APR Mods

[Savant]

Is there anyone out there with a Polo GTI that has installed any of the APR mods?
ECU tune
Exhaust
Intercooler
CAI

Or the Harding Performance DSG mod?

Just looking for some first hand feedback from someone who's lived with one or more of these mods for a while.

Cheers

[Banana2]

I've got the tune, the CAI and the intercooler. You can see the difference they made to my car on the HP website.

What else do you want to know?

[Lock & Load]

I've got the tune, the CAI and the intercooler. You can see the difference they made to my car on the HP website.

What else do you want to know?

Were is the HP Website are you anywhere near Robina on the Goldcoast ?

[Savant]

I've got the tune, the CAI and the intercooler. You can see the difference they made to my car on the HP website.

What else do you want to know?

Thanks for responding. Can you please clarify where I can find your car on the HP website? They don't appear to have a section that shows clients cars.

I'd like to get your comments on the performance gains made by the tune specifically. Did you get the mods done one at a time and test the outcome, or did you get them all done at once? Did you get the car dyno'd before and after to verify the changes/improvements??
Any feedback you can provide me about how your car performs with the mods would be appreciated. Is there anything you're not happy about?

Thanks

[polo]

I'm interested in this thread as well but purely from a first-hand experience perspective rather than what the numbers say. So yes, would love to get good honest feedback...

Particularly for me:
- What's part throttle drive-ability like, after all this represents 90% of all your driving? Any noticeable gains down low and mid-range or is it mainly up top?
- I've heard / read the tune alone is good but without being great, so should the tune be teamed up CAI from day one? If yes, is the stage 1 tune enough for the CAI as well or does it need to be manually tweaked for the extra air-flow, thus extra bucks?
- What mods tip you over from stage 1 to stage 2?

I've modified the crapola out of my wrx, and every time I added something (CAI for instance), a tune was needed which added to the overall cost, so I'm now wondering how sensitive the little polo is?

Many thanks in advance for the feedback (and yes I've searched!)

[Banana2]

Thanks for responding. Can you please clarify where I can find your car on the HP website? They don't appear to have a section that shows clients cars.

I'd like to get your comments on the performance gains made by the tune specifically. Did you get the mods done one at a time and test the outcome, or did you get them all done at once? Did you get the car dyno'd before and after to verify the changes/improvements??
Any feedback you can provide me about how your car performs with the mods would be appreciated. Is there anything you're not happy about?

Thanks

No worries.

My car's photo is not on the website. The graphs of the Dynos are.

Here: APR - High Performance Development for Audi, VW and Porsche Vehicles.

And here: APR - High Performance Development for Audi, VW and Porsche Vehicles.

Yes, I had it all done at once, but as you can see, the results were looked at individually. Subjectively, however, I can't comment on what the CAI or Intercooler or Tune feels like alone.

What I can comment on is what the combo feels like. And it is definitely an improvement on stock, as far as I'm concerned.

You lose nothing in driveability - in fact, I think it is better. Before the tune, I felt like the engine was lugging a bit, unless I put the pedal down hard. Not now. In other words, it is a smoother take off than before, during day to day driving.

The car has developed a bit of a blurp, not as pronounced as the Golf's, but there nonetheless.

It doesn't take long to get used to driving at less throttle. In fact, now, when I put it in stock mode, the car feels downright sluggish...

You lose nothing in fuel economy. Not statistically significant, but before I got 6.8l/100km, now 6.7.

I love that the Intercooler requires no cuts.

(And, I've said it before, the CAI is a work of art).

Downsides:
1. For a quick take off, you can't just jam the pedal to the floor anymore - the throttle needs to be played, or you lose traction.
2. How reliable is the stock car? There are a few known problems (oil, clutch slippage, etc) that may lead to warranty work. While the mods shouldn't affect the warranty where the mods have not contributed to the problem, there may be a bit of explaining to do. It may make your life more difficult. On the other hand, James and Guy are very professional and I would trust them to give the best advice should the situation arise. By the way, my oil consumption dropped after the mods - coincidence? Maybe. I was around the 6000km mark...

