Polo GTi Future and Reliability

[Buller_Scott]

Thanks for giving me the heads up on alternative companies as well btw.

not a problem at all, mate. 3 years ago, when i started looking at maps, at first glance it seemed like if i wanted a tune for my diesel, it had to be Oettinger, and it was going to cost me a full $2k at the local APR dealer (i still go to him for service because he's an awesome mechanic).

imagine that - 10% of the cost of the car (rounded down), for a tune that i can't switch, that isnt even getting the best claimed figures.

thankfully, though, we've seen a recent real rise in the competition (i dont owe John@DNA Tuning ANYTHING, for example, but damn... come down to melbourne - he is putting huge smiles on the faces of quite a few VAG scene punters down here).

there are more than a couple of EXTREMELY reliable tuners out there with tested-and-trusted tunes, who WONT try to charge you $1700 for a ''name brand'' tune that always seems to come in 2nd/3rd place on dyno days

[manol]

I know there are other, possibly better tuners out there, but first of all I don't want my car to be a testbed. I'm also happy to settle for less because being Brisbane based, a 10 minute drive is better than a 3 or 4 day drive when I need to figure something out

I can assure you, your car wouldn't be a test bed with any of the other tuners.
There are tuners with local dealers in your area that ISN'T APR. APR has burned people, badly.

I don't see John @ DNA or GIAC or Revo ever really burning people on their tunes or their aftersales support. The bad stories always seem to come from APR.

[pologti18t]

I can assure you, your car wouldn't be a test bed with any of the other tuners.
There are tuners with local dealers in your area that ISN'T APR. APR has burned people, badly.

I don't see John @ DNA or GIAC or Revo ever really burning people on their tunes or their aftersales support. The bad stories always seem to come from APR.

Never had an issue with my APR tune (4yrs+). I would expect a large majority of the people with tweaked ECU tunes on these forums would be APR.

Interested to hear what bad stories you are talking about.

[noone]

Every tuner will have praise and critics.
You have to evaluate what you want (safety, support, dyno numbers, cost).

[noone]

APR held a majority as they spent time building a reputation in the Aus market, much like DNA is now.

How many tuners do we have to talk to on this forum?

Dont neglect CC, Gav is an awesome tuner and nice guy. If I were in Adelaide, he would have my business.

[Guy_H]

Buller_Scott & Manol,

Let me know what your personal experiences are with APR, from what I gather, neither of you have had an APR product in your car?

Also Oettinger software for the Polo 9N has been $1350 for some years, not $1700, nor $2k as you state above.

We have just spent 6 weeks straight on the calibration for the new Polo GTI here in Australia (yep, sorry, not a US model), and we now have a huge understanding of the complexities of this car / motor. from what I understand (talking with my European Counterparts), no one has taken the twincharger 1.4 to the level we now have & with different stages of tuning.

I can assure you, your car wouldn't be a test bed with any of the other tuners.
There are tuners with local dealers in your area that ISN'T APR. APR has burned people, badly.

I don't see John @ DNA or GIAC or Revo ever really burning people on their tunes or their aftersales support. The bad stories always seem to come from APR.

Our own car is our test bed, it has been dynoed (over 30 runs), many, many street logs, track testing & now tested independently by a magazine.

I suggest you clarify your statement, a search of your posts show that you typically post against anyone looking at APR.

[way]

Manol, not this again. As with every tune, there will be the occasional issue for whatever reason. All I know is that APR will stand by their product and fix whatever issue if it crops up. I have had great experience with APR as have 5-6 friends who I have recommended.

[kaanage]

Also Oettinger software for the Polo 9N has been $1350 for some years, not $1700, nor $2k as you state above.

Does it depend on the submodel? I was quoted $1700 late last year for a TDi.

[Guy_H]

Does it depend on the submodel? I was quoted $1700 late last year for a TDi.

Depends on ECU type & engine capacity (EDC 15 / 16 / 17 / 17.5) and there is a with & without warranty option. Polo 9N's are $1350.

[Blitzen]

I have dealt with APR for the past 3 years and have had 3 dealers (Harding Performance, CVWC, and European Autotech) work on my car, and have nothing but the highest of praise for them. The customer service and warranty help has been excellent with no questions asked. I looked at 7 different products before I settled on APR, and after the dealings I have had with them, I can't recommend them highly enough, but saying that, I know that Gavin with CC and Jmac with his product are both great people with great products.
Get what you like though, it's your car... I'm interested to hear about the problems people have had with APR... I haven't heard anything bad.

