You know those late night commercials for products that tout their ability to make you perform better in one simple little step?
I was reminded of these irritating infomercials when I heard about Superchip’s foray into the off highway market with a programmer for the Jeep TJ & JK 6-cylinder engine; 24 hp and 28 lb/ft of torque from a simple chip? While we didn’t use a dyno to verify the results, our seat of the pants impression is that there is some more power to be had as well as improved throttle response.
It’s important to note that those numbers are achieved with the highest level of tune and 91-octane fuel. If you don’t want to spend the extra money on gas, there are several different settings; it’s as easy to change as plugging into the OBD II port and following the prompts on the programmer. Another very handy feature is the code reader; in the middle of nowhere it’s very handy to be able to read the check engine code and clear it.
Superchips’ application really makes sense. It adds much needed power and adjusts the drive-by-wire throttle response to eliminate lag, eliminate some of the more annoying nanny settings on the 4WD, and can even be used to calibrate the speedometer to match larger tire sizes. Both Jeep applications have plenty of different settings to keep the die-hard gadget geeks busy for weeks. For a relatively modest outlay ($379.99), there are some really clever and useful features for Jeepers of every persuasion and besides, who doesn’t want a little extra power?
Available for most late-model Jeep models.
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