Thinking of an APR Tune

[Milos2504]

So I'm thinking of getting an APR tune on my stock Golf Mkv GTI. I am in Canberra so I choose APR because my mechanic is an APR dealer. My question is should I go with APR, or with some other brand? Is there any other tuners in Canberra? I've been reading the forum and everyone says their tune is the best, can't really decide. Is the APR tune good, will I be able to see the power difference when driving?

[tigger73]

So I'm thinking of getting an APR tune on my stock Golf Mkv GTI. I am in Canberra so I choose APR because my mechanic is an APR dealer. My question is should I go with APR, or with some other brand?

I would be going with whatever brand your mechanic is using. That way if anything goes wrong with your car you only have the one person that has done all the work so there's no pointing fingers at "the other guy".

Is there any other tuners in Canberra?

Not sure on this one though there are quite a few options in Sydney if you don't mind a drive.

I've been reading the forum and everyone says their tune is the best, can't really decide. Is the APR tune good, will I be able to see the power difference when driving?

To be honest if you're just driving the car on the road and not running it down the 1/4 mile or chasing 1/10ths on a race track you probably won't see much difference (and even if you were doing these things there would only be small differences). Some will have slightly higher power figures and others slightly more torque.

But a 30% increase in power is certainly very noticeable.

Then you can compare on price / features / support / etc.

In the end you have to be happy with whatever workshop that does the work on your car.

Given that your local mechanic is an APR dealer and they have a 15% discount on at the moment I'd be heading there now.

[Milos2504]

Thanks for your reply. I was thinking that too, its safer to go through my mechanic so if anything happens later I can always go back to him.

A few people have told me that apparently the car goes much better with a tune done, so I just wanted to see if that is true or not.

I will contact them on Monday, I think the sale goes to the 15th of November

[Transporter]

You will mainly notice the difference when taking off, driving up the steep hill and during overtaking.
As Damien said, go with APR for the above reasons.

[tigger73]

Thanks for your reply. I was thinking that too, its safer to go through my mechanic so if anything happens later I can always go back to him.

A few people have told me that apparently the car goes much better with a tune done, so I just wanted to see if that is true or not.

I will contact them on Monday, I think the sale goes to the 15th of November

APR used to have a demo/trial version where you can run it with the tune for 6 hours. This way you get to try before you buy.

But just be warned that if you do this it may make it difficult to have tuned by others as the tune file will be still resident in the car (i.e. it won't be back to factory stock tune).

Though if your choice is to have APR tune or stock tune only then having the demo is certainly not a bad move.

[Milos2504]

Thanks a lot guys, I will call the mechanic on monday and see what he says, if I can maybe get the trial version first just to test it out. I would like to see how it goes before I spend money on it. But I think their website says I should get 188kw (252 hp) and 411nm (303lb-ft.) of torque, which is still okay compared to stock.

[dArK5HaD0w]

highly recommend the apr tune.
i got mine done at cvwc belconnen, as they r an apr dealer.

u definitely notice a difference with the stg 1 tune.
u'll not regret it.
i didn't bother with the trial....went for a "lock it in eddie", lets do it.

[ffoff]

As the other guys said APR is available at cvwc, but north side euros in Mitchell do bluefin tunes as well.

[Milos2504]

I will probably go to CVWC in Belco. I dunno much about bluefin but from reading on the forum I see that mostly people go with apr rather then bluefin.
Thanks for the replies guys, can't wait to get this done now

[boltor]

So I'm thinking of getting an APR tune on my stock Golf Mkv GTI. I am in Canberra so I choose APR because my mechanic is an APR dealer. My question is should I go with APR, or with some other brand? Is there any other tuners in Canberra? I've been reading the forum and everyone says their tune is the best, can't really decide. Is the APR tune good, will I be able to see the power difference when driving?

I'm in Canberra too, and went APR on a previous car (Audi A4, 1.8TQ). This time I decided to try something different and went Viezu via a handloader - so, the company sends you (via email) a file that you then load into the ECU via the OBDII port and a special loader. We don't have much choice in Canberra - really just APR from the 1 or 2 dealers, or use a handloader and software sent to you via email / download.

From where I see things now, any stage 1 tune from reputable tuning shops will give you a great improvement. The differences between them are probably less important if you just want some great performance on the road. Differences come out I suspect if you are chasing track (or dyno) performance, have lots of elaborate mods, want lots of ability to tweak, etc.

If I was doing this again, I would probably just consider going with APR (given CVWC are dealers). would simplify things a lot. Having said that, I have learned a lot through the approach I took so don't regret it.

I think it comes down to whether you want a "set and forget / minimum fuss" type approach (in Canberra, go APR), or you want a lot of ability to customise and are prepared to experiment and learn (lots of choice out there).

Regardless of which way you go, CVWC are really fantastic and would support either approach (but of course would prefer APR).

Hope this helps.

[Milos2504]

I'm in Canberra too, and went APR on a previous car (Audi A4, 1.8TQ). This time I decided to try something different and went Viezu via a handloader - so, the company sends you (via email) a file that you then load into the ECU via the OBDII port and a special loader. We don't have much choice in Canberra - really just APR from the 1 or 2 dealers, or use a handloader and software sent to you via email / download.

From where I see things now, any stage 1 tune from reputable tuning shops will give you a great improvement. The differences between them are probably less important if you just want some great performance on the road. Differences come out I suspect if you are chasing track (or dyno) performance, have lots of elaborate mods, want lots of ability to tweak, etc.

If I was doing this again, I would probably just consider going with APR (given CVWC are dealers). would simplify things a lot. Having said that, I have learned a lot through the approach I took so don't regret it.

I think it comes down to whether you want a "set and forget / minimum fuss" type approach (in Canberra, go APR), or you want a lot of ability to customise and are prepared to experiment and learn (lots of choice out there).

Regardless of which way you go, CVWC are really fantastic and would support either approach (but of course would prefer APR).

Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot, that really helps, everyone says to stick with APR, so I guess thats the way to go. I am not really gonna be doing any more mods to the car and I won't be taking it to the track, I just wanted a bit more of a kick so I think APR will be a good choice. I also don't wanna play around with the installs myself coz I wouldn't have a clue what I'm doing.

But thanks for the tips, I appreciate it

[ffoff]

Just to throw in there, the guy who owns and runs north side euro's used to be the head mechanic at cvwc. So it's not like APR is the be all and end all of tuning option in Canberra. Not anymore at least.

[boltor]

Just to throw in there, the guy who owns and runs north side euro's used to be the head mechanic at cvwc. So it's not like APR is the be all and end all of tuning option in Canberra. Not anymore at least.

good to know. wasn't aware of that

[Pod]

In my opinion local support from your tuning company is way more important that a few kilowatts of difference in power especially if you don't plan on tracking it. I've been thinking about changing tuners lately because I want a bit more power but in the end I much rather be able to go to the same place for both tuning and mechanical work.

In your situation where you just want a bit more power, I think any tune would be more than okay. In the end unless you are driving differently tuned cars side by side, you won't be able to tell the difference anyway so you may as well go with what your mechanic is offering.

[MadWorm]

I went with APR on my R from CVWC Belco during a sale. They're good guys. My concern still being under warranty was what if the car needed to go back to VW on the back of a flat top truck with the tune on it. They said no worries, just swing past and they'll flash it back to stock on the spot and send it on it's way.

In my book, that's good service.