Hi all,

so i'm pondering getting the coupe tuned later in the year, and have pretty much decided on the the following from FC Performance -

Powerpunch+ or PowerMax turbo
Uprated intercooler

and obviously mapped to achieve best & safe fueling.

My question is, if I aim for around 300bhp (I don't want to go more really),
what will this do to fuel economy?. Is there anyone with the above FC kit that went from a standard coupe, and if so what were there findings?

With fuel cost rising at a silly rate, I don't want to find that i'm stopping at the pump all the time, and am struggling to justify running it.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not expecting to be 'fuel efficient', I just want to know if there is much difference fuel wise between a standard 20vt, and a FC tuned 300bhp coupe?

Alot of my driving is 'off' boost...

cheers,

Rich

I have a similar kit (except i dont have the intercooler so i maxed out just under 290bhp). And i went to this from standard.

Other than the fact i am buying Tesco 99 Ron fuel now rather than the standard stuff, i havent noticed any change in my petrol buying behaviour.

If anything the car is more ecconomical off boost. The only problem is trying to measure this as although i have, in the last couple of months, gone on a real fuel saving bender. Driving like an old granny.

There are ALWAYS times when i'll give it beans to put a smile on my face.

It's like driving a standard coop day to day, but knowing you have a avalanche of power under the right foot if you want it.

(also, Leighton has assured me , when i have been unable to find 99 ron petrol, that 95 is fine as long as you dont boot it!)

Headwork will also add to fuel economy.

what head work?

giggady....

port and polishing and opening the inlet and exhaust ports.

tbh, you dont really need head work for 300bhp..

jsut turbo, fmic and mapping.

i have seen quite a few times well over 400miles per tank.

i know Nigel gets high mpg on his 400bhp plus monster.

Cheers for the info guys, I guess then that a well mapped tuned coupe isn't going be much different fuel wise then, particularly the way I drive!

Iv decided to go with the FMIC, although at the power i'm looking at may not merit it...I just know the Coupe standard side mount is abit of a weak link due to the location....

better start saving the pennies!!

are there any parts I would need to consider for 300bhp? or it it just the turbo/FMIC and map?

Colder plugs?

Leighton can sort a decat for you aswell.

So Truffle, what is your current set up to achieve 290ish bhp ?

I cant remember the title of the turbo, but my setup is:

Flea turbo
Decat
Remap
All the ancillaries (plugs, fuel pump mod etc)

All sorted by Leighton. He can also map it to suit your requirements, I warned him that the clutch had done about 50k miles so I wasn't expecting it to have alot of life left in it. He therefore mapped the boost to come on more linear than he usually might, in order to keep my clutch alive for longer.

The limiting factor on mine is the intercooler, so i'd recommend getting the FMIC aswell, for something which helps the car generally and will give you that little bit extra power to tip you over 300bhp, it's a no-brainer (unless like me, your wallet only stretched so far).

Yeah will definitely get the intercooler when I get it all done...

ideally I want to over spec the turbo, and not stretch it to its limit, coupled with an intercooler that is suitable up to 400bhp, i will rest easier knowing that its all 'over engineered' if you know what I mean...

are the cooler plugs & fuel pump mod expensive ?

I guess it could all start mounting up!

I don't think so, and they are neccesities.

I cant exactly remember how much they were, but Leighton usually provides an itemised quote I believe.

Hi RICHB,

My 20VT is running at around 320bhp using the following:

FC Powerpunch+ package with PowerMax turbo, FC FMIC, 3.8FPR, Stage3 map, 3" downpipe, 2.75" s/s de-cat exhaust.

I've only put a couple of hundred miles of mixed driving on the car so far, so have no real feel for mpg, other than it has used just under 3/4 tank to do that (probably around 25 ish at a guess). It is mapped to need 97RON+.

It is very dosile in traffic and off-boost, but a bit of a hooligan on-boost. I do need to upgrade from the standard clutch though, as it is struggling with the 320lb/ft torque!

All these goodies were added by the previous owner and this is my first coupe, so I cannot compare it to a standard car, but happy to answer any other questions if I can.

Thanks for the info pstruck, so what's it like off boost then? is it abit unresponsive like a standard 20vt ? is there much lag?

It sounds like the package you have is exactly what i'm after...although is the 3" downpipe a must ? currently mine is standard, with a hand built 2.5" cat back from Motormech....I forgot about decatting...

Not sure if the downpipe is a must or not, although I imagine the original exhaust is fairly restrictive if going for significant power gains.

Below 2k revs it is not the most responsive and tends to get a bit bogged down. No major lag, just what you'd probably expect.

Oh, first tank returned 32mpg on V-Power, although 2 thirds of that was motorway miles.

If you get to 300bhp and then end up using all the power, all of the time, your fuel consumption will be far worse than it's ever been.

However, Leighton's mapping generally optimises the settings, which for a given speed, often results in better fuel consumption, not worse. I can get an easy 35mpg even when cruising at speeds that would earn me a definite £60 & 3 points. I can get over 40 by trundling at legal speeds. However, I can also get well below 10mpg when using the power.

Quite simply, when I had the car modded, my overall consumption improved quite considerably (on the basis that it's bloody difficult to use a lot of the performance for much of the time)

Sorry, but if you want a car that will do 0-60 in under 6 seconds then you will not get Prius economy. Our Coupes are fantastic on fuel for the grins you will get when you use the loud pedal; Flea mapping will improve performance and economy and can't be recommended enough.

My VT6 has averaged 35mpg and is running approx 260bhp - fantastic value for the fun. My other two 20VTs average about 30mpg - one is standard and the other is running 270bhp. Guess which one has been sorted by Leighton!

Not expecting too! would be nice though

I just wanted to make sure that, driving carefully as I normally do, that fuel economy wasn't going to be too adversely affected when compared to a standard setup.

Obviously when flooring it, it's a different story, which I was fully expecting....

I think that in normal mode driving, Fuel consumption is proportional to the size of the injectors and the fuel pressure...

I do most of my driving around Göteborg (most of the time from home to office ca 15 km one way, mostly off boost driving) and have a fuel consumption of 10 l/100 km = 23.5 mpg. Fiat states 10.1 l/100 km = 23.3 mpg (combined). So I am pretty close to Fiat figure.

I hope the fuel consumption will go down after I install the FC chip.