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Early spring 2003 I got three different chips for test. All of these were supplied by James. Two of them were American made by Pro Formance, the last was from an unnamed company/person in Germany. I don't think there are major differences on the cars sold in the USA and those in Europe, yet the two US chips behaved a bit weird in my car. Since I wasn't able to get either of them running very good in my European car, I see no point in giving too many details about them. But I can say that they behaved rather similar. Both sounded rather rough, especially when going flat out, but they also made the engine feel quite a lot stronger. Biggest problem was that when I put the selector in 'D', the rpm dropped from 740 to about 500 for a second or two. This was not a huge problem, but a bit irritating in everyday use. I don't think there will be any problems on car with manual transmission. The German chip was the last of these three chips, and that was quite a different story. Although it didn't feel as strong as the other two, it was very complete. More torque and more high rpm power than the original. No problems for the engine management to 'catch' the idle when shifting to 'D'. I found it to be very close to the perfection of the original BMW chip, yet more powerful. The perfection of this German chip was enough to convince me. This is the chip I have been using for more than half a year now and the only time I put the original back in, was for an emission test. The lack of low rpm torque on the original chip was very evident and I had no desire whatsoever to keep that chip in. Right after the emissions test, I drove home and put the German chip back in again. Due to the qualities of the German chip, this has become the reference chip for these tests. I would never, ever go back to the original chip, so why use it for comparison? October 2003, I noticed this guy called Jayson from the UK on eBay. He is the sole dealer of the Venom chip and his praise for this chip was high. Could the Venom have even better software than my current chip? I contacted him and asked for a chip to review. Sure, no problem. He also supplied two other chips, labeled Hartge and Alpina. Great! A few days later the chips arrived. The Venom was the latest edition, called Level 4. Supposedly it is even more powerful than the original Venom, but I decided to try out the other chips first. The Alpina labeled chip makes its presence felt from the moment you turn on the engine. The normal idle of 740 rpm is replaced with an aggressive sounding 900 rpm idle. You don't doubt for a second that something has changed...! I drove the usual 10-20 miles trying not to think too much about the new chip, before really running it through the tests. This should be enough time for the engine management to adapt. Then I let it run... No doubt this chip feels strong. More power in the high rpm than the reference chip. The power is delivered with an impressive roar. Especially if you are going flat out and let go of the gas, the engine will make a very nice animalistic roar. Cool! Even though I really like this chip, it has problems too. Again the idle turns out to be the Achilles heel. No problems in going from idle to 'D', but when you go the other way, the idle hits 1.200 - 1.300 rpm for a second or two. For some reason this goes for all these three chips. They also share the higher idle rpms, so even though they are differently labeled, they feel a lot like the same software with slightly different tweaks... The Hartge labeled chip was next in line. Idle is close to 900 rpm like the Alpina chip, but it sounds noticeable different. Not as aggressive. I let the engine run for a minute and two and put the selector in 'D'. Idle dropped to about 700 rpm, then picked up and hit 1.200 – 1.300 like the Alpina, before it settled at about 850. The Alpina doesn't drop to 700 before increasing, but other than that, they behaved more or less the same, even though still believe the Alpina to be the most aggressive sounding. Things changed, when the engine got warm and I was able to apply some right foot. The first time I tried it was up a steep hill. The rpm raised immediately, as the wheels started spinning. Nice one, since this is only a 2.5 liter engine and with an automatic 'slush box' transmission. No doubt this was the most powerful chip yet. Torque at lower rpm is OK, but the power at 3.500 and up is very nice indeed. When going 60 and activating the kickdown, the engine pulls almost as aggressive in 2nd as it usually does in 1st. If the last chip of the test, the Venom, doesn't come up with something really good, this is the closest competition for the German chip. Will I be willing to sacrifice the German chips perfect handling of idle, to gain the power of the Hartge? I don't know. As of January 2004, I am still switching chip from time to time. The Venom... The sixth and final chip of this review. The Venom soon settled in and started spreading joy. Although it doesn't feel quite as potent above 3.500 rpm as the Hartge, it comes rather close. And below that mark, it definitely feels stronger. Very pleasant in heavy traffic, since you have the power all the time. When hitting an open road, there's also a lot of fun in letting this one out. The Venom is indeed a very strong combination of low rpm torque and high band power. For everyday use, where immediate power is needed for overtaking, and torque is needed for cross town traffic, this one is the best of the bunch. To conclude... The Alpina has the best sound. Nice for impressing your friends, and enough power to making driving fun. But if fun is your main objective, go for the Hartge. Only problem with that is keeping the speed below 100 mph. You simply want to explore how much further this chip can push the small M20 engine, so be prepared for speeding tickets. If everyday usage is your priority, your choice should be between the Venom and the German chip. The German is (of course!) close to perfection, whereas the Venom adds that little extra power, but has a somewhat sloppier idle. Below you will find the contact information of the chip suppliers for this test. They will be happy to provide a chip for your car too. And no, I don't get percentage of the sales, but you are welcome to tell them where you found the links anyway :-)
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