Anything else?

[polo]

Thanks Banana2 - exactly what I was looking for - so big thumbs up. If the sum of the parts and tune make the drive more involving without hurting fuel economy or making you mash the pedal to get something out of it then win/win!

Got the call from Barloworld today - picking the car up Thursday

Any recommendations on APR workshop for south-east burbs in Melbourne?

[Savant]

No worries.

My car's photo is not on the website. The graphs of the Dynos are.

Here: APR - High Performance Development for Audi, VW and Porsche Vehicles.

And here: APR - High Performance Development for Audi, VW and Porsche Vehicles.

Yes, I had it all done at once, but as you can see, the results were looked at individually. Subjectively, however, I can't comment on what the CAI or Intercooler or Tune feels like alone.

What I can comment on is what the combo feels like. And it is definitely an improvement on stock, as far as I'm concerned.

You lose nothing in driveability - in fact, I think it is better. Before the tune, I felt like the engine was lugging a bit, unless I put the pedal down hard. Not now. In other words, it is a smoother take off than before, during day to day driving.

The car has developed a bit of a blurp, not as pronounced as the Golf's, but there nonetheless.

It doesn't take long to get used to driving at less throttle. In fact, now, when I put it in stock mode, the car feels downright sluggish...

You lose nothing in fuel economy. Not statistically significant, but before I got 6.8l/100km, now 6.7.

I love that the Intercooler requires no cuts.

(And, I've said it before, the CAI is a work of art).

Downsides:
1. For a quick take off, you can't just jam the pedal to the floor anymore - the throttle needs to be played, or you lose traction.
2. How reliable is the stock car? There are a few known problems (oil, clutch slippage, etc) that may lead to warranty work. While the mods shouldn't affect the warranty where the mods have not contributed to the problem, there may be a bit of explaining to do. It may make your life more difficult. On the other hand, James and Guy are very professional and I would trust them to give the best advice should the situation arise. By the way, my oil consumption dropped after the mods - coincidence? Maybe. I was around the 6000km mark...

Anything else?

Thanks for your response. Greatly appreciated.
I think I'll pay a visit to DNA.

[gavs]

Without knowing the specifics of the binary code of the APR tune I am not going to comment, this technical stuff should only be commented on by Guy Harding as he is APR Australia.

In regards to other tuning companies out there, they will generally rewrite the tune for any other additions to the motor for no extra charge.

A very heavy warning here people, I will not let this forum turn into the golf forums with insulting, slanderous and ill-informed opinions from people who don't know and don't have the expertise to comment on the products in question. Please, if you are one of those people who "has a mate of a friend, who has this cousin who's sister's boyfriend's boss knows..." and you post a comment, either seriously or in jest, I will go hee. There is too much bulltish on this forum when it comes to tuning and performance parts, let's keep the Polo area civilized and factual with actual accounts and customers comments, no speculation.

Or else....

[Ryan_R]

Speaking of Golf drivers... (don't worry I'm a nice one... I think)

Same engine in my Golf with the APR Stage 1 tune and the difference is just amazing. Expensive I know but I'd do it again and again in a hearbeat. For a true first-hand experience ask an APR dealer about a 6 hour free trial, which is what I did, except I went back within 2 hours to buy it.

The extra torque makes the car more responsive/powerful all through the rev range (and the engine sounds much better). There is no difficulty in driving slowly in city traffic.

I can't comment on the other brands but I'm sure they're all fantastic compared to stock (heard no complaints so far). If you're going to spend more $$$ on other performance mods after Stage 1 then it sort-of makes sense to spend more on a tune that gives more performance to start off with.

Just watch out for wheel hop if you try to drag someone off from the lights, esp since the Polo is lighter than the Golf, and I have to be careful in my car (usually drive soft in 1st gear, then give it some after it's shifted to 2nd).

Hope this helps