2012--2020 Chevrolet Sonic - 1.4L Turbo - Advantage

I bought a Sonic for my daughter as her first car.  Great vehicle in general.  It's inexpensive to work on, fairly low maintenance, efficient, safe, and with plenty of features.  Unfortunately the Sonic has two deficiencies in my opinion - the tiny econobox brakes fade easy in heavy stop and go traffic (I remedied this with better pads, and rotors).  The second and more important one is the total lack of power.  A loaded school bus would out accelerate this car.  As my daughter will have to make left hand turns and get across 3 lane highways at times, I was worried she was going to get t-boned by someone flying through a set of blind bends she has to pull out from.  The Sonic is too under powered to get out of its own way.  I bought the Trifecta tune, zero other power mods done to the car.  I was absolutely amazed.  I've tuned other performance cars before, with supporting mods, and picked up great gains.  I did not expect much from a 1.4L with no additional modification.  The car isn't going to win drag races by any stretch, but it will certainly move now.  It accelerates good enough to move in a hurry, but not so fast that it will lose traction or become unstable - perfect for a new teenage driver.  Gauging by the butt dyno, it's not a 17 second car anymore.  Maybe more like a 15 second.  My daughter didn't know I was making modifications to the car to improve the driving characteristics.  We went for that first drive after a tune and she immediately cracked a smile.  Her words: "This is actually really fun to drive now."  Thanks, Trifecta!  We'll do business again.

I have waited a while to write this review, partially because I wanted to see how my Sonic would respond to the tune. But in all honesty I guess its because I haven't gotten to writing one until now. All I can say is I am very, very impressed! The added HP and Torque are most definitely noticeable! Looking back, I don't even know how I drove my Sonic in stock mode, it was so disappointing, but now I can say that the car is a whole lot more fun to drive!! Don't get me wrong, its a grocery-getter, but now its a grocery-getter that has some performance!! I have a 2019 Sonic Premier, and I am thoroughly happy with this tune and how well it has worked with my vehicle! Thank you Trifecta!

If you are on the fence about getting the tune, I would recommend going for it, from all of the reviews, and my personal experience, you will not be disappointed!

I bought the Chevy Sonic 1.4L strictly as a commuter car and. Vowed.to myself leave. It stock. Being a gear head and always adding power to whatever vehicle I own , I knew it would only be a matter of time before something was done to it. I been running an Ultra gauge since the car was new and always hated the 228 engine temp. I started to get failures in all the plastic parts of the cooling system and decided now is the time for a tune. The car runs much better, I always had.a surging acceleration only when cold and at part throttle, that is now gone. Now the highest I have seen for engine temp is 219.2F degrees and that is only during the first initial time after a cold start. On the highway the engine temp settles at a nice 210.2F  . I have 7k on the tune, and it runs perfect. I was surprised at the midrange power gain from this tune. It makes the Sonic a little safer now for two lane road passing. For being all stock, the HP and Torque gains are impressive. You can really notice the turbo fall off after 5k RPM but that is totally expected and happens with the stock tune as well. That is because the stock turbo is out of volume and physically can not produce any more boost. Thanks Trifecta for all your hard work and changing the desired cooling system setpoint to 210.2 from the OEm 228.6F I feel the Sonic and it's entire Cooling system will last much longer and the added power is much appreciated.

Once again Bravo!!! I have purchased several tunes and been pleased with all of them. Quick to respond and get me going. I will continue to recommend and promote these fine folks. Thanks again.!!!

I have been doing lots of research and trying to find the best solution to tune my Sonic 1.4 L Turbo. It's a great car, but I just want to get more power out of the Turbo engine. I am not really a car guy, always try to find the most cost effective way. I joined few Sonic tuning facebook groups and Trifecta is most recommended solution by many people. After doing more research about it,  I believe I found the right one!  The customer support is pretty good, asked all of my questions in details. I didn't wait and placed the order. The shipping was fast, I was able to get my package downloaded on the next day after I submitted the required information. The installation process was very straight forward, all instructions are quite clear and helpful.

I have been driving the care for 3 weeks, I have to say, I am so glad I pick up Trifecta solution, it's easiest one and it works great! I feel the extra power, shifting is smother, responding is quicker and the fuel efficiency is increased by about 20%, that really impresses me!

If you are looking for a easy solution to tune your Sonic, it won't disappoint you!

