2019 Buick Regal GS AWD Tune and CAI??

[rolln2low4u]

I give GM alot of credit for doing a buyback on my 2016 buick regal GS awd as I went through 3 motors in less than 3k miles. I didnt even get the car back between the 2nd and 3rd replacement as the dealership put about 100 miles on it and it blew again. They up and swapped my 2016 with a brand new 2019, just getting it two days ago.

Now looking for a cold air intake and possibly a tune for the 2019. It has the 3.6L V6 with a 9 speed transmission.

Any suggestions.

 

[Rhetoric]

I’d recommend keeping the factory air box. CAI’s offer little to no performance upgrade and in most cases allow more fine particles through to the engine.

Factory airboxes on modern cars are good for massive amounts of power... more than any tune on stock internals could muster. I believe this car has an inlet right from the front of the grill into the box, which is truly where you want the cold air from; not from inside the engine bay.

Save your money for good tires and a tune (when one exists).

 

[L J]

I give GM alot of credit for doing a buyback on my 2016 buick regal GS awd as I went through 3 motors in less than 3k miles. I didnt even get the car back between the 2nd and 3rd replacement as the dealership put about 100 miles on it and it blew again. They up and swapped my 2016 with a brand new 2019, just getting it two days ago.

Now looking for a cold air intake and possibly a tune for the 2019. It has the 3.6L V6 with a 9 speed transmission.

Any suggestions.

What engine did it have 4 or 6? Did it have 6 speed auto or the manual? I assume they were doing rebuilt replacements?

 

[Zeroboostbuick]

Like Rhetoric stated, the air intake on the 2018+ Regal (2.0 and 3.6) is very well done and no aftermarket intake is going to outperform it. In many cases aftermarket CAI's reduce HP and TQ.
These ain't the 1990's anymore 😀

No tuning for the 2018+ Regal's yet. Someone who tunes with EFI-Live could tune the car but most who tune GM cars use HPTuners and our 2018+ Regal's are not supperted yet.

 

[BoostedRegal2.0]

Tuning the naturally aspirated V6 won't increase the power that much. They react differently than a turbo motor does.

 

[rolln2low4u]

Tuning the naturally aspirated V6 won't increase the power that much. They react differently than a turbo motor does.

Definitely not true. Cars and trucks from the manufacturer are tuned for emissions and fuel economy, not performance.

 

[rolln2low4u]

What engine did it have 4 or 6? Did it have 6 speed auto or the manual? I assume they were doing rebuilt replacements?

The buick Regal GS models only have one option for an engine. 2012-2017 was a 2.0L 4 cyl turbo, while 2018 and 2019 have a 3.6L V6, naturally aspirated.

 

[g_893016]

Definitely not true. Cars and trucks from the manufacturer are tuned for emissions and fuel economy, not performance.

Sorry to burst your bubble but it is true. Just see how little your normally aspirated motor responds to a tune after spending hundreds of dollars for nothing.

 

[BahamaTodd]

Definitely not true. Cars and trucks from the manufacturer are tuned for emissions and fuel economy, not performance.

...and reliability. Its all a balance.

Magnaflow has a catback exhaust under development if you're interested. The V6 will sound much better than a 4cyl.
18 GS exhaust.

 

[Zeroboostbuick]

If HPTuners come around and gets support for our Regal's it will make tuning super nice cause our Regal's have a Wideband Oxygen sensor instead of the usual Narrowband.
So tuning air fuel ratios will not require swapping the Narrowband for a Wideband and having to tune the car in open loop. Or having to weld a separate O2 bung for a Wideband.

 

[BoostedRegal2.0]

Definitely not true. Cars and trucks from the manufacturer are tuned for emissions and fuel economy, not performance.

Go ahead and spend several hundred dollars on a tune for your naturally aspirated motor and you'll realize it isn't worth it for the minimal power gain.

 

[2007LucerneCXL]

I'm sure all the NA LS* V8 owners will be happy to know that they have wasted time and money along with the company's doing the tuning module who should be shutting down shortly LOL.

 

[BoostedRegal2.0]

I tuned the 6.0 in my G8 and it gained very little power. If you want to see a huge increase in power you need a headers and a CAI and a cam along with a tune specifically for those mods.

 

[BoostedRegal2.0]

Here's some more info to back up my statement:

In case you lived under a rock for the last 30 years, Steve is the founder of Dinan Engineering, probably the best company to go to in the US for proper BMW tuning. The man is a legend and he helped build the reputation his company has today with hard work and precise measuring, not hearsay and rumors.

Just listening to him talk about how ECU tuning is done and sharing some of his knowledge on the matter raised the hairs on the back of my neck. It’s pretty obvious that he knows what he’s talking about and that he’s the kind of man that doesn’t hesitate to call something BS if it is.

One such example came when the subject of turbo engine versus naturally aspirated engine tuning was brought up. In the case of the former, it’s pretty easy to achieve better numbers by increasing the turbo boost. On the other hand, ECU tuning for atmospheric engines is not worth the trouble.

You really should dismiss all those that claim they can increase the power of your naturally aspirated units by some simple tinkering under the hood.

If you were to add hardware to the mix, that would be a different story. Real gains can be attained by changing the intake and exhaust or even the camshaft, but then you’d also need to program the engine to deal with the new parameters of workflow, and that’s even trickier than it sounds.

 

[rolln2low4u]

If you

...and reliability. Its all a balance.

Magnaflow has a catback exhaust under development if you're interested. The V6 will sound much better than a 4cyl.
18 GS exhaust.

That's great to know. Thank you.

 

[rolln2low4u]

I tuned the 6.0 in my G8 and it gained very little power. If you want to see a huge increase in power you need a headers and a CAI and a cam along with a tune specifically for those mods.

All I would say is that every motor, every oem setup is different. I have put tunes on multiple v6 and had substantial gains well worth the money. Also depends on how aggressive of a tune is over stock.

 

[BoostedRegal2.0]

The 3.6 is tweeked to the max already, it puts out more horsepower than a supercharged 3.8 V6. So you won't see any substantial gain in power with just a tune unless you add a lot of supporting mods.

I consider 100hp a substantial gain, but you won't see more than 20 or 30 hp and that's hardly noticeable.

 

[L J]

I would not tune my LS1 LS3 or LS4,
unless speed limiter was a problem.
My 6.0 E-Force Sierra is another story.

 

[BoostedRegal2.0]

Or you added headers/intake/cam.........

 

[stoopid]

The 3.6 is tweeked to the max already, it puts out more horsepower than a supercharged 3.8 V6. So you won't see any substantial gain in power with just a tune unless you add a lot of supporting mods.

I consider 100hp a substantial gain, but you won't see more than 20 or 30 hp and that's hardly noticeable.

The ATS and Camaro get 335hp from the same engine (slightly better exhaust flow, longitudinal mounting). Tuners in the past (with the LFX) have matched those numbers without the upgraded exhaust.

With the V6 being discussed, 310hp stock means a 25hp/8% bump (possibly more if they tuned for a CAI or higher flow K&N). This isn't just at peak, usually across much of the power band there's an increase. So you would definitely notice. Whether or not it's worth the $450+ for the tune is up to the car owner.