KingHamer

Before you blow up on me, yes I did my research!!

I'm looking to getting the APR ECU chip for my 2002 Audi A6 2.7T. I've seen good reviews about it and I think I might do it. I know the 4 programs and all options is $599.

My question is, is there other companies I should consider first? If anyone has/had the chip and could let me know that would be great!

Next question: Should I have a professional install this chip? I've searched around, it doesn't look impossible and I have a soldering iron and lots of experience with stereo system installs, I know its not quite the same but can I do this myself or not so much?

I've looked through the forums and most of my questions have been answered, I just want to get the most up-to-date information as most of the posts are over a year old. Thank you!

Just Me

APR have a good rep. I've never chipped. I would guess few C5-ers chip. If you want to get a good sample of chippers go to the S4/B5 forum, or the performance tuning forum.

Incidentally, i did a quick search on "APR, chip" and got dozens of threads to investigate. Why don;t you do the same? Beats asking each person to type you another customer response....

Remember that any chip increases heat and stress on the motor and on the transmission - and that latter matters if you have an automatic/tip. Not too much with the MT6.

Grant

GTA_Driver

Get a Jfonz tune. Much cheaper and same results.

Giac is a flash of your ecu, no soldering required. Not sure about jfonz, but i think it's also flash, and much more affordable.

jschick

their are pluses and minuses to all. APR is a good tune and you will likley love it. but you need to send your ECU out Period!! I would recomend looking for a local rep of APR, Unitronics or GIAC, I use Unitronics because I have a local rep that comed to my shop flashes the ECU tests it and gives a 30day money back garentee if your not happy. it takes him about 20 minutes to reflash, I beleive GIAC is the same. but search online for anyone local and go for it! or send your ECU to ECS tuning for the APR.
I will say the tune will transform the car totaly you will get lots more mid range torque and everyday driving will shift less. Just NO hole shots or you will be asking for big trouble!!

massboykie

FYI for future chip questions
------------------------------
(1) Http://www.VAGLinks.com/Docs/Misc/ChipInfoPost.pdf
(2) Http://www.PlanetVAG.com/index.asp?c...earch&siteurl=

I have run GIAC-X software for the last 70K miles no problems. Just look after the turbos, i.e. no cold high revving and boosting and letting the oil cool down to normal temp before turning the motor off (after beating on her a little... ;-) trust me you will as 80 additional HP is a lot of fun....) REGULAR OIL CHANGES and you should be all set, but keep in mind what one of the other posters said... you are running the turbos at higher boost levels etc so theoretically they may fail earlier.

FYI... APR and GIAC are OBDII flashable software upgrades (some others may also be) so no need to send ECU anywhere if there is a dealer you can drive to.

For more companies that do chipping http://www.vaglinks.com/#PerfParts ...amongst other things...

Cheers
Massboykie

ddillenger

I have a used GIAC stage 2 box ecu kicking around, plug and play with your car. LMK if interested, I'd do it cheap.

slowguy

I bought my first audi in (I think) about october. I was excited to have apr tune my car. I sent in the ecu for stage one and all options. It came back, I stuck it in. I had a total of about 2 or three start cycles on it. My wife and I went to eat, came out, and completely dead. Pulled the codes, started researching, found out the ecu had defective programming.

Long story short, APR would never completely own up to it (although after threat of legal action they did settle).

I sent them back the ecu, they supposedly reflashed and it did nothing to fix. They told me they would not buy a new ecu...and I had to provide that. I did and sent it to them (it was tested before shipment to APR and this ecu ran the car but would shut off after a second or two due to immobilizer not programmed). Check codes, found none. They sent it back completely dead with the same code as the original. Irate, I purchased a third ecu, did not let them touch it. Had immobilizer removed and the car ran again. They said now they would purchase an ecu from a local dealer in Atlanta and code it. They did. Sent it back, completely dead. (this is 3 ecu's now they disabled and FOUR MONTHS without my newly purchased audi).

At this point I started to research ways to avoid the outrageous price of the dealership. Found nefmoto, started playing with the ecu. Was able to flash but needed other tools to remove immo myself. Found a nefmoto member that offered to fix it. Sent it to him, paid $200. He wiped out the original APR code and removed immo and installed a stage 1+ tune that is night and day from stock. I now have my car back running better then ever.

In my opinion, if I were you, I would RUN LIKE HELL from APR. They are completely incompetent. How in the world can you own a tuning company and treat customers like this? Furthermore, how can you NOT resolve a problem as simple as a checksum error? With enough research (good ole internet...gotta love it), I was able to resolve the problem with NO background in tuning whatsoever. Granted I do have a background in IT and I am an electrician, but should I be able to resolve a problem that APR has made (probably) hundreds of thousands supposedly doing?

....just my two cents, had to put it out there when I saw the thread. BEWARE!

Dr_Evil

I've had an APR chip for 6 years or so now and I'm generally satisfied with it. The problem is that I don't know if another product is better or worse, only that there are other satisfied customers of other products. Low and mid-range power is the most noticeable difference. I feel some slight roughness, at times, while floored and going beyond 4,000 rpm, but otherwise it's smooth. I feel like the tuners (I dare say engineers because the only engineers at APR I think are the software people that changed the ECU parameters in accordance with what the tuners/enthusiasts told them) were conservative in their design of the parameters beyond 4,000 rpm to avoid any uncertainty issues of reliability. Hence, probably the reason for the roughness I write about. Perhaps the sharp drop in torque at around that rpm causes it.

slowguy

I think that if you are lucky enough, and the tune "takes" with no problems whatsoever, you will probably be fine with APR. What I would be wary of is if there are any problems. They are absolutely not able to fix even the most minor hiccup if the tune happens to need any sort of adjusting. I would compare it to what hackers used to call "script kiddies". This is what it makes me think of. The hack would work fine if the "kiddie" could download it and push play but if any real hacking needed to be done a "script kiddie" wouldn't have the skill to actually hack. The seasoned tuners on nefmoto are leaps and bounds above what APR seem to be able to do. I think they probably have one or two people that write the tune and test and the "engineers" simply flash the tune. My specific problem happened to be due to a checksum error. APR was either totally in the dark or unable to repair the error. The nefmoto member I worked with was able to get the tune correct within a matter of minutes and APR couldn't resolve THEIR OWN problem in 4 MONTHS.

I would go with anyone else unless you think you will get lucky and have no issues. If you have an ecu ending in 551 AA used typically in 04 slines - I would not send it to them. It is well known that the code on these ecu's can be very finicky and is prone to the notorius checksum problem. It will leave you 100% stranded.

As a result I have three ecu's now that I have all got working again after I wiped APR's tune. I am seriously considering trying out jfonz's "baby stage 3" tune on e85. This will leave me with a stock 551AA ecu, a stage 1+ tune on 551 N code, and possible a third jfonz tune.

2.7Lturbo

if this kinghammer wanted to make power he would take better advantage of his local scene ;P