Is BNR Tune still worth the difference over Trifecta?

[WearyWeasel]

I know back when Trifecta got rid of their "select a tune" feature a lot of people switched over to BNR and the reviews are obviously great and everyone seemed to believe it was worth the higher cost.

My question is now that Trifecta costs are lower and they improved again by added the dual mode feature back and also made the power delivery more linear like a lot of people were requesting, is the BNR tune itself still worth the $150 increase in cost?

(Trifecta Elite Tune + Cable = $400)
(BNR Tune + Autocal = $550)

Obviously there's no right or wrong answer as it's personal opinion but I'm just looking for any thoughts. Thanks everyone.

 

[mja]

They're both really good. I used to tune with HPT in the 2000's. Would download files from other builds to update mine and friends or customer cars & trucks back when wrenching, seeing what other people had done. Mail order tunes in those days left a lot on the table. I stopped because aftermarket tuning companies are so good now, they can do 100x better job than a backyard tuner and I don't have to waste weeks of effort getting it right.

As for Trifecta, a friend on the forum running their E85 tune pulls well. He ran a low 14 in an auto with 1/4 of the cost of engine mods that I have in my car.

If you want the Sonic to keep up with 13 second cars, BNR is the way to go with other engine upgrades they offer. If you're looking for even more than that HPT or local dyno tuning is where to be. Though I'm sure BNR or Trifecta could tune your car if you're looking for more.

 

[BNRacing]

HPTuners from a local dyno is a great way to let someone learn how to tune a Sonic by using your Sonic. It's not a good idea in my opinion, when there are tuning companies that have absolutely nailed down how to tune these cars. Remember, HPTuners is just software. The tuning company behind it is what matters. BNR uses HPTuners as well as EFILive.

As for against trifecta, that's really up to you, but I don't see anyone else running 13s. And the reason its more expensive is the autocal handheld is a $300 value. You don't need a laptop out at your car to tune it with BNR. You load tunes to the autocal, take the autocal to your car, and use that to flash. It holds 5 real tunes at a time, not just a selectable throttle demand that pretends to be a different tune.

 

[TRIFECTA]

We would have to agree with BNR that dyno tuning is just letting someone learn on your car. You want someone with experience.

As for against BNR, our product is a turnkey solution. Even with the Elite tier, which is full service, unlimited revisions for modifications, it's still more affordable than the BNR Autocal. Also, the autocal, even though it is a handheld, still requires the use of a PC to: update the autocal, load tunes onto the autocal, download logs off the autocal to the PC, etc etc. Sure, you get the convenience of having a single in car device, but you still have to run back and forth between your car and a PC to download stuff off of it or onto it for it to work, and pay more for that slight "advantage".

Our solution, is simple: use a laptop to download everything to it from our site, take that to the car, flash the vehicle, done. If you need to datalog, you do so right there on the PC and send that to us via your online account/support portal.

Feel free to contact us for more information

 

[BNRacing]

Once you get the BNR tunes dialed in, you can have multiple tunes. A lot of people like to have multiple tunes for multiple situations.

Maybe an eco tune for daily driving, with optimized fueling, spark advance, etc. Maybe a dialed in 100 octane tune for use at the track. Or maybe you don't want to use a flex fuel sensor, so you want to store an E85 tune and a 93 octane tune on the autocal.

Once you get it all set up, you never need a computer again, you just keep the autocal in the glove box and swap tunes as needed in under a minute, vs. taking your laptop out to your car and waiting 30 minutes for your tune to load.

 

[Blue Moon Sonic]

There's only one thing I will say that Trifecta has that BNR doesn't, and that's the ability to reset the Adaptive TCM so the transmission can relearn driving habits. Otherwise, I prefer having the autocal on hand over having to carry a laptop if I have to load a different tune onto the car. It's much faster than loading a Trifecta tune through the laptop. Could be different since It's been a while since I've used trifecta.

Though using a laptop is nice cause I can have it hooked up to the autocal and while the autocal is plugged into the car to get a live reading of what the car is actually doing and review the logs myself if need be. I know the autocal has a record DTC function, But I don't remember if the trifecta software has it.

