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I'm planning to increase the horsepower of my BMW 1.16i along with some additional make-up modifications.

If I'll be making the horsepower upgrade, it will happen using the official software from Evotech via the official distributor of Evotech in my country.

Also my 2 year guarantee is almost up so burning up the guarantee is no hassle.

My question is that is this a wise decision? I heard that 1.18i has nearly the same engine as 1.16i does and basically BMW produces 1.18i by merely changing it's software. Is this correct? Will me making this hp modification risky that it will make my engine unstable or produce some problems in the future.

Also is it possible that if I make the hp increase, will my 1.16i burn less gas since I'll have more hp to move the car? Or am I completely wrong?

Does anyone have any thoughts or better yet any experiences?

Can Sürmeli
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  • Although bigger / more powerful engines does not necessarily consume more fuel I have a hard time following the logic presented that more horsepower should lead to lower consumption on a physically unaltered engine. Engine tuning may lead to higher fuel efficiency but typically more horsepower is partially achieved via burning more fuel. – jensgram Sep 17 '14 at 11:42
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    Whether it is wise or not is primarily an opinion. The 118i has a different engine than the 116i (it's 0.2L larger displacement), so the primary change is not the software. You can get better fuel economy by making more torque in the right range, but torque and horsepower are not the same thing. Peak HP is mostly a useless number. – dobey Sep 17 '14 at 17:09
  • To clarify myself: I arrived at the conclusion of better fuel economy when hp increases merely as a side-effect of the hp increase that somehow it was related since I didn't know the exact details – Can Sürmeli Sep 19 '14 at 22:09

2 Answers2

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If you don't have the turbocharged version of the 116i, don't bother with a software update. It won't be worth the money you spend. You'll probably gain about 5 to 10 horsepower at most. You'll hardly feel the difference.

If you have the 116i turbo though, go for it. You can do lots of great things with a turbo engine, especially one that is running at relatively low boost levels.

As for fuel efficiency, you'll have to specifically ask for a fuel efficient map. Just take note that a fuel efficient map will make your engine run hotter, shortening its lifespan somewhat. A true high performance fuel map will usually inject a bit more fuel to get the Air/Fuel ratio down to around 13/1, down from the usual 14.7/1. This means that it uses about 12% more fuel than usual. 14/7 is the point at which your engine burns the most efficiently and produces the least amount of penguin-killing gases, but it's not the optimal ratio for going fast.

As a final note: always use the same fuel that you had in your car when you had the software done. If you had 91 octane in it, stay away from 87 or whatever you guys have. A high performance map has less tolerance for lower octane fuels.

Captain Kenpachi
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  • I've the 1.16i Sport model which is turbocharged. :) What else would you advise me about possible modifications? Also how much will the hp increase reduce my car's lifespan or will it(I'm assuming it will exhaust the engine far greater than now)? – Can Sürmeli Sep 19 '14 at 22:12
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    Exhaust and remap won't reduce it by much. The only other thing you should do is get a larger flow-matched intercooler. Anything beyond these basic upgrades require insane amounts of other supporting upgrades and will cost more than it's worth. – Captain Kenpachi Sep 20 '14 at 05:30
  • How do you have a 13/1 AFR with a catalytic converter, except perhaps for short acceleration bursts? The HC emissions will be really bad assuming the closed-loop control doesn't prevent the 13/1 AFR. – juhist Sep 12 '17 at 12:36
  • Read up on closed loop and open loop operation and fueling. – Captain Kenpachi Sep 12 '17 at 13:47
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You really can get more power by burning less fuel. The problem is: if you inject less fuel, you explosion temperature increase. That is what you engine not adapted for. If you would like to go this way, you need another cylinders, bigger oil pan, bigger cooling system and so one. Only an other software is not the best way to increase your hp. Maybe they found a better optimum for your engine, but maybe the just give you more hp at the cost of your engine health.

Watsche
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