pete716

I'm thinking about going to the APR dealer near Elmira NY (Four Rings Auto) and I'm just wondering if it changes the sound of the vehicle at all.

Toasty-Stg3::HCBP

Anything you do that alters the performance of the car has the potential to change the sound. if you change engine timing, fueling, or the amount of boost, it will change the sound, guaranteed.

Spinnetti

At a given load, no it won't sound different. Increase the load (taking advantage of the tune) and it may sound a little different but essentially its a non-worry. From your question though, a undetectable change in sound is immaterial - killing your engine warranty and/or shortening component life would be more a concern for you I would think.

signde

i could be wrong, but having gone APR ECU and TCU tunes myself on my 2019, this is something i follow and what i have personally witnessed with my own car and a friend who APR tuned his 2018.

the stock ECU map already makes a lot of crackles and pops in free rev and between shifts / overrun. as such, APR really hasn't done anything there for the MY 2017/2018. 2019 is a different story. what you will probably get is a 1k bump in free rev limit. with APR i think the limit is ~4500 rpm vs. ~3500 rpm stock. the stock exhaust valve behavior remains unchanged across all years.

as for the warranty debate, it's pretty easy to offset that with APR Plus which is Stage 1 91 octane tune which matches the factory powertrain warranty for anything audi would deny. it costs more upfront though.

Toasty-Stg3::HCBP

I don't own an A3. I can tell you that from my experience with my '01 B5 S4, every change in tuning, from stock to stage 1, all the way to stage 3 changed the sound of the car. Not that it's a problem...I would say that my enjoyment of the sound increased at each stage. Who knows...with modern ECU's, that may be less apparent. I respectfully disagree with our brother, Spinnetti as he might have had a different experience. ALL THAT said, Spinnetti is absolutely correct on the component wear and warranty. Each time I upgraded something...added power, changed suspension, better clutch...it ended up locating the next weak point in the chain that need to be upgraded...like motor and transmission mounts or the rear diff hanger that I cracked on a launch.

You definitely have to "Pay to Play" when you start feeding this addiction.

signde

i need to pay more attention. i thought this was for an RS3. disregard my reply.