APR's ECU upgrades are one of the best horsepower-per-dollar modifications for the new 1.8T engine. The APR Stage I ECU Upgrade is designed to work without requiring other changes to the vehicle's hardware. With the ECU Upgrade alone, APR's Calibration Experts measured higher peak figures of 298 ft-lbs of torque and 251 horsepower with 93 AKI octane fuel. Large gains were seen throughout the power band, including an additional 97 ft-lbs of torque and 81 horsepower.

APR Stage II ECU Upgrade is designed to work with APR's upcoming Exhaust Downpipe and is a free upgrade for APR Stage I customers. When combined with APR's Intake System, peak power and torque figures grew further to 256 horsepower and 304 ft-lbs of torque. While peak power did not increase by much, the additional hardware allowed the turbo to spool faster and power carried better towards redline, resulting in up to 16 horsepower more.

The increase in power directly translates to an exceptionally quicker vehicle. Using advanced GPS measuring devices, APR's engineers conducted several acceleration tests. During the 0-125 mph sprint, the APR Stage I equipped vehicle finished 22.048 seconds sooner that stock and the APR Stage II equipped vehicle was an additional 3.112 seconds earlier!