Honestly, I’d prefer to be kept out of this drama fest. I was wrangled into it over questions of my family - but those issues were addressed and the parties involved took responsibility and apologized. Yes, we bought this beautiful URS4 from them, APR had no further need for it and it was a business arrangement that worked in favor for all parties. We have no issues with the company at this time, and they have none with us.
-Elaine
No matter how you’d like to spin this it didn’t look good for you. This is why the comments were posted. You failed to mention the car in your glowing review. Kinda a big thing to leave out of your update if you ask me. Inevitably I want to see these kinds of reactions and reviews. I believe many of us that realize how destructive the loss of APR would be. With so many stories of bad issues it’s good to see one emerge showing issues resolved.
In case all these disclosures re: APR are all true (which look pretty promising already by now but I’m just trying to avoid being absolute here), I wish I’d never chosen their products. If I had the budget I would’ve switched my tune. Too bad I’ve got the pulley already so it really takes a meaningful amount of money for me to switch out everything APR. Still, I have to spit out my feeling because integrity, be it from a person or from an entity, is one of the most valuable thing to me. A company without decent ethical standards do not deserve my money no matter how good its products are.
In case there’s a viable way of keeping the pulley mod while being able to use the tune from another tuner, please kindly let me know. But then, APR does not lose a penny as I’ve already paid for the tune and will be just paying for another grand-ish for a new flash.
Isn’t their pulley nearly identical to the one giac /awe uses?
Only problem is they are probably going to say you need to buy their $450 pulley to get their stage 2 tune
Maybe not the only problem…just speaking from 30,000 feet
I’m in a similar boat, I do believe APR makes well engineered products, but not impressed how this has played out and how they’ve handled things. I wonder if GIAC will put on a similar “power play” swap for the 3.0T, I don’t see the pulley sizing being a major hindrance.
What I’ve been waiting on is the B8.5 program switching and the TCU tune, but I’m not really holding my breath on the timeline. GIAC already has these capabilities, so we’ll see if they decide to offer incentives for people to switch.
Actually, all this information in the one post that was brought here, was pieced together from multiple post I made. They weren’t actually related in any way and somehow now they are. In one post I had told my forum - the one that I speak to daily and have for years and that knows what going on (all of it) that I had made an appearance at their BBQ this weekend, and during that visit, Arin took the initiative to pull me aside and to apologize to me for any harm or hurt he caused. This was the post where said that I was impressed he did so, and that he was forgiven. They knew all I wanted was an admittance of action and a genuine apology. Which I received - hence, #waterunderthebridge. With Colby no longer at APR, there was not a single person left there that I felt any animosity towards, so I have nothing left to discuss regarding their issues.
In this post, I continued to answer a questions members of the forum had asked me in text - what was the atmosphere like. The atmosphere was different. The employees seemed much more relaxed.
Now, on the post where I put a picture of the car? Yes, it was a completely separate post on the same forum. People asked me in that post where I got the car and I responded at 23:08:35 with: “Long story short - those in charge at APR got in touch with Simon to see if he wanted it. It was being built for their project reunion a few years back when he worked there. It would have been crazy to turn down the opportunity.”
When I had made a ‘teaser’ post about it a few days earlier, I didn’t go into any detail because the check we wrote to pay for the car hadn’t cleared yet, so imo it wasn’t official yet.
So again, those with whom I was discussing all of this with are people I speak to daily and have spoken with since 2004…so there wasn’t the confusion that obviously gets added when multiple posts are mixed into one and brought over to a forum that doesn’t know anything about me.
Regardless. I had issues with something an old friend said about my family a year ago. I addressed those issues, they were admitted to and an apology was received - days after we completed a business transaction to purchase a car.
Arin is an old friend? ???
We all worked together in peace for quite a while before things got bad. For years everyone there and their spouses were close. At one point, years ago, we were all friends. I almost would venture to say it was that way until Colby was hired.
Colby really has nothing to do with Arin’s behavior and we all know that. His actions and attitudes are a mixture of his own personality and what was requested from him at the top. APR has never been a “peaceful” company with the amount of employee turnover.
Last weekend I went to Show & Go and I was chit chatting with a few of the attendees. Some had APR’s software, others uni, um,revo, etc… Most of these people had mild mods and a basic tune.
While chit chatting about mods, tunes, etc… I mentioned that I heard that “APR was sold, possibly down sizing, blah blah” and guess what? most had no idea and did not care.
Additionally, a guy at work (on his 3rd apr-tuned gti mk4,5,6) looking to trade his mk6 with a 7, he also had no idea that “APR was sold”, did not seem to care and will continue with APR.
Basically, other than people with “personal” ties to APR and project cars who’s been “screwed” by APR, the average-chip-Joe does not care.
I’m guessing this is because the average chip-Joe doesn’t care about the actual performance gains from their chip. As long as it “feels” like something and they can claim they are indeed “chipped” or “tuned” regardless of whether it actually has any impact is sufficient to sound cool at meets.
Now if a chip or tune causes damage to their car, they’ll start caring but they’ll be lone rangers unless a good number of people experience the same problem but that rarely ever happens.
Yes the average Joe who spent $500 APR doesn’t care…why would he? But the people buying $20k superchargers or looking at a purchase of that size should definitely care about future support.
The way things were handled towards the end before mangrove stepped in is still interesting. Lots of people were told to screw off, haven’t been paid, lots of endings issues and it overall questions the reliability and the amount of testing APR has on these high powered kits.
Most of the super-duper-chargers, flux capacitors and time machine projects are usually more of PR generators than money makers. If the “new” APR focuses on the average-Joe and basic upgrades, they will be just fine. However, It won’t hurt to have 1 or 2 PR generator (2000whp R8), but having 100 projects/PR-machines at once drains resources from $money makers.
