APR Stage 1 ECU Tune
APR is pleased to present the ultimate engine control unit (ECU) upgrade for the 1.8T EA888 Gen 3 engine. APR’s ECU upgrade is available in octane-specific variations and is conveniently flashed to the vehicle’s factory ECU through the OBD-II port without any physical modification to the factory ECU.
APR's Calibration Engineers spent months calibrating the engine management system, including many hours of chassis dyno development. With a thorough understanding of the ECU’s torque structure, APR’s Calibration Engineers properly increased engine load to produce more power and torque across the entire power band. APR’s ECU Upgrade increases boost pressure, optimizes ignition timing, cam timing, lambda and more to produce higher output!
APR’s ECU Upgrades provides an excellent leap in horsepower and torque while retaining OEM knock control sensitivity and other built in safety features. This results in an exciting and powerful upgrade, optimized for various fuel grades found around the world.
APR’s ECU upgrades are one of the best horsepower-per-dollar modifications for the new 1.8T engine. The APR Stage I ECU Upgrade is designed to work without requiring other changes to the vehicle’s hardware. With the ECU Upgrade alone, APR’s Calibration Experts measured higher peak figures of 298 ft-lbs of torque and 251 horsepower with 93 AKI octane fuel. Large gains were seen throughout the power band, including an additional 97 ft-lbs of torque and 81 horsepower.
The increase in power directly translates to an exceptionally quicker vehicle. Using advanced GPS measuring devices, APR’s engineers conducted several acceleration tests. During the 0-125 mph sprint, the APR Stage I equipped vehicle finished 22.048 seconds sooner than stock and the APR Stage II equipped vehicle was an additional 3.112 seconds earlier!
Gains over Stock
Stage 1 – 87 Octane gas – 223 HP / 238 Ft-lbs of Torque = 47 HP Gain over stock / 73 Tq over stock
Stage 1 – 91 Octane gas – 242 HP / 282 Ft-lbs of Torque = 60 HP Gain over stock / 89 Tq over stock
Stage 1 – 93 Octane gas – 251 HP / 298 Ft-lbs of Torque = 68 HP Gain over stock / 99 Tq over stock
Acceleration Enhancements
Beyond horsepower and torque enhancements, APR’s Calibration Engineers were able to increase the acceleration rate of the vehicle through other calibrations changes. Ignition delay is reduced resulting in a more responsive pedal without altering overall throttle sensitivity. Furthermore, throttle lag commonly noticed at slow speeds and while reapplying throttle has been reduced.
Increased Fuel Economy
APR’s Calibration Engineers paid close attention to several parameters directly related to fuel economy, especially while cruising at highway speeds. Depending on driving style and fuel quality, better miles per gallon may be achieved.
Speed Limiter
APR’s ECU upgrade increases the vehicle's top speed limiter for blistering sprints around the track or across the Autobahn without the speed limiter shutting down the fun.
Left Foot Braking
APR's Left Foot Braking feature allows more control over the vehicle’s throttle. The factory equipped vehicle's throttle input is disabled while pressing the accelerator and brake at the same time. Left Foot Braking, a common motorsport driving technique, allows the driver complete control over the vehicle’s throttle and braking system, which may give the vehicle the edge it needs at the track.
Torque Management
Torque management can play a big role in how the vehicle feels and performs, especially during moments of low gear, rapid acceleration. Typically front wheel drive vehicles can suffer from excessive wheel spin during these moments due to the massive amount of torque on tap from the ECU upgrade. APR’s ECU Upgrade uses advanced torque management routines to help minimize wheel spin and maximize forward acceleration so the driver can focus on enjoying the additional torque and power on tap.
Race Fuel Information: Higher octane fuel typically allows APR’s engineers to create more power and torque by achieving greater ignition advance. However, on this application, APR’s engineers were able to achieve MBT, or minimum spark timing for best torque, on 93 AKI fuel with the IS38 turbocharger and APR downpipe. MBT is essentially the point where greater ignition advance no longer results in more power and torque. By using APR’s upcoming Ethanol Flex Fueling upgrades and Ethanol fuel, greater peak power was achieved due to the fuel’s highly oxygenated nature.
Acceleration Testing
Dyno testing is a great way to gauge power increases over the entire rev range but may not translate to real world performance. Through GPS based acceleration testing, APR’s Engineers were able to verify increases made on the dyno translated to a faster and quicker vehicle on the street. Please note the factory speed limiter was removed for the stock acceleration tests.
The results were astounding. By simply adding the APR Stage I ECU upgrade, the 2015 Golf Tiptronic test vehicle completed every test quicker than the stock vehicle by a large margin and even bested our own stock MK7 GTI DSG results with ease. 0-60 MPH times were reduced by 1.101 seconds while the 62-124 MPH occurred in less than half the stock vehicle’s time at 16.758 seconds or 19.9 seconds sooner! Acceleration tests were conducted all the way to 125 MPH, which was completed in 23.637 seconds with APR stage 1 software and 45.685 seconds with the stock software.
30 Day Money Back Guarantee
All APR ECU Upgrades include a 30-day money back guarantee with no questions asked. If for any reason the owners is dissatisfied with the APR ECU Upgrade, they may return to the place of purchase for a full refund, provided they are within the 30 day period from the time of the initial purchase. **Refund is on ECU Software only, there is a labour fee applied to flash the vehicle back to factory
IMPORTANT PRICING AND AVAILABILITY DETAILS: Availability and ECU Compatibility: Stages, programs, and features may not be available for all ECUs.- ECU Revision Notice: Multiple ECU revisions exist for each platform. APR software may be temporarily unavailable when factory updates are applied. An APR dealer can check availability in person, or over the phone if the ECU boxcode/revision is known.
