reliability of tuned cars...

i'm thinking about having a rica 280 mod, but as i plan to keep the car, i'm concerned about possible reliability issues. i have spoken to a couple of people who've done 30k or so without problems, but i don't think they necessarily drive under quite the same conditions that i do. i am an average driver for insurance purposes 10k per year with 30 - 35mph average. so would folk post whether they've suffered mechanical problems following having tuning done - i'm aware that poor mainteneace will lead to problems and i'm not talking about service items, just stuff you might not expect to have to replace.

btw my only experience of tuned vehicles was with yamaha 350lc's - which for some might explain my caution.

I drive my car like I stole it every day, it aint broke yet, 1 set of tyres in a month and half, now thats good goin!!!

Reliability with mods totally depends on the mods and your driving style. The more agressive your mods, the more apt you are to end up breaking something important. Likewise with driving style. With just a RICA chip, I'd imagine you'll be alright - I don't know that I've ever heard of someone killing a car with an off-the-shelf chip. Just stay on top of maintenance, and you should be alright. It's when you start going for serious gobs of power that you start breaking things more regularly :frown:

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Originally Posted by weasel

btw my only experience of tuned vehicles was with yamaha 350lc's - which for some might explain my caution.

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Weasel just replace your serviced items will upgraded parts, and you cannot go wrong,
As for the Elsies i had a nice 350 ypvs tuned by Stephens 38 carbs and Lomas pipes boy did that thing move.
reliability was always a problem with that bike lol.
Gary

I've had no problems with mine and it does quite a few miles at least 200 miles a week and gets driven quite hard a lot of that time i think as long as you use decent oil and keep on top of the routine maintenence you should be fine.

Ive done 60 k on mine now in under 2 years and no problems

Chris's T5 has been Rica tuned for 20k and the only problem was a leaky air hose from cooler to turbo. Agreed the increased boost may have caused it, but in the same breath, it may have gone anyway....

I certainly wouldn't worry about long term reliability. I have lived closely to a 480 turbo (my cousins) which for 30,000 miles was hitting the end stop (past the red section on the boost guage) with a valve, that has only just given in now, and that was driven hard, always running this excessive boost. He even started changing resistors in the ECU towards the end to try and fool the electronic control.

Anyway, my point is... go for it!

Dont think the reliability will be the worry, keeping hold of your licence maybe :jaw: scream if you wanna go faster

I drive a standard'ish T5....Mine breaks regulary...but that's down to the style of driving that I do.. If you drive hard it is more likely to break due to the extra stress you put on the car, whether it's tuned or not.

However even cars that are looked after still break...I'm sure there's a Chaos Theory equation for this somewhere.....

No probs. with my Rica 280 & I've occasionally seen 155+ on track & Autobahn.

mine is drivenlike i stole it all the time
i have done 40k in it
and its been chipped most of that and running extra boost with no major problems touch wood

hi bsr upgrade here. no probs at all. u cant kik the arse out of it all the time anyroads

I've had a couple of modified cars (including a Cavalier 4x4 Turbo running @ 280 bhp) and as long as you service them properly and look after them I don't think you will have any problems.

My current S40T4 is running about 240 bhp and I do about 12,000 miles a year and I have no reliability problems at all in 15 months. I don't thrash it all the time but I do use the performance when I can.

Just go for it and give it plenty TLC.

No Problems had mine for 1 year 4 months have 310 upgrade and the cars now done 155000 miles and running sweet as and using no oil. It makes a standard car feel a bit flat and boring.
The cars a good second faster 0-60 a good 10 mph faster and believe it or not my emissions are lower now at 155k than they were at 124k before I bought it!