Talk to me about Rica remaps

[Brooklands]

As I have mentioned elsewhere I am Saab as well as a Volvo owner, so I am familar with Maptun, Abbott and the like for Saabs but what are Rica like? Our Volvo is a S60 D5 SE Geartronic. Is there a suitable upgrade for this model? What are the advantages? Anyone had any experiences? How much is likely to cost to upgrade?

[turbo-tuner]

As I have mentioned elsewhere I am Saab as well as a Volvo owner, so I am familar with Maptun, Abbott and the like for Saabs but what are Rica like? Our Volvo is a S60 D5 SE Geartronic. Is there a suitable upgrade for this model? What are the advantages? Anyone had any experiences? How much is likely to cost to upgrade?

It's a very popular upgrade and has been refined over the years to give very smooth power delivery and a very wide torque curve for fantastic performance over the entire rev range. I had an S60 D5 manual and my old man had a V70 D5 geartronic. Both had great performance with the RICA upgrade, with economy improvements of approx 15%. My S60 D5 did 0-60 in 7.2 seconds with the RICA Stage 2, as officially timed at Donnington Park.

There are two tuning options available -

Stage 1 = 198 hp and 435 Nm (£440.63 inc VAT)
Stage 2 = 210 hp and 460 Nm (£484.69 inc VAT)

If you choose to go for Stage 1 first, then later choose to go to Stage 2, you only pay the difference in price to upgrade.

Also available is an optional iSoftloader which is a handheld device that allows you to program the car by yourself and switch tunes whenever you like. The price is £99.88 inc VAT on top of the software prices above. However, if you go for Stage 2 then Stage 1 is included in the price and you'll have both tunes available to program into the car using the iSoftloader.

Full details of the upgrades are available here:

http://www.rica-uk.com/viewcar.aspx?vehicle=149

and information about the iSoftloader is available here:

http://www.rica-uk.com/softloader.aspx

Adam.

[t5_monkey]

As I have mentioned elsewhere I am Saab as well as a Volvo owner, so I am familar with Maptun, Abbott and the like for Saabs but what are Rica like? Our Volvo is a S60 D5 SE Geartronic. Is there a suitable upgrade for this model? What are the advantages? Anyone had any experiences? How much is likely to cost to upgrade?

I think both Rica and MTE do a map for you - usual prices are about £300 to £500 although some garages do deals where you don't get the soft-loader for a bit less.

Watch your torque output - new auto boxes can be expensive :)

[Brooklands]

Many thanks for that. Am I right in thinking that our S60 is 185BHP as standard - it is a 55 plate. If that is the case the stage one does not give that much more power for the money. Also I am worried the autobox. That is a bill I'd prefer to avoid.......

[turbo-tuner]

Many thanks for that. Am I right in thinking that our S60 is 185BHP as standard - it is a 55 plate. If that is the case the stage one does not give that much more power for the money. Also I am worried the autobox. That is a bill I'd prefer to avoid.......

If you have the 185 hp version then you have more options. Check your VIN code. If the 6th and 7th digit is 71 then you have the Euro 4 185 hp model. If so, then RICA offer the following upgrades:

E-Power - 205 hp / 450 Nm (£352.50 inc VAT)
Stage 1 - 226 hp / 460 Nm (£440.63 inc VAT)
Stage 2 - 240 hp / 480 Nm (£484.69 inc VAT)

The Sports Tune (253 hp / 548 Nm) is only available for the manual. It is not available for the geartronic because the torque is too high.

Again, whichever one you go for, should you choose to upgrade to a higher stage tune, you only pay the difference in price.

Full details of all the options above are available here:

http://www.rica-uk.com/viewcar.aspx?vehicle=142

BTW, there will some interesting special offers from RICA coming in January. I can give you more details via PM if you are interested.

Adam.

ps. RICA have a special page on their web site to help identify which diesel variant you have: http://www.rica-uk.com/identify.aspx

[t5_monkey]

PS - Remember...

Most tuners quote figures for highly maintained engines running on petrol as explosive as fighter jet fuel and as pure as the driven snow... with the wind behind them, going downhill and a pig flying somewhere in the background - along with a triple rainbow on the horizon.

