+125.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

[renegade79]

Re: +80.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

Yes interesting read indeed. I nearly wish you wouldn’t chop in the R for a 508 because everyone on here would love to hear the results of a re-mapped R... :eusa-whistle:

 

[Plecodoras]

Re: +80.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

Yes interesting read indeed. I nearly wish you wouldn’t chop in the R for a 508 because everyone on here would love to hear the results of a re-mapped R... :eusa-whistle:

I might do mine when the warranty runs out and I find out the best way to do it. But I have heard of horror stories of maxing the BHP to 350 then blowing the engine. That's gotta hurt.

 

[RCZ-R]

Re: +80.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

RCZ-R that is interesting reading, but to know how good the figures are you need to have something to compare it with. It would be useful if we had an idea of what compression we would expect on a new / newish engine. We could then evaluate the loss on each cylinder. Not a criticism at all and thank you for posting, interesting at 100,000 miles these are still strong results.

You mention tuning the engine to past 310hp, if you was to do this would you " Remap the existing ECU, or put a Race-chip type modifier on " ?

I'm with you. I would also like to know the values for a "new" engine. I will ask the company where I did the test. Maybe they know.

When it comes to turning up the volume on the engine I would only go for a remap on the rollers. Never a piggy-back system. Especially as the R is an EURO6 engine so you need to do proper work on all the sensors providing data to fuel map. On top of that our engine has variable timing on the valves which adds up to the tally of details to be considered.
A piggy-back system would only do harm to the engine on a long term.

310 horses on the R would need to rework the air intake, the turbo and the exhaust system. The block and the pistons can take it. 350 is ridiculous and would never do that. 330 is the maximum what pug sport put on the engine in the TCR racing series. Why would anyone go any higher?

 

[RCZ-R]

Re: +80.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

My guess is that the compression ratio given in the spec for the engine would, if no loss whatsoever, be the same as the bar reading.
All engines, even brand new, leak some pressure past the rings of the pistons, but it is a starting point.

Correct. I also expect those numbers to be close to a "new" engine. I hope to get some numbers for reference.

 

[Jh72i]

Re: +80.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

When it comes to turning up the volume on the engine I would only go for a remap on the rollers. Never a piggy-back system. Especially as the R is an EURO6 engine so you need to do proper work on all the sensors providing data to fuel map. On top of that our engine has variable timing on the valves which adds up to the tally of details to be considered.
A piggy-back system would only do harm to the engine on a long term.

Yikes! Didn't want to read this after just purchasing a Racechip instead of ponying up the money for a remap. In your opinion is it always a bad idea (I have the 200bhp engine)?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Plecodoras]

Re: +80.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

When it comes to turning up the volume on the engine I would only go for a remap on the rollers. Never a piggy-back system. Especially as the R is an EURO6 engine so you need to do proper work on all the sensors providing data to fuel map. On top of that our engine has variable timing on the valves which adds up to the tally of details to be considered.
A piggy-back system would only do harm to the engine on a long term.

Yikes! Didn't want to read this after just purchasing a Racechip instead of ponying up the money for a remap. In your opinion is it always a bad idea (I have the 200bhp engine)?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It is a different scenario in the 200 v 270 because the 270 had a lot of internal organs upgraded to take the extra power. I think you will be ok to add the racechip - only my opinion though.

 

[RCZ-R]

Re: +80.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

When it comes to turning up the volume on the engine I would only go for a remap on the rollers. Never a piggy-back system. Especially as the R is an EURO6 engine so you need to do proper work on all the sensors providing data to fuel map. On top of that our engine has variable timing on the valves which adds up to the tally of details to be considered.
A piggy-back system would only do harm to the engine on a long term.

Yikes! Didn't want to read this after just purchasing a Racechip instead of ponying up the money for a remap. In your opinion is it always a bad idea (I have the 200bhp engine)?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It depends on many factors. The most important to me would be to learn how that racechip works. The company will not disclose any details to you (IP) but they should be able to explain to you what that module does to your car's ECU. Because devices like those fake signals to the ECU disguising true signals coming from engine's sensors.

As long as you do not push the engine to its limits with your driving style and you just do the occasional power ride I suppose you should be fine. But this is no guarantee at all. But then again, it applies to all engine tuning. Even those done on the rollers. There is always some risk you have to take.

 

[Jh72i]

Re: +80.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

Thanks, both, for the replies.


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[2retro]

Re: +80.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

I think you're pretty safe with RaceChip:

Why do models produced by the same manufacturer with same engine size and number of cylinders have different power outputs? Because often the only difference between more powerful engines today is the motor management electronics. The hardware is the same – it’s the software that makes difference.

