hi, does anyone know why the increase in torque is about 20% less on the auto than the manual with one of these upgrades fitted?also does anyone have a new shape l200 auto with power upgrade fitted if so what is the improvement to the acceleration?thanks

Hi,

you'll see that with many chip upgrades, no matter what model or company.

Bottom line is, something in the transmission can not stand a higher torque,
or at least they don't dare to apply a higher torque.
Often you could just mount the manual transmission chip upgrade and get
that high torque, but sure without warranty and some risk.

But why with the automatic transmission and not with the manual you'll ask.
As you know, an automatic transmission has a torque converter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torque_converter
When your engine idles real slow there will be nearly no torque transferred
to the wheels. But at some rpm, especially when accelerating, these things
can even send out more torque than the engine sends in. Can be as much
as twice the torque.
So in some situations the rest of the transmission has to withstand more
torque than the engine actually emits. This can make a torque enhancing
chip upgrade more severe for the rest of the transmission.

In some cases the sometimes enhanced torque is the problem they see, in
some cases it is the torque converter itself that can not withstand a higher
torque. That's why for chip tunings there is often less torque in the automatic
transmission version than in the manual, no matter what model or company.
The manufacturer does not dare to apply that much more torque to the torque
converter, the gear, the 4WD gear or some other part of the transmission.

Same goes for the L200, Mitsubishi does not dare to use that much torque
for the automatic transmission. But I can not tell where they see the problem,
in the converter, the gear box, the 4WD gear or maybe even the axles or
something, they just don't dare.

For some very extreme chip tunings it might even be that the engine needs
the momentum from the moving car or gear to operate in optimum condition
and this only works with manual transmissions. But the Mitsubishi ship tuning
is not that extreme.

Regarding how it really feels, I drive a 2008 L200 with the Mitsubishi tuning
kit installed, but with manual shift, so I can only talk about that. But should
not be that different for the automatic.
The 'turbo push' at 2000 rpm will feel stronger and the car goes easily to top
speed, as then top speed is not limited by engine power but by max engine
rpm. It goes well beyond 4000 rpm, so far faster than the maximum power
rpm at 3800.
Use bigger wheels if you want to max out your top speed. 185-190km/h or
115mph might work out with wheels with about 10% more diameter.
With original wheels you will see quite some push in acceleration or especially
when towing. For 0-100km/h or 0-60mph you will gain about 2-3 seconds.

Hope the above was of help and made some sense,

C.