S3 money pit?

[Y83OLK]

Hi all.

Does anyone else concider their s3 as a money pit? is it actually worth the repairs?

My log since purchase 10 days ago.
car - £6450 (knocked down from 6800)
insurnace - £450
tank of fuel to get home - £60
cambelt,tensioners, waterpump, 5l of red extreme?/ antifreeze - £130 ( +5 hours labour)
alternator pully, alternator belt - £40 (1 hour labour time)
tyres 2x mich pilot e's - £220
coilpack - £40
haldex filter, oil - £30
haldex filter spanner - £20
5ltr waxoyl - £20
Rear wheel bearing £25 (unknown labour...but will crack on with it this weekend)

lets hope the rest of the ownership is less expensive...
..atleast im capable of doing the work myself, to save a few pennies.

 

[emery1990]

Mines beeen ok "touchwood" just depends on luck really, good job ya knocked him down though. And you can do stuff yourself !

 

[Ian W]

In a word, yes lol

as the guy in audi said to me, if you can stomach the cost there gret cars :icon_thumright:

 

[Y83OLK]

just glad ive got a healthy overdraft lol.
forgot to add, front pads and discs - £120 (1 hour labour time)

 

[Paul @ Unit 9 Remaps]

should have bought a 150bhp Sport

 

[stevehart]

yeah, I've spent a fortune since getting mine about 2 months ago!

However, i have been getting many upgrades to get it perfect.

once all the things are done it should be good and is defo worth it!

you'll save a fortune doing it all yourself though

mine feels a million dollars now! and I just cant keep out of it!

 

[Y83OLK]

My gameplan was to get it running perfect before i start upgrading..
However, my "revo fund" has vanished now lol

 

[Kunit]

Well worth it but i dont count my labour time as its my baby. 5 hours for a t/belt and water pump? Why two tyres? are the others within 2mm?

 

[voorhees]

Does anyone else consider their s3 as a money pit?

Hell yeah £16k in 05 and I must have spent easy over £10k on it (no insurance/road tax included)

so yes its a money pit but its worth it....I think

 

[Dani_B19]

If i include my insurance and tax from owning it in january along with repairs etc its between £5-6k its cost me which im now wishing id bought an evo or scooby. live and learn.

 

[Y83OLK]

Well worth it but i dont count my labour time as its my baby. 5 hours for a t/belt and water pump? Why two tyres? are the others within 2mm?

Around 5 hours yeah, possibly quicker if i did it in my workshop rather than on my drive.
Had a puncture, drove it flat.. i always replace in pairs.
The rears are still tickedy boo.

 

[Essflee]

Hopefully once you've sorted these initial problems you'll be alright for a little while, mileage could play a big factor, mine had only done 40k when I bought it and I've had no problems but the money I paid I wouldn't want any, not to say I won't get them...

I'm sure it'll be worth it, you'll love the car...

 

[golf]

I feel like this every time I look out the window and see it on the driveway.

Can't wait to see the back of it, S3's are terribly dull.

 

[Kunit]

On the drive is a different story, i love my ramp!

 

[s3_kev]

seems a bit unfair to say you have spent loads when your including insurance petrol and a service/cambelt, some people have spent loads on initial perchase they can cost lots of money i no mine does but im fussy and want the car 100% or not to have it at all so if your fussy then any car will cost you £££'s

your soon spend loads more on goodies once your settled in the forum

 

[stevehart]

I feel like this every time I look out the window and see it on the driveway.

Can't wait to see the back of it, S3's are terribly dull.

Hmmmm, I'm on my second S3 now.

The first I got about 3 and half years back with 40K on the clock. I payed a fortune to get it but didn't have to spend much on it.

I got rid because the repayments were to high, it was standard apart from a remap - it was nice but boring and uninvolving.

my new one is older has 88K on the clock and already had many upgrades.
I have obviously payed alot less for it but have spend a small fortune on finishing off the upgrades (mainly suspension)

and now....

