Thread: Give me your infinite wisdom!

So the sport back Jaffa has been declined earlier in the week and very quickly found a new home with a member on here so at least the garage haven't had to wait too long for their troubles. I wish them many happy years of fun!

We've continued our search for another facelift S3 having revised our thoughts on a few areas. This means that we have found two cars of interest which is where here I need some input from you most knowledgable folk lol

Both cars are 3 door solar orange 11 plates; they have sat nav, Bose, cruise, heated seats with each of these differences:

Option One
Manual
No tints
Uprated alloys to Audi bbs style

Option Two
S Tronic
Mag ride
Tints
Standard alloys

OR a curve ball 11 plate 3 door brilliant red S3 with black pack, manual, Bose, cruise, heated seats, tints

My quandary is I know what option 1 will drive like as I've had a manual S3 in the past and all along that's what I've been looking for, tints can be done aftermarket and I prefer these alloys. I'm feeling a little negative towards the S Tronic box due to my experience of driving our RS3

Ggrrrrr iPad!

In my opinion though I don't think I have had sufficient time to drive the RS3 as I would usually drive as I still had a cast on my foot. Plus both Andrew and I felt that the 2.5 engine was different to those we had driven in the past TTRS's we have had so could there of been a issue with that particular car????

The other issue to consider here is resale...as I'm sure most of you have realised now we don't hold on to our cars long and even if I could cross my heart and say this one will be a keeper we still need to take into consideration this important aspect.

So from a resale point of view which option would be better? Andrew likes the red with the black pack and yes in an ideal world I would want solar orange with black pack but it's just not going to happen. I've already got a black grill so this can be swapped over easily therefore the only issues would be the alloys on option 2

Hi Jen,

I think if the car is gone be a bit of a promo "vee-hic-le" then company colours it should be.
The point you stated about what you've been after all along kinda answers it all. Go wiv ya heart chuck

Option 2......

The orange is stunning and no question it will always look like that whilst you own it.

Good luck!

Si

Matti I just think maybe I've not given the S Tronic a fair chance to prove itself as everybody seems to rave about it! Plus as selling the car on would s tronic and mag ride not be more favourable considering we are already looking at a colour that people consider marmite?

In fact both Andrew and I would love the green S3 that's been for sale for a while but at £33k for an 11 plate that's just stupid money!

Why option 2 Si?

brilliant red ftw jen I'm not biased tho lol

Originally Posted by FranA3

brilliant red ftw jen I'm not biased tho lol

Lol Fran you don't count!! Ok ok from a polishing point of view they are all flat so there is no competition....more to do with the other options on each of the cars really

Hi Jen does these two include the one from Nottingham
Sytner
if not I can pass by tomorrow and take a look to see if it's up to scratch.

Originally Posted by Juicy Jen

Lol Fran you don't count!! Ok ok from a polishing point of view they are all flat so there is no competition....more to do with the other options on each of the cars really

lol dam , ok on a serious note i would go for option 2 as it has a better spec in my eyes , but imagine that spec in the red one

Option 2, I love S Tronic, it's one of the best boxes out there, and the mag ride would be a massive tick in the box come re sale time

2.

Originally Posted by N8

2.

Reasons please on why....

Originally Posted by Juicy Jen

Reasons please on why....

You know you already made a decision so just get option 1 which is what I think you are leaning towards. You won;t be satisfied with the s tronic and will likely wish you had the MT. just my 0.02

Mag ride and S-Tronic will probably have higher residual value, and are more "showcase" features, but I think option 1 would be the better car to own (you can always upgrade the wheels anyway). Personally, I'd probably go for the red. Just saw an R32 on autotrader in red with basically my wheels on it... red and black is just a great combo.

Originally Posted by TommyMac

Hi Jen does these two include the one from Nottingham
Sytner
if not I can pass by tomorrow and take a look to see if it's up to scratch.

Thanks for the offer but no it isn't that one

Option 1.

Going off your reviews of the RS3 I think you will be happier with manual S3. I wouldn't want S-Tronic myself though so maybe I am biased. I'd definitely stick with the Solar Orange though as it ties in well from a business POV over the red.

got to be Red its the way forward you know

Not an S3 but you get the idea

You should just follow your heart Jen, you're the one who'll be driving it, so you need to pick what you feel suits you best. If I hadn't been forced into an automatic car due to injury, I'd still be in a manual and blissfully ignorant of the joys of DSG driving, lol!. Now after a year of getting used to the DSG box and totally loving it to bits, I would never go back, even if I could. Hence, I would choose Option 2, slap on your black grille and a luvvly jubbly set of wheels and you'd be smashing it! They all sound fab TBH!!! xx

Had a ball in mine this morning on it's first snow outing. Pushed a slight 4 wheel drift as I dropped the missus at work this morning as ther is a drop off point in the shape of a huge teardrop and it was too early for anyone to be around!

Manual gives a lot of confidence in this weather, but then DSG is pretty good for everything other than pulling out of junctions or 3 point turns (so I hear). DSG makes the car feel more premium, and could save you a clutch change later on.

