APR ECU Question: What are the cons?

[C Jayhawker]

So I've been reading great things about APR's ECU stage 1, and to get real results in performance for about $700 sounds too good to be true.

Can anyone with information about this please chime in and discuss the potential downside to this mod? I have to weigh the good and the bad before I can get into this. I have a 2012 4motion with all of 6,600 miles on it (purchased, not leased).

Thank you in advance for any input! I love my Tig but I would love it a lot more with some more go

[SkullV]

There is ONLY one downside. That is the possibility of warranty issues arising. It's not something that ALWAYS happens, but it is a concern to factor into your purchase. If you have a good relationship with your dealer service department I say go for it. ESPECIALLY if that service department does the APR tuning.

I was more than happy to pay the $100+/hr labor rate at my dealership to let them do my APR work. It keeps them happy and keeps me happy when something comes up.

[C Jayhawker]

There is ONLY one downside. That is the possibility of warranty issues arising. It's not something that ALWAYS happens, but it is a concern to factor into your purchase. If you have a good relationship with your dealer service department I say go for it. ESPECIALLY if that service department does the APR tuning.

I was more than happy to pay the $100+/hr labor rate at my dealership to let them do my APR work. It keeps them happy and keeps me happy when something comes up.

Thanks for the tip. I will talk to my VW dealer and see if I can get a dealer installed option or approval for the local APR dealer to do it without voiding my warranty. I don't want to risk that on a car as new as mine.


If those of you with the ECU legitimately don't have any cons to speak of, please tell me about your experience and results from the mod (qualitative or quantitative)!

[SkullV]

Thanks for the tip. I will talk to my VW dealer and see if I can get a dealer installed option or approval for the local APR dealer to do it without voiding my warranty. I don't want to risk that on a car as new as mine.


If those of you with the ECU legitimately don't have any cons to speak of, please tell me about your experience and results from the mod (qualitative or quantitative)!

I have had:

• Stage 1 MKV GTI - Tuned at 500 miles, never had a warranty issue denied, including Mechatronics replacement.
• Stage 2 MKVI GTI - Tuned at 5000 miles, traded in at 7500 miles, never had any issues.
• K04 Tiguan - FUN

If you want to hear more head over to the GTI portion of the forum. MOST of the Tiguan guys are into the appearance stuff more than the performance stuff. There is nothing wrong with that at all, but you will get a broader range of experiences in the GTI area. Its the same tune minus the AT vs DSG stuff.

[dnellans]

Cost is the biggest "con" - $599 and mine ended up being more like $1000 after labor with the time to crack the ECU and all that on the 2012. They new models aren't just plug and play like the older ones so there is a bit more labor involved you'll probably get charged for.

Gas consumption - After almost 4k miles on mine (put on a 2k miles 2012 almost new) the gas milage around town is a lot worse. Not because something is wrong but because I find myself mashing the pedal a lot more. Just for ****s and giggles I had the wife drive it like a grandma for a whole tank and she had no problem getting 24mpg out of a tank with almost all city driving. So if you drive like an *sshole (and you'll want to) expect worse milage out of it, but way more smiles! Highway driving seems to be totally unaffected for us.

[elabs75_VW]

+ 1 for APR. you will not be disappointed. Night and day difference over stock. The only downside is that it will make you crave for Stage 2...or KO4...

[mudd TT]

Only down side is not having it done sooner.

[geevis]

Just like everyone above stated, the only downside is having warranty issues down the line.

I just recently had APR Stage 1 software flashed to my Tiguan and absolutely love it. The difference really is night and day when you step on the gas pedal, but yet when driving normally you really don't notice it too much.

But like someone else posted above once you get Stage 1 you're going to seek more power and want to upgrade more and more lol. I'm already looking into the Carbonio intake and a new muffler.

[Parkerjon]

It made some difference - though was hoping to experience fun like the Unitronic Stage 1+ in our A3. As such I couldn't justify the $600. Still waiting for the Unitronic update for my Tiguan: hopefully it will be a better experience.

Interesting news on the APR side in the GTA: the same people that service the cars at Georgetown VW are the ones doing the APR updates. Conflict of interest?

[Pineapplegti !]

My experience ..
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...12-2.0t-..-apr
This all happened the day I bought my Tiguan . Needles to say I only have one tuned car after this. What it comes to warranty issues it's vwoa not the dealer. APR did fix my ecu three times and the customer service was great after a couple calls and the above thread. The only time I had to come out of pocket is the second time it broke . I went to the dealer and it cost 500 to let me know my ecu died again and that the warranty on it was void.

[C Jayhawker]

My experience ..
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...12-2.0t-..-apr
This all happened the day I bought my Tiguan . Needles to say I only have one tuned car after this. What it comes to warranty issues it's vwoa not the dealer. APR did fix my ecu three times and the customer service was great after a couple calls and the above thread. The only time I had to come out of pocket is the second time it broke . I went to the dealer and it cost 500 to let me know my ecu died again and that the warranty on it was void.

This is concerning. I have read quite a few threads on the GTI forum and it seems like the 2012 ECU's are different than past years and are failing all too frequently after they have been altered with APR and other aftermarket ECUs.