by Superchips

The car. 2010 Ford Focus XR5 Turbo. Already a spirited beast, amusingly quick with a tendency to make you forget that you’re driving a mid sized hatchback. At 8 years old and just over 80,000 k's on the clock, I’ve managed to pick up perhaps one of the cleanest examples on the market. Completely unmodified, and I’ve a mind to keep it that way. Enter the Superchips Bluefin. I first stumbled across Bluefin about 7 years ago when I was looking for tips and tricks to make my then-new Mk7 Fiesta ST just that little bit faster. Now without this turning into a review about the wrong car, I’d already fitted K&N CAI, de-res and custom exhaust, but it still lacked poke. As it happened, the Fiesta mob in the UK were raving about Bluefin on the Mk7's and I thought “Great!”. However as it happened when I got my first Bluefin, it turns out Aussie delivered Fiestas run an entirely different ECU so the tune wasn’t compatible. My point here is simple: you can have complete faith in the money back guarantee!

The only thing I lost at the end of the day was time. Fast forward to this year when an XR5 falls in my lap. It was already fast, but within a few months and thanks to a healthy tax refund, I was back on the Superchips site making a fresh enquiry. Payment down, short wait for stock and before long I had the Bluefin plugged into the car. From the driver’s seat. The screen tells me to “connect to Superchips” so back inside to plug into the interwebs to register the device. OK, done. So back out to the car and plug back in. The Bluefin downloads the original factory ECU tune, which on the Focus takes the better part of an hour. With the ignition on and keyless start, better make sure the front gate is locked before going inside for a cuppa. You do not want to sit there and watch the progress bar on the Bluefin. Go and read your manual while you wait. You won’t miss anything, the device will wait for input before doing anything else.

The upload of the new tune took considerably less time and apart from the strangely satisfying “Bluefin Installed” message on the handheld screen, there is no outward difference to tell the beast has been unchained. Now let’s be fair, a Stage 1 tune with zero supporting modifications is not going to turn a Ford Focus into a supercar, mental 5 cylinder turbo Volvo or no. What it does is make the car just a smidge more aggressive, and that says a lot in a car that I nearly pooped in the first time I put my foot down (remembering I’d just come from 7 years in a Fiesta). There are only really two ways to drive this car: ESP On, or ESP Off. Putting your foot to the floor in either yields vastly different results. Driving with ESP On is standard, for tootling around town and generally NOT trying to cause a ruckus. When you plant your foot down, all you’re going to do is trigger the traction control which generally cuts fuel to ruin your fun. I’ve found that with the Bluefin tune, the car is a lot pokier when doing the shop run, it just begs to be Driven. So ESP Off. Go find a mountain. This car, with this tune, really comes into its own when you fire the Nanny and turn off traction control. It was already a quick car, now it is a tyre-squealing Beast! Around town and off the line there is not a huge difference, but get this car into the hills and be prepared for license-endangering acceleration. Now it seems to hold the concept of deceleration in utter contempt. It begs to be driven, and hard. Forget 1st gear launches, all you’ll achieve is wheel shudder in all but the best conditions. In gear acceleration is where the biggest difference is with Bluefin. I’ve only had the luxury of a few drives on the new tune, but I consider it well worth the investment. The car now has an amusing habbit of popping and crackling out the back after a throaty bellow of acceleration. So in short, the Bluefin is an unassuming little handheld device that really delivers on value for money. And if you've got the patience to drive with a feather light foot, the fuel economy's not bad, either.

Vehicle: Ford Focus XR5