A160 AV With ECU...

[Shermio]

As Per Request... By Yazimi...

I Have A '99 A160 AV Manual As My Run-About Car... Im A University Student And As A Result I Have To Carry My Friends To And From Parties And What-Nots... Before The Performance Upgrade I Got For My Car, It Was Like Driving In Wet Cement With 4 Drunks Hanging Out The Sun Roof And Me Driving... And The A-Class Is A Great Car, Loads Of Room And The Seats Could Be Taken Out To Form A Bed... But It Was Lacking In Power And As A Result I Enlisted A ECU Specialist To Reprogram/Order A New ECU For My Car...

The Performance Upgrade Package Included A K&N Cold Air Intake, New Throttle Body As Well As The Said ECU... The Output For The Engine Increased From 72KW To 95KW (Dynoed Before And After) Which Is Quite Amazing... With Such A Simple Install... The Whole Process Costed NZ$1200 With Parts And Labour... And Can Now Reach A Top Speed Of 190+KM/h... Before The Upgrade The Fastest Speed I Could Get Up To Was 164km/h... But The Fastest Since The Upgrade I Have Driven It Was 190ish I Stopped There Because The Steering Did Start To Shake... And I Wasn't Confident With pushing It Any Further...

So Right Now My A160 Is More Powerful Than Its A190 Counter Part As Well As Having A Reduced Weight Compared To The A190... I Have Not Seen An A-Class With AMG Conversion As Yet... And Would Love To Compare The Figures If AMG Did Make One...

List Of Add-Ons To My Car:
1) ECU
2) K&N Cold Air Intake/Throttle Body
3) Suspension Upgrade (Kings Springs) But Did Not Lower It...
4) JVC Head Unit With MP3/Sound Proofing In Door And Speaker Upgrade To Blaupunkt
5) Neon Under Dash And Under Front Seats For The Back
6) Arctic Blue Headlights For The Xenon Look
7) Carbon Fibre Gear Knob

As An End Note... Im Selling My Car... And Opting For Another E-Class... It Is A Fun Car And All But Small Problems Keep Plaguing It... And I Need A Bigger Car... =P

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/5086184/ <----- Speed Camera Photo Of My Car At 162km/h Damn The police For Loving My Car So Much They Keep Taking Photos Of It...

[yazimi]

oh, too pity that u're giving up your well-modified car, but seems like stepping into next stage according to MB marketing strategy, from A to C, from C to E, different classes reflecting different status of a MAN... ECU itself is not the key for the overall performance, that need professional knowledge to support the whole upgrade for more power and safety as well... not about how much we have to invest but how wise we use the money!!! Thank you so much for your valuable sharing, wishing your A160 can find a new owner who really appreciate your "work"!!!

btw, I do agree with you that small problems keep annoying me time to time, fuse, weired sound under my seats, highbeam, battery, engine oil... feeling a bit tired, feel like taking care a baby which it never grows up... haha, I'm a poor father!

[Shermio]

Yes I Totally Agree... The ECU Upgrade Itself Had Only Added A Small Difference To The Performance, But Other Parts Such As The Cold Air Kit Did The Rest... All The ECU Did Was Pump In More Fuel And Had A Better Timing Setup For The Car... Safety Wise... With Any Upgraded Car, Always Have An Brake Upgrade As Well... There's No Point In Going Fast If You Can Stop In Time... Although It Can Be Noted That Noone Has Died In A MB If They Had Thier Seat Belt On... (Well In New Zealand Anyways)

It's A Shame That The Problems That I Have Had Were Not Picked Up By MB And Had A Recall Because I Have Seen A Lot Of The Problems In Other A-Classes As Well... I Really Liked The Car... It Was Practical As Well As Being Able To Blow Most Japanese Cars Off The Road... I Like My Car To Be A "Sleeper" In That It Looks Bone Stock On The Outside But The Inside Has A Few Toys Added... It Scares Other A-Class Drivers When Im Able To Take Off Much Faster Than Them At The Lights... [:D]

But Fuses, CV Joints, Transmission, Tiny Noises Here And There, They Just Add Up To Be Too Much Of A Problem...

I Don't Really Like The C-Classes Because The Cost To Value Ratio In My Opion Don't Add Up... I Would Rather Save Up A Bit More To Get An E...

Yazimi If You Have Messenger You Can Add Me... Shermio@Hotmail.com