Sprint Booster V3 - First impressions

[Doogle]

Hey all, I wanted to share my mini review about the Sprint Booster V3. Ive recently bought one and installed it today, very easy to install. I am not affiliated or sponsored by them, this is my own perspective.

The reason I wanted one was two fold. When pulling away from a standstill I have noticed there is half a second delay where the car thinks before realising what is being asked of it. Likewise, when having a bit of a blast on a B road the throttle response is a bit muted. I find it frustrating as everything else as a drivers car is excellent. My theory is Renault deliberately toned down the throttle response to suit all markets. Also to avoid being too snappy with the cold start issue!

The second reason is I have other things I want to do to the car before a remap such as a ported manifold, exhaust and possibly decat. This is a stop gap and may prove not needed after a remap.

Anyone whos looked into them will know the V3 has 9 settings for 'Sport' and 9 for 'Race' or to have it completely off. I started off on 'Sport' 3.

First impressions are wow, what a difference! Throttle Instantly felt sharper, a massive improvement. I got through traffic and out into the countryside, upped the setting to 'Sport' 6 and planted my foot. Instant response. I kept my foot planted and followed the revs, it feels like it picked up so much better!

Then I changed to 'Race' and set it straight onto 9. Very aggressive, very on and off. Dropped it to 'Race' 1 and still felt too harsh. Definitely not an every day driving mode. Overall I settled on 'Sport' 7 as a balance.

The Sprint Booster is quite easily a standalone mod. It is NOT a replacement for a remap, which will give you more ooomph, smooth out the flat spot and improve the cold start issue. I am also not going to say that its makes the car more powerful, or that its making it quicker. It does make it feel that its faster and more powerful however.

There are some downsides. With the kangaroo issue when cold, any more than 'Sport' 3 will make the car feel harder to drive when cold. In proper stop start traffic I would probably turn it off, I will find out when I test it coming home on Monday.

I will also reiterate it is no remap, it is a rather crude way of improving throttle response which might also be improved through a remap. Because it seems the revs pick up quicker you notice the flatspot more. It also means you do lose a small bit of driveability, you have to put more effort into making the gear changes smoother and being smoother with the throttle. The car will be more taxing to drive because of it but this depends on your driving style.

People will rubbish the claims around the Sprint Booster. I'm not here to try to persuade others to buy it or to state its something that its not. As a mod for purely improving the driving experience, I think it is ace and adds that last 10% that I think was missing from the factory.

Opinions welcome.

 

[Benno]

Great unbiased review mate.

I must say, having a passenger lap with @rupe30 at Spa quashed my thoughts that it was a waste of time. Could 100% see the difference when giving the throttle a little blip on downchange. I’ll look at getting one when I go on my next Clio spending spree over the winter.

 

[Doogle]

Great unbiased review mate.

I must say, having a passenger lap with @rupe30 at Spa quashed my thoughts that it was a waste of time. Could 100% see the difference when giving the throttle a little blip on downchange. I’ll look at getting one when I go on my next Clio spending spree over the winter.

Cheers Benno, for a few hundred quid it has made a mountain of difference to the drive of the Clio. When you look at that in perspective of other things you can buy for similar money you could have a KTEC induction kit or Direnza exhaust manifold, a set of proper good brake pads or a couple of decent tyres. Some of that is still on my list, but this has kept me grinning!

 

[Benno]

Cheers Benno, for a few hundred quid it has made a mountain of difference to the drive of the Clio. When you look at that in perspective of other things you can buy for similar money you could have a KTEC induction kit or Direnza exhaust manifold, a set of proper good brake pads or a couple of decent tyres. Some of that is still on my list, but this has kept me grinning!

I agree mate, for the price it seems like a no brainer!

Without getting too much off topic, Ktec induction kit plus a remap is just beautiful. The noise is unbelievable coupled up to a Scorpion or similar exhaust. Well worth getting.

 

[Doogle]

I do have a resonated Milltek catback system to fit which I bought 2nd hand, just need to find somewhere to fit it and also need to find some exhaust tips as its for a 200.

As much as I fancy something fruity and non resonated the noise would get on my tits after 10 minutes and sometimes I do long journeys in it. The same with the induction kit. I think if I had this as a weekend toy only it would be different, its the same reason Im not ripping everything out for weight saving too.

 

[rupe30]

I think mine's great for the road, i see it essentially as a sport button, the increase in throttle response makes the car feel alert and faster. For the road it's an absolute no-brainer.

On track however i'm 50/50. At Snetterton the other week I found it's very difficult to feather the throttle as the slightest input into the throttle and the car will accelerate hard, which then means you lift and before you know it the cars jumping around. So when trying to hold speed around Coram which is a really long fast right-hander, it was almost impossible to be smooth. Great for heal and toe though so I left it on..

