I updated and installed my new Cortex tuner earlier, and thought I'd share my thoughts as a sort of mini review.

Power
The tuner had the option for 87,91,93, and Mileage. I loaded the 93 tune with no issues (and no warranty void warning). It feels much stronger at almost all RPMs, and I found it hard at first to not speed since it seemed to want to go faster at the pedal positions I was used to. I had to adjust my driving style slightly so I wasn't going 10 over everywhere.

Adjustments
I bumped up the red line 50rpms (really adventurous, huh) so that I could see the 1-2 and 2-3 WOT shift options. I was able to bump each one up by 50rpms as well. It allows me to go a fair amount higher, but I wanted to play it safe for now. I believe I saw an adjustment for fan temp engagement, along with the usual idle speed, gear ratio, tire size, etc. options.

Shifting
It has a much more solid feeling shift from 1-2 and a slightly firmer 2-3 shift, both at part throttle. At WOT, the 1-2 shift feels totally different, and instead of the exhaust making a snorting noise as the RPMs drop once the trans decides to find 2nd, it holds in the upper RPMS and grabs 2nd with some authority. I never thought my truck could shift like that. The last time I felt a trans shift like that I was in an 07 Mustang GT. There is no loss of power once it shifts into 2nd like before. It just grabs and keeps going. I found myself hitting 60 before I realized it.

Driveability
The throttle by wire in my truck (not sure if all are like it) sucked, to be honest. Before I could repeatedly stab at the gas, and it would take a while for it to register, if at all. Now it's almost touchy. I find I barely need to press the gas to get it moving, and it's much more sensitive to small changes in position. It took a little while to adjust since I went from having to mash the pedal to get some sort of response to barely pressing it and having to slow down.

Overall Thoughts
Worth the price? Definitely. The truck feels completely different, and in a good way. I'm sure as I drive it more I'll get used to it and need more power, but I'm totally satisfied for now. As new updated roll out (and new mods find their way under the hood), I'm sure it will only get better.

 

the SC is awsome in these 08+ trucks, after the last updates, i am really starting to like the trans and shifting, it's "almost" perfect in that sence, and the throttle responce and torque management are a lot better but this drive by wire crap on these 08+ engines, suck, its 200x better than stock, but nowhere near perfect, i watched the TPS %'s, and when cruising normally, if you roll into it, the tps only goes to 40% regaurdless of pedal position, untill it down shifts, then it does something, but reguardless its still a lot better to drive than stock, have fun!!!

 

Cool Crash glad to hear your happy with your new mod, sounds like your enjoying it.. Cya Slick

 

I think I found the best thing about this tuner on my way to work this morning. Usually there is a ton of speeding up and slowing down, which means my truck was always shifting all over the place. Today I was able to keep it in 5th, even when going up a hill that I usually either need to build up speed to take in 5th, or end up downshifting to 4th to keep up speed. I have nothing against it shifting around and making noise, but it was a nice change to be able to keep the revs down and enjoy the radio driving in.

 

Thanks for the review MrCrash.

How do you plan on keeping your mother from keeping your truck now after she borrows it to take it to the store?

 

I doubt I can stop her. She'll just steal it when I'm asleep. I'll just take back the key to the gas door so she doesn't try and fill it with 87.

I already warned her not to goose the throttle at little old ladies anymore. Instead of just revving slightly, now she'll run em over

 

Haha! Well maybe you need one of those brush gards on the front of your truck now ..... you know, just incase.

 

I have a feeling that would just encourage her. She knows she can get away with almost anything as long as she doesn't scratch the paint