# How 'boosty' is the A3 APR Stage 2 tune?



## davera3 (Jul 26, 2014)

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a stage 2 tune for my A3. It looks like stage 2 will help smooth out overall power, make it less peaky and more linear, since its also my DD. However, I just heard from an APR Stage 2 Golf R user that he's unhappy with how boosty the tune feels, and the sudden surge of power that comes on.

Any Stage 2 A3 users that went came from a Stage 1 to provide some feedback? It would be greatly appreciated before I drop the $$$ for the upgrade.


----------



## 27turbocars (Jun 26, 2016)

The only person that I know that is running a fast stage II is that dude (username kjcooperncsu). He runs like 11.9 @115 but he has all kinds of upgrades including IS38, intercooler and off course the stage II(not APR though).

I haven't done the stage II yet because I am 50/50 about keeping the A3 or letting it go. I need my launch control to work otherwise I can't keep doing engine upgrades o brakes upgrades or suspension upgrades. Still waiting on APR to create a proper file.

You only want feedback from APR stage II right? The one thing that I was able to gather for sure is that it seems that the stage II are more reliable/smoother when they have a HFC cat properly located. It appears that the test pipes might cause the turbo to undesirably surge on boost. The software controls the solenoid boost cycle and all of that but from talking to a couple of tuners already it seems like you want to have some resistance on the downpipe (cat).

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?7895921-My-A3-build-the-making-of-an-11-second-A3


----------



## kjcooperncsu (Jan 5, 2015)

I really enjoyed the stage 2 tune in this car. It did a great job of smoothing it out and added great top end power. I really do recommend going with a bigger intercooler around this point though. I used an S3 intercooler for a whole at this power level and it worked ok. I got a good deal on used one. 

If you're looking for just better quarter mile times and you had to pick bt two upgrades, I'd go with a TCU tune vs stage 2. I shaved about . 2 seconds off my 60 which is good for almost .4 seconds in the quarter withe the Eurodyne TCU tune. I'm sure the APR TCU tune is even better


----------



## aj8 (Aug 28, 2014)

I might be the most similar to your situation - I DD my A3 and tuned simply for the increased performance in everyday situations. I had APR Stage 1 for a little over a year, then upgraded with a downpipe and Stage 2 around January of this year. Stage 1 had a bit of a boosty feel, in that you felt you were riding an increasingly steep power curve once the turbo kicked in. The first thing I noticed with Stage 2 was that feeling had been diminished to a trace. 

There's still a noticeable on-off kick if you're on the gas (but haven't downshifted yet) and pass the point where the turbo gets going. Other than that, I wouldn't consider Stage 2 to be boosty at all compared to Stage 1.


----------