RaceChip’s electronic tuning work according to the same principle.
It means we can make the most of the power reserves in your engine and help you to enjoy the performance of a more powerful car at a fraction of the price you’d pay otherwise.

Even if your car has a powerful engine as stock, the engineers will still have built in reserves to allow for climatic conditions and fuel grades around the world. Engine optimisation by RaceChip can tap into these reserves to give you a new, exciting driving experience in your own car.

And they offer an 'Engine Warranty' as well so they must be pretty confident that it's not going to do any harm:

https://www.racechip.co.uk/chip-tuning/quality-warranty-guarantee.html

 

[RCZ-R]

Re: +80.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

UPDATE:

Slowly I get the impression I only comment here if something goes wrong with my R baby. But the truth on a day-to-day basis looks the opposite way. The R is one of the very few cars you can get for reasonable amount of money (used market only, so forget about sticker prices) which rewards you with exceptional driving thrills.

Maybe I should use this thread more than ever to praise this car. At least for the last months of my ownership :beer:

But...
There is again the issue with the exhaust header and downpipe becoming leaky. The second time during my ownership. Or is it already the third time? I lost the count.
It seems to me there is a general design flaw with the exhaust header and the downpipe. The construction itself and the materials are strengthen compared to the RCZ200 but still the extreme heat radiating from the engine does its job to twist the material and to cause ultimately gas leaks.
Since I got the car I always practiced a monk-like procedure to warm up and cool down the whole drivetrain before I step on it. Especially the cool down phase is critical with the R. After a spirited drive you need at least 10 minutes of calm pace to cool down the components. Leaving the car at idle is not exactly the best way to do it. Driving is.
So I do that day by day and still those parts cannot take the high pace of autobahn driving. What a sad fact.
I also talked about that to a racing team using the RCZ R in a touring car racing series over here in ze Germany. They admitted they also have issues with that but the very nature of a race allows them to watch the warm up and cool down process more precisely than me with some erratic driving schedule.

Why am I telling you all that? Cause my R is sitting at the shop suffering from the leaky exhaust system again. In future I will try to turn down my driving tempo even further to prevent this from happening again.

By the way, the 308 GTi has a totally revised exhaust system compared to the RCZ R. Due to fitting issues (lower bonnet) it doesn't fit to the RCZ.

I hope to have my girl back at home soon. I miss her so much and the long weekend is coming

PS: She is close to the magic 100.000 miles mark. An ODO pic is coming soon. Interior still looks like new.

 

[neilgsxr69]

Re: +80.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

UPDATE:

Slowly I get the impression I only comment here if something goes wrong with my R baby. But the truth on a day-to-day basis looks the opposite way. The R is one of the very few cars you can get for reasonable amount of money (used market only, so forget about sticker prices) which rewards you with exceptional driving thrills.

Maybe I should use this thread more than ever to praise this car. At least for the last months of my ownership :beer:

But...
There is again the issue with the exhaust header and downpipe becoming leaky. The second time during my ownership. Or is it already the third time? I lost the count.
It seems to me there is a general design flaw with the exhaust header and the downpipe. The construction itself and the materials are strengthen compared to the RCZ200 but still the extreme heat radiating from the engine does its job to twist the material and to cause ultimately gas leaks.
Since I got the car I always practiced a monk-like procedure to warm up and cool down the whole drivetrain before I step on it. Especially the cool down phase is critical with the R. After a spirited drive you need at least 10 minutes of calm pace to cool down the components. Leaving the car at idle is not exactly the best way to do it. Driving is.
So I do that day by day and still those parts cannot take the high pace of autobahn driving. What a sad fact.
I also talked about that to a racing team using the RCZ R in a touring car racing series over here in ze Germany. They admitted they also have issues with that but the very nature of a race allows them to watch the warm up and cool down process more precisely than me with some erratic driving schedule.

Why am I telling you all that? Cause my R is sitting at the shop suffering from the leaky exhaust system again. In future I will try to turn down my driving tempo even further to prevent this from happening again.

By the way, the 308 GTi has a totally revised exhaust system compared to the RCZ R. Due to fitting issues (lower bonnet) it doesn't fit to the RCZ.

I hope to have my girl back at home soon. I miss her so much and the long weekend is coming

PS: She is close to the magic 100.000 miles mark. An ODO pic is coming soon. Interior still looks like new.

Would an internal ceramic coating of the headers help dissipate the heat?

 

[RCZ-R]

Re: +80.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

Would an internal ceramic coating of the headers help dissipate the heat?

