will i notice any improvement in drivability, it is slow to upshift some times on the free way, id like a little more responsiveness, and most importantly is it going to shorten my transmission life any?

I notice that the dinan tranny chip changed the map of the shifting points. It shift at a better torque curve. It will hold a gear longer before shifting. The OEM shift point shift way too early and it make the car drive very refined but boring.

I would say there is a difference but it is not day and night. However I would get it again if I have another 540ia.

Your shifting problem may be the fluid. Plan on $200 or so to flush your tranny. What I did was to drain and fill the tranny 3 times with Royal Purple MAX ATF. Each drain and fill at about 500-1000 miles apart. Most of the Hard shift and Slow shift dissappeared.