UK-based Superchips, an electronics specialist, announced a new ECU kit for the diesel-powered Nissan Qashqai 1.5 DCi. They usually only focus on boosting the power with their magical ECU maps, but these days they are also adding fuel consumption to the list of their priorities. They say their Nissan Washwai kit not only adds more power, it also improves fuel consumption.

Qashqai 1.5 DCi has a 108 bhp Euro 5 engine. With the Superchips bluefin ECU remap installed it gains an extra 20bhp. The torque also goes up by 37Nm. This is a significant gain, especially as the fuel economy is also enhanced by 7 percent.

The effect of extra power and torque will become clear when you decide to overtake someone on the road. The car will pull much harder and sharper, and it will feel overall more responsive. The best thing about this kit however is that you don’t need any expertise to install it. It’s ‘plu&play’ which means you plug the bluefin handset into the Qashqai’s OBDII diagnostic port and then follow the simple on-screen instructions.

The kit is priced at £399. This is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to add a few more horses to the engine’s output.