I have a Skoda Octavia - 2L TSI engine with K03 turbo
APR Stage1 was heaps fun and a quick win upgrade
The mid range torque improvement was awesome,
but the top end was weak and actually worse than stock
(less top end power and slow to rev out)
I put a down pipe onto it and upgraded to APR Stage2
Only 20kw!~25kw more but power band is much wider/richer/cleaner,
pulls from lower RPM and the top end was fully cleaned up, goes hard
Midrange torque further improved - overtaking is a total none event now
I've master the art of teasing kids in Commodore's and Subaru RS's,
they think they will blow me away and undertake me,
I don't use all my power, just enough to keep my nose a little in front,
Great to see young kids getting hot and bothered and grabbing for gears
before having to bail out and stand on the brakes to avoid hitting a parked car
I have also added CAI and FMIC - no significant performance benefit
For VAG daily drives I reckon DP & Stage2 is all you need
It's highly effective from both cost and performance points of view
Intercooler and intake have no impact on ECU program
(If you do get any gains from CAI the MAF and ECU will deal with it)
Check with your chip tuner - for APR (on paper) it's about 20kw~25kw but the real world performance and usability is much more significant
Yeah, I hear you...
FWD is a modern practical thing but it gets very messy over ~180kw
In really conditions I've actually reverted to the stock ECU program
Car is useless in the wet below 50km/h
Even in the dry, front wheel spin from standing starts in 1st is a pain in the arse
You just have to exercise a lot of self control and be super smooth