APR Stage I - The Beginning

APR Stage I badge

So what does this mean for a mere mortals? :-)
APR it's a global company, that tightly working with the Volkswagen group in order to provide high quality aftermarket performance products for Audi, VW, SEAT, Skoda and Porsche vehicles.
It provides hardware and software components that perfectly work together.
My previous car (SEAT Ibiza Cupra 1.4TSI twin-charger) was with APR Stage I engine management software and I was more than happy with it.
So for this car I decided to stay with APR  - simply because I trust them. My Ibiza Cupra passed more than 55K km. on their software without any problems.

OK. "Stage I" - what is this exactly?
It's an ECU remap procedure, that allow to extract more power and flexibility from the engine hardware, than was done by the manufacturer. APR do that without any compromises in the reliability or quality - that's proven by many tests and track races for maximum endurance.

So what is outcome from this stage?
"Stage I" means: simply upgrading the existing ECU management software without doing anything else. Not touching, removing or adding physically anything into the car.
The result: up to 306 horsepower and 397 Nm of the torque. Nice achievement only by software upgrade! The real power of 2.0TFSI engine is come from 2500 rpm and it runs... to the cut-off without any problems. :-)
Now, I'm studying to control this power and starting thinking of the next Stage. :-)

Source: VAG 2.0TFSI - APR ECU Upgrade

Odometer: 14,330 km.

Quick detailing

My car is one year old and it's look like a new.
I like to maintain the car's clean & fresh look - no matter how old it is.
Exactly for this purpose I bought some bottles with light polish and glaze. Before the polish, I used the light clay bar from Optimum, it's very easy to work with. Polish was made by hands with Chemical Guys Hex logic white hand-pad.

My car detailing set

It took around 3 hours of work, including the wash. The effect was clear - as you can see on the photos.
The paint coating has become very smooth and saturated under the sunlight.

Odometer: 14,050 km.

15K service

When I received the car, the odometer was at 13,670 km.
I decided to perform 15K maintenance service as soon as possible. Made it in the local dealer garage.
Generally, this car is covered by 2-year (or 100K km.) warranty from the dealer, so until it ends I prefer to be served in the dealers garage, although it's not required by his clause.
I always inspect and check all spares and the work, that done with my vehicle.

So what is done for 15K?
1. Changed the oil (Valvoline 5W-40, VW 502 00) and the oil filter (original VAG for 2.0 TFSI).
2. Made a tire swap (along one side).
3. Overall car inspection (brakes, brake pads, leakages). All OK.

This service costs was 513 NIS: 323 NIS to garage for work (and for small spares) and 190 NIS for my oil. It took around an hour of work.

Service receipt

Odometer: 13,700 km.

Car Purchase

After long time search for the new family car candidate, finally it was found at the country-wide trade-in company, called "Autodeal" (or אוטודיל in Hebrew), that tightly works with the local VW, SEAT, Skoda and Audi dealer "Champion Motors".

"Autodeal" (אוטודיל) residence in Bnei Brak, Israel.

It was not easy to part with my previous car (SEAT Ibiza Cupra, 2011 year), but we must to move. I wanted five-door sport hatchback, and this SEAT Leon exactly falls into this definition. Now it's my daily car.

My plan for this blog is to tell you all about car's life. I mean: service, maintenance, possibly failures and tuning process.
If you interested in cars or in car-tuning - stay tuned. This car will be going through a changes, to get a little more power than in stock, but without any compromises in reliability and safety.
I hope, that my blog will be interesting for your - my reader.