APR Tune - 162TSI - worth every $$

[Melbourne_Tiggy]

Melbourne_Tiggy, that happened to be one of the most interesting parts of our conversation, he had a lovely new Stage 3 turbo upgrade in his display cabinet.

You are in good hands with those blokes, they also are licensed TVS Dealers so perhaps see whether you can work out a bundle deal with your APR ECU tune. This is something I’d recommend to anyone who is getting an ECU tune to consider getting a TCU tune for drivability (and faster gear shifts and higher LC for those performance inclined).

[Dutch77]

You pay to play as has been suggested.

Random thoughts:

1. Of course things can be detected but this will only become an issue when something more serious has gone wrong. If you tune, accept that you need to fork out for it if/when it happens.

2. I'd also suggest taking the ethical route and playing games in trying to hide things regardless of your thoughts on the dealership. That's only usually going to end in tears and reduce any chance the dealer will go into bat for you.

3. Pretty sure if I had $300k to splash on a new Porsche I'd have no problems forking out $20k if something went bang.

4. Surprised to hear some dealers offering APR locally? There is an APR product in the USA with limited drivetrain warranties now (presumably akin to what ABT offered a while back) - it isn't anything like this is it?

As I'll be moving shortly into Guy's backyard I will probably discuss with him what he's doing for the five pots.

[Psych101]

Further info:
TD1 – Main Dealer Warranty ‘Tuning’ Flag - The Volkswagen Club of South Africa

TD1 – Main Dealer Warranty ‘Tuning’ Flag

Went back to this thread and it suggests the detection is around foreign software on the ecu and if it is flashed back to stock (i.e. not simply running a stock mode under tuning software) then a previous tune wouldn't be detected. Can anyone verify this?

[Psych101]

Went back to this thread and it suggests the detection is around foreign software on the ecu and if it is flashed back to stock (i.e. not simply running a stock mode under tuning software) then a previous tune wouldn't be detected. Can anyone verify this?

See posts #13 and #15 from APR rep (not sure if things have changed from 2012 though):

Have APR Tune - Want to go back to stock for good - TD1 issues?

Have APR Tune - Want to go back to stock for good - TD1 issues?

[FastMitch]

1) What kW & Nm increase do you get above the standard Tiguan Highline 162kW & 350Nm with the APR Stage 1 ECU Flash ?

2) Is there any mechanical difference between the Golf GTI 162 kW vs Golf GTI 180 kW engines or is the kW / Nm increase just from Tuning/Flashing-ECU ?

[Melbourne_Tiggy]

1) What kW & Nm increase do you get above the standard Tiguan Highline 162kW & 350Nm with the APR Stage 1 ECU Flash ?

2) Is there any mechanical difference between the Golf GTI 162 kW vs Golf GTI 180 kW engines or is the kW / Nm increase just from Tuning/Flashing-ECU ?

1) Stage 1 98 RON tune - peak power and TQ is 235kw & 516nm

APR stage 1 dyno and ECU data

2) not sure about this one, I’ll let someone else chime in.

[FastMitch]

1) Stage 1 98 RON tune - peak power and TQ is 235kw & 516nm

APR stage 1 dyno and ECU data

Wow ... a 73 kW and 166 Nm increase just from a ECU chip mod with no hardware changes, i am impressed !

Now I understand why people are getting this done.

If VW can get this power out of the same engine, why does VW limit it to 162 kW / 350 Nm ?

[Melbourne_Tiggy]

Wow ... a 73 kW and 166 Nm increase just from a ECU chip mod with no hardware changes, i am impressed !

Now I understand why people are getting this done.

If VW can get this power out of the same engine, why does VW limit it to 162 kW / 350 Nm ?

Some thoughts-
-Reliability and durability of the engine for warranty purposes. The engine has engineered tolerances for its internals, tuning a car and frequently driving it to its limits will see increased wear and greater risk of engine failure. Not good for the VW brand.
-Different climates, hotter climates like AU will be typically detuned compared to colder European climates. There are also quite strict emissions and fuel consumption regulation that influence engine tuning.
-Product differentiation, they sell a GTI and R with 2 litre turbo engines, if the power in the GTI was the same as/more than the R it wouldn’t be good product differentiation

[tigger73]

Went back to this thread and it suggests the detection is around foreign software on the ecu and if it is flashed back to stock (i.e. not simply running a stock mode under tuning software) then a previous tune wouldn't be detected. Can anyone verify this?

Yes there are ways for VW to detect if the car has been tuned even with a "return to stock" reflash. VW won't tell you how they detect a tune as then the tuners will just implement a work-around. Though there are several ways to do it - looking at the flash counter for one. Second looking at stored parameters for maximum power and torque and if they are outside "normal" ranges then this is a good indication that the car has either been tuned or has run a tuning box.

Most tuners won't claim that their software is "undetectable". Even if one month the car isn't detected, if VW change their software and use other detection measures then it might flag up in the future.

Simple thing is if you tune then expect that your car will get flagged so don't take your car near a dealership unless you absolutely need to for warranty work. It's not worth the risk and there are good independent workshops around that will maintain your car without having to take it back to your tuner for a reflash each time.

[OZROD]

Still impressive though - that's a lot of hobbling that VW do for a bit of product differentiation!