sunny_j

i recently got a 09 E320 and there is some serious lag so the car doesnt get going till you hit 2000rpm. i was wondering if anyone has installed it on their diesel cars and whats your feedback

morten

i have a 220 with a sprint boost and worked for me .

erifly

what kind of added torque are we talking about?

sunny_j

there is no added torque. a sprint booster makes the throttle more responsive making it feel like you have more torque

erifly

^^ interesting..I actually just read up on it..and it seems to be some sort of chip that gets hooked up to car that makes accelerator more sensitive(in a good and powerfully way ). So whats the difference between this sprint booster and reprogramming ECU chip? They seem to both accomplish the end goal in similar but different ways, is one more prefferlby than the other?

sunny_j

i have ordered the sprint booster and will post the results

AMGTestDriverNJ

I have also, it will be installed on an 08 E3504Matic. I will do it some time next week when I return. Bought it off a forum member here. I had this debate yesterday with a friend and I guess I got the answer I wanted but I was still left with some uncertianty. How is it, that if the car "reacts quicker" or the throttle response is "less delayed" that this doesn't essentially make your car w/ sb quicker than the guys next to you in stock trim?

You see what I'm saying? I understand no actual power is made from the unit, we aren't increasing any air fuel or spark happening, but how am I not, I guess you can put it, unleashing my stock car's fullest potential? You know what I mean? If we line up, doesn't my quarter mile time improve assuming I react at the same speed consistantly w/ and w/o a sb? Follow me? Well, it was a fun arguement, what do you think?

sunny_j

i have no clue but we will find out soon. my SB should be here on friday or monday and i will post results.

jeffrey2

I have one on my 350; love it. Took it off for a warranty service (there are posts saying it will hurt your warranty and ones saying it wont...removed to be safe). Wow, once it was off, my car was a pig, even in S mode. Let me tell you, I couldn't put the SB back in fast enough when I got the car back.

My friend who thinks he's a good racer coined this phrase about the SB "That car is Demonic"
My wife who drives it on the weekends to work (it's the commuter car) "HOLY CRAP"

Anyone in SoCal who wants to drive to OC and see for themselves what it does to a car, look me up.

ap10046

Have one on my E240, huge difference in the way the car drives..made the fatty feel about a ton lighter..!!

AMGTestDriverNJ

+1 for the sprint booster. Got it in on my 08 E350 4M and it really does wake it up.

AMGTestDriverNJ

+1 for the sprint booster. Got it in on my 08 E350 4M and it really does wake it up.

SurgeSi

so its fine for a daily driver?
doesnt get annoying?
my wife drives the car more than i do would it be fine for her, not too aggressive?

jeffrey2

If you put it in C mode, it drives mildly; S mode is a little bit of a mental adjustment as the car gets a little...pipey.

The only prob I have is the SB doesn't upshift quickly in S mode, but it's something you can get used to.

AMGTestDriverNJ

Haven't let the lady drive it yet but I imagine she'll like it.

CEB

....the Sprint Booster does absolutely nothing that you cannot recreate for free by stepping on the gas pedal harder....

http://www.peony888.com/VS/SprintBooster.pdf

pinebaron

Thanks for sharing this information with us.

erifly

That was a great read! Thanks! So it just comes down to "feel" of the pedal nothing more nothing less.

seahonu

Just installed the SB on my 2005 E320-CDI. The SB definitely help eliminate much of the delay, but still has the inherent turbo lag. Though I've only driven the car a couple days with the SB, I've notice the automatic transmission doing abit more upshifting which translates to abit of delay with the time to upshift. All in all, the SB is still impressive.

I would also disagree with that "white-paper" by Dick Bipes - Sept'07. There is definitely much more to the SB than "stepping on the gas pedal harder". I would make the case that with the SB, the throttle is opened up earlier even when depressing the pedal down as fast as possible. Meaning its not just the static position of the throttle, but the additional dynamic aspects that the SB opens up the throttle earlier THROUGHOUT the time it takes to depress the pedal.

Note that I've also got the Brabus D6 "chip" installed too.

