I sort of dislike discussing what I call "vaporware" or "fantasy products" so I want to be clear. At this moment the only tuning option we offer for the 124 is Euro+Drive Lite. So all the other things we are working on are purely hypothetical. Perhaps it's a little stronger than hypothetical since we have done all of these things with this engine in other cars, but please keep in mind that as of today's date, these other options don't exist commercially.
Let's review some pros and cons.
1. The ECU clone option has one big advantage. It's that you can swap back in your stock ECU at any time and nobody will know you ran a hotter tune. The tune itself is also very good because we can control any ECU parameter. We don't have the limitations we have with add-on piggy back type devices. There are two downsides. The first is cost. It's the most expensive option because you have to buy a whole new ECU and still pay for the tune. The other drawback is if you want to change to another tune you have to send it back to us.
2. Bench flash. This has the same tuning advantages as the ECU clone but without the expense of purchasing another ECU. Of course your car will be down while the ECU is in transit to and from us. The dealer can not tell that it's not running a stock tune by reading it through the OBD 2 port. However they can see the flash counter. Although to my knowledge it's never happened, it's theoretically possible that they will see that the ECU has been flashed once more than they can account for. However it's also possible the bench flash will not alter the counter. It's too soon to know.
3. OBD 2 port flash. This writes a new tune onto the ECU through the OBD 2 port. This DOES NOT use a laptop. It uses a handheld device we ship to you. The device can hold 5 different tunes including your stock tune so you can change the tunes whenever you want. Since there is hardware involved, the cost is usually above a bench flash, but below an ECU clone. The big advantage here is that when we release new tunes they get uploaded into your personal file in the cloud and you don't need to remove the ecu from your car and wait for the post office.
These options may come soon, or maybe years away. We still don't have any of these options for the 2014+ 500 Abarths. That said, it's actually a little easier with the 124 and we feel we are getting pretty close. My personal car does have a flash tune on it, and it's great.
Greg