I have to say it is amazing!! it drives soo well, completely different to standard and I just cant keep out of it!! soo much fun!!

add to that all the quality, solidity and class

I'm so glad to have a completed one

so i can see where you are coming from but do the main changes and they are great

 

[stevehart]

seems a bit unfair to say you have spent loads when your including insurance petrol and a service/cambelt, some people have spent loads on initial perchase they can cost lots of money i no mine does but im fussy and want the car 100% or not to have it at all so if your fussy then any car will cost you £££'s

agreed!

 

[eagle_s3]

My S3 cost me my license! Though it's possibly a little unfair on the car as it doesn't drive it's self. lol.

My car cost me a fair amount to but, over the odds perhaps, but it had silly low milage for the year.

csweatherston, can I just ask. How did you find doing your cambelt etc on your drive?
I've seen a good few threads on Vortex going through the cambelt change on 1.8T but there all in jetta's or golfs. And from tuffty's BT thread he mentioned he had a mare of a time and had to undo the engine mounts etc.

I was thinking about doing the change myself if it was possible, get my hands dirty and but some sweat and tears into the car. if it's a real mare though i'll stump up the money and leave it to a garage.

Thanks.

 

[Essflee]

I feel like this every time I look out the window and see it on the driveway.

Can't wait to see the back of it, S3's are terribly dull.

I may be wrong but isn't that your second S3...

Hmmmm...

 

[Splab333]

Mine seems to be the ultimate money pit
I have had it 2 years in November after buying it for £8k and since:

Broken gearbox
New clutch
Dual mass flywheel
New temp sensor
4 Coil packs
Water pump
Cam belt / tensioners
Oil level dipstick collar
Head Gasket
Cracked head so another bought and full re con
O2 Sensor
Noisy turbo
Now missing even with 4 new coils and plugs
200bhp accordong to Vag Com logs (meant to be a 265bhp custom code re map)
Cost of getting Vag com
Cost of 2nd hand laptop to run Vag com
And to top it all off, a refused paint warrenty claim even after showing pictures of far worse corrosion that had been sucessful claims....

I dont wish well on the guy that sold it to me, his number conveniently got cancelled right after I bought it! Urgh, now im depressed lol, at least it has lots of new bits

 

[1animal1]

Can't wait to see the back of it, S3's are terribly dull.

I would have thought you'd want to see more of the front with the amount of time your be sat behind S3's in your slightly slower R32

 

[Essflee]

I would have thought you'd want to see more of the front with the amount of time your be sat behind S3's in your slightly slower R32

You know...

 

[1animal1]

above is a statement by Leggy children not a question :icon_thumright:

 

[Essflee]

above is a statement by Leggy children not a question :icon_thumright:

Lol... Just annoys me when people moan about the S3 at any given chance, sell it...then buy another one and moan again, if I didn't like a car I certainly wouldn't buy another one...

I love my car, maybe it just ruffles my feathers...

 

[Y83OLK]

Eagle - Its a a lot more difficult than the other 1.8T cambelt changes. having the Tb on the opposite side and a lot of different pipes etc makes it so much more time consuming.
If your not very competant with a spanner i would leave it to the garage.
to put perspective on it, I did my old dears Golf gti 1.8t belt change in around 1:30.. wheras my s3 took just over 5:00

 

[Splab333]

You gotta love them even when they do break

 

[S3 Paul]

I payed £11000 for mine 3 years ago.
Since then ive spent that again. Im picky and want things to be right. But the costs at times upset me. But the only time i think of selling it is when im waiting to get it back. !

 

[mattyboy199]

i hate to think how much i have spent on mine, a few years back i did £1400 on a full service & remap at jabba. Plenty more stuff has also been done to keep her healthy also.

 

[golf]

Lol... Just annoys me when people moan about the S3 at any given chance, sell it...then buy another one and moan again, if I didn't like a car I certainly wouldn't buy another one...

