Hyundai i20 N, i30, Kona, Tucson, Kia Ceed, Sportage and Stonic (2020 on): the Kefico petrol ECUs are open

Hyundai and Kia have been hard work for tuners. The Kefico ECUs behind the 2020-on petrol cars were closed on every tool, so an i20 N or a Kona 1.6 T-GDI got turned away. KESS3 3.35, released on 17 July, adds OBD and bench read and write for the two ECUs in question, the CPEGD3.20.1 and CPEGP3.20.2.

Cars this opens up

• Hyundai i10, i20, i20 N, i30, Bayon, Kona, Tucson, Elantra, Sonata, Accent (2020 on)
• Kia Picanto, Rio, Stonic, Ceed, XCeed, Seltos, Sportage, K5 (2020 on)
• Engines: 1.0 and 1.2 MPI; 1.0, 1.5 and 1.6 T-GDI

What it means

The i20 N is the interesting one. Its 204 PS 1.6 T-GDI is a strong little engine with a soft factory map, and a Stage 1 is typically worth 35 to 40 PS and 60 Nm with sharper throttle and a livelier top end. The 120 PS 1.0 T-GDI in the i20, i30, Ceed and Stonic gains a useful 25 PS, and the 1.6 T-GDI Tucson and Sportage around 40 PS. All over OBD, all written on our rolling road first.

Owners: put your registration into the tuning builder. Dealers: Kefico reads through the file service; the KESS3 is the tool that reads them today.