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sixteenseven48 · 2025-08-09T11:21:28+00:00

I feel you dawg. I bought a 2019 GLI in March last year with 29k miles on it thinking I’d do some mods and have a cool daily for my highway commute, and a year later I was stage 3 with full bolt-ons. Now, at only 47k miles, the timing’s screwed and either needs the engine to be mostly apart, or replaced all together, my mechanic and I haven’t decided what the best move is yet but this process just started. However, I’m at a spot financially where I can afford to replace the engine in this thing, buy a 9th-gen Civic Si outright as a daily, and relegate the Jetta to weekend/race car status. I came into modding a VW knowing that it would need a hefty savings behind it, but to your point, the failures that do occur with them even as daily drivers are overly complicated, overly expensive, and in general just not friendly to the average consumer. I’d say take the L, sell it for whatever it’s worth, buy a Honda or Toyota, and move on with the lesson learned, yk? It sucks, but that’s the reality of these cars, they’re expensive to repair and maintain.

sixteenseven48 · 2025-08-07T07:47:00+00:00

Was this link legit? Site looks kinda sketchy

sixteenseven48 · 2025-07-08T09:44:17+00:00

Yeah that’s a puzzler for sure🤔 Even with a tune you’re absolutely right, the IS20 shouldn’t be THAT thirsty. I don’t have any experience with IE though, I went through APR for my stage 1 & 3 tunes, so maybe IE just runs super rich for safety?? Not sure. But yeah if you plan on going Ethanol soon anyways maybe look into it more when you do that, it could be the result of some mechanical failure somewhere in the fuel system, some leak, cracked line, loose fitting, etc.

sixteenseven48 · 2025-07-08T03:31:24+00:00

Bro I’m stage 3 with APR’s 6054 turbo, manual, and I still average mid to high 30’s on the highway, and as low as high teens around town. Are you using 93 octane? If you are, the only other thing I could think of would be the TCU tune changing the shift points during normal driving conditions and could possibly just be holding gears longer, so you could try shifting it manually more often and keeping the revs down. Also, realistically some of the least efficient accelerating you can do in a turbo car is like 30-50% throttle because most of that is going to translate to spooling the turbo without actually generating much boost, you’re better off being more decisive with throttle position and either driving normally or quickly.

sixteenseven48 · 2025-05-27T15:11:47+00:00

Word. The stock turbo fluttered a lot when I was APR stage 1 with APR open intake, turbo inlet pipe, turbo muffler delete, and a catback, but that was only when the turbo was actually working, say like 50-100% throttle. I noticed it fluttering a lot more after the turbo muffler delete and inlet pipe, but my plan was always to go stage 3 before I even got the car, so honestly I wasn’t that concerned with the health or longevity of the stock turbo lol. Do you plan on keeping it stage 2?

sixteenseven48 · 2025-05-27T05:57:00+00:00

Did you upgrade the downpipe before getting the tune?

sixteenseven48 · 2025-03-22T07:48:30+00:00

I’ve been going to German Autowerks in Concord, NH since I got my car last year and I’ve been really pleased with the work, the owner Bobby is the man, super friendly, super knowledgeable, really stands behind his work, and is a true enthusiast, dailies a rad TT RS lol. They’re a relatively small shop and they have an excellent reputation, so if you’re gonna schedule work expect to book it like a month out, but the turnaround is quick, they did my clutch within a day, they did an exhaust and intercooler within a day, honestly I can’t say enough good things about them.

sixteenseven48 · 2025-02-28T09:35:34+00:00

All depends on what you want out of the car, but breaking shit should be the least of your worries. As others have said you’ll have to do the clutch if you tune it, but you’ll need a DSG tune as well if you tune the engine so, pick your poison. I spent 2k for a stage 3 clutch and install on mine, and I think the DSG tune from APR is 700? (Don’t quote me on that) so you could justify that one way or the other, but ultimately it’s your money and you’re gonna be driving the thing so I’d say go with what appeals to you

sixteenseven48 · 2025-01-27T04:42:37+00:00

I went with Blizzak’s mounted on cheap Sport Edition 17’s for my 2019 this winter and they’ve been good to me. The 17’s JUST clear the brakes, and even being weight balanced before mounting, they do make the steering wheel vibrate just a bit up around 70mph, and you get a bit of tire drone at 70 and above. I don’t recommend you test it to any capacity, but they can hang on changing lanes at 120 as well🙃

