BPMSport Review - 6MT specific info

[AlterZgo]

I purchased the BPMSport tune for my 2015 6MT F80 a couple of weeks ago, right around the time when VF cut their price and BM3 began beta testing their OBD unlock. Now is a great time for us due to all the awesome choices available. I’m sure Bootmod3 VF-Engineering, Alex@Alpine, MHD, et al. all provide certain features and benefits that will fit everybody’s needs and budget. I’m here to share my experience about BPM…

My review will be detailed but if you want the TL/DR version: BPM provides M3/4s (especially 6MTs) with super smooth, easy to modulate throttle response, excellent power that is usable across the rev range and, most importantly, exceptional personal service from Mike Benvo.

While BPMSport wasn’t the cheapest tune available, I decided to go with them because of BPM’s reputation, their track record of very satisfied customers and how responsive Mike was on the forums. As a working professional looking to get some more performance and added burbles, I don’t have time to take my car in for dyno tuning, or any desire to log my runs, to eek out the last ounce of performance. I also don’t drive a lot and didn’t want to drive for weeks to get my car to adapt. I wanted a turn-key plug and play solution that’s reliable, has great power and drivability and BPM delivered.

Throttle Response: Reading these forums for years, 6MT cars have had some history of issues w/ smoothness of power delivery and throttle sensitivity. In fact, even in OEM stock form, Sport+ can be super touchy and get you into that bucking bronco mode even with light throttle applications. Adding significant power without rescaling the throttle map can exacerbate the issue. I’m happy to say that there are ZERO issues with this with my BPM tune. The moment I fired the car up and drove in Sport+ (or any other throttle settings for that matter) the car felt extremely refined and smooth. It required ZERO adaptation time and the power delivery was extremely predictable and easily modulated. Let me repeat – ZERO time to adapt. In fact, it is definitely better than stock and Sport+ is actually now usable as I used to think it was way too touchy in stock form.

Mike does a great job asking questions about what you want out of your tune. I asked for smooth throttle response and he gave me that. If you want lightning quick throttle, he can map that for you too. I’m sure he backed off the throttle sensitivity from stock as when I give it partial gas, the car gives me partial power, unlike the stock throttle mapping where ¼ throttle feels like you’re getting 90% power.

Sport+ rev matching: I didn’t ask for this but the first tune Mike uploaded for me had this option selected. I told Mike I’d like to try it out for a week. I can say rev matching in Sport+ works flawlessly. However, after a week, I decided I wanted the option to rev match myself and Mike whipped up a new tune for me to remove it. Can’t say enough about how responsive Mike is to all my questions and requests even after I had the tune installed.

Burbles… Yeah, for non-CP people like me, it’s a big deal. But, I have a full Remus exhaust with no secondary cats or resonator and I didn’t want overbearing juvenile burbles that sound like the car’s broken. I discussed this w/ Mike, told him what I was looking for and he gave me a “less burbles” tune that was spot-on. In Efficient, there are no burbles. In Sport, the car burbles smoothly and doesn’t give that loud backfire crack. It’s noticeable but bordering on subtle. In Sport+, the burbles are louder and definitely not subtle at all. It will give a crack here and there, especially when I force valves open all the time w/ my exhaust valve controller. Sounds bad-ass… but probably would be annoying to drive it in this mode all the time. If you have an aftermarket exhaust, or removed your resonator and secondary cats or if you’re running downpipes, I recommend the less burbles tune unless you want to be obnoxiously loud.

GTS start up roar and cold-start delete: Startup roar is plain bad-ass awesome. I tried both .5 sec and 1 sec. I recommend 1 second. Cold start delete is very nice too BUT, with my Remus exhaust, if I sit in my car waiting for it to warm up a bit, the cats are not getting enough heat to do their thing so I was getting more exhaust fumes smell. So, when I asked Mike for an updated tune removing the Sport+ rev match, I asked him to also add cold-start back in so I’m not killing the environment.