[Buller_Scott]

Buller_Scott & Manol,

Let me know what your personal experiences are with APR, from what I gather, neither of you have had an APR product in your car?

hi guy,

im not entirely sure what you mean by this?

in my uni days, i've had experiences on blogs / internet chats whereby, whilst debating foreign policy, i've been told by american citizens that it's against the rules for me to have formed any sort of view on american foreign policy, as i am not an american citizen myself...

is that what you're doing when you ask whether or not i've had an APR remap before? if it is, i believe i'd already answered that question before you even asked it, lol, when i typed "just regurgitating some others' word-of-mouth experiences."

now, (quite obviously) no one in this thread needs to start playing sillybuggers by saying "who said what, and what did they say, because it's probably wrong"...

cheers,
scotty

[pologti18t]

hi guy,

im not entirely sure what you mean by this?

I thought it was obvious what he meant

In the real world it would be called gossip You know : " I have a friend who knows someone who had this experience"

[kaanage]

Depends on ECU type & engine capacity (EDC 15 / 16 / 17 / 17.5) and there is a with & without warranty option. Polo 9N's are $1350.

Well I was told a flat $1700 and the only additional info given was the extra torque and power that I could expect. I later found out about the warranty on here.

It's a 9N3 but a 1.9 TDi with EDC 15 so why do you say it depends on this and then later say all 9N's are $1350? Not being antagonistic but trying to reconcile your statements.

[Buller_Scott]

I thought it was obvious what he meant

In the real world it would be called gossip You know : " I have a friend who knows someone who had this experience"

?????

wha...

oh okay. i see what you're saying...

you're trying to trivialise one of the most important factors in modern car modification decision making - word of mouth from your peers. (i never said "i heard of a guy who heard of a guy who heard of a guy" - im talking about stuff i've either read on the forums, or have been told IN PERSON by the not-so-happy chappies themselves).

i get what you're saying... you're essentially saying that any experiences / feedback that have been shared via word of mouth / the forum, are really just trivial gossip, unreliable, and should be dismissed, right?

so in not so many words, you're saying that the bad feedback is bull****, and the good feedback is bull**** too, because both are really just words "through the grape vine"

gotcha. lol. you must dislike guy harding, or something, to point out that any feedback (bad OR good) is really just a load of unreliable bull****....

(p.s. what bad experience did YOU have with guy? i've heard he's a really friendly, easy to talk to person... but then again, that COULD just be gossip)

[Blitzen]

I always find it funny that APR gets targeted on the attacks so often, yet I have never heard of any problems with them, either though word of mouth, or though the 3.5 years I have been on this forum. I had an APR torque arm bush fail, and it was replaced 12 months outside of warranty for free, no questions asked. I have had codes checked and cleared for free (due to the car being started when the car was in for repairs after an accident, causing a vacuum leak), once again, free of charge.
When I bought my tune at the end of 2008, I was living in Townsville, and I considered what the tune came with at the time. APR were certainly the most comprehensive, and had (and still have) the most accessible customer service. Both REVO and GIAC's dealers didn't have local Australian websites, and when I rang local dealers, they couldn't tell me much, if not anything about their products, which put me off. Shaneth had a CC tune that he had got off Gavin, and spoke in glowing terms about (Shaneth later came with me to get my tune at APR), but I had no way of getting down to Adelaide to at least trial CC's tune. At the time Jmac didn't have SuperChips, but after hearing and seeing his results for this tune, I have no doubt how potent it is... And just for good measure, I looked at PowerChip, and quickly disregarded it!!
If I had my time over, I would probably look at DNA and GIAC (now that GIAC has better dealer support) in more depth now, SuperChips and even Unichip (I pushed Jmac to the owner of Unichip when I was speaking to him at Southern Worthersee last year when he was looking for another Australian dealer, but Jmac had taken on SuperChips).
The truth of the matter is that APR has the most far reaching tuning network in Australia, and is easier to target. With the help I have had from them, I can only recommend them, but at the end of the day, it's your money and your car.