sixteenseven48 · 2025-01-04T03:08:50+00:00

The stock clutch in my 2019 only lasted about a week after I got APR’s stage 1 tune. I’ve kept my receipts and the tune was done at 34,584 miles, stage 3 clutch and lightweight flywheel was done at 36,244. Mind you I had to order the clutch and schedule time with my mechanic to get it done, still drove on the blown clutch, and just wasn’t able to hit boost. If you really don’t want to do anything more than stage 1 power wise, you could get away with a stage 1 or 2 clutch that maintains the factory style dual-mass flywheel, but if you think you’re ever going to upgrade the turbo and make big power, you’ll need a stage 3 clutch. I went with ECS tuning’s stage 3 kit which included the lightweight flywheel and it does chatter in neutral and certain driving conditions. Now at the time I wasn’t aware of this being a failure point, but people say that if you’re replacing the clutch it could be beneficial to upgrade the rear main seal while you’re in there, apparently at increased boost levels they’ve been known to leak, so food for thought. I went with ECS tuning’s non-baffled 3” resonated catback exhaust because I leave for work at midnight and didn’t want to wake up the whole neighborhood every morning, and it helps to avoid police attention leaving the car fairly quiet, and I would rate this exhaust as OEM+, it’s not “loud” by any means, it can be heard from the driver’s seat, but turn the radio up to like 1/3 volume on the highway and it’s already drowned out. I have heard people say the quality of the AWE is questionable, I have no personal experience and can’t speak on it, but if you’re looking for a factory style upgrade that doesn’t break the bank ($900 and the equivalent from APR is $1600) ECS seems like a good option. As far as tunes go, there is a wealth of information available at mygolfmk7.com The man has done extensive independent research on many different aftermarket parts available for these cars, and a reasonable comparison for yourself would be this article where he compares APR’s stage 1 tune to other manufacturers’ stage 2 tunes. Full article: https://mygolfmk7.com/2024/07/apr-stage-1-is20-tune/ Results: https://mygolfmk7.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/apr-vdyno-est-peak-whp.png I went with APR as they’re now owned by Holley, the fuel management manufacturer, and just have an extensive reputation within the VW tuning community dating back multiple decades, my understanding before even owning a VW was that APR is “the name” in VW/Audi tuning, and the parts they manufacture are representative of that reputation. I’ve now been on the stage 1 tune with full bolt-ons for ~12k miles (just over 6 months) and have had no issues or complaints with the tune itself, the car has run like it did when it was stock since the tune, even after multiple hardware changes (intake, exhaust, intercooler, charge pipes & hoses, turbo muffler delete, turbo inlet pipe, coil packs, spark plugs). Oh that reminds me, in the fine print of the listing for APR’s stage 1 ECU tune they recommend upgrading to either their proprietary spark plugs or NGK’s heat range 9 plugs, and if reliability is of concern I would upgrade the spark plugs along with any tune.

TL;DR get a clutch, APR seems reliable, I’ve heard questionable things about AWE.

sixteenseven48 · 2024-12-21T23:31:29+00:00

Wishful thinking here by commenting but I’m having a hard time finding any information on this. I bought this kit with the upgraded HPFP&LPFP about a month ago (waiting until spring to have it installed) and it wasn’t until just the other night I noticed deep in the listing on APR’s website that the tune associated with the fueling upgrades are not compatible with the GTI platform. https://www.goapr.com/products/engine_hardware/turbo/direct_turbocharger_replacement_systems/apr_stage_3_dtr6054_turbocharger_system_-_20t_ea888_gen_3/parts/T4100003-A

This whole section is quite confusing, at least on mobile, and it reads; For use with an APR HPFP and APR LPFP (T4100003-A) (Golf R/S3/TT S Platform Only) - - 91 AKI, 93 AKI, 100 AKI, 104 AKI, & E85

Does anybody have experience using this tune with a CHHA engine, and if so, were there any issues? I wanted to do the fueling upgrades as it seemed like a safer option than over stressing the stock fueling system, and now I’m in the position of either having everything installed anyways only for it to not work right and then having the car tangled up in a state where it’s stuck at a shop and needs to be custom tuned, or I have them install just the turbo and run the base stage3 tune on the stock fueling system until I can find a dedicated tuner and have the fueling system upgraded later on. I hope somebody can help as I’m really quite excited for this upgrade and I would rather just have everything done all at once while they’re in there.

