A7 3.0 turbo / APR STAGE 1 (REVIEW)

[A7_King99]

Well well well,

What I have noticed is the lack of information on tuning the C8 a6/a7 platform with the 3.0 turbo. With ease, APR has released tuning software in which is a stage 1, ECU ONLY tune as of today. Hopefully the TCU TUNE is released soon, but not as of today.

Let me explain my reasoning for tuning the car. Simply was because of the speed limiter. I was in Mexico a few times, came across a few cars that I raced from a rolling start, and noticed i was ahead until speed limiter (130mph) and then they flew past. lol. This is annoying. So I decided to look into my options.


Option 1: JB4, while looking into the jb4 I noticed that they give very good options to boost the hp, while not voiding any warranty’s and its plug and play. If the speed limiter is not an issue, and you insist on keeping your “Audi” warranty, this is the best option. Only ecu is able to be tuned with this option as well, so from 0-130mph.. if you want more power. Buy this.


Option 2 APR STAGE 1: this was an exciting option knowing the reputation of this company and knowing the tunes have been known to be reliable and not too spicy. Only drawback was that it’s only a ECU FLASH… TCU is not available. Now the pro’s of this tune is on the lines of, auto start/stop is disabled, which is a PLUS! the speed limiter is REMOVED, in which was my main concerns. Going from 340hp to 400hp on 93 octane was a pretty good gain as well.

By no means is the tune going to turn your car into a race car.. but will make your daily driving experience more fun and you will be able to keep up with the average cars with power on the road.

I used the Apr ultra link to flash the vehicle, and it was by far the easiest, smoothest flash devices I have ever used. Good internet,a battery charger, and a up to date laptop..the flash took less than 10min. I can also change tunes on the fly or change back to stock at anytime. This is the game changer for the Apr community. I recommend this for anybody that wants to have control over their vehicle at all times instead of making an appointment with a local Apr dealer just to change or update tunes.

[A7_King99]

Testing:

While using a draggy 70, I will be collecting more data, as I get time. Sometimes it hard to connecting or finding satellites to connect to, so I will be taking my time to gather info to make sure it’s all “valid” results.

So far, below is the 0-60 times. Before and after Apr stage 1 tune.

STOCK: no tune
Run 1: 0-60 // 5.07 seconds
Run 2: 0-60 // 5.00 seconds


APR STAGE 1 high torque tune
Run 1:
0-60mph: 4.55
1/8 mile: [email protected]
1/4 mile: [email protected]


Run 2:
0-60mph: 4.52
1/8 mile: 8.23
1/4 mile: [email protected]

Run 3:
0-60mph: 4.44
1/8 mile: [email protected]



I will get more data. I will also flash back to stock to get 1/8 mile and 1/4 times with stock tune. Then I will also flash back to the 93 octane Apr tune to see how consistent it is with the data already collected.

[A7_King99]

Testing:

While using a draggy 70, I will be collecting more data, as I get time. Sometimes it hard to connecting or finding satellites to connect to, so I will be taking my time to gather info to make sure it’s all “valid” results.

So far, below is the 0-60 times. Before and after Apr stage 1 tune.

STOCK: no tune
Run 1: 0-60 // 5.07 seconds
Run 2: 0-60 // 5.00 seconds


APR STAGE 1 high torque tune
Run 1:
0-60mph: 4.55
1/8 mile: [email protected]
1/4 mile: [email protected]


Run 2:
0-60mph: 4.52
1/8 mile: 8.23
1/4 mile: [email protected]

Run 3:
0-60mph: 4.44
1/8 mile: [email protected]



I will get more data. I will also flash back to stock to get 1/8 mile and 1/4 times with stock tune. Then I will also flash back to the 93 octane Apr tune to see how consistent it is with the data already collected.

All testing with APR TUNE WAS DONE ON 93 octane

[JWebb_C7_Comp]

Congrats on the change due to tuning. Roughly 1/2 quicker 0-60 is a substantial difference for daily driving. I'd guess 60mph to 80mph has dropped substantially too! Enjoy.

[maxvq35]

Despite the limitations on this platform, i'm quite happy with my APR tune.

Being about as quick as an S6/S7 is plenty the usable power for my daily use. My 'near-death experience' highway chasing days are over anyways, but unlocking the gobs of torque really changed the car for the better for me.

[A7_King99]

Congrats on the change due to tuning. Roughly 1/2 quicker 0-60 is a substantial difference for daily driving. I'd guess 60mph to 80mph has dropped substantially too! Enjoy.

I agree, I think it’s pretty decent for what’s there. Like I said before, I’ll get more info as I can but the whole power band with the extra boost is noticeable

[DutchK23]

Despite the limitations on this platform, i'm quite happy with my APR tune.

Being about as quick as an S6/S7 is plenty the usable power for my daily use. My 'near-death experience' highway chasing days are over anyways, but unlocking the gobs of torque really changed the car for the better for me.

