[BimmerSchnitzel]

I feel your pain...to a degree. I came out of a TD05H 20G equipped 2003 WRX with all the fix'ns (UTEC) to the 135i. I was done with the fear of never knowing when/if my car was going to blow-up, even though the car was running strong to the day I sold it (62,000 miles, 35,000 of which I was running ~400hp). I figured the 135i would keep me happy in the stock power department, in addition to giving me the refinement that I wanted in a car now that I'm getting older. Well, it did not take long before curiosity got the better of me and I started to look to see what the aftermarket scene had to offer. Wish I never looked because it just left me angered. It's CLEAR that the tuners are taking advantage of the demographic of the BMW market. Absolute fucking bullshit in my opinion. But whatever, I'm over that stuff now. I was pleasantly surprised however to see that almost all the ECU tuning solutions were very effective (powerwise) and cheaper compared to what was offered in the Subaru community (my UTEC was $1200 when I bought it). After a bit of research I realized that's probably because they are much less flexible/user defined than what I was used to in the Subaru community. But I think that is just the tuning community adapting to where the market is at right now. The N54 just does not have the aftermarket turbo options like Subaru has hence the need for an ultra-powerful tuning solution, let it be piggy or flash, is not needed. It's also important to note these BMW ECUs are much more "adaptive" than our Subaru ECUs. All the tuning solutions that are floating around right now, coupled with the adaptability of the stock ECU, is more than enough capable to deal with where the current "modification level" is at with the N54.

Cliffnotes: BMW owners take it in the can by the tuners, the current level of modifications in the N54 market do not justify an all powerful tuning solution. fin