First, in terms of my interest, I’m looking for more torque in the lower RPM range that I'm going to be using more often for daily driving. I dont go to the drag strips, I dont have any plans to go faster than the 130 limit, don’t want crackle tunes, etc. I just want a reasonable tune that wont threaten the longevity or driveability of my car. I’ve been really hoping to capture some of the low end TDI torque with the tune, albeit just a portion thereof.
I've looked into the various options, and I've copied the stage 2 dyno curves from IE, APR, and 034 below if helpful, hopefully they're coming through. I understand that the numbers are estimates, etc, but nevertheless I get the sense that IE seems to have the greatest torque, APR highest HP at high end RPM, and 034 seems to be well received on the forums with very good numbers on both ends. So long story short, I was trying to decide which to do and had decided to go with 034 and go ahead and do TCU along w ECU. But I learned after reaching out to buy it that they don’t do remote flashes for the CREC engine. Well damn. I also learned that my local shop was wrong and that APR is still doing stage 2, just no down pipes (I was told otherwise).
Anyways, I’ve summarized what I know about the choices and am hoping for input of which to go with based on my preference for more low end torque, even at the expense of higher RPM HP loss, etc.
APR: I know that they are very well established and the downside is dealing with authorized dealer (access, cost). That said, looks like APR cost just went way down(750), but I have to factor the local flash cost of ~150 (which is more or less the cable cost of other companies). I do have a couple APR shops nearby so access is easy. I dont think I need to reflash, etc, even for emissions reasons as I’ve read that it’s not a concern for passing emissions, so cost wise this is likely a wash unless I'm missing something. They seem to be optimizing high end RPM HP/etc at expense of some lower end torque, but people seem super happy with it as a reliable option. Other Downside is that they don’t have a paired TCU tune. Cost is effectively ~$900 to me + pulley (and labor).
IE, intrigued by it, particularly the reported torque ~420, but I saw fairly uneven responses on the forum re: how happy people were with their tune. That said, it's a forum, so a skewed response, but regardless not sure what to make of it. I don’t know if a paired TCU tune and not even sure if the CREC tune is available yet or not based on what I read in a recent forum posting. Cost is $1150 + pulley (and labor).
Unitronic, looks like theyre posting very competitive numbers with higher HP and less TQ, similar to APR profile. This has the advantage of flashing at home which am happy to do but not a big deal to me. They may be less well known than APR but I understand them to still be very well known/highly utilized (again I dont know these things but impression of the board), no? Not sure about TCU pairing with them, didn't learn as much about this from the board. Cost is $1100 plus pulley and labor although w frequent sales probably lower.
Given the time of the year, whichever I pick, I'll try to wait until a Black Friday sale in a few weeks and hopefully pick it up then for 10-20% less. I'm happy to do whichever from a cost perspective, they're comparable enough that the difference doesn’t matter enough to drive a choice.
I understand that at this point, the differences are smaller, but nevertheless, I do have to choose. I was wondering 3 points to get help on
1) your thoughts on these options given my stated interests of optimizing low-end torque and maintaining longevity/drivability as a daily driver.
2) the value add of adding a TCU (given my driving habits/interest), and if so, whether I really should prioritize pairing it with the same vendor or if it’s fine to go 3rd party like Melen, p3u, or other company.
3) The APR salesman on the phone strongly recommended their cooling system (1k plus labor) to minimize loss of power w pulls/hard driving with stage 2 tune. I don’t anticipate doing a lot of repetitive pulls etc, but I do wonder if it’ll increase longevity of the car with heat effects on parts nearby (no idea here). I plan to keep it for another 7-10yrs. Do I really need to factor this in, I haven’t seen a lot of folks doing that on the forum for just single pulley stage 2.
Thanks for your insight in advance!
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Originally Posted by ANMS4
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