Ok well on Tuesday I took delivery of the new car, my third A3. Considering it was ordered at the beginning of August I'm very grateful I didn't get lumbered with the huge delays some others are experiencing.
As I said, this is my third A3. I started in 2003 with a black 2.0TDI 140PS SE model with a few extras. In 2006 this was replaced with a 2.0TDI 170PS S-Line, again in black and loaded with about £5k worth of options. Despite some teething problems, I've loved this car for the past four years so I decided I was going to get pretty much the same again.
Full spec is in my sig. Basically it's the same as before but with the addition of Xenons, cruise, AMI and parking sensors. Decided I couldn't have yet another black car so went for Lava Grey this time.
First impressions are three days are that I love it! It is very similar in feel and to drive to my last one as it's effectively the same model, but of course it's all shiny and new rather than four years old and a bit tired. The biggest things I've noticed so far compared to the old are the Xenons, SatNav & engine...
The Xenons are an obvious improvement compared to the standard Halogens on the old car. Everyone kept telling me that you'll never go back once you've had them but I've never really seen the need as I don't do that much night driving. Now I have them I tend to see what they meant - they are markedly better than standard lights and the LED DRLs just make the front end IMO. The way it uses just the LEDs and fogs for the coming/leaving home function looks awesome too
As for the SatNav, I had the RNS-E with phone prep in my last car and, despite the hideous cost, was very very impressed with the system. I was expecting a minor upgrade from the new unit but wasn't prepared for quite how much better it looks. Functionality is much the same, apart from the AMI system of course, but I'm simply staggered at how much better the screen looks. You wouldn't have thought such a modest increase in resolution would have made that much difference but it has, plus the screen itself is higher quality than before. They've done a stellar job updating the RNS-E and it now looks like a fresh modern unit. The functionality and interface is still as superb as ever and Audi's MMI interface still knocks spots off any other manufacturer's nav system I've seen, BMW & Mercedes included.
Finally the engine. Whilst effectively the same 2.0TDI 170PS I had before, I was aware that this was the newer common rail unit rather than the older pumpe duse I had before. My last car was one of the very first 170PS units and I was very impressed with how much better the performance was compared to my original 140PS model, more than a mere 30PS would suggest. It was also considerably smoother than the 140PS model but I wasn't prepared for how much smoother again the new CR unit would be. The new engine simply purrs compared to the old car - I'm amazed how refined it is. Haven't prodded it much as the car only has a couple of hundred miles on it so far but I'm sure the performance will be similar once it's run in.
Two things I'll be very interest to find out are what the economy is like and how the DPF fares. The economy of my last car was shocking tbh, a good 10+ mpg worse than the 140PS that came before it so I'm hoping the new CR unit fares a little better but we'll see. As for the DPF, I've had quite a few "issues" with this on the last car, with frequent noisy regeneration cycles and the like, so will be interested to see if they've improved the system much in the last four years.
Bad things? Only two minor points so far. Firstly I really don't like that they've removed the engine size from the back and it now simply says "TDI". It just doesn't look quite right IMO, the TDI looking a bit "lonely" without the engine size next to it. If I'd realised this would happen then I've have opted to delete the engine designation completely tbh (can't do it myself as it's a lease car). Secondly, there's a faint but annoying rattling noise coming from somewhere around the passenger seat backrest area (I think). Not audible unless the radio/music is off or quiet but annoying all the same - going to have to take a friend out to see if he can find it while I drive around.
That's it for now. No pics I'm afraid as it's simply filthy. Once the weather clears up a bit and I can wash it properly I'll take a few.
Thanks for reading and here's to another two years of A3 driving
As I said, this is my third A3. I started in 2003 with a black 2.0TDI 140PS SE model with a few extras. In 2006 this was replaced with a 2.0TDI 170PS S-Line, again in black and loaded with about £5k worth of options. Despite some teething problems, I've loved this car for the past four years so I decided I was going to get pretty much the same again.
Full spec is in my sig. Basically it's the same as before but with the addition of Xenons, cruise, AMI and parking sensors. Decided I couldn't have yet another black car so went for Lava Grey this time.
First impressions are three days are that I love it! It is very similar in feel and to drive to my last one as it's effectively the same model, but of course it's all shiny and new rather than four years old and a bit tired. The biggest things I've noticed so far compared to the old are the Xenons, SatNav & engine...
The Xenons are an obvious improvement compared to the standard Halogens on the old car. Everyone kept telling me that you'll never go back once you've had them but I've never really seen the need as I don't do that much night driving. Now I have them I tend to see what they meant - they are markedly better than standard lights and the LED DRLs just make the front end IMO. The way it uses just the LEDs and fogs for the coming/leaving home function looks awesome too
As for the SatNav, I had the RNS-E with phone prep in my last car and, despite the hideous cost, was very very impressed with the system. I was expecting a minor upgrade from the new unit but wasn't prepared for quite how much better it looks. Functionality is much the same, apart from the AMI system of course, but I'm simply staggered at how much better the screen looks. You wouldn't have thought such a modest increase in resolution would have made that much difference but it has, plus the screen itself is higher quality than before. They've done a stellar job updating the RNS-E and it now looks like a fresh modern unit. The functionality and interface is still as superb as ever and Audi's MMI interface still knocks spots off any other manufacturer's nav system I've seen, BMW & Mercedes included.
Finally the engine. Whilst effectively the same 2.0TDI 170PS I had before, I was aware that this was the newer common rail unit rather than the older pumpe duse I had before. My last car was one of the very first 170PS units and I was very impressed with how much better the performance was compared to my original 140PS model, more than a mere 30PS would suggest. It was also considerably smoother than the 140PS model but I wasn't prepared for how much smoother again the new CR unit would be. The new engine simply purrs compared to the old car - I'm amazed how refined it is. Haven't prodded it much as the car only has a couple of hundred miles on it so far but I'm sure the performance will be similar once it's run in.
Two things I'll be very interest to find out are what the economy is like and how the DPF fares. The economy of my last car was shocking tbh, a good 10+ mpg worse than the 140PS that came before it so I'm hoping the new CR unit fares a little better but we'll see. As for the DPF, I've had quite a few "issues" with this on the last car, with frequent noisy regeneration cycles and the like, so will be interested to see if they've improved the system much in the last four years.
Bad things? Only two minor points so far. Firstly I really don't like that they've removed the engine size from the back and it now simply says "TDI". It just doesn't look quite right IMO, the TDI looking a bit "lonely" without the engine size next to it. If I'd realised this would happen then I've have opted to delete the engine designation completely tbh (can't do it myself as it's a lease car). Secondly, there's a faint but annoying rattling noise coming from somewhere around the passenger seat backrest area (I think). Not audible unless the radio/music is off or quiet but annoying all the same - going to have to take a friend out to see if he can find it while I drive around.
That's it for now. No pics I'm afraid as it's simply filthy. Once the weather clears up a bit and I can wash it properly I'll take a few.
Thanks for reading and here's to another two years of A3 driving
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