So I went APR stage 1 today. Got the fully loaded 4 program set. At $599, I was ok with the cost since APR promised such gains. A great bang for your buck upgrade. I know 75% of golfmkv.com forum users have done some sort of tune, but I just wanted to give my 2 cents......maybe this write up will persuade another fellow GTI owner.
It took an hour from the time I dropped it off till it was ready to go. My vdub shop showed my how to switch between tunes which took all of 3minutes to learn, very simple. I go out and take my first ride. Give it 10-15miles before I give it WOT. First time I slammed the gas to the floor, chug chug chug chug......what the hell!?!?!?! Call the tuner up, the were happy to have a look. So I head back to the tuner, they do a complete reflash of the ECU and a reload of the APR tune. Same chug chug chug chug. Take it back and they ask me what kind of spark plugs I have in there. Said I didn't know. They take out one plug and boom, it is Autolite plugs. There is my issue...those crappy plugs are causing the bog down. Had to buy new OE plugs and take it for a test drive. OMG, what a difference!!!
So after that little snafu, we are ready to ride. I must say, what a difference. The dam little car struggles to find traction now. You scratch in second gear with no issues and cruising at highway speeds, you can gas it and get around slower traffic without hesitation. If you're only investing in a CAI and exhaust for your car, skip that and just get an APR tune. The price for a decent exhaust/CAI will be the same price as this tune. Your butt dyno will be happy you did.
Only issue I had with this tune is when launching from a red light and the transmission is in automatic, my DSG starts having trouble finding a good rpm/gear. It feels like it is unhappy because you are pegging thru the gears and losing traction making the DSG get quirky. I feel if you are going to full throttle it from a red light, go to sport shift mode. If you are at 40mph+, you can keep it in automatic. The DSG does better when already moving.
So my small review. Drive safe!