Power: I opted for stage .5 which is somewhere between GTS and Stage 1 and also chose the crappy 91 octane CA gas option… Quite a conservative tune. That said, the car is making great power. I bought new 285-35-19 Michelin PS4S about a month ago. Turn traction control completely off and I can light up the tires easily in 1st and 2nd. Powershift into 3rd and you can keep spinning the tires. But, lets be honest. EVERY tune can give you tire shredding power. What I appreciate about BPM is again how refined the tune is. The throttle mapping makes the car a joy to drive. Half throttle gives you half the acceleration you want. Power is consistent and easily modulated. It doesn’t heat soak and fall flat. The power curve also feels more linear than stock and pulls hard into the upper RPM ranges. If power levels out past 6K RPM as I assume it does from the dyno charts, I can’t tell because I’m constantly hitting the rev limiter in 1st and 2nd due to how fast the RPMs hit redline.

Service: Can’t say enough about Mike’s service. If you email him or send him a PM, he responds promptly. If he says he’ll call you on X day or send you something on X day, he delivers. Every time. Just like his tunes, the dude is consistent and great at what he does. When I installed version 2 of my tune to remove Sport+ rev matching, I forgot to upload my coding data and the car was freaking out w/ warnings on the dash. I called Mike after 5PM and he answered the phone immediately and walked me through fixing the issue. I’ve emailed him past midnight and gotten responses at 2AM. He’s probably one of those guys who can’t stand anything in his inbox. LOL.

While not the cheapest option available, what BPM/Mike provides overall is well worth the cost for me. You can tell that Mike is a perfectionist who has spent a lot of time tuning these cars… especially 6MTs. Everything just plain works as expected.

Thanks again Mike and BPM!

[Djf80]

For anyone with 6MT, I echo what is mentioned in this post. After researching in the forums, chose BPM for service and great responses. Also, the option to go back to stock tune was important to me since I am still under warranty.

Given my car is stock and 6MT, and DD and occasional track use, I opted for the GTS tune. I didn’t want to put too much stress on the engine on the track, and on technical tracks I have plenty power now. For me, one of the key options was rev matching in sport+. Heel toe is not easy in this car, and I didn’t want to put stress on the transmission when down shifting at turn ins at high speeds.

Installed the tune a week ago, could feel added power immediately and didn’t notice any major adaptation issues. Used it on the track just this past weekend and car was running amazing at high loads/high rpms. Downshifting was flawless in my case and the only problem is I need to get more track specific tires to put the additional power on the track.

Of course, support from BpM has been stellar!

If you are looking for more power without major mods, this is a great tune!

[///M3_F80]

Well said gents!

I too am running the BPM tune and it is fantastic! No issues, butter smooth and everything I asked for.

Mike's customer service is unmatched

[Lerxst M4]

Very well said and definitely not tl;dr!

[SROC3]

Originally Posted by Lerxst M4

Very well said and definitely not tl;dr!

The bpm tune rocks. Smoooth as butter and no jerkiness at all. Raced a Nissan GTR last night. He got me on the take off. But past 5k rpm I smoked him. He could not catch me. Either he didn't have the balls to floor it all the way or I'm just a silly good driver (ATCC driver) I had MDM on and I was a little squirrelly at first but got it straight and left him

[uniqueMR]

Originally Posted by SROC3

The bpm tune rocks. Smoooth as butter and no jerkiness at all. Raced a Nissan GTR last night. He got me on the take off. But past 5k rpm I smoked him. He could not catch me. Either he didn't have the balls to floor it all the way or I'm just a silly good driver (ATCC driver) I had MDM on and I was a little squirrelly at first but got it straight and left him

[FITM3NT]

I have stage 1 and 6MT but mine is not as smooth as you all are saying yours are. I do occasionally experience jerkiness in sport and plus modes even after having the throttle response reduced by mike. It's not as bad as the original file but worse than stock. Mike mentioned to me that it can get like this as it now makes more power. If this is not the case, I sure want to have it revised to make it as good as you all sound.

[Djf80]

I have no experience with the stage 1 tune, but could imagine that with more power the chances for any sensitivity is higher. Maybe consider to go to stage 0.5? The first 2 posts were GTS and Stage 0.5 tunes. Not sure you can get it changed, it it could be worth a try. With my GTS tune, the sport + mode feels actually the smoothest and has very good and linear power delivery.

