After I bought my Cruze I was cruzing down the road, see what I did there? Okay, I was traveling on a two-lane road and came upon a car moving much slower, so I waited “patiently” for a passing zone. Once it was safe to pass, I stepped on the gas and holy crap! The Cruze accelerated like I was towing a boat! I have driven cars with less horsepower that had more pick-up than the Cruze. Needless to say, it was a little disappointing.
The disappointment with the acceleration of the car had me searching the internet for power upgrades. One of the first websites I came across was Vermont Tuning in…you guessed it, Vermont. They had quite a few upgrades available, and the one that interested me the most was a handheld device that flashed the ECM with a new calibration. What caught my eye was the 32hp gain just from changing the calibration. It’s a little frustrating to know the manufacturer is de-tuning the engine. I understand why they do it, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. One of the things I liked about Vermont Tuning was the owner, Brian Blair, was testing and using his products on his own Cruze.
I went ahead and ordered the VTuner handheld device, and once they received my order, I received an email with detailed information about the device. The information included written instructions, as well as video instructions on the calibration upload/download process. Once I received the device, I downloaded the stock file and emailed it to Brian. In just a few hours, he emailed me back with the new calibration. Following the instructions I received, I loaded the file on the device, plugged it into the car, and flashed the new calibration; it was as easy as that. He also asked that I record a data log with the VTuner and email it to him so he could verify everything was correct. I took the car out to record the data log and immediately noticed the increase in power and acceleration, all from changing the calibration. Pretty amazing.
If you’re looking to upgrade your Cruze, I would recommend Vermont Tuning. Brian has quite a few upgrades available and is working and testing new ones as well. Customer support is outstanding, so check them out!
DS
