The Itty Bitty NOVA VW Committee

[SlimKlim]

APR stage 1 doesn't let you keep the warranty unless you find a mod friendly dealer.  Up to them really.

APR Plus does let you keep your warranty.  But it costs more and it doesn't bump the power up as much as the normal stage 1 tune.

This is correct. Regular APR tunes have never retained the VW warranty. Best case scenario is a nudge and wink from a service advisor that they'll totally cover you if any issues arise. Which is good enough for some people, but I don't trust a service advisor as far as I can throw them, so that's always been a non-starter. 

APR Plus replaces the VW factory warranty with a warranty backed by APR. You cannot have warranty powertrain work done at a "normal" VW dealership, it needs to be tuned & serviced by a dealership that participates with the APR Plus program, or a tuning shop. The closest option for me is NGP in Lorton, so if I do end up pulling the trigger on it, I'll have to get the car down there for any powertrain work it needs.

EDIT: Oh and the goaprplus.com website still isn't updated, but they did recently change it so that the "Plus" tunes are the same power levels as the Stage 1. The MK7 GTIs get 305hp / 371lb-ft.