Terrible gas mileage? Hard starts? Surging? Those are not symptoms of a bad tune but a symptom of a bad setup.
There are plenty of ways to make tuning short and easy work. The fact that a 3800 uses only a maf makes tuning a matter of preference and not necessity... you are not changing the anything related to the "tune" when you ad a cam... or a turbo.. or a csc or a bigger blower ...
It is funny that you say that I am wrong and you are right but you cant even give an example why that is.