 

[Crumbi]

I only have gaming desktops so I was looking for something without a laptop. I know most people probably have one though.

 

[BNRacing]

There's only one thing I will say that Trifecta has that BNR doesn't, and that's the ability to reset the Adaptive TCM so the transmission can relearn driving habits. Otherwise, I prefer having the autocal on hand over having to carry a laptop if I have to load a different tune onto the car. It's much faster than loading a Trifecta tune through the laptop. Could be different since It's been a while since I've used trifecta.

Though using a laptop is nice cause I can have it hooked up to the autocal and while the autocal is plugged into the car to get a live reading of what the car is actually doing and review the logs myself if need be. I know the autocal has a record DTC function, But I don't remember if the trifecta software has it.

You can reset trans adaptives using EFILive. I'll make a how to.

 

[Blue Moon Sonic]

You can reset trans adaptives using EFILive. I'll make a how to.

That would be wonderful honestly. I need to do this after I install my transmission cooler and flush the system after sticking the RS transmission into the car. There's a few hiccups every now and again with the transmission trying to figure out what it's supposed to be doing.

 

[WearyWeasel]

You can reset trans adaptives using EFILive. I'll make a how to.

Awesome, I'm definitely sold!

..... after a couple paychecks from a speeding ticket already :sadbanana:

 

[SonicFlow]

Humm. On my last year of warranty. A little bit of money to burn...

 

[shoey]

Are both of these untraceable once the stock tune is reloaded?

 

[Blue Moon Sonic]

Awesome, I'm definitely sold!

..... after a couple paychecks from a speeding ticket already :sadbanana:

I feel like there's a good sonic meme that would fit right in with this comment.

 

[JesusTheAgnostic]

I don't know if you already made your decision, but I myself, I messed up and broke my turbo. I still won a lot of races and stayed in the race against other cars (cars worth a bit of change more than mine) solely on whatever BNR tuned my car to do. 10 lbs of boost max. I'd say yeah, get the BNR tune it's definitely worth the cost.

 

[shoey]

I don't know if you already made your decision, but I myself, I messed up and broke my turbo. I still won a lot of races and stayed in the race against other cars (cars worth a bit of change more than mine) solely on whatever BNR tuned my car to do. 10 lbs of boost max. I'd say yeah, get the BNR tune it's definitely worth the cost.

How you break your turbo?




Also for anyone: does the BNR tune include auto-trans calibration updates for smoother/faster shifting like the Trifecta package does? My MY17 trans definitely feels very ECO calibrated and the shifts are rougher and much more noticeable than most other vehicles I've driven in, including my 2001 Yukon XL 2500HD.

 

[JesusTheAgnostic]

How you break your turbo?




Also for anyone: does the BNR tune include auto-trans calibration updates for smoother/faster shifting like the Trifecta package does? My MY17 trans definitely feels very ECO calibrated and the shifts are rougher and much more noticeable than most other vehicles I've driven in, including my 2001 Yukon XL 2500HD.

Check out the thread I posted earlier today on the 1.4 subforum. I believe I titled it "what was wrong with my car."


Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

 

[shoey]

Check out the thread I posted earlier today on the 1.4 subforum. I believe I titled it "what was wrong with my car."


Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

Holy crap, that's some good carnage.

 

[JesusTheAgnostic]

Holy crap, that's some good carnage.

Yes it was. Still managed a few races though, and some close ones, and some that went ok until they hit boost. It was for sure faster than a stock RS, pretty much any Honda, a Charger though I didn't get to see if it was an RT or not, a few slowstangs, etc.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

 

[BNRacing]

Yikes, just saw the pics!

 

[shoey]

How you break your turbo?




Also for anyone: does the BNR tune include auto-trans calibration updates for smoother/faster shifting like the Trifecta package does? My MY17 trans definitely feels very ECO calibrated and the shifts are rougher and much more noticeable than most other vehicles I've driven in, including my 2001 Yukon XL 2500HD.

Yikes, just saw the pics!

Can you comment on this? I don't see any info about this on your website.

Thanks!