[AlterZgo]

Originally Posted by Koncdead

I have stage 1 and 6MT but mine is not as smooth as you all are saying yours are. I do occasionally experience jerkiness in sport and plus modes even after having the throttle response reduced by mike. It's not as bad as the original file but worse than stock. Mike mentioned to me that it can get like this as it now makes more power. If this is not the case, I sure want to have it revised to make it as good as you all sound.

In one of the threads Mike mentioned the CS GTS and .05 tunes had really smooth throttle out of the box whereas stage 1 needed some time to adapt. How many miles do you have on your stage 1? I’m now curious to try it. Maybe when Mike posts the OTS maps in the future. I can tell you my stage .05 is definitely smoother than stock even without any adaptation. Hope you get yours sorted out.

[FITM3NT]

Originally Posted by Djf80

I have no experience with the stage 1 tune, but could imagine that with more power the chances for any sensitivity is higher. Maybe consider to go to stage 0.5? The first 2 posts were GTS and Stage 0.5 tunes. Not sure you can get it changed, it it could be worth a try. With my GTS tune, the sport + mode feels actually the smoothest and has very good and linear power delivery.

I missed the .5, that might explain it. I love the power of the stage 1 over adjusting how light I need to be on the throttle while daily driving.

Originally Posted by AlterZgo

In one of the threads Mike mentioned the CS GTS and .05 tunes had really smooth throttle out of the box whereas stage 1 needed some time to adapt. How many miles do you have on your stage 1? I’m now curious to try it. Maybe when Mike posts the OTS maps in the future. I can tell you my stage .05 is definitely smoother than stock even without any adaptation. Hope you get yours sorted out.

Over 1k miles, I flashed mid-January, before he was a 0.5 stage. Maybe there was more revision to stage 1 which I missed since it was during the early stages. Excited for the release and how he'll roll it out to existing customers like me as well as the flash counter roll back and anything else he cooks up in the future.

[jninja]

I would seriously love to get this...I actually built a mock order at BPM website the other day.

My fear is that I'm leasing my 2018 M3 6MT, and I don't want to get nailed with no warranty in case something happens.

Anyone have words that could sway me? ..please... lol

[gatorfast]

Originally Posted by jninja

I would seriously love to get this...I actually built a mock order at BPM website the other day.

My fear is that I'm leasing my 2018 M3 6MT, and I don't want to get nailed with no warranty in case something happens.

Anyone have words that could sway me? ..please... lol

It's always a risk when modifying a car but with a safe tune like the CS or GTS there is very little risk imo. How many hundreds of people on this forum are flashed, many with aggressive tunes, and have major problems? Thankfully you don't ever hear of much and there are few if any horror stories or someone blowing an engine and being denied warranty because of a tune.

[jninja]

Originally Posted by gatorfast

It's always a risk when modifying a car but with a safe tune like the CS or GTS there is very little risk imo. How many hundreds of people on this forum are flashed, many with aggressive tunes, and have major problems? Thankfully you don't ever hear of much and there are few if any horror stories or someone blowing an engine and being denied warranty because of a tune.

Hi, and thanks for reply. I'm not so much worried about the tune blowing the engine, as needing warranty work at some point for something perhaps unrelated, but then BMW denying the work for knowing of the tune.

[AlterZgo]

Originally Posted by jninja

Hi, and thanks for reply. I'm not so much worried about the tune blowing the engine, as needing warranty work at some point for something perhaps unrelated, but then BMW denying the work for knowing of the tune.

It’s very easy to flash back to stock for servicing. Generally dealers don’t want to void warranties. As long as you’re not bringing in blown motors and transmissions, they really don’t care.

Back when I had a E60 535i w/ COBB flash tune, I got a suspension warning on the dash. I took the car in not flashing back to stock because I didn’t think they were going to do anything with the ECU. Well, they tried to refash my ECU and it obviously didn’t work because of my COBB tune. I didn’t tell them about it because I didn’t even know they were going to flash my car. Long story short they had to get BMW involved and basically had them do an extended rewrite that eventually was able to reprogram the ECU and eliminate the suspension issue. Neither the dealer nor BMW cared at all or investigated what prevented them from flashing the car before. My car was not flagged in any way and my warranty remained intact.

