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So having read this and other forums, finally took the plunge and decided to get my 2012 BRZ mapped. Contacted Mike on the 18th Feb and he was very helpful, responding quickly to my initial enquiry and patiently responded to my numerous questions. After a bit of back and forward I decided to go for the NA Tuning Package (UEL), MTEC Uprated Spring and Whiteline Positive shift upgrade kits and since TD would have the car for the best part of the day, decided to have the Billet Cam Plate kit fitted as a preventative measure at the same time. Everything was arranged for the 7th of March and I was up and out on the road early (5:20am) to make the trip south from Glasgow. Arrived at 8:30am and Mike was 15 minutes behind me to open up. Having handed over the keys, Mike was kind enough to give me a lift to the nearby UBC business centre (3 miles away) where I had booked an office for the day, I currently work mostly remotely from home so was able to effectively work there for the day, meaning I didn’t have to use a days holiday - result! Picked the car up at 4pm and couldn’t be happier with the upgrades - drives like a different car with the dreaded torque did almost entirely gone with the increased lower rev torque noticeable across all the gears. Gear changes are now much snappier and the exhaust note subtly enhanced. Had a bit of a blether with Mike before heading off home, and ooh'd and ahh'd about possibly getting a turbo at some point in the future as well as a couple of options for dealing with the cars suspension, which I have been unhappy about almost from the day I bought it in the summer of 2015. Previous owner had lowered the car on Eibach sportline springs and I subsequently upgraded to 18" rims with the rear end especially, being very unforgiving with the car bouncing badly on rough roads. Long story short, I was heading back down the M6 two weeks later, this time to get the BC Racing coilovers and the TD Super Resonated CAT back exhaust (my stock exhaust was corroded badly and very slightly beginning to blow so seemed like a good enough excuse). I have not stopped smiling since ... ride quality and handling are 100% improved and the exhaust note is just loud enough to be noticeable, without being in your face but at the same time very civilised when cruising on the motorway. Can’t speak highly enough about Mike, Nick and the rest of the guys at TD. I was well looked after, their prices are competitive and the work has been carried out to a high standard. I have spent a fair chunk of change in anyone’s book in a short space of time, but every upgrade has had a noticeable and very positive effect, all in all it's like having a new car. My only dilemma now is which kidney am I selling to fund the turbo upgrade? ...

Gary has been giving me updates. Reckons the timing chains look like new. He was impressed with the condition of what he saw of my engine saying it was a lot better than many others he had seen, which surprised me given my high mileage. Also my clutch still had a good amount of life in it, even after 126,000 miles. Impressive. Richard called today about the upcoming sprint season which is another story and said that Gary had done the work and my engine goes back in tomorrow.

First things first, Super chips is a very reputable company, been leaders in the chip tuning business and i know of them since i knew about chip tuning and have used them in the past. If you go to their HQ in Milton Keynes, they will even dyno the car for free alongside the tune. Secondly for an NA car, unless there are specific restrictions like for a mazda 3, the same car comes in 2 states of tune a 120 BHP and a 165 BHP and the throttle cut off removal really unlocks the extra power. For a turbo car, its a different story and the gains with just a tune are noticeable.For a GT86, there is no such restriction and for the hardware it comes really well tuned. With a superchips tune you will not gain much. The ECUTEK gives you all fancy features like flat foot shift, launch control etc, which people rarely use in daily driving. So in summary, for our cars a NA tune without hardware changes (like manifold) is not worth it as the gains will be rarely noticeable.

My car went in this morning. Got news later today that my engine is out and stripdown starts tomorrow.

You'd probably end up getting an ECUTEK map anyway once you start modifying the car further so it makes sense to just do it now. It's a bit like the springs vs. coilover argument. One is a cheaper option but nearly everyone who goes for the cheaper option ends up getting the more expensive one further down the line.

Oh. do post all details. Like first man in space

I had a remap from TD with a decat and catback and induction kit, it did make a difference, but nowhere near as much as it did when I went for a manifold as well. Is it worth doing? Yes, I think so if you're defintely not going for a manifold. But I would say get it done properly at somewhere like TD. Getting some half-arsed map isn't going to be worth it. Do it properly or not at all.

I would say no. Their graph is completely wrong and made up so in my eyes if they can’t even put the effort in to at least make a graph look half realistic what’s the mapping going to be like? To get an noticeable benefits I think you would have to go with header and map there’s no other real way to make any decent improvement

Really sorry for you! I had mine written off at the start of January having just bought the car - so I feel your pain. 1. I second everything OllyW says. Make sure you get the witness to follow through on their statement so you make the fact you're not at fault as concrete as possible. If it's sensible drawing diagrams of what happened might help make the situation totally clear cut? 2. Valuation: this is hard, as the insurance companies will probably base their valuation of the car on trade guides (Parkers, Glass's, CAP), and it's a serious uphill battle to get them to deviate from this. They tend to take this page as their guidelines: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html Mine was an aero, so rare and the trade guides did not give a fair representation of price to replace it, but trying to tell them this was like headbutting a wall. Also important, their valuation is the basis of whether it's written off... 3. You have the right to choose where it goes for repair - and choose carefully. You can probably influence whether the car is written off as you'd be amazed at how big the difference in repair cost can be between garages. As an example, the write-off value for mine was if repair was >66% of their valuation (this will vary between companies). BUT if you choose somewhere that's not one of their 'approved repair centres' (read: industrial chopshop) it will affect their liability for guaranteeing the quality of the repair. Also, if they are presented with multiple quotes, they will query any cost discrepancies. 4. Get photos of literally everything. Even bits of the car that you don't think are relevant. I was rear-ended, and during recovery a tow truck crunched the front bumper. When I told the insurance company that I expected them to handle this repair, they responded that unless I could prove photographically that the bumper wasn't damaged prior to recovery, then they wouldn't pay to repair it. Any damage that can't be explained by the specific circumstances of the accident, they will try not to pay out on - so I'd try to work out what your mechanical damages are, and figure out how the accident caused it. 5. Claim on your insurance policy. If the van driver's insurance contacts you to settle, don't accept. If you claim on the other driver's policy to protect your NCD or save on excesses, you lose the right to complain to the financial ombudsman about their handling of your claim, as you are not the person the insurance company has the agreement with. Then when they undervalue your car, or mess you about in any way, you cannot have the claim arbitrated by an independent body. My understanding is that in a non-fault claim if you claim on your own policy the insurance company should recover 100% of the costs (including excesses) from the other side, so you shouldn't be hit by those. Although I'm not 100% sure on that - something to ask your insurers about. Sorry for the essay, but I hope it helps and hope you get it all sorted out as best possible!