Long-term Trifecta Tune Review - V6 Version
 

Hey gang,

I was looking through the forum to see if anyone had done this as yet. I've seen a variety of thoughts on Trifecta's tune, but not much in terms of long-term use. If there is something like that and I've missed it though, my apologies.

That said, I thought to write something up myself on it and see how things go as I make more modifications to the car.

For starters, aside from the K&N cold air intake, my Camaro is bone stock at the time of installing the tune (43,707 miles on 10/09/21).

First impressions...

• the car is certainly MUCH more responsive in sport mode. There is no dead pedal feel which, surprisingly, took some getting used to for me. When I first took off out of my neighborhood, I shot past 35 mph and almost up to 40 before letting off.
• it feels like the car just wants to keep going in sport mode. Acceleration not only feels faster, but the car wants to go faster and faster.
• noticeable mileage improvement in touring mode. Two weeks back, driving home from Tampa to Miami, I averaged 29 mpg going about 80 mph steady. Now, driving to and from work at the same speed, I am consistently averaging around 33 mpg
• sport mode holds gears a bit too long for my taste during neighborhood driving. It's great on the highway, but while I could just always leave the car in sport mode pre-tune, I feel compelled to keep it in touring post-tune... which is probably for the best anyway.

At the end of the month, I'll be going on another extended trip, so that will be the real test for this tune to see how it performs. Down the line, I'll be asking for another tune once I get the ported intake manifold and bigger throttle body, so we'll see how Trifecta handles that as well.

I hope this helps!

Nice review. I have a V6 as well, and am considering a tune. I have a throttle body, CAI, and axle back exhaust. And while it sounds great, I've always thought this A8 felt lazy in stock tune

I had the same issue with it. After the tune, it went from feeling lazy to eager. I'm not even running 91 in it yet as suggested, so I'm curious to see how that will impact performance as well... if it impacts it at all.

Yeah the stock tune is just way to conservative. Too much torque management and whatnot. Did they tune the trans as well?

Seems like they changed the shift points in the different modes for sure. Left to its own devices, sport mode will rev straight to the redline before shifting up. Doesn't feel like it's getting cut short like it was before. Shifting also feels smoother in touring mode.

Gotcha. I thought I read somewhere that you can tune the trans specifically, but on the 2018 it requires specific software over your standard tuning stuff. I'd have to go back and research to be sure. Regardless it sounds like this tune does a nice job of fixing the stock programming shortfalls

Yeah the trans requires an unlock before it can be tuned on the 2018+ 8 speed autos. Something like that anyway...

2017 + requires the TCM to be unlocked. HPtuners sells them already unlocked or you can send your stock one in and have it unlocked. A base tune will run you almost 1k, just FYI because I just did it a few months ago.

Ooof that's a lot of green for a tune. How much did you gain from that and how do they handle retunes? I have to say, the most appealing thing for me with Trifecta is they do retunes free of charge when you get their elite package.

How's the transmission tune in touring mode?