Bought car from garage and they never told me was remapped...

david.carroll5

Hi,

I bought a car recently from a well known car dealership. The sales guy never told me the car was remapped. I noticed a sticker on the engine after I bought it with contact details of a performance / tuning company. I got in contact with the company that did the mapping and told me an extra 60 bhp was the result of the performance upgrade. I'm a bit annoyed as the sales guy never said anything to me. What are my options? Could I get some compensation / extras out of the dealership if I went back to them on this? I still like the car and want to keep it though. I know this remapping will add to my fuel consumption and may have increased the probability of engine trouble.

thanks,

Owen

Remapping in most cases will reduce fuel consumption. Remapping also doesn't stress an engine, it still operates well within mechanical tolerances. Your biggest issue is with your Insurance.

Anan1

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Remapping also doesn't stress an engine, it still operates well within mechanical tolerances.

Ish. Increased boost has to subject the engine to more stress, even if still within safe ranges. There's also the factor that a remapped car is likely to have been driven a lot harder than its standard equivalent. I'm not saying I wouldn't buy a remapped car, but i'd be taking a long hard look at both the previous owner and the people who did the work first.

mickdw

Id be pretty happy to have 50 to 60 bhp more than I should have. I dont think the garage will be offering any kind of compo in this case.
Unless you are ringing every last one of those extra horses out of it at all times, I dont think you have much to worry about in terms of reliability. In relation to fuel consumption, certainly on a diesel you will not have an issue. perhaps on a petrol turbo, you might suffer a bit.

challengemaster

Slightly different reaction than I'd expect....

Draffodx found out last year at a dyno day that he bought a focus ST that was already remapped, he was delighted

Owen

The thing people forget about remaps, is that without it, the engine's already operating in sub-optimal situations. Engine's are developed to work on all octanes of petrol, and in the harshest of temperature/humidity extremes from very cold (-30) to very hot (+50). You'll often see manufacturers cold weather testing vehicles, and then taking the same cars to a desert and testing them there.

A remap will pretty much setup the car to the local environment, the local fuel octane's, the local temperatures and humidity too. It removes a lot of the variables, and can as a result make the overall engine more efficient, even if you don't choose to go for a performance remap. Economy remaps are becoming hugely popular now - they keep the horsepower at the factory level, but carry out the mods above, and adjust the response of the throttle/torque&hp curves for lower end power.

But agree with you about the other stuff.

drunkmonkey

Gift, i'd be delighted.

Nissan doctor

What car and engine is it that they recon you have an extra 60hp from a map??

Anan1

Lads, we've no idea what was done to this car or by whom. It could be anything from a proper remap, an uprated fuel pump and a careful owner to a back-street bodge job that'll melt a hole in a piston at the first opportunity.

mickdw

Anan1 wrote: »

Lads, we've no idea what was done to this car or by whom. It could be anything from a proper remap, an uprated fuel pump and a careful owner to a back-street bodge job that'll melt a hole in a piston at the first opportunity.

Very true. I guess more info required here.

n97 mini

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Remapping in most cases will reduce fuel consumption.

More performance and better fuel economy. Why don't they do this at the factory?

mickdw

n97 mini wrote: »

More performance and better fuel economy. Why don't they do this at the factory?

Pay them €4000 and they will:D

Owen

n97 mini wrote: »

More performance and better fuel economy. Why don't they do this at the factory?

For the reasons above primarily. It's easier for a manufacturer to get an engine to work in all environments, rather than a car for Ireland, another car for Southern France, etc. Also, nearly every car out there in an effort to comply with overly cautious noise regulations has a flat spot at the rpm where they measure noise. A remap will smooth out the power delivery without raising the noise level beyond what's acceptable by the TUV/MOT.

It also allows them to sell one engine branded as different horsepowers with just a remap. The MINI One and the Cooper pre 2006 actually were the same engine, with different software. You could remap a One to be a Cooper in 30 minutes.

Nissan doctor

Having just heard the details of this car from the OP, I'd be chuffed if I'd just paid for a standard car and got this....:D

bazz26

Did the garage in question who sold you the car even know it was remapped?

EPM

I bought a remapped car a remapped car two months ago. I didnt know beforehand nor did the garage. The map caused the dpf cycle to go haywire and it clogged so badly it needed to be replaced. The bill was over €2k in the end. I'd only done 4k km in the car and was slightly miffed but as the car took months to find with the right extras I wanted to keep it.

I'd check out the company that did the map are reputable firstly. A map wouldn't bother me if it was from a reputable company. As way of compensation the garage were very apologetic and I'm being looked after in terms of servicing and warranty. 6k km have been put up on the car since and no problems at all. Although I do miss the 50 horses that are now absent.

golden8

Did you ask that it was remapped? If they were trying to hide the fact that it was remapped they would of pulled off the sticker or hide the sticker.

vectra

Take it back to the garage and ask them to do a software update on it and set it back to standard as this is what you believed you were buying. Then go home and give yourself a good swift kick in the backside when you realize just how much you miss those extra 60 horses that you HAD :pac:

listermint

Do we know what model it is yet? C'mon OP!!

david.carroll5

Its an Astra OPC. I didn't ask was it mapped. Just presumed wasn't. My bad. There was just a sticker on the engine with a work id number (only noticed after buying). It was done in a reputable specialist tuning place in the UK. Cost a few grand according to their website! I'm not sure if the sales guy knew. He may not have looked under the bonnet but i'd have though the guy who serviced it may have told him?

Henry Ford III

You should have known when you drove it! I'd advise you informing your insurer pronto in writing.

dave45dave

Henry Ford III wrote: »

You should have known when you drove it! I'd advise you informing your insurer pronto in writing.

Yeah right

vectra

david.carroll5 wrote: »

Its an Astra OPC. ?

White Nurbergring ?
"C" reg??

CianRyan

dave45dave wrote: »

Yeah right

Was this sincere or not?
Insurance companies will **** you over if you don't tell them about upgrades made to the car, especially performance upgrades.

Eric Cartman

if the company left a sticker in the engine bay I doubt its some back lane operation or some lads playing with an ECU and a computer, maybee post the company name OP ? , regardless of the map did you check over the car ? if the car seems mechanically and physically sound then I wouldnt worry, also if your car doesnt have a turbo I wouldnt worry too much.

enjoy your 60 more smiles

easygoing39

Lucky barsteward,a remap for free!!Lovely!!But tell youre insurance company,as we all well know,they will try every trick in the book to get out of paying up in the case off a claim.Enjoy the extra power!!