 

[Doogle]

I think mine's great for the road, i see it essentially as a sport button, the increase in throttle response makes the car feel alert and faster. For the road it's an absolute no-brainer.

On track however i'm 50/50. At Snetterton the other week I found it's very difficult to feather the throttle as the slightest input into the throttle and the car will accelerate hard, which then means you lift and before you know it the cars jumping around. So when trying to hold speed around Coram which is a really long fast right-hander, it was almost impossible to be smooth. Great for heal and toe though so I left it on..

I can imagine on track its more difficult when going full pelt. Its taken me a day or two to get used to the increase in sensitivity, but no bad thing. Ive been wanting to get the car onto a dyno for awhile so may do a few back to back runs with the Sprint Booster off and then on highest setting to see what the difference is, if any.

I also forgot to add unlike the V1 and V2 you don't have to space out the accelerator pedal or cut any bit away as they have moved the connection that was a problem to the top of the harness.

 

[Ciapata]

I will make the Sprint Booster V3 that completely disables the potentiometer leaving only a kickdown button operable. This wil make the car maaaad! Anyone interested?

Wysłane z mojego Mi-4c przy użyciu Tapatalka

 

[Plummer]

Gonna tag on my review of the V3 here as well:

I've had mine fitted for around a year now and I think they're a great bit of kit, only really used it on 'sport' mode so far, I just find the 'race' mode a bit savage on a daily.
The throttle pickup is great, had to adjust to it as it's a bit more sensitive for sure, but the instant lunge when planting it is really noticeable. The car feels like how an NA car should, it felt laggy before.

My main reason for getting one was the poor throttle response of the Clio 200, I had a Megane 250 before it, and used to have no issues with rev matching and heel/toe in that car, it felt very natural, like a sport car should. The Clio I felt like I had to proper smash the pedal for rev matching, and I literally stopped doing heel/toe as it felt like effort to be delicate with the brake and then try smash the accelerator with my heel.
With the sprint booster fitted it's just a small tap of the heel, much like my Megane was.

The hesitation with overtakes all but disappears too, you really notice that as soon as you plant it, the throttle valve opens instantly rather than over a few seconds and the car is instantly picking up rather than over a few seconds.

 

[Doogle]

Having had the Sprint Booster fitted for approximately 1 month I can confirm the lust for it has gone a little bit. However, I have not turned it off. I have driven it both daily and a mix of fast B roads and commuting. What I have noticed is there is still a little hesistancy on the first 5% of travel.

The Sprint Booster has helped for the most part, I certainly wouldn't be without it. However there is occasions when you go to pull away and the revs dip just that little bit and then they shoot up. This is something that mapping only will sort out. As I said in my first post, a Sprint Booster will not replace a remap.

As for settings, I have dropped it down to Sport 5 for everyday and ramp it back up to Sport 7 when fast road driving.

 

[19Zen]

Instead of creating a new thread I thought I'd resurrect this one. I fitted a sprint booster today and it really improves the driving experience, as Doogle said there's still a delay on the first bit of travel but overall it makes it so much easier to access the power and rev match. I'm still finding the balance between having more response and still being able to use the pedal, for example in race mode you barely have to touch the pedal to get the revs up but it's nice to have some travel.

I found something interesting too... last night I was running on empty so when I fitted the booster this morning I left it switched off until refueling, yet the car definitely felt different. I've been driving it for over 10 years and could really feel a difference with the booster supposedly switched off, which makes me think it doesn't have a true bypass.

What I'm wondering is if I go for a remap, should I map it with or without the booster? Would a remap really be able to get as much response as say 'Sport 7' setting while ironing out the flat spot, so the booster would no longer be necessary? Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[Plummer]

Instead of creating a new thread I thought I'd resurrect this one. I fitted a sprint booster today and it really improves the driving experience, as Doogle said there's still a delay on the first bit of travel but overall it makes it so much easier to access the power and rev match. I'm still finding the balance between having more response and still being able to use the pedal, for example in race mode you barely have to touch the pedal to get the revs up but it's nice to have some travel.

I found something interesting too... last night I was running on empty so when I fitted the booster this morning I left it switched off until refueling, yet the car definitely felt different. I've been driving it for over 10 years and could really feel a difference with the booster supposedly switched off, which makes me think it doesn't have a true bypass.

What I'm wondering is if I go for a remap, should I map it with or without the booster? Would a remap really be able to get as much response as say 'Sport 7' setting while ironing out the flat spot, so the booster would no longer be necessary? Thanks for any thoughts.

When I got mine mapped at EFI, I did mention to Chris it had it fitted and should I switch it off.
He said it makes no difference for engine mapping. I assume since it's changing the throttle rather than the ECU.