The downpipe on the R is already pretty big as it comes from the factory. The exhaust header (which also connects to the turbocharger) is a bolt-on header. Those are always prone to warping, sooner or later depending on the heat and stress you put on them.
This is why nowadays the exhaust headers are integrated into the cylinder head.

I doubt any additional coating would help here significantly. Only excessive heat management, means cooling, cooling and once again cooling. Just drive longer to cool down the elements.

 

[Nemi]

Re: +90.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

Have you decided on your new car yet? I wonder have you ever considered Renault Megane 275 Trophy? :eusa-think: I have Megane MK3 coupe (110HP) and it feels so good to drive that car, except it lacks power

 

[RCZ-R]

Re: +90.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

Have you decided on your new car yet? I wonder have you ever considered Renault Megane 275 Trophy? :eusa-think: I have Megane MK3 coupe (110HP) and it feels so good to drive that car, except it lacks power

I know the Megane 275 phaseIII pretty well as I have been driving it. A great car and in my opinion still one of the best hot hatches. If not, the best.
But I need a bit more space now.

If I can make a good deal on the new Peugeot 508 GT with the petrol engine then I will go for it. My impressions from the Auto Show in Geneva were spot on. Great car, comfy seats, extraordinary interior and pretty everything on-board what I need (and don't need).

As a weekend warrior I might return to some high revving Honda cars of old days like the Integra TypeR or S2000. Those cars still amaze me.

 

[RCZ-R]

Re: +90.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

By the way, I got my RCZ beauty back from the shop. Exhaust header fixed, new clamps for the turbo flange and some other bits and pieces.
She runs fine. I haven't yet made it to do a full speed test. But she feels as strong as she was at day 1 :thumbup:

While waiting for my RCZ I spent one week in a rental Volvo S90 diesel. This car was already familiar to me as I test drove it almost a year ago. Back then I was intrigued by the new design, inside and outside, and I wanted to see, if the new Volvo is something I could live with. This time I had the car for a longer period than a typical test drive take, so game on!
After over 1500 miles in it I must admit this Volvo is one of the best high class cars I have been recently driving (compared to newest E class, beemer 5 series, Lexus GS). It feels like the +50k spent on it the moment you get in and start rolling. There is this sensation of sturdy swedish built quality (although this one is put together in China and not in Sweden but I personally don’t care), the interior looks and feels classy. The standard seats are already very good. The plastics applied inside look more money than in newer Mercs I recently have been in. This Volvo had the Momentum trim only. When you go for Inscription things only get better (The car I test drove year ago was a fully loaded Inscription). The touch screen and the whole media system is one of the best in regards of daily use and adaptability. It took my just few minutes to learn and understand it. Due to its simplicity I was able to use it almost blind folded. Well done Volvo.

So, how was the ride quality?
Pretty good but a bit too “sporty” for my liking. In a car like this I would expect the suspension to be a bit softer over bumps. The overall setup was comfy as long as you didn’t hit those pot holes. Then sometimes you got a harsh smash from the wheel penetrating into the cabin and setting off the calm Volvo experience. If they could improve this for the midterm facelift, it would help a lot. After I made my own mind on the suspension and how it feels on a day-to-day basis I watched some reviews on YT and almost all testers confirmed my observations. Good to know my bum is still working fine.

What blew me away?
That sound system. It was equipped with the top-shelf Bowers&Wilkins system. I must say it’s been a while I listened to so much music while driving. In my RCZ I listen more to the engine, the car, you know just taking the full R experience. But in that Volvo it was almost all about music when driving. The clarity of the sound, the bass, the individual settings, all this made this experience of something of extraordinary. This sound system is well spent money.

Do I have to say something about the tractor engine, hahaha?
Let me say this, it was OK for a diesel. It only had 190 ponies but those were pretty strong for a 4000 lbs car. Its top speed is governed at exactly 230 kmh while the speedo indicates 235 kmh. It could go faster but they keep it at a distance to the higher engine version, the D5 with 235hp.
The best thing which comes for free with the Volvo is its appearance in the rear view mirror of cars ahead. There seems to be a kind of respect as the left lane is moving aside as soon as that huge Volvo grill appears in their view.

Would I buy it?
Yes, absolutely. But not now while I’m in my 40ies. I can drive it later in my life.

 

[renegade79]

Re: +90.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

Do you ever meet other R’s on ze autobahn over there?

 

[RCZ-R]

Re: +90.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

Do you ever meet other R’s on ze autobahn over there?

Only once. And the other time while I was travelling thru Switzerland. But in Switzerland I only stick to the limiter set to 100 kph after they fined me for 1 kph over the limit few years ago. That's it.