Thank you, Trifecta!

This was my daughters 2015 Sonic until she wanted a jeep. So I bought it from her for my wife and I to drive around town. Being an old gearhead. I wanted to spice it up a little. Let me say this tune did a lot to get there. Night and day to me. My wife even said it is a lot peppier. Her wording. This tune really woke up this car up and I could not be happier. These people are top notch. Answered every question I had. And answered quickly. I would highly recommend this tune and you will not be disappointed. Thank you people for a great tune and standing behind what you do. 

Thank you,

Steve (a happy gearhead)

The 2012--2020 Chevrolet Sonic - 1.4L Turbo Advantage on my stock 2015 Sonic LTZ has made a noticeable difference to both the acceleration and shifting.  The car is much more enjoyable to drive now.  I drove the twisties in the mountains by my house after the flash and was impressed with how the car's engine and transmission was able to handle the uphill turns.  Shifts were timed well going up the mountain and the engine didn't struggle.  I've also noticed that ever since the flash, the problem I had with the passenger airbag light turning to "OFF" when a passenger was on the seat has gone away.  Meaning, the passenger airbag light now switches to "ON" when a passenger is seated.  

I found out about this tune on a facebook sonic group, I had seen lots of debates on the best tune but after a lot of research and awesome feedback to my questions from their support and the fact I don't plan on modding out my car much that would require a new tune I went with the Advantage stock tune.

For sure it makes a HUGE difference! As others have reviewed it sure makes it more peppy and responsive. Its still a sonic so don't expect a race car but I would say this tune alone makes it close to being a sleeper car. 

I also like driving in the manual mode and shifting up it was like a true manual but downshifting just didn't feel right, now with the tune doing a downshift feels more like manual and the shifts up are much smoother as well.

For the boost before the best I got was a 10.1 and after the  tune I got a 14.3 using Torque pro. 

Also for a added bonus, the Trifecta sticker went great with the Harry Potter sticker I already had on the car 🙂 

Easily the best mod I've done to my Sonic yet. People are pretty surprised at how fast it is now (it's still a Sonic, but it actually has some pickup now). The tune raises the boost, changes throttle mapping, fueling, timing, etc. It all adds up to a big difference in power. From my testing stock boost was only at like 11-12psi, it has since gone up to ~16psi since the tune. The cruise control tune control is really smart and I use it all the time. It works flawlessly and quickly every time. Good work Trifecta, I think I'll spring for the Elite upgrade next to raise the boost even more

This tune makes the Sonic feel like it should have been from the factory. Does it make you the racing god of Mount Akina? No. Because it's still a Sonic. However there is no single greatest performance gain that I know of that you can get for such a small price. The car is way more responsive, very noticeably more powerful, and obviously way more fun to drive. My automatic is way happier to downshift now, and sometimes catches me off guard. That took some getting used to but I wouldn't call it a problem. All I can say is this tune is never coming off the car as long as I own it, and if you're reading this wondering if you should order one, the answer is 100% YES from me.

I have always been sceptical about a tune as a mod.  Getting a cable and some stickers in the mail, I though, what did I do?  Delivery was fast, in Ontario in 3 days.  Its been on the car less then a week.  It is worth every penny.  The power delivery, throttle response, is dramatically improved.  The ability to switch back and forth between the stock and modified tune is pointless, you will never use the stock tune.  It's like GM hated it! This has moved my commuter from the "i should sell this" category, to being a keeper.  

Excellent product.  It is inexpensive and high quality.  I have been running it for probably 40k miles.  The car should have come like this from the factory.  Turbo surge is smoothed out, throttle response is faster, turbo spools a little faster, and it has a lot more power.  The most surprising part is stock, the power would fall off making it pointless to rev past 5,500 rpm.  Now, it pulls all the way to the red line.  I highly recommend this product.  We have really enjoyed it and our car is still reliable with no problems at all.

GM should contract these guys to write the stock tunes on their cars, the overall feel of the car after the Advantage tune is worlds better than stock.

Car is a 2014 Sonic RS w/ manual tranny and cold air intake, about 60k on the clock.

Strange, climbing boost in first gear is no more. First gear actually feels like a usable gear now. Smooth build-up of power, not the weird surge.

2nd gear had the same issue, but far less pronounced. It's been fixed, too.

