Where's the benefit if....

[logger]

Where's the benefit of getting an ECU upgrade IF one was to drive their car in exactly the same manner after the upgrade?

Check my Sig...

I think I can now answer my own question - There is a benefit when driving in the same manner with the remap I got.
Throttle response.
Now if I quickly press the throttle from standstill - no more pregnant pause. Previously I caught myself out on a couple of occasions when the car paused momentarily from full stop at an intersection when trying to jump into a gap in right angle traffic. This was most disconcerting. Doesn't do that anymore... .. and of course the extra torque and power is most noticeable.

[spiff]

Check my Sig...

I think I can now answer my own question - There is a benefit when driving in the same manner with the remap I got.
Throttle response.
Now if I quickly press the throttle from standstill - no more pregnant pause. Previously I caught myself out on a couple of occasions when the car paused momentarily from full stop at an intersection when trying to jump into a gap in right angle traffic. This was most disconcerting. Doesn't do that anymore... .. and of course the extra torque and power is most noticeable.

hey logger, how much did it cost ya?
and have you seen the fuel efficiency improve?

my thoughts are the same as yours and i'm considering going with an exhaust upgrade + tune.. apr is quite expensive, but i reckon i would be paying for something good. Giac was a consideration but here in perth, they're too far away.. if anything ever happened, it would be a long drive.

[McDub]

hey logger, how much did it cost ya?
and have you seen the fuel efficiency improve?

my thoughts are the same as yours and i'm considering going with an exhaust upgrade + tune.. apr is quite expensive, but i reckon i would be paying for something good. Giac was a consideration but here in perth, they're too far away.. if anything ever happened, it would be a long drive.

something that was pointed out to me by seb (guy who does unitronic in sydney), was that almost all the ecu upgrades cost about the same in the states. For example, stage 1 for the Mkiv gti costs US$500 for both the APR product, and the Unitronic product.
Now, look at the prices of the two products in Australia, it's $1500 from APR, and $880 from Unitronic.
So although the APR program "may" be better, don't let the price of it let you think it is any better. It's overpriced, at least IMO.

[brad]

something that was pointed out to me by seb (guy who does unitronic in sydney), was that almost all the ecu upgrades cost about the same in the states. For example, stage 1 for the Mkiv gti costs US$500 for both the APR product, and the Unitronic product.
Now, look at the prices of the two products in Australia, it's $1500 from APR, and $880 from Unitronic.
So although the APR program "may" be better, don't let the price of it let you think it is any better. It's overpriced, at least IMO.

Was it necessary to introduce the price thing and chip-v-chip into this thread? Guaranteed road to lock-down and post deletion.

The price the ECU upgrades are in Australia is the price the market will bear/bare/beer. Consumers do their research & decide how much they are willing to pay.

Sure if you could get your ECU reflashed in the USA by mail order then things might be different but as long as most of the reflashes are via an OBD port with proprietry software then you're stuck with Aussie prices (unless you want to import an ST3 or Bluefin)

[h100vw]

So although the APR program "may" be better, don't let the price of it let you think it is any better. It's overpriced, at least IMO.

Let's be really careful where this thread goes. The cost of chipping varies due to many things and agreed APR is the most expensive.

This looks like I am defending them but it's not meant too.

With APR you get the ability to drop to std power, if YOU want to. You can get security lockout and a load of different programs to suit varying fuel.

I think these are unnecessary features and wouldn't pay for them, some folk have to have them and are prepared to pay accordingly. In fact that was part of the reason for removing the APR chip from the S3 I bought and installing Custom-Code. I reset it to std power once before I did it and my wife complained. I didn't like the delivery either but that's another issue.

Anyway, lets not get into the value for money thing again, please.

On a side note, Custom-Code doesn't cost anywhere near what APR does either

Gavin

[logger]

.. Ditto.. previous posters re price comaprisons. Not for here.

hey logger, how much did it cost ya?
and have you seen the fuel efficiency improve?..

Re what I paid see GoAPR for a guide.

Only been on the car less than a day so no idea about the improved fuel economy claims (to be honest I am a bit skeptical about them but willing to be surprised). But 1) because the car is extremely fuel efficient in the first place and 2) because I only do 10,000k year max it is not an issue to me in any case.

Now Better go enjoy my car...

[McDub]

ok understood, just the point i was trying to make was i think APR should try and be more competitive (in their prices) in the Australian market like they are in the states, but i suppose when you already have the market share, there isn't much of a need for that. perhaps times will change.

[h100vw]

ok understood, just the point i was trying to make was i think APR should try and be more competitive (in their prices) in the Australian market like they are in the states, but i suppose when you already have the market share, there isn't much of a need for that. perhaps times will change.

The debate has been had loads of times and nothing has changed..... yet.

I don't see guy dropping APRs prices any time soon, unless the tumbleweeds start blowing across his workshop...

Gavin

[Mrk_Mickey]

I suppose at the end of the day, there are still customers that will pay the price for APR tuning because of various reasons. The others who go with different tuners might do so because of the price difference, or it might just be preference. I don't think that's going to change by the sounds of it! hehe.

[Blitzen]

Its horses for course really I went down the APR road only after alot of research. I looked at about 6 chipping companies(Including Custom Code, Giac, REVO, Power Chip, and APR).
It came down to what I was looking for at the time.
I wanted it to be undectable.
I wanted it to be switchable.
I wanted it to be able to be locked.
I wanted to have good backing.

I feel I got this in the tune that I chose. I am very happy with it, and it does the job very nicely.