Evolve Automotive "Evolve-R" 135i ECU flash review

[bentong]

Hey guys.

I just thought I might throw in my initial impressions on Evolve's tune. I bought their tune after I bought a whole lot of other stuff for my M5 and didn't want to let the 135 miss out.

If you're unaware of how the tuning process works, it's a simple ODBII cable transfer from ECU to your laptop. Evolve provide the software to extract your ECU data along with their Evolve-R cable (ODBII - USB). Extract the ECU .bin, send it over and then Evolve will do magic and sent it back with their map.

Total time spend pulling the OEM file and uploading the new one were about an hour. (45 mins download, 15 minutes upload).

The car feels a lot stronger now after the flash. 60km/h to 100km/h is probably around the 1 second mark in second gear(hard acceleration guesstimate) and the response to throttle pressure is more noticeable. Torque comes on violently at around 3,000rpm in any gear and does make me a bit angry that BMW didn't give the car a proper mechanical LSD. I haven't really done any acceleration tests from a dig as the rear tyres need replacing. The car is a daily driver so I don't plan on doing any further modifications or dyno runs (sorry, no dyno data to show improvements) but I have noticed lower fuel consumption, I'd say about 30-50km extra per tank (city driving), which is a bonus.

So there's my 2 cents on the Evolve tune and Evolve-R product. It's very impressive for a flash tune and the guys at Evolve are great to work with.

[RaihaX]

Sounds good how much was the tune? I assume you are Malaysian (judging from your Nick?)

[bentong]

Funny that. I am Malaysian, and there is a town in Malaysia called Bentong and my name just so happens to be Ben Tong. I was born and raised in Sydney and still here.

I paid roughly around AU$800 for the tune, but I did get a forum member discount (M5board.com) and a bit more off because of the size of my order. Speak to Sal or Riz, they'll be able to work something out for you. I've seen Paul from Evolve write a few posts on this forum.

[RaihaX]

Originally Posted by bentong

Funny that. I am Malaysian, and there is a town in Malaysia called Bentong and my name just so happens to be Ben Tong. I was born and raised in Sydney and still here.

I paid roughly around AU$800 for the tune, but I did get a forum member discount (M5board.com) and a bit more off because of the size of my order. Speak to Sal or Riz, they'll be able to work something out for you. I've seen Paul from Evolve write a few posts on this forum.

Ah yeah I thought you were born in Bentong or something

That is pretty cheap for a flash tune! I was just curious as I got a PROcede and it seems to do the job good enough!

Should post pics of your 135i and M5

[bentong]

Only another Malaysian would know that

You'd know more than me about PROcede. I haven't heard of it until you just mentioned it. At the end of the day, it's just a flash tune. Better results can be had from custom tunes with dyno testing thrown in there but these results are good enough for me. I don't need ridiculous power in a DD.

I'll post up photos of both cars together once this goes in. Workshop is booked for this Thursday

[RaihaX]

looks good!

[Honny]

[Taz@Evolve. P]

Thanks for the great review Ben

We are proud of our 135i tune, it is very strong and we are waiting on some data back before posting up logs and more dynos.

There is not much more to get out it with custom tuning, as we have developed the tune with most modifications. The N54 is one of the most popular cars we have dyno'd and tuned over the years. The only way custom tuning will help is if you have something we haven't tuned for previously, as the ECU will adapt to most small mods.

Remember to get in touch for an updated tune once you get that system on