What's the difference?

[MrTackalakalaka]

Hi everyone.

Been wondering for a while now what the difference is with the A3s/S3s.

Ive seen people post stuff saying their car is a Pre facelift, ARY etc etc.


Whats there difference between them, what do they mean.

I don't know what my S3 is. It's a 2000 (W) has the old style S3 badges.

Can anyone explain for me?

Thanks
Scott

 

[<tuffty/>]

Yours is a pre facelift S3 with an APY engine code... 2001 was when they facelifted the A3/S3 range changing subtle things like the lights and aspects of the interior... mechanically they are still pretty similar but facelift cars got wideband ECU's as this was part of VAGs development into leaner burn engines to meet EU emission regulations...

From the S3 perspective, APY was narrow band ECU (ME7), had secondary air injection (emissions) and was 210ps.. AMK (still 210ps) was the first facelift engine code... it ditched SAI and went for VVT instead and gained wideband lambda (ME7.5 ECU)... BAM was the late 2001 to the end of the 8L S3 run and was essentially the same as AMK but 225ps (mapping change is all) All S3's are drive by wire

Early A3's were AGU engine code and were drive by cable... had a fairly dumb ECU (ME3.8) comparatively and were 150ps or hp (not sure which).. A3 quattro's were drive by wire and came with ME7 ECU's... power was 180ps/hp/whatever... facelift A3's got wideband ECU's and the engine code AUM...

Thats the basics... there is more info of course but depends on how much you really care lol...

<tuffty/>

 

[MrTackalakalaka]

Awesome! Thanks very much Tuffty! Definitely explained enough for me! Haha

 

[S3featesV9]

Also have a read of the buying guide, massive amounts of info in there dude. Explains all this in more depth

 

[jojo]

A3 vs S3, body wise, S3s only come in 3dr and have a wider body comprising of wider front wings and wider rear quarters. Plus different sills/lower door trims, different front and rear bumpers, and a larger boot spoiler.

 

[sportquattro]

Pre facelift interiors are best, later ones seem to wear out buttons for a passtime, and IMHO the pre facelift centre console looks far nicer but thats just an opinon.

 

[VAG-Slag]

2001 was when they facelifted the A3/S3 range

This was always my understanding but my car was delivered to the show room in February 2000 (i still have the original hand book with the delivery stamp in it) but is a face lift AMK... Admittedly it is a European import but surely that shouldn't make a difference?

 

[MrTackalakalaka]

thanks for all the info!!

Thanks S3feates i shall check it out!!

 

[Tooks]

This was always my understanding but my car was delivered to the show room in February 2000 (i still have the original hand book with the delivery stamp in it) but is a face lift AMK... Admittedly it is a European import but surely that shouldn't make a difference?

I don't think there was a hard and fast date, it's just clear that at some point during the 2000 model year builds, they switched to the facelift. Yours is probably one of the first of those. It's safest to say that all 2001 model year cars were facelifts.

Of course, it could be that yours was a pre-production test mule that was flogged to death in the four corners of the earth!

 

[TOM.S]

This was always my understanding but my car was delivered to the show room in February 2000 (i still have the original hand book with the delivery stamp in it) but is a face lift AMK... Admittedly it is a European import but surely that shouldn't make a difference?

my a3 is also a year 2000 ,september 2000 to be more acurate and its a facelift already

 

[rhubarb4]

S3 facelift FTW