[markcanderson]

While recognising that any opinion given below is purely based upon that individuals personal experience of the company, and some may wish not to fully comment on their experiences due to perhaps their being in a legal discussion with the company, I wish to capture for the record everyone's experience with Hirsch.

Please write a short note describing your inquiry, business or contact with Hirsch and how sucessful that experience was for you.

This won't be used for any other purpose than education.

 

[maartenvandorst]

My experience with Hirsch products and service has been very positive so far.

At the time I was investigating the possibilities for tuning my 900SET I didn't have a computer, so I spent a few hours at the local library trying to find some information on Saabtuning. The other source of information was talking to some guys who owned a tuned 9-3 and participated at Speed 2001. Kees (the owner of a Hirsch 9-3 Troll) directed me to ASM in Nieuwegein. This was quite some time before Hirsch products could be ordered through all Saab dealers. ASM was the only one having experience with Hirsch products. The people at ASM were very helpfull and offered me a testdrive in a 230 bhp 9-3 convertible which I eagerly accepted. The testdrive and respectfull treatment at ASM made me order the Hirsch ECU. It was the most expensive off all options I had, but the fact that the dealer had experience with tuned Saabs made me feel it was worth the extra money.

Despite the very high price, the Hirsch ECU is the best upgrade I've bought. It really transformed the car. After adding some more tuning goodies to my 900, it appears the ECU is capable of much more than the promised 222 bhp. Other pro is the improved mileage.

The springs on my 900 are also a Hirsch product. Made by Eibach according to Hirsch specs. The springs are good, but really need to be matched to uprated dampers.

Next Hirsch upgrade will be the gorgeous wheels. I'll have them fitted this weekend.

 

[nigpem]

originally went to reading saab to purchase a new (used) vehicle...ended up with a fair bit of hirsch kit for my existing 9-5

got a set of 17" rims (with dunlop 9000s 225/45) look the barking dogs and the extra .8 width really helps the 225s sit nicely...also had the st1 ecu upgrade which consisted of ecu, aero intake pipe, injectors and air filter, turbo is also turned up to .45 bar from .37....next on the list was the exhaust..what can i say looks good (stainless), sounds nice (not overppowering when cruising) and is very well made.....really impressed with the upgrades, car is really torquey at low revs and the mpg has increased..car is also well behaved and smooth for normal town driving....was initially put off by price but the deals were amazing from reading...the whole lot fitted and inc vat was £2800..pricey you cry..should've cost me that for the wheels and exhaust alone....

 

[burre]

I have had nothing but positive experiences with Hirsch.

My first experience was getting my 1999 9-3 a ECU upgrade. When I called Hirsch to ask about the upgrade, I mentioned I had a US spec car and they said no problem. So the big day came around and I made the 4 hour road trip to their shop in St. Gallen. This is when I gat a small scare. They had forgot that I mentioned that my car was US spec and weren't prepared for me. But then they comforted me right away by mentioning that they would custom program my car for the normal price of one of their upgrades. The reason they did this is that they had not yet made any ECU upgrades for any US spec cars, hence they are not OBDII compliant. They could have given me one of the Euro market upgrades but I would have gotten a permanent check engine light. So anyways, they proceeded to to write my program right before my very eyes. By the end of the workday they had improved my car from 192 hp to 227 hp. An improvement consistenet with their normal upgrades on the Euro spec cars. Also, torque was a quite good 328 Nm from just 0.9 bar or 13 psi boost pressure.

So for my second Hirsch experience, I decided to have them install a Viggen intercooler for me so that I could get a new dyno output on the same dyno. The price was surprisingly reasonable for the area, just $350 with including installation and dyno run. Power increased to 238 hp and 338 nm.

My third and ongoing experience is with my ECU rewrite. I had since improved the breathing of my 9-3 with a BSR Optiflow intake, 3" downpipe and racecat and the whole gamut of suspension and brake improvements. Anyways, on the power side, they agreed that I would benefit from a new ECU program to take advantage of the better engine breathing. Hirsch proceeded to rewrite my program and the power results were outstanding. 260 hp and 348 nm from 1.15 max boost pressure with 0.95 bar at higher rpms. Pretty good for a 2.0 liter with a T25 turbo.

The car did have a problem though. At reves below 3500 rpm, boost pumps up and down. They tried to find the probelm in the software, but no luck. They told me not to worry as they will work to find the problem and send me a new ECU with the fix for me to try out.

Also, they had changed the throttle response in the program so that I only got full boost at WOT. Otherwise, at 9/10ths pedal travel and less, boost came up a bit softer and with presumably more control. I did not like the idea of this, however, they thought I would like it. They asked me to give it a try and let them know how I liked it. After about a month with it , I concluded that I just can't get used to this throttle response so I gave them a call. They gladly agreed to return the throttle response to that of my old program when they work on the forementioned boost pumping problem.

So now this is where I am at. Hirsch is going to work on my boost pumping problem and throttle response early this coming week. They expect to have a reprogrammed ECU in the mail by mid-week. Hopefully it will have my problems solved and I can have all the power with the quality of their first upgrade to my car.

And, as far as I know, I remain as the only person with a Hirsch ECU'd US spec 9-3. And I am a very happy Hirsch customer at that. I'll keep you posted on the fix later.