Tune on 1.8L Automatic: Worth It?

[ryan.a.o]

Hey all. I have been scouring the forum for information on tunes. While I am very interested in getting one, I am curious as to how much it will actually do for me at the moment.

I have a 2015 Sonic with the 1.8L and automatic transmission and no mods thus far. I have had the car for almost a year now, and this is the only car I have ever driven.

Whenever I want to throw it around some corners or drive spiritedly on some windy mountain road, I pop it in M mode and that makes it "feel" great with decent responsiveness. However, I know this is an econobox engine so really it is all in my imagination XD

SO, here are my questions: I know that the tune can help the transmission with shifting more logically, but with me driving it in manual mode, does that do anything for me? Also, what else does the tune do? From what I have read it can give a 1:1 throttle response ratio. Other than that am I going to see any real improvements while the car is stock?

Disclaimer: I am looking more at a BNR tune than a Trifecta. However, if Trifecta's tunes are more suited for my needs compared to BNR, please let me know. I am very new to all this car stuff, as I am a helicopter mechanic by trade.

Thanks guys!

 

[shibbs]

On an NA car, about the only way you'll get any amount of power is to tune it for E85--but that's not very wise, since E85 can vary anywhere from 50% Ethanol up ton 90% Ethanol.

So no, it's not really worth it, generally speaking. I'm not very familiar with the 1.8, so maybe GM left a lot of headroom in the tune from the factory, but I doubt it.

 

[SouthFLSonic]

I have a 2016 1.8 auto and I’ve messaged BNR asking what it entails and it makes the car all around better to drive. Won’t get TONS of performance out of it but it will react faster and smoother on acceleration and your transmission won’t fight you the whole time you’re driving.

If you’re in Florida BNR is going to the Orlando meet in November and will be doing discount tunes I believe to save on some of the costs. But if you want a better driving experience than Chevy provided from factory the time will do that but not give you sport car performance


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[Gsf1200m]

I have a trifecta tune on my 2016 Acadia. I wasn't expecting a ton but for the price I went for it. All around drive ability is much better. I am not sure if it actually has any more hp but the throttle response and shifting is so much better. I am pretty glad I did it and if I had the 1.8 I would do it too.