The tuner doesn't have to stay in the car. After you flash it, you can leave it in the glove box or in the house and it will still work; you can even choose the different performance vs economy settings without it. You only have to have it hooked up if you want to monitor parameters that...
I've been using the Cobb tuner for about 3 years now. It has different modes for performance or economy, and switching from one mode to another only takes a couple of seconds and a few pushes of the cruise control buttons, you don't even need to stop the car. Even in economy mode, it feels...
For the past couple of months a little mom-and-pop small-town restaurant trying to stay in business has been selling seafood dinners on Fridays, and I've become kind of a regular for that. It's about a 25 minute drive on twisty back country roads, something fun to look forward to once a week...
I've dailied mine through 4 winters so far. It works fine with snow tires (Blizzaks on all 4 corners). In a snowy/icy parking lot, I can do donuts slowly with traction control on, but with the nannies off it really whips around.
I haven't had a single close call since I put those on. Occasionally I'll spot one or two in the distance as they're moving away from the road.
They're not too obvious when they're mounted on top of the bumper.
Stage 1 is for stock, and/or aftermarket intake and exhaust.
Stage 2 is for when you get a decent intercooler and throw the original in a scrap heap where it belongs.
Stage 3 is only if you also have an aftermarket downpipe.
I had my car undercoated at the dealership in Maine as soon as it was delivered, before I even saw it. It's been through 4 winters in Maine and Canada and it's in great shape.
But, I can't help feeing a little sad when I see how dirty it gets.