APR Stage II+FP

The downpipe was fitted and ECU flashed with the new Stage II+FP program.

APR downpipe

APR catalytic converter

The purpose of the specialized downpipe is to remove the stock exhaust system flow restriction, wich in turn is allowing to gain more boost from turbocharger and to produce more power and torque on the whole rev range, especially on its high section.
Catalytic convertor ensures that the level of emissions is conforms to Euro standards.

Odometer: 46,800 km

Suspension upgrade

The time of suspension tuning is come.

I decided to improve a bit my Cupra's road behaviour. The goal was to get less body rolls, more precise response to steering wheel and as result - get a quicker cornering speed.

Eibach B12 Sportline kit and APR anti-sway bars became my choice.

The set is ready for install

Front suspension installed

 Each anti-sway bar has 3 rigidity settings that can be adjusted according to the driver requirements. I wanted to reduce a car's under-steering a little, so as an initial setup I putted a front bar to its soft setting and rear to the middle rigidity.
After testing this setup on the track I decided to leave these settings. They are perfect for the daily driver.

Rear suspension installed

Before

After

The car response to steering wheel is much more precisely now, especially in high speed cornering - it's just going to the desired direction and perform this almost without any delays. Its allowing a slight sliding inside the corners and it easily controlled with accelerator and steering wheel -  the car is continuing to advance into the right direction. Car responses to the direction change is quite fast.
Driving comfort almost not affected, comparing to the stock suspension: it's slightly shaky on bumpy road, but not so much. Also, I think that the overall car look is better now.
Now it is much more fun to drive it on winding roads. Also surprisingly, the car is very calm now in the straight line on high speed.

In conclusion:
This kit is a solid addition to the car's road grip ability. I'm more than happy with this upgrade.

Odometer: 42,500 km.

APR Stage I+ ECU update

After all preparations, that were made before, all that's left to do - is to update the engine ECU with the new program. That's was done at the local APR dealer store: PIT STOP Israel.

ECU programming in progress

After ~15min: ECU programming is done

OK. So what we have here?
ECU was updated to the new APR v3.4 program, that was released a month before.
Now, the new ECU program "understands", that we have the upgraded fuel pump and it will adjust it's parameters in order to extract more power, especially in middle-high RPM's range. Personally, I feel that there also is growth in torque in low range RPM's.
The engine now is more flexible and produce more torque, than before - thanks to VWR cold air-intake and HPFP upgrade, the upgrades that have been made earlier.

You may see the (power/torque)/RPM graph below:

APR Stage I+FP+Intake VS Stock

The bottom line:  335 HP and 450 NM of torque at the engine crank and more important thing: very smooth power delivery through the all engine RPM's range.
It's a +70 HP and +100 NM gain from the stock Cupra R/Audi S3 engine. I think, it's a great result for relatively low amount of money: less than 2500$ is spent on the tuning parts.

Now, driving a car is become a real pleasure:
The linear throttle response in low-middle RPM's ends with the burst of the power in the high RPM's range. Now, I want to drive this car all the time. :-)

More info on APR 2.0 TFSI ECU upgrade:
APR VAG 2.0T FSI 230-272HP - APR ECU Upgrade

Odometer: 19,000 km.

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.