Not sure I agree with that. APR seems to have been investing heavily in the 1740 before it got shelved for the S4 and RS5. I don’t think they were seeking good PR - but rather to generate a profit.
Which is why I still have a glimmer of hope that under new management APR will do right by me. With Colby gone , at least one hurdle is removed. When Simon was @ APR , my account and my dealings with APR were flawless. When he left I was disappointed but then he started up VWR again and looks like we are back on track.
as for the URS4 - beautiful machine
That’s the same with everything. People still buy fucking PES supercharger kits. Doesn’t mean PES isn’t dogshit…just means people’s ignorance knows no bounds.
Anyway, I don’t care personally about the ownership changes. I think they’re good. APR is a key player in the market place by sheer size alone, so having them go bust would suck. Having them under smarter stewardship than the guy who thought having a JET and a RACE TEAM were a good use of company funds…that can only be better for the company and the industry.
THe concerns that have come out of this debacle that I think are most pertinent are
the company isn’t exactly in great shape, so if you’re purchasing a big item from them, you may want to hold off and see how this shakes out. if this bleeds money for another 12 or 18 months, I reckon Mangrove unitowners will say ‘OK fuck it, what’s next?’
the company’s products have been suffering…not sure about you but when the supercharger for the RS4 is on 3 forum cars that we know of…and two of them blow the motor in the first couple of months…and the third is a guy APR is paying for use of his car (and whose car was recently posted on the RSworx facebook page with no motor in it…a pic they almost INSTANTLY deleted) that doesn’t sit well with me. We have also heard a number of stage 3 horror stories from turbo2 cars, so these are not ‘business as usual’ things at APR. These are legitimate changes to the culture that are TERRIBLE. They’ve gone from the safe guys to the ‘let’s practice on customer cars and blow shit up’ guys in a matter of 12 months.
When we discussed the RS4 supercharger kit with APR reps here on the site, we asked about boost, knowing that it’s an NA high compression car, and having heard from JHM that they weren’t comfortable past 8 or 9 PSI, it seemed odd that APR was running a TVSr1740 at boost levels that in their words were ‘irrelevant’. WHen they put a gauge on the car in alabame spring weather (70-75 degrees) it registered 14.4 PSI…in other words in dense north-east/north-west air, that’s pushing 16 PSI. To say it doesn’t matter is comical. A bit arrogant, their new tuner. Considering the trail of blown up stage 3 cars he has left behind, I wouldn’t be shocked if Mangrove canned him. Maybe AMVIVA will hire him lol.
Absolutely spectacular post. I’ve been thinking the same thing. I honestly have held back posting anything as I’m someone that believes the loss of APR isn’t good for the market.
Still I’ve wondered what version of APR are we really going to end up with? Perhaps I should start a new thread for my thoughts here. You’d have to wonder if APR is going to really pull out of this?The bread and butter for APR is software and are any of us so sure about their new software in the past few years? Unless I’m mistaken over the past few years the quality of what we’ve come to expect from APR has been shattered. The list of destruction at the hands of their new tuner looks terrible
3 RS4 motors on two separate cars.
At least 1 1.8t stage 3 build
At least 1 b8 S4 motor trying to build the stage 3 kit. Speculation that there was more.
At least 1 golf R motor on stage 1 tuning.
At least. 1 A3 stage 3 that was getting built in house for a customer.
Complaints of software not passing readiness on both the RS4 and TTRS
Complaints of new tunes not being driver friendly.
The 2012 and newer S4 tunes are having power issues that everyone but APR seems to be able to fix.
I believe I missed a few. This’d be what I gathered from these threads.
To me the old APR was strong and realized being the fastest wasn’t the most important. After reading just how reckless the new tunes are and their effects on people’s cars. Changes in sales staff and management aren’t solving the main problem.
From an observer on the sidelines, this is what I’ve taken away as well. I believe the common consensus on APR of old was that they safely produced tunes, maybe not the most aggressive performance, but added performance safely. Based on what is coming out of late, this seems to no longer be the case. Although I am not in the market for a tune (or supercharger as they cancelled that one), I think that I, like most, are watching to see what happens here under Mangrove and hoping for the best. Like others, I believe a strong (read not reckless tuning) APR can only be good for the industry as a whole.
Wasn’t sure on where I should post this, but looks like another RS4 is having motor issues with the 1740 kit, I found him on instagram and made a comment on post, ill see if I can get him to sign up here.
Photo one includes him talking about finally getting it running after the stalling issues with Flyingtomato,
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/25/c7934a3eae859ebb502a0b3cb2d5f935.jpg
and the second photo is talking how he is down on power and blowing blue and black smoke out the tail pipe.
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/25/b8984026e858a7fe7ecf563f1bf68923.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/25/6853498787eff4e7be9f5e7df65f13d4.jpg
It’s a white RS at pitstopmotoring, I believe it’s their shop car / shop owner’s car.
Wasn’t sure on where I should post this, but looks like another RS4 is having motor issues with the 1740 kit, I found him on instagram and made a comment on post, ill see if I can get him to sign up here.
Photo one includes him talking about finally getting it running after the stalling issues with Flyingtomato,
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/25/c7934a3eae859ebb502a0b3cb2d5f935.jpg
and the second photo is talking how he is down on power and blowing blue and black smoke out the tail pipe.
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/25/715d545b81c8814e226f51707332b74c.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/25/f85448da6bfafa1e646ab423a37018df.jpg
It’s a white RS at pitstopmotoring, I believe it’s their shop car / shop owner’s car.