APR Tuning new MK7 Golf R - Pros and Cons

[jazzyjames999]

Guys,

Put my order in for my new R, arriving in the port today, was just wondering if I should get it APR tuned or leave until after warranty.

With you being able to switch it back to stock, does the dealer really know?

Pro's and Cons?

[tigger73]

Check the tuning section as this question is on of the more frequently asked.

Tuning voids your warranty on engine/drivetrain.

Depends whether you're prepared to take the risk.


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[jonoz]

Guys,

Put my order in for my new R, arriving in the port today, was just wondering if I should get it APR tuned or leave until after warranty.

If you feel like you want more power then get it tuned, you are more than likely going to void your warranty.

With you being able to switch it back to stock, does the dealer really know?

All tuners will tell you that the tune can be flashed back to stock and not be detected by VW. End of the day its a risk and consider you needing to get your car from where it fails > tuner > VW.

Pro's and Cons?

Pro - more power, better response.
Con - bye bye warranty.

[Transporter]

All tuners will tell you that the tune can be flashed back to stock and not be detected by VW. End of the day its a risk and consider you needing to get your car from where it fails > tuner > VW.

Not all tuners are the same.
I'm always upfront with my customers.

The tuning will void your drivetrain warranty, regardless what brand of tune you use. If you have to tune your car and are worried about the warranty, wait till the warranty expires. Also, when you selling your car, you should always let the buyer know that the ECU was remapped, not just for any remaining warranty sake, but also for the insurance sake.

[tigger73]

Also, when you selling your car, you should always let the buyer know that the ECU was remapped, not just for any remaining warranty sake, but also for the insurance sake.

Good point Miro. Not all insurers will insure a modified car and you could be up for higher premiums and/or if you don't check with your insurer you may find you're not insured at all

[jazzyjames999]

Con - bye bye warranty.

Extract from APR website...

Will it void my warranty?

Yes and No: according to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (US): "No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumers using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name..." (15 U.S.C. 2302©)

In Australia, similar laws apply.

503 Service Unavailable

So basically, if you have a warranty claim, the dealer (or warrantor) must prove that the part that you modified directly caused the failure. For example, if you chipped your car and the exhaust falls off, then the car is still under warranty.

Of all of the chips that APR Australia / Harding Performance has sold, as well as pretty much all other chip manufacturers, there just really aren't any problems in chipping the car. Your Audi/VW was so well engineered, that you really are not stressing anything that was not designed to take the changes that a chip produces. Please contact your local APR Australia dealer for further details.

[Transporter]

Extract from APR website...

Will it void my warranty?

Yes and No: according to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (US): "No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumers using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name..." (15 U.S.C. 2302©)

In Australia, similar laws apply.

503 Service Unavailable

So basically, if you have a warranty claim, the dealer (or warrantor) must prove that the part that you modified directly caused the failure. For example, if you chipped your car and the exhaust falls off, then the car is still under warranty.

Of all of the chips that APR Australia / Harding Performance has sold, as well as pretty much all other chip manufacturers, there just really aren't any problems in chipping the car. Your Audi/VW was so well engineered, that you really are not stressing anything that was not designed to take the changes that a chip produces. Please contact your local APR Australia dealer for further details.

If I were you, I call VW Au head office or the customer care and ask them.

[tigger73]

At the end of the day it comes down to being able to prove that the modification did or did not contribute to the failure in court.

Worst case is you can end up with both the tuner and VW denying responsibility and you as the owner of the vehicle are left carrying the can.

[jonoz]

Extract from APR website...

Will it void my warranty?

Yes and No: according to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (US): "No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumers using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name..." (15 U.S.C. 2302©)

In Australia, similar laws apply.

503 Service Unavailable

So basically, if you have a warranty claim, the dealer (or warrantor) must prove that the part that you modified directly caused the failure. For example, if you chipped your car and the exhaust falls off, then the car is still under warranty.

Of all of the chips that APR Australia / Harding Performance has sold, as well as pretty much all other chip manufacturers, there just really aren't any problems in chipping the car. Your Audi/VW was so well engineered, that you really are not stressing anything that was not designed to take the changes that a chip produces. Please contact your local APR Australia dealer for further details.

I don't disagree mate but when considering whether to get a tune or not if something goes wrong that is remotely related to the tune you are going to have a fight on your hands compared to an unmodified vehicle.

[Dutch77]

Extract from APR website...

I wouldn't be relying on a legislative act from the USA, locally.

The fact that the modification needs to have caused or been a contributing factor in whatever failure occurs is a very valid point, but given the tune increases power and torque it's safe to assume the engine/drivetrain warranty is gone once the decision is made. Fair to say that most peoples 'stress' over this would relate to the DSG given costs of repairing this box are often enormous so that may or may not apply in your case.

I understand there are ways to still beat the 'computer' but I'll leave that to the tuning experts.

There are cases on here of warranty repairs being made regardless of tune, and obviously out of warranty goodwill work as well. It really boils down to a judgement call as to your tolerance level for risk and that old adage you gotta pay to play.

[tigger73]

There are known issues with the turbos in these cars - they're up to the 4th or 5th revision of the part.

If you have a problem and ring VW Assist, then they will tow the vehicle directly to the nearest VW dealer (assuming that they can't get it going).

So if you do get an APR tune, you'll need to arrange your own tow truck to the APR dealer so that they can remove traces of the tune before taking it to VW. If you have a bunch of supporting mods then VW may suspect that there is/has been a tune on the car. If they decided to dig a little deeper they'd see that the car had been tuned.

If you're going to be travelling outside the metro area this could be inconvenient/costly.

[nat225]

Gotta pay to play. But for new vw comers, best to have personal experience be it good or bad.

You can have answers from some owners who have had joyful satisfying trouble free experiences and also some owners who have had nothing but sorrows from modifying vw's.

BuT for.me personally, for the new Golf Mk7 R, i would leave it stock and street driven only and wouldnt even take it to the track; given the risks with turbo failure on even stock remap... else i would have been driving one right now.

[tigger73]

But for me personally, for the new Golf Mk7 R, I would leave it stock and street driven only and wouldnt even take it to the track; given the risks with turbo failure on even stock remap... else i would have been driving one right now.

Likewise. Just heard of another one let go yesterday - just locally. Ended up with white smoke out the back and a CEL.

There's too many of these that are failing to take the risk. If it were me I'd be leaving it stock and be getting dealer servicing so that there's no arguments.

When the turbo goes you can get debris finding its way into the engine and then this needs to get replaced also. I'm not sure what the cost of a replacement engine on one of these is but my guess is about 10-20x the cost of the tune.

Unless the tuner will go back-to-back on your engine/turbo/drivetrain warranty then I would just leave it stock. Though understand that another 70kW is tempting...



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[Transporter]

If it were me I'd be leaving it stock and be getting dealer servicing so that there's no arguments.

The dealers servicing has nothing to do with the warranty Damien.

I've sent the TDI Octavia owner to replace the turbo after it failed - 6 months out of warranty and with the 120,000km. They replaced the turbo with the new one (24months warranty), no questions asked. I did all the servicing from 20,000km on his car and he was a second owner. So, yes in some instances you could speed up the warranty job, but that's all. I doubt that the resale value is that much (if at all) affected, when you have other than VW stamp in the book.

[tigger73]

The dealers servicing has nothing to do with the warranty Damien.

I know Miro but according to the service advisors at some dealerships (who like to play Lord), it does. Or at least when it become discretionary....