APR TCU tune...worth it?

rustywoodstone said:

Thank you KASPER!! This is the feed back I really wanted to read this to validate my research as well. I was really bummed when I started calling around to shops and they would automatically try and sell me a different tune right off the bat...

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No problem, glad it was helpful. I have nothing bad to say about apr’s ecu tune, I just prefer UM’s but apr’s ecu tune seems strong also, their tcu tune however just isn’t on the same level as UM’s, from personal experience, and from reading numerous other threads, other brands.

GolfWang said:

Maybe on throttle it's not like OEM, but from what hear it hunts on inclines at partial throttle and on flat ground with light throttle it will still shift to 5th at 35 and 6th at 45, which is the same thing OEM does

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So let me get this straight, you're providing strong feedback on a product you don't even own? Hmmm..

Is it worth it? Other than the idea of it protecting your clutch packs, I don't think it's worth it. D, S and manual modes at stage 1 were fine for me. I normally use manual shifting so the difference before and after the TCU tune isn't much different.

With the APR TCU Tune, I've noticed a few times when on the brakes (firm pressure) at a stop light, and upon getting off the brake and on the gas quickly, the transmission acts up - the speed and rpms don't jive, as if it's slipping? This requires you to get off the gas for a second or two for the transmission to figure things out. I've learned to hold a light touch on the brake pedal when shooting for those sub 3 sec 0-60 times. I'm joking, but you get the idea.

Jerkiness in heavy traffic is bad, it's supper sensitive. Maybe this is expected from the clamping increase? I never had problems with OEM programing in traffic as a lot of magazines and reviewers like to point out. This is probably because I've learned to adjust the foot/sensitivity from owning mk6 gti w DSG.

1st gear in S and D mode climbs way too high for my likings. Because of this i would suspect that I wouldn't achieve the same 1/4 mile times using OEM TCU programing with D mode (13.1 @ 108mph) due to the fact that 1st gear climbs way too high under moderate to heavy acceleration w/ the TCU tune. The whole idea of using D mode w/ OEM programing when launching was to eliminate excessive wheel spin.

Mods: GTI PP w/ FMIC, APR stage1 93 HO, and APR TCU tune.

The key I’ve found is to have an ECU and TCU tune matched to each other from the same tuner.

I just got my R a few weeks ago and it was a CPO that had APR stage 2 and APR TCU tune on it previously. I just had the car flashed back as that was a hell of a lot less expensive than going out to buy fresh tunes.

While in D, The DSG doesn't go into 6th gear till almost 55mph so in city driving I NEVER see 6th gear in my drives.

I came from a Malone tune on my MK6 Golf TDI for both the ECU and DSG. The DSG on that tune was a hair higher than OEM in D, since fuel economy is king with that engine. In S it was very aggressive. APR's TCU tune to me is a lot more aggressive than OEM TCU. Maybe they revised it?

Noize said:

The key I’ve found is to have an ECU and TCU tune matched to each other from the same tuner.

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excellent.

alnation1 said:

I have a 2018 GTI SE DSG and have both the APR Stage 1 ECU and TCU tunes. I like the TCU tune for the most part (power wise) but there are also some things I don't like. Of course we all know there are the drive choices on the touch screen (ECO, NORMAL, SPORT) and also two separate automatic drive "modes" (Reg Drive and Sport Drive). I have found that the Reg Drive is pretty much worthless with the TCU tune in my opinion and this was also the opinion of the technician who installed the APR tunes and test drove the car after installation! In Reg Drive mode the thing will shift into 6th at like 40MPH, 5th at 30-35, 4th at 25-30! This didn't really bother me that much as I was never going to be out of Sport Drive at all unless I forget to put that in place before I go (and I always keep in in the SPORT choice on the touchscreen). BUT, the Sport Drive shifts also give me some issues as I have found that during daily driving conditions it will shift from 3rd to 4th at 38 MPH and 4th to 5th at around 54/55 MPH. Also sometimes at these speeds the tranny seems to not know what gear it wants to be in and goes back and forth causing a "jerky" motion/feeling. It also does this sometimes between 2nd and 3rd. Of course all of that goes away if you use the Manual Drive and shift yourself from either the paddles of the gear lever. Anyone else have these issues? I wish you could program it that in SPORT Drive it would go into 4th around 42-44 MPH and into 5th at around 58-60 MPH!

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Make sure to check with your APR dealer for new software updates. A lot of these issues do get resolved eventually ;-)