Of course YMMV depending on what dealer you go to.

Just get it. You will be fine. I waited years before flashing my car. Almost went to SSR performance to have my ECU cracked open and tuned w/ BM3, then saw BPM and all the other OBD flashes and jumped right in w/ BPM. Couldn’t be more satisfied.

[JoeyBananas]

Originally Posted by jninja

Hi, and thanks for reply. I'm not so much worried about the tune blowing the engine, as needing warranty work at some point for something perhaps unrelated, but then BMW denying the work for knowing of the tune.

I feel ya brother. Next week is the one year Anniversary of me getting my Car. I have the BPM cable sitting in garage and am going to flash it in the next few weeks. I have 10,000 miles on the car and I love everything about it BUT definitely could use a little more power in case a Vette or C63 wants to play around on the highway ��.

Life is short and when you're dead it's forever, might as well make the most of everything. I compromised, I have Intake, Downpipes and 93 octane but went with Stage 1. Hopefully im not disappointed and car remains healthy

[jninja]

Originally Posted by JoeyBananas

I feel ya brother. Next week is the one year Anniversary of me getting my Car. I have the BPM cable sitting in garage and am going to flash it in the next few weeks. I have 10,000 miles on the car and I love everything about it BUT definitely could use a little more power in case a Vette or C63 wants to play around on the highway ��.

Life is short and when you're dead it's forever, might as well make the most of everything. I compromised, I have Intake, Downpipes and 93 octane but went with Stage 1. Hopefully im not disappointed and car remains healthy

Haha, I hear ya man.. but it's all relative. I haven't been in a fast car in a while, and when I test drove a 2018 M3 6MT ZCP a couple of months ago, it felt like i was in a damn rocket ship!

None the less, after getting used to it, I could def see getting this tune

[BPMSport]

Thanks for the outstanding reviews! Much appreciated.

We've come a long way with the throttle control on the 6MT cars.

Koncdead sent you an email with a revised tune for updated throttle sensitivity, should be much smoother now, and we are continuing to refine this on the Stage I and II 6MT software this week.

Thanks!

[FITM3NT]

Originally Posted by BPMSport

Thanks for the outstanding reviews! Much appreciated.

We've come a long way with the throttle control on the 6MT cars.

Koncdead sent you an email witha revised tune for updated throttle sensitivity, should be much smoother now, and we are continuing to refine this on the Stage I and II 6MT software this week.

Thanks!

Thanks Mike! I responded to your email and flashed. Will report after more seat time.

[BPMSport]

Originally Posted by Koncdead

Thanks Mike! I responded to your email and flashed. Will report after more seat time.

Great, shoot me an email and let me know. I owe some others revisions as well and am working on them now that I'm back in the office and almost over the fever I had this past week!

[FITM3NT]

Update:
I was able to put about 200 miles on the last file Mike sent me and I'm loving it!

Throttle - efficient runs smooth, I haven't noticed any jumpiness
Sport/Sport Plus, much improvement from the 2nd file, smooth most of the time when launching but I noticed the jumpiness on rough roads (quite a bit of them in Hawaii) when going from 1st to 2nd. It might have to do with my leg moving with the car and inertia; more pronounced while still cold. It is noticeable that it takes more throttle to get the car moving and not as much all at once compared to the 2nd file which I like.

What feels the most different is that it seems to pull MUCH harder in all modes, like WTF... it wasn't like this on the other file I had. Mike confirmed better power delivery. I love it! I cant wait till I get some down pipes to move to stage II.

[AlterZgo]

Awesome Koncdead! Let us know how the car runs over time.

[skewzm3]

Originally Posted by AlterZgo

Awesome Koncdead! Let us know how the car runs over time.

Can you guys tell me briefly how the flashing part was, I've never flashed a car myself.

As per some other threads, it seems super straightforward, but would nonetheless like to hear from some guys that have done it.