I have the Trifecta stage 1 and I believe one of the biggest restrictions in realising the potential of this platform comes from the GM imposed TCU torque limiters in the Aisin-Warner transmission.
I have read these were implemented by GM with emissions and fuel economy in mind, with torque limiting in all gears except for 2nd, 5th and 6th (off of the top of my head), which explains the pretty average 0-60 pull in factory tune and the lack of difference with a tune.
One of the German tuners offer a standalone TCU tune that removes the torque limiters giving full access to the stock 295 lbft. They also offer a stage 1 ECU in combination with the TCU tune, which is tailored to the higher torque output of stage 1.
I read a post on one of the German forums where tuners had a couple of 260 PS models on the rolling road before tuning and this showed the 295 lbft only being available for a brief moment in a particular gear. The same with the 260 PS, which again was only available for a brief moment in a particular gear. If I remember correctly they were both putting out around 200 PS but GM can market it as 260 PS because it does make that albeit briefly.
German owners were complaining about the poor Autobahn performance and inability to hit and maintain 150 mph in both the 260 and diesel Biturbo, since rectified on stock cars by a TCU tune.
Here in Europe, the 260 PS model was detuned to 200 PS from around 2018 in the search for ever lower group wide emissions and the LTG was then replaced with a totally new 230 PS engine majoring on fuel economy and emissions, whilst the older LTG was designed with a focus on performance. GM have totally neutered the potential of the 260 with those TCU restrictions. It certainly can't be an issue with the GKN Twinster AWD system as that's shared with both the Focus RS and the MB A45 AMG, and both of those are regularly and professionally tuned to well in excess of 400 lbft.
In Europe we have have numerous torque heavy diesel powered cars with the exact same AW transmission, making way more torque without the same restrictions. The Volvo V90 D5 AWD is a prime example as it makes 480 NM at 1750 rpm stock and pulls like a freight train, whilst the Insignia 2.0D Biturbo 4x4 makes circa 470 NM stock but due to GM's implementation of the torque limiters, you rarely see it.
Even the 2nd generation Volvo S60 2.0T Polestar (2015-2017) was putting out over 340 lbft through this transmission and that was a 4.8 sec to 60 car before tuning. Volvo even offer dealer fit Polestar tunes, which maintain the warranty and takes the D5 for example to in excess of the transmissions maximum torque limit of 480 NM and the tune includes transmission optimisation. My brother has a tuned 2019 BMW M135I 2.0T 4x4....with the exact same transmission and that is circa 330 lbft stock and circa 370 lbft at stage 1.
Insignia owners with the EDS TCU map and stock ECU tune say it transforms the car and is way more transformative than a stage 1 ECU on its own. It makes sense as you can throw 500 lbft at a car but you will never see it if the factory TCU tune only ever allows 250 lbft.
I have been in touch with Trifecta support and they seemed interested to look into the torque limiters as they run a TourX themselves, so maybe we will see an updated TCU tune in due course.
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