting.

Quadcammer

Not sure what the cobb costs, but for about $1,500 you get kevins tune and his datalogger.

I've been very pleased with kevins tune, but will say that the gas mileage has really taken a nosedive since the factory runs the car so lean

wross996tt

I have had experience with two tunes...I first tried sending my ECU off to have components soldered onto the ECU board (GIAC). This was done long ago. Then I met up with Keving. I bought pretty much all of my upgraded parts from him, he knew what I had (from hybrid turbos to Al plenum to dual snorkel intake, etc.). He would send me the flasher, I would log data and send it back to him to fine tune...so after a couple of iterations the tune is "optimized" for my car and my altitude...not sure what you get with Cobb...is it just "off the shelf" tune?

manimal

You can custom tune with the Cobb as well, though it's not clear to me how many Cobb owners use it for that purpose.

IMHO (and I think Kevin might even agree with this), the tuner is more important than the technology. And I personally wouldn't bother shelling out for a new tune, at all, if it wasn't going to be custom. With Kevin, part of the value add is that he's an expert on these cars. I'm sure there are good Cobb tuners, too.

SteveMFr

Kevin offers customers a datalogger, and I believe Kevin's datalogger may actually deliver more than the Cobb.

What you won't get from Kevin is a simple interface to make changes to parameters on your own. But in all honesty, how many are actually doing their own tuning?

911mhawk

Kevin can provide his data logger and it works great, his help reviewing files is worth way more than any slight difference price.

To the OP, main difference for me is using a tuner vs. a tool.
UMW/Kevin takes the time to ensure you're heading in the right direction with mods and running well before providing a tune. This alone could save you from big headaches.

I've gone all in with his turbos/fuel management/data logger and couldn't be more pleased with the process, working with Kevin, and the outcome.

SteveMFr

I believe that is exactly what Sam does with the Cobb, though.

One thing that would be interesting to see is if the Cobb offers access to all parameters that Kevin has access to - meaning that none of the safety features get turned off, etc to enable the tune.

I know both guys have great reputations. Based on that alone you'd have to toss a coin.

WOTever

+1