I am now somewhat down the tuning path (viewtopic.php?f=56&t=22811) and with some minor mods I am at 176.6kw ATW. The power from about 3200RPM is great, but it is nowhere near where I want it to be from 1500RPM to 2400RPM. My MY09 Forester with the same mods (152.6kw ATW on same dyno), but with a TD04 turbo not the VF54 of the Gen V eats it for breakfast in that rev range.
So much so that with the slightly longer gearing of the Liberty, I find myself a gear lower at 40km/h (2nd in Liberty vs 3rd in Forester), 50km/h (3rd vs 4th) and 70km/h (4th vs 5th). Also most city roads are either 60km/hr (4th in Liberty) and 80km/h (5th in Liberty) and at these speeds in those gears the car feels relatively unresponsive. I have to drop a cog or two to make good progress. This feels totally against the 'GT' moniker of the car, and I don't know if I can change anything to fix or at least improve this.
My mates MY09 tuned with TBE WRX (171kw ATW) had the same problem but that was due to the larger turbo.
I can add an intercooler, extractors etc, but I don't think these will help too much in terms of response - just reduce heat loss. Please don't mention E85 - I am too stock for that!
Any thoughts?