CEB

...but we also need to be mindful of the fact that we tend to justify our purchases by validating the manufacturer claims - nobody wants to admit that they got suckered by an ad campaign.

Regardless of the white paper, the SB does nothing other than make the gas (or diesel) pedal more responsive. Since the car "adapts" to driving style, a naturally aggressive driver will find less of an "improvement" with the SB, while a sedate driver will find more off the line ooomph - again, nothing that you can't recreate without the SB once the ECU has adapted to your more aggressive driving style.

What you WILL find with the SB is a huge decrease in gas (diesel) mileage as all you're doing is sucking up more gas.

Ask yourself this "What kind of magic pill have the folks at SB found where one device (with very minor connection tweaks) can instantly increase power on virtually ANY car - gas, diesel or hybrid? Why haven't the manufacturers done this themselves if it is free power?"

Just like the majority of power tweaks promising big gains, this one is isn't worth the money - although it does one thing most others don't - it actually gives the impression of doing something.

I really am glad that you like it - just don't assume that it actually possesses some magic powers...

seahonu

Whoa, CEB. You're just as offensive by labeling others opinion as "magic powers/magic pills". I never stated anything beyond real physics here. Great that you like/want your car stock as the original manufacturer created. Although they produce the cars for the general public and may have not tuned to individual needs.

What the SB does is increase the responsiveness significantly, and possibly too much for the general public. Its our choice of modifing this aspect.

And as for the OEM ECU adapting to more aggressive driving, I've haven't witnessed my car adapting suffciently to being anywhere near the responsiveness of the SB.

BTW, you drive an Acura RL... strange that you can comment on this topic. I've witnessed that the Acura's are quite responsive, differing from the pedal feel on the Mercedes. You may want to test drive the relative differences before commenting.

CEB

..it is interesting that you took my comments personally, because they certainly weren't meant that way and I didn't label your opinions in any way.

That said, I'm sorry if you felt offended by a mere RL driver. My personal experiences come from many years of driving Audis, VW R32s and, dare I say it, Mercedes products - I just happen to be an Acura as an interim car right now - you'll see me back in an E class shortly. I suppose my opinion will be worth more then.

Like I said before, I'm glad that you like the SB and I hope that the MPG hit isn't too severe...

seahonu

For those truly interested in the SB, esp. on E320-CDI;

Another day assessing the SB in normal traffic and freeway driving. Interesting to note about the upshifting behavior that "jeffery2" mentioned. I definitely noticed that with the SB in C-mode and depressing the pedal halfway - it would upshift by 1. Though in S-mode, the SB would impose an upshift of 2 gears, which took abit longer for that jump. Actually I prefer the C-mode behavior for exactly what "jeffery2" stated, its abit too much.

And with the CDI, I don't have as much rpm range - redline at 4500 rpms. So for the SB in S-mode to upshift by 2, that pushes the revs to +3500 rpms pretty quickly with not much left to redline. In C-mode, an upshift by 1 is just perfect, jumping to around 2500 rpms where the max torque is for these diesel engines. And when just cruising, the SB works just fine, same optimal efficiency at lower rpms.

So in summary, the SB increases pedal/throttle response and an additional benefit, better acceleration by controlling the upshifting by 1 or 2 gears (C or S mode, respectively).

jeffrey2

It's an open offer for someone in OC to come drive my 350 with an SB and make their own assessment. My uneducated 2 cents is it's much quicker; trust me, when I removed it for a spell, cramming the gas pedal didn't offer the same responsiveness. I've even crushed it from a stop, with TC off and i get a little burnt rubber out of it...

I realize what the SB can and can't do, but I'm sold...the next car I get w/an electric gas pedal...i'll put one on that too...

erifly

You know I just remembered one annoying feature about my e320..the hesitation of acceleration. Even if I gun it, there is hesitation. I forgot why Mercedes did this(to prevent spinouts in rain maybe?) but does the sprint booster eliminate that hesitation. If you haven't drove a 03-05 e320 you probably don't know what I'm talking about.