Lifting off the gas in those gears doesn't cause shuddering like it used to, makes shifting nicer.

Highway speeds take like... marginal throttle input to maintain. Not sure why or how, but it's nice, the car sits at 75mph and loves every second of it.

More boost means more power and so, yeah, there's a good bit more pickup there for you if you need it and all the sounds the turbo makes are just that much more dramatic.

Props to the guys and gals at Trifecta, a steal of a product!

Trifecta,

Your customer service is outstanding. Your product is the best I have every used. My 2014
Sonic gas mileage is up from 28 City to 33 City, and from 35 highway to 40 when I can keep
my foot out of the accelerate. I have and will continue to recommend you product to all my
friends.

Antman6868

This was a great add on.I can use high test and great mileage.the extra power and shift response is incredible. Love it.

I bought the tune for my 1.4 Sonic RS and it's amazing. Love that I don't need to floor the accelerator to shift down and overtake. I still use the stock mode on traffic jams though because the fast mode is too jumpy to go that slow.

Hi everyone I brought this for my RS Holden Barina 2013 in Australia. The RS to me should mean more or a car with grunt then it had. Only being the 1.4T motor but still it should do more than it does. I had a quote in Parramatta to do a sports tune for A$2500 and they couldn’t provide proof it wouldn’t be removed when a tune up was done. Trifecta tune cost about A$550 with the supply of the cable to Sydney.

So I decided on this one from Trifecta as if it gets wiped then I had it to reload at a later date. It took about 20mins to load up watched the video very easy to do and load I had no issues what so ever. Dam me the car has so much more power and pick up from start now as it was so slow. It’s like a little beast now love the way it ready to go all the time now and the way I would have expected it to be like from new.

I have a booked service in a month will be good to see if it get wiped but I chose to load it as transparency so they shouldn’t be able to see it anyhow.

Thanks Trifecta for bring my little shit box alive. Well worth the spend if you want a car to be like it should be an RS

In my opinion you can't own this engine (1.4t) without this tune. The most functional difference for me was the increase in low end power. On my commute I would need to do the 6-5 switch constantly, and while i am greatful for the ratios on the LTZ 6spd, the power (on stock tune) at highway speeds in 6 is practically non-existent. With this tune i barely have to touch 5 to get the power I need on highway, and in fact, i have a tough time staying below or at the speed limit....

This truly "jail-breaks" the car. 10/10 would recommend.

I was skeptical at first being a "canned" tune, but once I got the crap gas out and started burning pure 91, the pulls are much harder and the power stays on all through the RPM's. Thanks Trifecta! You brought my Sonic to life, the way it should have been all along!

Insane Tune, with the feature to switch between stock and tune - its superb.

Dont have any worries for Europe Sonics - it's fully working. Easy Install (24min) and u feel the difference 40-100 without shifting - im ~2,5 secs faster.

Thanks so much Trifecta <3

Excellent tune for all around driving pleasure. I have 90K miles on my tune so far with zero side effects. Just bought another one for my kids sonic, would (and do) recommend to anyone.

Awesome! Great tech support and prompt responses, I really love what this has done to my vehicle. I had an issue at first and it was addressed ASAP. These guys care about their customers and go out of their way to make you a satisfied customer. This upgrade is the BEST bang for the buck and I highly recommend Trifecta Performance to anyone seeking to get the most out their GM vehicle. I drive a 2017 Chevy Sonic RS Turbo and this vehicle performs just as well as the 2013 Volkswagen GTI with the APR tuning that I had at MUCH less cost. Do not hesitate to get Trifecta Performance tuning for you GM vehicle. You will be BLOWN AWAY to the improvement this makes!

I was tuned on September 4th 2015, that day a car was transformed from a weak unresponsive commuter to the little engine that could (on steroids!!!) Now the second I was driving the car, a difference was evident. The subject car is a Bone stock 2012 Sonic 4 door Turbo. The throttle response is night and day, those who know the car stock, know how dead the pedal is, with this tune you press the gas and the car takes off like it should from the factory(you can even get the tires to chirp). The transmission tune is butter smooth and non-jerky, as with the initial ecm tune, the transmission tune just feels right. In conclusion this tune is a must for the novice driver to the pro gear head, its just gives the car that extra pep and fun factor without giving anything up or disturbing reliability or gas efficiency. In short the tune is amazing, and with out doubt a must for your little turbo Sonic!