Don't be suckered in by higher power claims, I've never seen any proof one reputable tune is a lot better than another power wise, it's more about reliability, drive-ability and excellent customer support.

To give you an example, Pumaspeed quote a 315bhp upgrade on a standard focus STturbo (same as mine) when the manufacturers maximum airflow states anything over 285bhp is theoretically impossible, and Don Norchi has never achieved over 285 on a stock turbo - why overstate your claims by OVER 40bhp? cause people believe them and buy their stuff.

Smoke and Mirrors... so have your pinch of salt bag ready :) Personally I'd be amazed if you could get more than 220bhp out of a D5 without hardware modifications - simply because the hardware in the car is the limiting factor no matter how good the tune.

[Santa]

Figures, like anything assume many factors. Likely the output specified by the manufacturer is off to start with anyway. (I'm not just suggesting your car could have a lower power output that specified....in rare cases car outputs have been higher from factory than the manufacturer has specified).

Also, what I'm about to say is only what I've heard and not seen with my own eyes but in some instances where Euro 4 D5's have had the Rica Sport tune applied have seen higher that Rica quoted figures on rolling road tests. (But again all things aren't equal, a well maintained lower mileage car that was perfect from the factory would be better than one that isn't and not all rolling roads read equal either).

Think all I'm trying to say is yes the figures might be off but if all you are willing to do is modify the software on your car without other mods does it matter what the figure is as long as its higher? (After all you can only do so much with software. My laptop runs faster with Opensuse 11.3 on it instead of Windows Vista, I can even use software to over clock the CPU and in turn potentially reduce its life but for further gains I would invest in memory or an SSD drive.....almost the same goes for cars).

[lance]

I think RICA over optomistic claims lies with 15 year -5 year old petrol models. All the D5s Rica standard or and autologic I have seen in action have all been quick. All souped up D5s should easily keep up with a standard T5 in the real world.

[t5_monkey]

I think RICA over optomistic claims lies with 15 year -5 year old petrol models. All the D5s Rica standard or and autologic I have seen in action have all been quick. All souped up D5s should easily keep up with a standard T5 in the real world.

have you seen any do the 1/4 mile... if so, what was their terminal speeds roughly ? that's probably the best indication of outright power.

[Jaseb77]

BTW, there will some interesting special offers from RICA coming in January. I can give you more details via PM if you are interested.
Adam.


Hi Adam, Please let me know about rica deals in january, as i maybe interested for my new D5 , (not here yet)

[Santa]

have you seen any do the 1/4 mile... if so, what was their terminal speeds roughly ? that's probably the best indication of outright power.

Is it though?....with the wheel spin etc

[lance]

The 1/4 mile times and terminal speeds for an S60 D5 chipped are pretty much on par with a standard T5 eg 855, V70, S70 etc maybe a couple of MPH lower on the terminal and fractions of a second slower but not that much! I would say 15.5- 16.5 secs and aprox 90 mph, I have seen 855R run worse and Gear Tronic V70s T5s
I think in the real world a chipped D5 can feel a lot more aggresive than a chipped T5!

[LiamT4]

Is it though?....with the wheel spin etc

It does in wobblys case!
Not the best times but he gets a good terminal speed because he has plenty of power.

Terminal speed also depends on gearing.

[turbo-tuner]

The 1/4 mile times and terminal speeds for an S60 D5 chipped are pretty much on par with a standard T5 eg 855, V70, S70 etc maybe a couple of MPH lower on the terminal and fractions of a second slower but not that much! I would say 15.5- 16.5 secs and aprox 90 mph, I have seen 855R run worse and Gear Tronic V70s T5s
I think in the real world a chipped D5 can feel a lot more aggresive than a chipped T5!

Yep, my old S60 D5 Euro 3 manual did the 1/4 in 15.75s, but I don't have the terminal speed unfortunately. Biggest problem is that 1st gear is very short and only gets you to approx 25 mph IIRC. You need 3 gear changes to get to 60 mph and with max rpm at 4500 rpm it just doesn't have the long legs of a T5.

The Euro 4 D5 is significantly quicker than the Euro 3 D5, but not as economical.