Myth or Fact? Renntech Mercedes A45s Plug n Play Tune Adds 100 Hp
Renntech is a major name in Mercedes-Benz tuning, and the company's latest undertaking gives the A45s a significant power upgrade. While the stock output of up to 416 horsepower (310 kilowatts) is impressive, the plug-and-play kit can push the power as high as 592 hp (442 kW).
MYTH or FACT
Let us start by saying that we've seen just about everything out there that claims to give your car's engine an astronomical amount of horsepower just by plugging it into the obd port for a few hundred dollars.
So we're a bit sceptical when we hear of plug and plays giving such increases in horsepower.
Let's Look At It Realistically
To get more horsepower out of your vehicle you would need to do some serious modification upgrades and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise, for starters you'll need to change the factory-fitted parts for their more expensive performance counterparts and no before you ask the factory fitted parts although of great quality, durable and reliable are not good enough to get the performance you're seeking to gain.
Two Words Sales And Money
Which begs the question if modified cars are so much better than factory-made cars, why didn’t the factory implement the modifications when building the cars?
Modified cars are only better to a very specific portion of a manufacturers customer base. Nearly any modification that increases top speed or acceleration comes with a trade off; reliability, fuel economy, safety, and cost being the most common. Laws also play a big part in those trade offs, a car has to pass emissions and safety requirements to be legal for sale, add to those concerns the fact you've just spent enough money to pay of the debt of a small country the least you would expect for your money is for it to come with sound deadening, leather, fancy sound systems and all the bells and whistles you love, all adding weight "Speeds arch enemy".
Now, this would make a great topic for our our next episode but for now let us go back to the Renntech magic box and their claims to increase power by up to 100hp with their plug and play Tuning unit. If you're a bit sceptical don't worry so are we.
But with the amount of money a unit costs could there be some truth to it, there's only one way to truly find out and that is to install one and test it for ourselves.
Has Anyone Got an A45s We Can Borrow?
We just happen to have a 1998 C180 Mercedes-Benz at the shop and just like the A45s they both share similarities, both were built and designed by German Engineers, both have the same emblem other than that they're nothing alike, so we do really need to find someone who has one and is crazy enough to let us borrow it and help them part with their hard earned cash to pay for it.
By some sheer coincidence (more likely just set up by our production crew) car enthusiast David gave us a call and just happens to own a brand new 2022 AMG A45s is looking to add a whole bunch of horses to it and most importantly looks like he has plenty of money too, perfect.
As luck would have it this AMG already had a few modifications done in the way of an Akrapovic Performance Exhaust and a Carbonfibre Cold Air Intake upgrade so it's like the Germans would say " Wunderbar" the perfect machine to test the Renntech Tuning magic box on.
If we don't tell you where to get this unit we probably won't get paid so it's Time to shamelessly plug the Renntech suppliers in Australia, Thomas at Tuning Empire and get them to organise a kit.
We've been told It's the first unit they've sold for an A45s in Australia so we're pretty sure we are making history in a way, the unit is Plug and Play, we've got the perfect vehicle we've ticked off all the boxes what could go wrong.
That's Not "Muy Bueno"
The unit arrived earlier than promised and like children opening their gifts on Christmas morning we jumped right in unboxing and inspecting the contents, simple enough a wiring loom and the unit, but something was not right there was a rattle coming from inside the unit as we shook it, sounded like a Mexican Piñata full of goodies, that's definitely not "Muy Bueno".
Surely there are no moving parts in it?
It's something we will have to investigate later, but for now with the bonnet open and the instructions at hand we began the task of checking out just how easy this Plug and Play was going to be, the instructions seem simple enough surprisingly no Allen keys were involved could this truly be just plug n play, just like building your first IKEA bookshelf we half read the instructions looked at some pictures and jumped right in. We got this, Plug C to sensor C, Plug B to sensor B just one more plug and it's off to test it and then it all came to a screeching halt.
The diagram points to Plug A and to sensor A in the engine bay, we've got plug A but there's no sensor A. Upon closer inspection of the diagram there's no sensor in the diagram either just an arrow pointing forward?
When In Doubt Read The Instructions
Let's see it says grab plug C then Plug B and then plug A and then like magic the word appeared "IF" in the case of no sensor "A" you will need to remove the Air cooler situated in front of the engine to get access to the plug blah blah blah.
Well, it turns out that on the new 2022 A45s model some designer at Mercedes-Benz decided it would be fun to change the sensors easy-to-get to spot at the front of the air cooler and relocate it to the rear wedging it between it and the engine, obviously thinking to himself it's a Mercedes it shouldn't be easy to get access to.
Not Happy Hans!!
This has now gone from Plug and Play to plug and dismantling half the car.
Ok do it wasn't half the car but definitely bits had to come off. So after much thought, planning and a few German beers in honour of our mate Han's, we realised that we didn't have to perform a heart transplant to get to the plug, upon a closer inspection we found out that just by loosening the cooler mounts, pushing it forward and wedging it with our German can of beer you are able to squeeze in your tiny little hand to unplug it and then very patiently plug the Renntech units A plug in its place.
Let me tell you something, it's a whole lot easier said than done, but it is still the better option than removing the air cooler and at a fraction of the time.
What About The Rattle?
Don't worry we contacted Thomas who contacted the Germans Engineers at Renntech who gave us permission to open the unit and see what had come loose.
It turned out to be the Renntech plastic logo on the front cover that had come unglued during transit and had fallen inside.
OK, so now that the PLUG part was out of the way, we had put the car back together let's find out how the PLAY side of it goes.
If you've watched Ghostbusters you might remember the scene when they're in the lift and Ray says "Turn Me On" to test the proton packs on their backs and they make a coming to life kinda noise, that's exactly what it sounded like when we turned it on.
It definitely sounded tougher through the Akrapovic exhaust system and responded well to the accelerator press, no dash faults showed up, it seems all systems are GO.
Houston We're Ready To Launch
Slowly backing her out onto the street with the customary revving of the engine to see if anyone notices it and raise a few eyebrows, we lined this chariot at the end of the street.
Full of anticipation it dawned on me that I really wouldn't be able to tell if this thing worked or not since I've never really driven her before so it's up to the OBD scanner to give us the final Yes or No with the results.
All said and done it was time to say a little prayer to the car gods and launch this chariot down the street like a bat out of hell.
Let me tell you, I definitely wasn't expecting it to throw me back in the seat like that and I'm pretty sure we went back in time it's was crazy fast the OBD scanner had recorded it at 0-100 in 3.1 seconds flat, I can't believe it had shaved a whole second from the already impressive factory 4.1 seconds, that's faster than some Ferraris at 3.4 sec.
Track Day
The next day it was of to Broadford track to unleash the beast. Now Keep in mind that Dave has not had a chance to drive the car and after a few laps was asked politely to go and play with the fast boys in the other group, as his confidence grew by the end of the day he had managed a best time of 1.2 sec short of the Track record, now that's impressive and super fast.
Myth or Fact?
In all honesty, the Renntech Tuning Module truly is a magic box and it does exactly what the engineers at Renntech say it does.
This chariot of the Gods is sitting somewhere in the 500 to 520 Hp with the added modifications and honestly other than the let's play where's Wally with the Air Cooler sensor it wasn't all that hard to install, however if you own a 2022 model I would definitely get it installed by people in the know as it could be a bit tricky.
The Renntech Tuning Module truly is a gift from the car Gods, the $3,000 price tag reflects what you're paying for, a serious software upgrade with genuine horsepower gains and well worth the modification.
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