I love my car, maybe it just ruffles my feathers...

You're right this is my second one, and the only reason I've kept it for 10 months so far is because it works, it gets me from A to B in reasonable comfort.

The S3 was my dream car (attainable) when I passed my test, so when I got a chance to buy one I jumped at the opportunity. Maybe I was expecting too much but as I drove it back from Wolverhampton I realised it wasn't as fast or interesting as I had imagined. I sold it after 5 weeks. I then bought an R32 which had so much more character and despite what blinkered S3 drivers say is miles more desirable and better to drive than the 1.8 4 cylinder S3.

Unfortunately I had to sell the R32 because I was going to buy a Nissan 350Z but the ****** sold it to someone else and taken my £250 deposit! So I bought another S3 thinking I hadn't given the old one a chance, and my S3 mad friend somehow persuaded me to pick up a 2001 Nogaro Blue.

The S3 is a nice car, but it's pretty dull. No charm, no character and handles like a tank. The only redeeming features are the wide arches and Recaro's. If you're happy with it then fine but please don't take other peoples opinion to heart.

 

[Ess_Three]

Hi all.

Does anyone else concider their s3 as a money pit? is it actually worth the repairs?

My log since purchase 10 days ago.
car - £6450 (knocked down from 6800)
insurnace - £450
tank of fuel to get home - £60
cambelt,tensioners, waterpump, 5l of red extreme?/ antifreeze - £130 ( +5 hours labour)
alternator pully, alternator belt - £40 (1 hour labour time)
tyres 2x mich pilot e's - £220
coilpack - £40
haldex filter, oil - £30
haldex filter spanner - £20
5ltr waxoyl - £20
Rear wheel bearing £25 (unknown labour...but will crack on with it this weekend)

lets hope the rest of the ownership is less expensive...
..atleast im capable of doing the work myself, to save a few pennies.

...just wait until you find that you want to start modifying, chasing decent handling, better braking and much better handling...

I think I spent £10,000 over 3 1/2 years on mine years ago, modifying it. That was on top of the £29,000 I paid in April 2001 to buy it.

Cheap, they aren't...

 

[Westy]

Quit moaning, just cut out the middle man, dont bother modding and buy yourself a porsche for the combined money of purchase and mods on an S3 :icon_thumright:

 

[Matt82]

spot on.. but there is a certain amount of fun tinkering and playing with your car

im getting an audi s4 (hopefully soon) but ill get one which has had the usual mods done already

 

[Westy]

spot on.. but there is a certain amount of fun tinkering and playing with your car

im getting an audi s4 (hopefully soon) but ill get one which has had the usual mods done already

When I looked for my S3 for I always wanted a standard one because I thought it would mean the car wouldn't have been mistreated!

Looking back now I wish I'd bought one with remap, fmic, full suspension, and 18" wheels.

 

[Essflee]

You're right this is my second one, and the only reason I've kept it for 10 months so far is because it works, it gets me from A to B in reasonable comfort.



The S3 is a nice car, but it's pretty dull. No charm, no character and handles like a tank. The only redeeming features are the wide arches and Recaro's. If you're happy with it then fine but please don't take other peoples opinion to heart.

It's not a case of taking peoples opinions to heart, there's plenty of opinions on here that I haven't agreed with in the past, it's different when every single post by an individual is negative, just gets a bit boring after a while, normally I wouldn't say anything, I think it was a case of same old s@"t and to much Stella...

 

[jojo]

Hi all.

Does anyone else concider their s3 as a money pit? is it actually worth the repairs?

My log since purchase 10 days ago.
car - £6450 (knocked down from 6800)
insurnace - £450
tank of fuel to get home - £60
cambelt,tensioners, waterpump, 5l of red extreme?/ antifreeze - £130 ( +5 hours labour)
alternator pully, alternator belt - £40 (1 hour labour time)
tyres 2x mich pilot e's - £220
coilpack - £40
haldex filter, oil - £30
haldex filter spanner - £20
5ltr waxoyl - £20
Rear wheel bearing £25 (unknown labour...but will crack on with it this weekend)

lets hope the rest of the ownership is less expensive...
..atleast im capable of doing the work myself, to save a few pennies.

