Joe, I also agree with your general point. The biggest problem IMHO is that folks who go to TT for power don't know when to quit. If a little is good, then more is better. They keep turning up the wick until they start to hit real hardware issues.
With strong self-restraint, it is possible to get a reliable TT from a good tuner. But the very nature of the people who want TT makes it impossible for them ever to be happy with "just" another 150-200whp. It's not so much a hardware issue as it is a user issue.
In my youth, I spent a lot of time swapping big engines into little cars not designed for them. More fun than a barrel of monkeys! I also slapped a turbo on my Miata, and managed to tune it to work well in the cold Northeast (cold starts are a whole other kettle of fish when it comes to turbo tuning!).
So in general I agree with your point. It is true that refinement and reliability as a daily driver require a level of sophistication that is hard to achieve in the aftermarket. Now that I'm an old fart, I really appreciate it much more. Any TT I would buy would be on the basis of delivering that even if I have to trade-off ultimate performance to achieve it.
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