2019 A6 (C8) 55 Premium + same for me and I've paired it with APRs CAI for the model and its more than sufficient for my daily -- the pickup going highway speeds is quite nice (but not highway chase either). I was a bit hesitant about the lack of TCU tune but I don't launch so it's not proved to be an issue for me

[Nono13]

so as you did the high torque tune, did you have any message or error about TCU ?

[A7_King99]

A night I was driving aggressively on the highway for about 10min, I did receive a “error” message that popped up. The car went into limp mode, and would not allow the car to accelerate. I coasted to a safe place to pull over. Turned the car off, turned it back on.. car was back to normal and drove fine.

Another random night I got a “transmission temp hot” message. Reason why it was weird was because I was driving like a 90 year old lady when it popped up, but it quickly went back off on its own. And continued to drive normal.

I’m not sure if the safety measures of the factory locked TCU is fighting the tuned ECU commands or what but it’s weird

Overall I don’t have problems on a daily. Those 2 issues are the only documented issues I have had so far.

so as you did the high torque tune, did you have any message or error about TCU ?

[DutchK23]

A night I was driving aggressively on the highway for about 10min, I did receive a “error” message that popped up. The car went into limp mode, and would not allow the car to accelerate. I coasted to a safe place to pull over. Turned the car off, turned it back on.. car was back to normal and drove fine.

Another random night I got a “transmission temp hot” message. Reason why it was weird was because I was driving like a 90 year old lady when it popped up, but it quickly went back off on its own. And continued to drive normal.

I’m not sure if the safety measures of the factory locked TCU is fighting the tuned ECU commands or what but it’s weird

Overall I don’t have problems on a daily. Those 2 issues are the only documented issues I have had so far.

FWIW I have not had any transmission error messages or warnings appear but as I noted in my earlier post I don't drive it very aggressively (albeit not like a 90 year old lady either)

[Nono13]

Thank you both for the feedbacks on the high torque file !

What made you choose the high torque over the limited torque file ?

Are you not concerned about the transmission getting damaged at some point ?

I am on the edge of installing the APR turn via ultra link but still not decided on which file (high torque or limited torque to protect the TCU.


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine Forum

[DutchK23]

Thank you both for the feedbacks on the high torque file !

What made you choose the high torque over the limited torque file ?

Are you not concerned about the transmission getting damaged at some point ?

I am on the edge of installing the APR turn via ultra link but still not decided on which file (high torque or limited torque to protect the TCU.


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine Forum

well I didn't have a choice as the limited torque file wasn't yet available when I did the flash initially and never went back to get it reflashed.

[A7_King99]

Me personally, I don’t believe in modifying something and taking the “safe route”. I would rather have the full experience and figure out the weak points. It’s already bad enough not having a lot tuning support on the platform… so for a basic 93 octane… I want to see all the power, lol. But by having the apr device at home, I can easily switch the tunes as i please.. so if I ever get curious.. I’ll try the low torque tune, but as of right now. It runs fine.


As far as the transmission. I feel like, if it’s going to break, it’s going to break anyway. My trans would have shifting “hiccup” prior to the tune, so I already knew the factory trans and tune is a problem. We need a trans tune very bad to clean up the factory b/s


As stated before, the 93 octane tune makes the car run like it should have from factory. It’s not aggressive or anything crazy, it’s just 400rwhp that should have been there from the beginning. Just note, that the trans is a issue even without a tune… so tuning it, is tuning it, either way… is a normal risk of modifying a vehicle.

Thank you both for the feedbacks on the high torque file !

What made you choose the high torque over the limited torque file ?

Are you not concerned about the transmission getting damaged at some point ?

I am on the edge of installing the APR turn via ultra link but still not decided on which file (high torque or limited torque to protect the TCU.


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine Forum

[Nono13]

well I didn't have a choice as the limited torque file wasn't yet available when I did the flash initially and never went back to get it reflashed.

Got it, how many miles since you got the tune ?


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine Forum

[Nono13]

Me personally, I don’t believe in modifying something and taking the “safe route”. I would rather have the full experience and figure out the weak points. It’s already bad enough not having a lot tuning support on the platform… so for a basic 93 octane… I want to see all the power, lol. But by having the apr device at home, I can easily switch the tunes as i please.. so if I ever get curious.. I’ll try the low torque tune, but as of right now. It runs fine.


As far as the transmission. I feel like, if it’s going to break, it’s going to break anyway. My trans would have shifting “hiccup” prior to the tune, so I already knew the factory trans and tune is a problem. We need a trans tune very bad to clean up the factory b/s


As stated before, the 93 octane tune makes the car run like it should have from factory. It’s not aggressive or anything crazy, it’s just 400rwhp that should have been there from the beginning. Just note, that the trans is a issue even without a tune… so tuning it, is tuning it, either way… is a normal risk of modifying a vehicle.

Very helpful thanks,
How many miles since you have the tune in the car so far ?


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine Forum

[DutchK23]

Got it, how many miles since you got the tune ?


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine Forum

I waited until the man. warranty expired so about 17K miles or so now.