Alright, so this post is meant to be *informative* and i'm reporting from personal experience here, and posting facts.
After doing a ton of research on tuning options for the new Golf R, I finally pulled the trigger on the APR stg 1, and then once i upgraded some hardware, i went with Stg2. I was familiar with the related concerns i'd seen in assorted posts across the interwebs, related to turbo-failures, the associated serial numbers of the blown-unit-runs, etc... and ideally, i wanted a Unitronic tune, but they didn't have a local dealer to support me up here. I didn't want to have to drive 4hrs to a dealer to 'flash back to stock', should an issue arise, so reluctantly, i went with APR.
I'm also aware of the need mentioned by some engineers in the field, concerning the use of a Stg2 tune, and a DP, related to solenoid wastegate issues and the associated programming of said hardware. So Stg2 i went.
Car has 12,500mi, is a 2015, and has been burning around a qt of oil every 700mi or so, and has a strange flat-spot at between .24-.80% throttle, when rolling on, between 3250 and 3750rpm.
I took the car back to my local APR dealer, and spoke of the issue with them, after sending an email directly to APR, articulating the issue to them, to which i received a short email, stating that they couldn't talk to me, but that i had to go through my dealer (in a nutshell).
So the dealer then replied first, to my email, in which i articulate again my concerns with the car, and they forwarded my correspondence to APR.
APR advised the dealer to get the car in, log what was happening, and they would then see what the deal was.
After several hours of driving about with a tech in the car with me, to replicate the issues... we then sent the log-files to APR, and they replied with 'oh, that's a known issue, we're releasing an update with which you can flash to, to rectify the problem'.
So back i went several days later, for the re-flash, and the problem should've been solved. While in for the 're-flash' the APR server apparently crashed, and i was stranded at the dealer for 4 hours, while they attempted to reach APR's customer service, who apparently wasn't returning their VM's or answering their phone... For HOURS?
Once reached, they said they didn't know what was happening, but that this was supposed to be 'just a simple flash update'.
4hrs later, the 'update was finally installed, and away i went, in the hopes of the flat-spots being sorted, and no more boost-dumping under throttle.
No further than about 4 blocks from the dealer, i noticed that the issue was even worse now... But lacking more time to return the car to them and to sort a ride home, i opted to just go home. No CEL's at that time, so i figured i'd make it through the holiday.
Now several days-on, i have a CEL, and a few other lights on, on the dashboard, and i'm sort of dreading taking the car back to deal with whatever the issue related to this tune could be. Still have the strange boost-dump under power, without any apparent explanation from APR, other than 'it's a known issue'...
Happy to report findings as they occur here, in case anyone else is having similar issues.
My current take-away is that i'm less-than-impressed with APR's customer service, and i'm ready to flash back to stock and would like my money back, from an apparently poorly-supported product, that's seemingly not ready to be on the market.
After doing a ton of research on tuning options for the new Golf R, I finally pulled the trigger on the APR stg 1, and then once i upgraded some hardware, i went with Stg2. I was familiar with the related concerns i'd seen in assorted posts across the interwebs, related to turbo-failures, the associated serial numbers of the blown-unit-runs, etc... and ideally, i wanted a Unitronic tune, but they didn't have a local dealer to support me up here. I didn't want to have to drive 4hrs to a dealer to 'flash back to stock', should an issue arise, so reluctantly, i went with APR.
I'm also aware of the need mentioned by some engineers in the field, concerning the use of a Stg2 tune, and a DP, related to solenoid wastegate issues and the associated programming of said hardware. So Stg2 i went.
Car has 12,500mi, is a 2015, and has been burning around a qt of oil every 700mi or so, and has a strange flat-spot at between .24-.80% throttle, when rolling on, between 3250 and 3750rpm.
I took the car back to my local APR dealer, and spoke of the issue with them, after sending an email directly to APR, articulating the issue to them, to which i received a short email, stating that they couldn't talk to me, but that i had to go through my dealer (in a nutshell).
So the dealer then replied first, to my email, in which i articulate again my concerns with the car, and they forwarded my correspondence to APR.
APR advised the dealer to get the car in, log what was happening, and they would then see what the deal was.
After several hours of driving about with a tech in the car with me, to replicate the issues... we then sent the log-files to APR, and they replied with 'oh, that's a known issue, we're releasing an update with which you can flash to, to rectify the problem'.
So back i went several days later, for the re-flash, and the problem should've been solved. While in for the 're-flash' the APR server apparently crashed, and i was stranded at the dealer for 4 hours, while they attempted to reach APR's customer service, who apparently wasn't returning their VM's or answering their phone... For HOURS?
Once reached, they said they didn't know what was happening, but that this was supposed to be 'just a simple flash update'.
4hrs later, the 'update was finally installed, and away i went, in the hopes of the flat-spots being sorted, and no more boost-dumping under throttle.
No further than about 4 blocks from the dealer, i noticed that the issue was even worse now... But lacking more time to return the car to them and to sort a ride home, i opted to just go home. No CEL's at that time, so i figured i'd make it through the holiday.
Now several days-on, i have a CEL, and a few other lights on, on the dashboard, and i'm sort of dreading taking the car back to deal with whatever the issue related to this tune could be. Still have the strange boost-dump under power, without any apparent explanation from APR, other than 'it's a known issue'...
Happy to report findings as they occur here, in case anyone else is having similar issues.
My current take-away is that i'm less-than-impressed with APR's customer service, and i'm ready to flash back to stock and would like my money back, from an apparently poorly-supported product, that's seemingly not ready to be on the market.