The one time I met an R on a german autobahn was back in 2014. It was still the period when the facelifted RCZ was fresh and new to the market.
So I was travelling over the northern autobahns of germany and caught up to another red R. That felt like winning the lottery, haha! We came together in a road works zone, maintaining the usual 80 kph thru this zone and giving thumbs up to each other and at the end of that zone we stepped on it. My R accelerated a bit better than his. Just a tiny fraction better. To a spectator it must have looked silly, like a lorry race, by the way how slowly I passed him while accelerating all the way up to about +120 mph. By the time I caught him I spotted a different exhaust on his car but couldn't hear it being any louder than the stock one. The shiny black diffusor at the rear end was removed leaving both exhaust pipes hanging in the air. Maybe this car was a development car from a tuning company, dunno.
Of I went accelerating up to 155 mph and he flashed me at the next exit. That is all about meeting another R on the autobahn.
I never messed with an 308 GTi either. And I'd like to.

Coincidentally I know another owner of a white R in my area but he is absolutely not into hi speed driving. He only enjoys the low end power of the engine and does not push the car to its limits.

We have a "spotted" section here on the forum but spotting an R in the wild isn't common in UK as well, right?

 

[RCZ-R]

Re: +90.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

UPDATE:

She got new shoes! ... or something like this.
No, just some new shiny Alcon discs + pads on my R. The 7th or 8th set in total. All OEM stuff.



I'm going to take this opportunity to describe the way how I bed-in those discs+pads so they can take all the abuse without issues.

PART 1:
The first 100-300 miles are very important.
Overheating and emergency braking is not advised. Keep a distance to cars in front of you (as always :greetings-wavingblue: ) and do not allow yourself to be in a situation where you have to slam the brakes and even more critical, to stay on the brakes after an emergency braking. This could lead to first hot spots on the discs which are hard to get rid off afterwards.

So, when the discs and pads are shiny new, it is braking like an egg would sit between your shoe and the brake pedal. The first miles are about kissing the pads with the discs.

ADDED LATER:
I want to add some explanation here for why to be so cautious with new discs + pads over the first few hundred miles. First of all, it is about 300 miles because in total the braking distance over such distance should be sufficient to complete the first step in bedding in the components. One could do that on a single day, e.g. on a road with a lot of down hill space. But for the piece of mind let's stick to the daily driver routine.

Why is it so important to bed in the discs + pads on those first miles?
It is down to the surface of both materials touching each other. The discs have a coarse surface and the pads as well. The first bedding in step shall remove the uneven surface and allow both materials, disc + pad surface, to gain as much contact in between those two as possible. If you'd look under a microscope the surface of the disc and the pads would look like the Alps. Mountain tops all over the place.
Now with the gentle braking technique at the beginning you shave those tops off and allow to create an more even, and thus, a bigger contact patch between pad's material and disc's surface. And why do we need a bigger surface? To dissipate heat more effectively. And to have more braking power thru more friction surface.

This process is completed when the discs become all shiny and very smooth when you touch them. They should feel like touching glass.
When an even and smooth surface has been achieved, then it is time to put some serious heat into those discs. But this belongs to part 2.

Part 2 follows when I'm done with those 300 something miles.
Cheers.

EDIT:
PART 2

+125.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

Re: +90.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story) That really sucks :thumbdown: I had almost exactly the same happen to me with my nearside rear just after getting my Z. Fortunately the screw “sealed” itself in the tyre & it didn’t actually deflate, I only saw it because it was near the top of the...

www.peugeotrczforum.com

PART 3 (FINAL)

+125.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

Re: +100.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story) Yep - I get this in my R, too. Best I’ve ever seen is just over 53mpg.What was you doing Pete pushing it ? Lol I can't resist teaching a few metal cans some road facts about our beautiful cars. Funny though I seem to only be able to see them in my...

www.peugeotrczforum.com

 

[RCZ-R]

Re: +90.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

Another problem I don't need in my life right now.
My rear Michelin is "screwed".



Waiting for a new tyre to arrive and be put on the wheels. I cannot refurbish this one as it rolled flat and the carcass might be broken. Nothing I want to be worried about on a car which does 155 MPH on regular basis.

 

[DKZ5745]

Re: +90.000 miles with the RCZ R (my story)

That really sucks :thumbdown: I had almost exactly the same happen to me with my nearside rear just after getting my Z. Fortunately the screw “sealed” itself in the tyre & it didn’t actually deflate, I only saw it because it was near the top of the tyre when I next cleaned the car. Even the pressure warnings didn’t go off.