Dreamscience iMap or COBB Accessport? Picking a flash tuner for your Ford

Dreamscience or COBB. That framing is where it starts going wrong.

Both handsets plug into the OBD port and both rewrite the calibration sitting in your ECU. What separates them is what comes loaded on the device and who wrote those files.

We sell both. We custom tune the COBB side and we do not custom tune Dreamscience, so there is no reason for us to oversell either one.

What the Dreamscience Stratagem iMap actually is

The iMap is a multi-vehicle handset. Dreamscience built it with SCT, the American Ford tuning company, and they write the tune files themselves at their own research centre on a rolling road, then validate them with road testing on each supported vehicle. Our listings cover the Focus XR5 Turbo (MK2), the ST225 and ST250, the Focus RS MK3, the Fiesta XR4 and ST180, the Mustang V8 and the Raptor 3.0L V6.

Two of those cover the cars people ask about most, the Stratagem iMap for the Focus XR5 and ST225 and the Stratagem iMap for the Focus RS MK3.

One device, files for the popular Performance Fords. If you own a Focus XR5 and later buy a Fiesta ST180, the handset already has files for the second car.

Dreamscience gives you unlimited flashing. You can move between the tune files on the device as often as you like, and you can move between the stock calibration and a tune as often as you like. Nothing counts down while you do it.

The tune files are not generic. On the XR5 and ST225 listing the included maps are named and described individually, starting with Performance+ for a balance of power and economy on standard cars and partial bolt-ons, through Race+ for maximum boost on a standard car with induction and intercooler work, then Dsci, Mod B, Mod B+ and Mod C. Read the listing before you buy, because those files are matched to hardware. Mod B, for example, is written around an upgraded intercooler, a cold air induction kit and a full 3 inch turbo-back exhaust, and it brings in a second boost stage at 4000rpm. Race+ is not recommended with a downpipe or a de-cat. Buying the device and running the wrong file for your hardware is how people end up disappointed with a handset that is working exactly as designed.

Custom iMap files come from Dreamscience's own dealer network, not from us. We do not write custom Dreamscience files. A dealer in that network can edit a map for your car and email it to you, and you load it onto the handset with a PC and the cable in the box. The Dreamscience file list for the ST225 includes Mod XRS for the 440cc RS injectors, plus Turbo X and Turbo X+ for the K06 hybrid turbo upgrade.

Two housekeeping details worth knowing before you order. Dreamscience lists five live slots on the handset, which means you can return a car to stock and sell the device on to someone else. You cannot sell it on while a tune file is still on your car, because the device will not work for the new owner in that state. And they ask you to return the car to stock before it goes to a garage for servicing or warranty work, because manufacturers do release calibration updates and a fresh dealer reflash can delay loading your tune file until the update is supported.

One last thing on the iMap. Our support covers units you buy from us. Support for a handset bought elsewhere carries a fee, which is Dreamscience's own policy, not ours.

What the COBB Accessport V3 actually is

The Accessport works the other way around. It is sold by application. You buy the part number for your car and that is the car it talks to. The Focus ST Accessport V3 runs AP3-FOR-001. The Focus RS MK3 Accessport V3 is AP3-FOR-004. Buy the wrong one and it is not going to work, which is why we ask for the model and year before we quote.

It mounts on the windscreen or the dash and it carries a full colour screen with interchangeable faceplates. It monitors up to six parameters in real time, and you can lay the gauges out as a street, race or dyno cluster.

COBB's route to more power is the staged one. Off the shelf maps are preloaded for a standard car or a car with the matching stage of hardware, and they publish a staged upgrade path so you know which file goes with which parts. When you go past what an OTS map covers, we write the custom file ourselves. We do custom tuning on the COBB Accessport, all of it remotely, so it does not matter where you are.

The Ford specific features are where the Accessport earns its place on a track car. Adjustable traction control lets you change the target slip on the fly across slots 1 to 8, so you can set the car up for wet, damp, dry, street or burnout conditions. COBB lists that for the Focus ST, Focus RS and Mustang only, and it has to be enabled in the ECU calibration to be usable. Flat foot shift is there too, for manual cars only, holding engine RPM at a chosen point between 3000 and 8000 during a shift so you keep boost built instead of lifting off.

COBB prints a warning in red on every one of these listings. Installing an Accessport over anything other than OEM or COBB software may result in ECU or TCU failure. If your car is already running somebody else's file, tell us before you plug anything in.

Where the iMap and the Accessport differ

Those prices moved with the exchange rate when we last updated the listings, so check the product page rather than trusting a number in a blog post.

Which one would we fit?

Think about what you are actually going to do with the car.

If you have a Focus XR5, an ST225 or a Fiesta ST180 and you are migrating between the bolt-on stages over a couple of years, the iMap's stack of named files suits that life. You buy once, then move up the files as the hardware arrives, and a hybrid turbo or a set of 440cc injectors does not mean a new device.

If you are in a Focus ST or a Focus RS MK3 and you want the gauge display on the dash, adjustable traction control, flat foot shift and a documented staged path, the Accessport is the one we would put in your hand. The trade is that it belongs to that car.

That trade matters less than it sounds if a second Ford is likely down the track. Are you planning to stay on this car, or is there another one coming? The iMap can move with you and the Accessport cannot, and that is worth real money to somebody with two Fords in the shed.

What neither handset will do

A flash tuner is not a diagnostic tool. If the car is down on power because of a boost leak, a tired fuel pump or a failing sensor, loading a file over the top hides the problem rather than solving it. Diagnose first.

Nor is either one a licence to skip supporting hardware. A tune written for an upgraded intercooler does not suddenly make the standard intercooler adequate, and the Dreamscience descriptions are unusually honest about which file suits which parts. Follow them.

Past a certain point of modification, off the shelf maps stop being the right answer. They are written for a known combination of parts, so bigger turbos, injectors and flex fuel move you into custom territory whichever device is in your hand. On the COBB side we write that file ourselves, remotely. On the iMap it comes from Dreamscience's dealer network.

If you want the background on how the tuning platforms and their features differ at a deeper level, our Ford EcoBoost tuning solution comparison is worth a read, though it was written a few years back and the platforms have moved since.

Have a look at the Dreamscience range or the COBB Tuning range and send us your model, year and what you are chasing. We will tell you which handset fits your car and which of the files on it suits the parts you have. If the answer is that you do not need a device at all yet, we will say that too.