Patrykd07
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Buffalo NY
Just my quick two cents on the DTR since I finally got flashed yesterday. Just to recap, my car:
2015 Golf R Launch Edition #109 (early car.. not sure if it makes a difference anywhere)
-APR DTR 6054 HPFP & LPFP kit
-Stage 3 DTR Tune v 1.0 93 Octane
-DSG APR stage 3 TCU tune
-Unitronic IC
-Unitronic carbon intake
-APR redtop coils
-APR intercooler piping
-NGK-R7437-9 plugs gapped to 0.024
I tried to do everything APR recommended for the DTR. In my R, I noticed a definite jump from my Unitronic stage 2 tune. The whole powerband has definitely shifted up, but not in a bad way. The powerband still feels "full" from the added torque up top, and it's fun to rev it out to get there. In my s550 mustang, I put a Shelby gt350 intake manifold in it. It also raised the powerband and let the car rev out to 8200rpm, but it lost tq, so even though the car revved forever, it didn't feel as punchy. It actually made it feel kind of boring day to day, because realistically you're not screaming past 5k rpm everywhere, and anything under that it felt pretty lack luster. Honestly felt like a Honda with VTEC, but it still dynod at 440whp. So numbers aren't everything. Luckily this wasn't the case for the DTR at all. I dig it.
Where the IS38 would start dropping off around 6k rpm this thing keeps going. Around 4k rpm it's amazing how much it comes alive. In everyday RPM ranges, it's not as laggy as I expected it to be at all. I've driven my buddies "big turbo" STM evo on the street before, and its a dog around town unless you're really working the revs. I drove around quite a bit yesterday, and in traffic or just cruising around it honestly felt similar to the IS38 just without the crazy punchiness under 3k if you really got on it. Not a big deal just gotta rev it out some more. For being a "big turbo" tune, I cannot believe how smooth it is. APR really did a great job on the drivability on this tune, for both the ECU and TCU. I've had bad tunes before that make the gas pedal feel like a on off switch.. this ain't it one bit.
As far as the noise is concerned, yes if you have your windows down, you can definitely hear the turbo spooling, I think it sounds great. But if it gets annoying, once you roll the windows up you don't hear it at all. Perfect for me.
I did run into a couple snags, one being even though I made sure the wastegate rod was exactly the same length as it was on the IS38, I still had to adjust it after the install was said and done. When I checked it, it was at 3.2v instead of the 3.5-3.9 range it was supposed to be in. This wasn't super hard to adjust and there's a video from shopDap on it. Two, my IAT's were sky high, considering it was 63 out last night, my IAT's were at about 115-125F. I believe I narrowed this down to the USP boost tap I installed that sandwiches between the manifold and the MAP sensor. I ordered the APR boost tap instead. I also ordered a new MAP sensor, since they're 25$ shipped.. I figured it was cheap insurance incase something was up with mine.
Overall, even though I still have a couple gremlins to work out, but I feel pretty happy with the kit. The car honestly feels great. Once everything is 100%, I'll ask my buddy if I can throw it on his dyno to get some numbers for you guys. Also, my local track is opening up on may 25th, I'm planning to go down and get some track times and trap speeds as well. Hopefully I can spread some more positivity to this thread about the DTR.
2015 Golf R Launch Edition #109 (early car.. not sure if it makes a difference anywhere)
-APR DTR 6054 HPFP & LPFP kit
-Stage 3 DTR Tune v 1.0 93 Octane
-DSG APR stage 3 TCU tune
-Unitronic IC
-Unitronic carbon intake
-APR redtop coils
-APR intercooler piping
-NGK-R7437-9 plugs gapped to 0.024
I tried to do everything APR recommended for the DTR. In my R, I noticed a definite jump from my Unitronic stage 2 tune. The whole powerband has definitely shifted up, but not in a bad way. The powerband still feels "full" from the added torque up top, and it's fun to rev it out to get there. In my s550 mustang, I put a Shelby gt350 intake manifold in it. It also raised the powerband and let the car rev out to 8200rpm, but it lost tq, so even though the car revved forever, it didn't feel as punchy. It actually made it feel kind of boring day to day, because realistically you're not screaming past 5k rpm everywhere, and anything under that it felt pretty lack luster. Honestly felt like a Honda with VTEC, but it still dynod at 440whp. So numbers aren't everything. Luckily this wasn't the case for the DTR at all. I dig it.
Where the IS38 would start dropping off around 6k rpm this thing keeps going. Around 4k rpm it's amazing how much it comes alive. In everyday RPM ranges, it's not as laggy as I expected it to be at all. I've driven my buddies "big turbo" STM evo on the street before, and its a dog around town unless you're really working the revs. I drove around quite a bit yesterday, and in traffic or just cruising around it honestly felt similar to the IS38 just without the crazy punchiness under 3k if you really got on it. Not a big deal just gotta rev it out some more. For being a "big turbo" tune, I cannot believe how smooth it is. APR really did a great job on the drivability on this tune, for both the ECU and TCU. I've had bad tunes before that make the gas pedal feel like a on off switch.. this ain't it one bit.
As far as the noise is concerned, yes if you have your windows down, you can definitely hear the turbo spooling, I think it sounds great. But if it gets annoying, once you roll the windows up you don't hear it at all. Perfect for me.
I did run into a couple snags, one being even though I made sure the wastegate rod was exactly the same length as it was on the IS38, I still had to adjust it after the install was said and done. When I checked it, it was at 3.2v instead of the 3.5-3.9 range it was supposed to be in. This wasn't super hard to adjust and there's a video from shopDap on it. Two, my IAT's were sky high, considering it was 63 out last night, my IAT's were at about 115-125F. I believe I narrowed this down to the USP boost tap I installed that sandwiches between the manifold and the MAP sensor. I ordered the APR boost tap instead. I also ordered a new MAP sensor, since they're 25$ shipped.. I figured it was cheap insurance incase something was up with mine.
Overall, even though I still have a couple gremlins to work out, but I feel pretty happy with the kit. The car honestly feels great. Once everything is 100%, I'll ask my buddy if I can throw it on his dyno to get some numbers for you guys. Also, my local track is opening up on may 25th, I'm planning to go down and get some track times and trap speeds as well. Hopefully I can spread some more positivity to this thread about the DTR.
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