Should I "Tune" a new Jetta SE

[wn1998]

I recently purchased a 2014 VW Jetta SE with the 1.8L Turbo. The car was purchased with 15,500 miles and I have put about 600 miles on the car in the last three weeks.

Anyway, I was thinking about getting the APR 87 octane Tune. This will allow it to continue to run 87 fuel but will add and additional 34HP to the existing 170HP turbo charged engine.

Is there any reason that I should not tune the car. I'm not going to add any other bolt ons and really just want a little extra hp as it will be even more fun to drive!

The added power will only be seen at hard acceleration so I'm not too concerned about premature wear.

What do you guy think? The APR company is very reputable and the cost of the tune is about $500.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Any warranty concerns at all?

 

[KGMtech]

I have a 2004 VW 1.8T with the APR 91 tune. It made a difference but not as much as they advertise IMHO.

I don't understand why they would bother with a 87 octane tune, as that is the lowest octane you can purchase...I'd understand a 89 octane tune better. It only allows the turbo to generate more boost, provided there is no knocking from pre-ignition.

If you proceed, just reset the ECM each time the car goes into VW for service or warranty repairs. If you melt pistons or cause a failure of the turbo...you might be on your own if VW can prove your APR mods caused the problems. Not likely, but something to consider.

 

[Rand]

I wouldnt bother or go with a 93 tune for actual results.

 

[eljefino]

I don't expect VW to have much of a sense of humor about this if something went wrong under warranty. And if you sued them, a jury wouldn't think highly of you, after "dieselgate". VW would paint you as an evil polluter.

That said, find a VW forum and gather a consensus.

 

[wemay]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I don't expect VW to have much of a sense of humor about this if something went wrong under warranty. And if you sued them, a jury wouldn't think highly of you, after "dieselgate". VW would paint you as an evil polluter.

That said, find a VW forum and gather a consensus.


This^^

 

[panther427]

Running premium should give you a power bump on its own. Would be cheaper thing to try out. Apr. Is a well respected company. If it was mine I would do it. But I can not leave anything I own stock

 

[stephen9666]

I think it's very likely this would cause you warranty issues.

Drive it for a couple years and then do it when you're out of warranty or when you no longer care about warranty.

But it's your money, if you want to do it then go ahead and do it. I wouldn't, though.

 

[DriveHard]

I would do it. Like Panther427 above, almost nothing I have is stock though...I guess if I blow an engine it is an opportunity to make it even better!

 

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

If this was a fun toy sure why not.
If this is a daily driver I would not mess with it.

 

[badtlc]

Tuning is fun and mostly safe but why not just go premium unleaded and treat that engine right?

 

[cptbarkey]

Your a nobody if you dont do it.

 

[wemay]

Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
Your a nobody if you dont do it.


LMAO! Love this.

 

[Scum_Frog]

For all things VW moding visit http://www.vwvortex.com/

Personaly, I left my VW 2.0T stock. I like it the way it is.

 

[GiveMeAVowel]

Originally Posted By: panther427
Running premium should give you a power bump on its own. Would be cheaper thing to try out. Apr. Is a well respected company. If it was mine I would do it. But I can not leave anything I own stock


I agree go with 93 premium octane to see what you think first, these engines respond VERY nicely to premium gas the ECU was designed to give you the best performance on premium. In this engine the difference between 87 and 93 WILL be noticeable.

 

[sciphi]

Like the others said, don't bother with a 87 octane tune. Get a 91+ octane tune or don't tune it.

I've had a 91+ octane tune on my Cruze for 114k miles. Not a typo. Day to day drivability is much better than stock. The extra power is nice when it's needed. For the extra few bucks a tank, it's worth it to me to have a car that goes fast when it needs to.

 

[Andrew1972]

Maybe. Some may argue reliability may be down but really just unknown:

A funny thing happened with wife's car which is adept to tunes. She has a 2005 legacy GT 5MT which has a WRX turbo motor in a Legacy wagon.

Her car with stock tune ended up burning a valve due to lean burn conditions for emmisions likely. The folks who do tunes(ECU or ECU/exhaust) do not encounter burned up valves.....Bummed about not going Stage 1 and getting an 15% power increase and saving me $2000 in valve job.

 

[Clevy]

I tune all my vehicles. SCT for mustangs. Diablosport for chryslers and Chevys.

It's pointless getting a 87 octane tune. If they claim 34hp with just tuning on 87 octane I'm calling bull right now.
The only tunes worth getting are the maxed out ones on 91-93 octane. And even those tunes aren't getting no 34hp jump.
The only way to even get close to those numbers is to put it on a dyno and time tune the heck out of it.
And mail order or canned tunes from any company aren't that precise.
From experience in order to get the most from canned or mail order tunes is to datalog and email that info to the tuning company,and they will take the info and tweak your specific vehicle.
Buy a tuner. You can make various adjustments on the device however if you want the best possible results take it to a speed shop and get it tunes on a dyno.
I've done both the mail order tunes and dyno tuning and the dyno was far easier.
And far better.

 

[silveravant]

The first time the car is serviced by VW for any reason and is hooked up to their computer your car will be labeled "TD1" and most of your warranty will be voided. Changing program back to "stock" will still be detected. Having car flashed back to stock may be detected.

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: silveravant
The first time the car is serviced by VW for any reason and is hooked up to their computer your car will be labeled "TD1" and most of your warranty will be voided. Changing program back to "stock" will still be detected. Having car flashed back to stock may be detected.


Not all tuners can be detected. Check with the individual tuner. The tune for my car has proven to be invisible to a casual scan, even by a dealer-level scan tool. The computer doesn't log a reflash, either. Things might be different in the VW world.

The tune for my car netted about 25 hp and 45-50 ft/lbs depending on the dyno and weather. 34 hp might be possible on a slightly larger engine with a slightly larger turbo. Again, it depends on the tuner and how conservative the factory tune is. Some, like my car's factory tune, are very conservative. Others might be pushing things a bit more than is apparent from the factory power figures.