Part 3: The Quest for the Perfect Tune

[prj]

The e-tron GT has paddles on the steering wheel with which you can set multiple levels of regen, but not the Taycan.

As for per mode, need to test it.

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[prj]

J1.2 Taycan 4S Cross Turismo, 100-200 km/h before and after from a roll (9.22s and 4.9s):

Very big difference when enabling launch power on the J1.2, it gives a significant power boost, not just torque boost with the launch power patch.

And here is a photo of the stack of unlocked controllers on my desk...

 

[LLM]

The e-tron GT has paddles on the steering wheel with which you can set multiple levels of regen, but not the Taycan.

As for per mode, need to test it.

There are currently two levels of regeneration. I use level 1 for sporty driving for more braking responsiveness, but level 2 is really very light.
Is it possible to add a level 3 and level 4 with increased braking ? I find this useful on long descents.

 

[prj]

There are currently two levels of regeneration. I use level 1 for sporty driving for more braking responsiveness, but level 2 is really very light.
Is it possible to add a level 3 and level 4 with increased braking ? I find this useful on long descents.

It is very likely impossible to add more because all that integration is in the dash etc, and it most likely never sends more than 3 (Off, Level 1, Level 2), but it is possible to adjust all of them.

 

[LLM]

It is very likely impossible to add more because all that integration is in the dash etc, and it most likely never sends more than 3 (Off, Level 1, Level 2), but it is possible to adjust all of them.

Perfect, adjusting level 2 can be a good option for all E-Tron GT owners, I think !

 

[StellarOats]

If by regen, you mean overrun recuperation, why is it that you have it mapped to the diamond button? For redundancy?

I set my diamond button up to do that given that you can't have it default to auto regen upon starting the car which was what I mostly wanted driving around LA and wanted to easily turn it on. You can certainly map other things to it. This has nothing to do with the MapEV controller though. Right now it is no regen (stock), high regen (from the MapEV controller), or auto regen (stock) and you can have it in any of these in any driving mode.

 

[jakeCT]

I think for long-time EV owners desiring semi-OPD and strong regen behavior, they will be happy the Taycan can finally offer it with this specific tune. After having spent a few days with the tune with OPD, I re-flashed back to the original tune with factory regen settings with @prj's help. I was mainly missing the satisfaction of the low-level regen from Sports Plus.

My opinion is that this amount of regen, or any level beyond the standard strength essentially makes the driving experience too similar to a Tesla and other EV's (not in a good way) including needing to maintain steady and unwavering pressure on the accelerator to avoid jerky unneeded accel/decel motions. In rush-hour traffic in the city and freeway, I observed the head movements of my passengers and if I were less careful they may have gotten some motion sickness. While going down a steep multi-story parking lot, the strong regen was handy for effective hill descent control.

Similar to the loss of driving engagement when switching from manual -> auto transmission (loss of clutch pedal) for an ICE car, I believe the Taycan's original implementation of needing to use the (regen-blended) brake pedal is the right one to enjoy a sport-oriented EV.

One notable difference that makes OPD not perfectly suitable for the Taycan is the firm feel of the accelerator pedal, both during depression and release. In my Tesla 3, and many EVs, it is so light that there is almost no resistance or feedback. The light pedal of a (non-Porsche) EV is bad for sport/track driving, and too easy to accelerate much faster than intended, and probably has contributed to Teslas flying into people's homes and store fronts. On the flip side, it makes maintaining pedal pressure for OPD almost effortless, especially on the freeway. Conversely on my Taycan at least, the pedal is tuned like a sporty ICE. It gets tiring on the feet to maintain steady pressure for constant speed for minutes at a time.

A minor quality-of-life hit with the OPD tune is if you are using the driving mode switch dial while the car is in motion, transitioning from Individual (no regen) -> .. -> Sport -> Normal, if not done fast enough you will feel the strong regen take effect and can feel like the car is doing a quick brake check.

More points to add:
- the Taycan has a strong level of creep / torque-converter effect so even while enjoying OPD, when coming to a rest (< 3 mph) the car will remind you it wants to drive like an automatic ICE instead.
- Auto-regen, even if it were possible to modify the regen behavior (prj says it is already set to unlimited from factory), is best left alone and cannot be relied on at all times as it will deactivate when the sensors are blocked, ex. strong sun.

With that said, given the nature and design limitations of the Taycan, the OPD tuning and the rest of the tune is done very well and clearly the product of many revisions from @prj . Just as any good engineer that knows the product best, despite earlier reservations, he has my respect for working on and offering a solid OPD tune option (as well as a separate standard regen +30% tune) for those that were demanding one. Also the solution he's developed for remote flashing the ASG unit which allowed me to do a trial of this OPD tune and re-flash to the non-OPD tune was very nice. The Taycan community is fortunate to have him constantly improving on the product.

 

[whitex]

A minor quality-of-life hit with the OPD tune is if you are using the driving mode switch dial while the car is in motion, transitioning from Individual (no regen) -> .. -> Sport -> Normal, if not done fast enough you will feel the strong regen take effect and can feel like the car is doing a quick brake check.

