I can’t answer why Mitsubishi made the 2008 car so damn rich from the factory but i can tell you that they did fix the issue. I’ve been hearing that the 2010-11 X’s have a much better tune resulting in a better 0-60 time. Stock the 2008’s will do 0-60 n 4.9 where as they 2010-11’s will do it in 4.3. Now that’s a much better tune.
Maybe corporate figured the tuners were going to mess with the car anyway so didn’t put much R&D into the 2008 tune and thus we got what we got. However, with the economy and people just plain being afraid of voiding their warranty maybe there just wasn’t as many people as they thought buying aftermarket goods? Who know, your guess is as good as mine.
With the mods you have the risk of “grenading” your car is on the low side but every time you drag or launch it the risk increases. A tune should be done not only for safety but it’s the best mod you can do for power. Also get that wideband installed so you can keep an eye on your AFR’s.