For a USED car, then the monies would seem extreme, but if the car was worth £15k+, you wouldn't even make a post on here. The previous owner obvious delayed everything and knew it was all due so got out sharply, leaving yourself to fix everything up. I've had to do most of what's been done to your at some point during my 8 years of ownership, and it doesn't hurt as much over time lol.

In your case, it will be worth it for the long run, but good for the new owner in the short run if you decide to sell it soon.

 

[Ess_Three]

The S3 is a nice car, but it's pretty dull. No charm, no character and handles like a tank. The only redeeming features are the wide arches and Recaro's. If you're happy with it then fine but please don't take other peoples opinion to heart.

I'm of a similar opinion.
A good car...and one that can be made very quick, and very good handling. But, it'll still be dull as dishwater to drive fast.

I loved mine - it was a brilliant car. I wish I'd never sold it. But the engine always sounded like a Dyson and it was just...dull. Almost too perfect when sorted, if that makes sense?

 

[ianysm]

Hi all.

Does anyone else concider their s3 as a money pit? is it actually worth the repairs?

My log since purchase 10 days ago.
car - £6450 (knocked down from 6800)
insurnace - £450
tank of fuel to get home - £60
cambelt,tensioners, waterpump, 5l of red extreme?/ antifreeze - £130 ( +5 hours labour)
alternator pully, alternator belt - £40 (1 hour labour time)
tyres 2x mich pilot e's - £220
coilpack - £40
haldex filter, oil - £30
haldex filter spanner - £20
5ltr waxoyl - £20
Rear wheel bearing £25 (unknown labour...but will crack on with it this weekend)

lets hope the rest of the ownership is less expensive...
..atleast im capable of doing the work myself, to save a few pennies.

In a word...NO!

You should have bought one that had its service, cambelt etc already done and not due...I paid £6400 for mine from a dealer with it all done. The other things i spent money on were tyres. They were fine but cheap and i wanted grip! Plus a remap...But that highlighted coil packs and clutch. Even so...I don't consider it expensive so far. Servicing is about £250 and it does 30mpg

Try running an M3 for 4 years!

 

[Y83OLK]

^^ it had a service 1 month ago from an independant specialist.
However, they neglected to do the cambelt/ helix filter and wrote.. "possibly bearing noise" on the bottom of the service sheet.

 

[The Doctor]

At the end of the day, buying a used car is always a bit of a risk because you never really know what you're getting until you've got it & driven it a fair few miles to really get to know it yourself. Just like a woman (I don't mean to be sexist if there are any ladies reading this!).

I think it also depends on your perspective when it comes to maintenance. If you're like me & want the car to be as perfect as it can be for its age, sure it'll cost you to keep it that way. But I'm also sure a lot of people just keep on driving until the niggley problems mount up to a big bill and then sell the car on.

Personally I've spent around £1600 getting mine (2003, 67k) to where I want it (this is on servicing/repair work, not upgrades as it already has a 265bhp remap & Forge 007).

But then:
1. this + purchase price is still less in total than the price of a new 1.6 ford focus Zetec
2. it's a hell of a lot more fun than my previous Fiesta Freestyle :icon_thumright:

Summary? Horses for courses if you ask me.

 

[stevehart]

great agruments, really enjoying this thread.

for what its worth, I agree with the Doc and of the opinion that it can make a great used buy when you consider the whole package and their used price now.

However, I felt no more than superficial love for my first one that had standard suspension setup.

But

Having got a pretty fair deal on my current one (that had plenty of mods done) and getting the suspension completed I have a deep love for it and will have no need to get anything new for years.

I now have an awesome car for a great price and as a total package....fantastic.

God, im such an S3 whore lol