Probably why even in a Teslas which let you do that, you have to be stopped to change regen level and/or toggle creep mode.

 

[mystermykee]

I think for long-time EV owners desiring semi-OPD and strong regen behavior, they will be happy the Taycan can finally offer it with this specific tune. After having spent a few days with the tune with OPD, I re-flashed back to the original tune with factory regen settings with @prj's help. I was mainly missing the satisfaction of the low-level regen from Sports Plus.

My opinion is that this amount of regen, or any level beyond the standard strength essentially makes the driving experience too similar to a Tesla and other EV's (not in a good way) including needing to maintain steady and unwavering pressure on the accelerator to avoid jerky unneeded accel/decel motions. In rush-hour traffic in the city and freeway, I observed the head movements of my passengers and if I were less careful they may have gotten some motion sickness. While going down a steep multi-story parking lot, the strong regen was handy for effective hill descent control.

Similar to the loss of driving engagement when switching from manual -> auto transmission (loss of clutch pedal) for an ICE car, I believe the Taycan's original implementation of needing to use the (regen-blended) brake pedal is the right one to enjoy a sport-oriented EV.

One notable difference that makes OPD not perfectly suitable for the Taycan is the firm feel of the accelerator pedal, both during depression and release. In my Tesla 3, and many EVs, it is so light that there is almost no resistance or feedback. The light pedal of a (non-Porsche) EV is bad for sport/track driving, and too easy to accelerate much faster than intended, and probably has contributed to Teslas flying into people's homes and store fronts. On the flip side, it makes maintaining pedal pressure for OPD almost effortless, especially on the freeway. Conversely on my Taycan at least, the pedal is tuned like a sporty ICE. It gets tiring on the feet to maintain steady pressure for constant speed for minutes at a time.

A minor quality-of-life hit with the OPD tune is if you are using the driving mode switch dial while the car is in motion, transitioning from Individual (no regen) -> .. -> Sport -> Normal, if not done fast enough you will feel the strong regen take effect and can feel like the car is doing a quick brake check.

More points to add:
- the Taycan has a strong level of creep / torque-converter effect so even while enjoying OPD, when coming to a rest (< 3 mph) the car will remind you it wants to drive like an automatic ICE instead.
- Auto-regen, even if it were possible to modify the regen behavior (prj says it is already set to unlimited from factory), is best left alone and cannot be relied on at all times as it will deactivate when the sensors are blocked, ex. strong sun.

With that said, given the nature and design limitations of the Taycan, the OPD tuning and the rest of the tune is done very well and clearly the product of many revisions from @prj . Just as any good engineer that knows the product best, despite earlier reservations, he has my respect for working on and offering a solid OPD tune option (as well as a separate standard regen +30% tune) for those that were demanding one. Also the solution he's developed for remote flashing the ASG unit which allowed me to do a trial of this OPD tune and re-flash to the non-OPD tune was very nice. The Taycan community is fortunate to have him constantly improving on the product.

Well said. I too am waiting to flash back to stock overrun recuperation levels.

 

[prj]

Probably why even in a Teslas which let you do that, you have to be stopped to change regen level and/or toggle creep mode.

Actually if you are driving straight (0-20% pedal) and then change it, then I made it so that it does not change the regen level until you either floor it or lift off completely.
So the only time you get brake checking behaviour is when you completely lift off the throttle so the car is coasting and then switch it while it's coasting.

Stole that one from the Audi engineers who implemented the same logic on the facelift e-tron GT that has quite a lot of regen adjustable with the paddles (roughly 2x less than my solution though).

 

[fika]

J1.2 Taycan 4S Cross Turismo, 100-200 km/h before and after from a roll (9.22s and 4.9s):

Very big difference when enabling launch power on the J1.2, it gives a significant power boost, not just torque boost with the launch power patch.

And here is a photo of the stack of unlocked controllers on my desk...

Insane gains ...

Question, are the 1.1 and 1.2 controllers interchangeable? If I get one for my 1.1 and then trade the car in for a 1.2 later, can I have the extra controller reprogrammed for that?

 

[prj]

Insane gains ...

Question, are the 1.1 and 1.2 controllers interchangeable? If I get one for my 1.1 and then trade the car in for a 1.2 later, can I have the extra controller reprogrammed for that?

They are not - different part and hardware number.

 

[Anywugn]

I’ve repeatedly read through the main content of your four posts over the past week, but I haven’t had time to finish reading all of your replies in the threads, so this might be a duplicate question: For the 2020 Taycan Turbo, would you generally recommend doing this chip tuning?

 

[prj]

On the turbo the difference is quite small at lower speed. However, from 40mph and up there is a pronounced difference. The 100-200 km/h time also goes from 8s to 6.4s.

So if you only drive at very low speed in the city, then maybe not, otherwise I'd say it is.

 

[Avantgarde]

Have you actually done any RWD tune so far? I know the rear unit is the same with 4S and your tune will be identical in that sense. But making sure there won’t be any unintended jitteriness etc, with the tweaks to gear shift points etc. given rwd relies solely on the tuned axle for propulsion. Appreciate any real world feedback if you have one.

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