greasykid

Has anyone had an APR Tune stage 1 on a Q3 FWD only--no Quattro. If so,what were the results?

Understand that there is a lower power Stage 1 for non quattro cars.

carkarl

I don't have any tune and my Q3 is quattro anyway. But I, looked at their website again since I saw your post... the only special note I see is a "low torque" program for manual transmission Q3s (which aren't even sold in North America). It sounds like it is an option to make it more drivable with a stock clutch so you don't accidentally burn the clutch when everything hooks up. I didn't see any mention of FWD vs Quattro. The best answer would come from APR themselves or your local APR dealer.

I tried APR stage 1 on an older 1.8T A4 and it was very nice. You wouldn't find me at a drag strip so I only judged it in real-world driving. I don't have any reason to doubt their dynometer plots. Years ago, APR already had the reputation to focus on a smooth and drivable tune compared to some other products that seemed to give a more raw and peaky boost to engine output. Their stage 1 tune really just feels like what the engine ought to be from the factory. My only hesitation in ordering it would be concern about getting the car "flagged" and voiding warranty protections on the driveline before they expire naturally. This can happen just because the dealer computers detect a change to the ECU software.

In my experience, it really did widen the torque curve and power band and introduce higher torque at much lower revs. After the tune, it could comfortably accelerate at almost any RPM. I could almost have just treated it like a 3 speed and ignored gears 2 and 4. Before the tune, you had to take more care to avoid getting lost in low torque doldrums around 1-2k RPM. I think lots of people confuse this with "turbo lag" when it is really just that the stock program didn't really start to boost until after 2k RPM. If you hit the throttle at an appropriate RPM, the small stock turbos can spin up with very little lag.