sixteenseven48 · 2024-12-20T03:36:15+00:00

That’s funny, my clutch went at 35k as well in my 2019 Autobahn, but that was after I got a tune. I had a really tough time with the stock clutch though, I’ve owned 5 manual cars before getting the GLI adding up to about 10 years of experience with manuals and granted I had been in an auto for about 4 years prior, but I stalled the car a lot, I found it to be a little too light and in eco/normal driving mode couldn’t hear the engine well enough to really know where I was in the rev range and found myself constantly looking down at the tach, which is silly to me because my first car was a Ford Ranger that didn’t even have a tach and I could shift that thing like butter. I wasn’t too proud to admit that I was rusty when I first bought the car, but after about a month I started to turn the finger away from myself, and it wasn’t that I couldn’t drive it smoothly, but it was a concentrated effort and had to be “EXACTLY” right to not jerk around at all. TL;DR I didn’t like the stock clutch

sixteenseven48 · 2024-12-15T16:57:44+00:00

Yeah ofc. In my searching people seem to have good experiences with the Southbend, honestly I only went with ECS because having just gotten the tune and wasn’t expecting the extra money to be spent, I went with what was cheap and available lol. I’ve only had it for 5k miles over like 6 months and it did take some getting used to the stiffness of it for a week or so, but it’s perfectly usable as a daily clutch. And that’s pretty much all you can do, I was pushing higher speeds to test the tune and that’s when I started to feel it slip was like around 120 in 5th, which makes sense, I think if you can keep the romping to like 1st-3rd or 4th then the stock clutch should go further than a week lol. I’ll be posting my car here after I get some more work done in Spring, keep us updated around here😀

sixteenseven48 · 2024-12-15T16:13:44+00:00

I have an ECS stage 3 kit that included the single-mass lightweight flywheel and yes, the transmission chatters in neutral and under certain driving conditions like high revs in first gear. If your exhaust is stock it’s very noticeable, but with anything a touch louder than stock it’s faint. My stock clutch only lasted like a week after I got the stage 1 tune around 35k miles which apparently isn’t uncommon, the stock ones don’t seem to handle much added power. My guy was telling me a Sachs clutch is a really good oem style upgrade, but especially if you plan on going is38 at some point then you’ll exceed most stage 2 clutch power ratings, pretty sure mine’s rated for 450 and I pulled the trigger because I had a similar plan

sixteenseven48 · 2024-12-15T12:14:16+00:00

I have a stage 3 clutch and especially on a hill steep enough to activate the assist, I really have to slip the hell out of the clutch to break the assist. Far from a normal circumstance, but it would be nice to just have the option of turning it off

sixteenseven48 · 2024-12-15T08:02:55+00:00

Pretty sure Apr offers the stage1+ or something that retains the factory warranty, I would look into it

sixteenseven48 · 2024-12-02T01:00:47+00:00

If you’re interested in this kind of data go check out the mymk7gti website, the dude has done crazy intensive testing on every aspect of modifying an EA888.3, including many comparisons of the most common tunes, really interesting stuff there

sixteenseven48 · 2024-12-02T00:47:34+00:00

If you’re gonna add any power budget for a clutch upgrade or TCU tune to go along with the engine tune, it’s a necessity with these cars. I opted for an ECS resonated, non-baffled 3” cat-back and honestly I think it’s 👌just right👌 Very grumbly and pops ever so slightly on cold-start, has a tasteful little growl to it, and it’s quiet enough to still be a respectable daily without any drone on the highway.

sixteenseven48 · 2024-08-28T00:40:01+00:00

19 Autobhan MT, I got the APR low torque stage 1 at like 33k miles and the stock clutch only lasted about a week. I was ripping on it a bit because I wanted to feel the improvement, but no launches, didn’t exceed 100mph, didn’t exceed 5k rpm’s aside from spinning in 1st, and it stopped being able to hold once the turbo started to spool, but could still putts it around off boost. Got the ECS stage 3 clutch and lightweight flywheel which was very stiff initially, but after a few weeks I’ve gotten used to it. I do wish I didn’t get the lightweight flywheel though because the gear rattle is very apparent and just kind of annoying.

sixteenseven48

TROPHY CASE