Mag ride???? I'm unsure as to the virtue of this. I don't rate Audi suspension in general, they just don't tend to ride with fluidity or give you absolutel confidence at the front end, but whether this option would improve that. If you were to want to change ride height would there be side effects in terms of managing the mag ride???

I'm tempted to say 1 based on your feedback.

I opted for the Mag Ride on mine and can honestly say it does make a substantial difference through corners...it offers so much more confidence when you're pushing it.
But if you are prone to bad backs or live in a place where the roads are considerably bumpy...then it'd be useless as it offers little to no give whatsoever when going over rough ground.

We've got mag ride on the TTRS so I know how hard it can be - thanks for your comments everyone

Scrap option one - travelled down to west London today and let's say the quoted 'perfection condition' was not perfect. They were fully aware of the previous issue on the sport back solar and knew what we required. In fact we were before arriving prepared to put a deposit down.

There was 2 gouges in the front bumper drivers side, the back bumper appeared to have what I can only describe as a cut mark from a hacksaw near the join on the passengers side and three kerbed alloys that had not been mentioned at all. To say we were fuming is an understatement, however we did save ourselves the letdown of it arriving at the end of next week and getting rejected again.

As we had a 300 mile journey home we were both fed up to go and look at the other solar orange, plus temperatures dropped to minus 7 making driving hazardous - might take a trip down tomorrow

Gutted for you Jen. If there is one Kent based then let me know and I can have a look at it for you or take pictures and send through. Audi Tonbridge is 5mins from my house if any can be taken to there?

May be solar orange isn't for me or even another S3

How about an imola yellow s3? There's a nice one at Audi Maidstone. Don't give up, you've had a couple of crappy experiences but you know when you find the right one it'll all be worth it.

I would opt for the for the S-Tronic and Mag ride version. I'm tempted by the auto clutch version, had rave reviews in general and if i go for another S3 this is my primary choice in sportback guise. Guess it would provide the relaxing part of the drive, traffic jams and pottering that i require in my next motor as well as the fun mashing through the gears in sport mode. I've driven a DSG when i bought my R32 moons ago and always felt it was a good option but not want i wanted at the time (older now..!). Couple that with mag ride i think that would be a good package and actually really good come resale time. I for one would love that spec, ideal in fact in a black edition, oh yeah baby..!!!

All down to personal opinion though truly. Good luck and I’m sure you'll make the right choice, just remember though the RS3 will drive a lot different to an S3.

Sie

Originally Posted by Juicy Jen

Scrap option one - travelled down to west London today and let's say the quoted 'perfection condition' was not perfect. They were fully aware of the previous issue on the sport back solar and knew what we required. In fact we were before arriving prepared to put a deposit down.

There was 2 gouges in the front bumper drivers side, the back bumper appeared to have what I can only describe as a cut mark from a hacksaw near the join on the passengers side and three kerbed alloys that had not been mentioned at all. To say we were fuming is an understatement, however we did save ourselves the letdown of it arriving at the end of next week and getting rejected again.

As we had a 300 mile journey home we were both fed up to go and look at the other solar orange, plus temperatures dropped to minus 7 making driving hazardous - might take a trip down tomorrow

Hi Jen, sorry to hear about this, but i agree with others that if the car is going to be promo then stick with the solar orange to tie in with the business. Also this garage wouldn't happen to to be Coulsdon Audi, if so they are crap, also had bad experience with them idiots!! lol

Originally Posted by BlueSpark

Hi Jen, sorry to hear about this, but i agree with others that if the car is going to be promo then stick with the solar orange to tie in with the business. Also this garage wouldn't happen to to be Coulsdon Audi, if so they are crap, also had bad experience with them idiots!! lol

Yeah, it's coulsdon Audi ..

I'd speak to Audi UK about this. If you present your utter dismay in a calm and measured manner (esp. as you're already a tiTTy-aRSe owner very often you get a complimentary case of wine ;-)

And off to Leeds! Post later with an update....

S-Tronic and Mag Ride, can get a set of KW DDC coils later this year and your ballin'

DSG is awesome IMO.

Only had my standard PD140 DSG for a few weeks, only gone out in it properly 3 times, it needs a remap and some other bits and bobs to make it respectable however with dsg you dont have to come off boost to change gear and this makes it awesome.

I had a little play with a 106 gti thats heavily modified, so its around 170hp and lighter yet i still somehow kept up with it, and every time he changed gear i was surging forward still whereas he obviously wasnt!

I wouldnt go back to manual unless i had a choice or something like a 800hp supra where a gear change wont make much difference.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201205445601191
any good to u

S Tronic box is not for me I've decided. After test driving the stronic/mag ride one yesterday it just didnt feel right to me and although over time I could learn to work with it we don't keep cars long enough to spend time doing that. I want it to drive right from the beginning and get that gut feeling I seek.

Shame really as the car was in mint condition - if it had been manual then we would of snapped his hand off.

So if anyone is looking for a 11 plate Solar Orange 3 door 4000k on the clock S3 s tronic, with magride (made it look lower), satnav, bose, cruise etc then contact me and I can put you in touch with the garage - £24,500

We went into Harrogate Audi on the way back out of curiosity to see what might be around and if there was anything coming through in the mean time.

Now I kinda wear my emotions upfront and fell in love with a diesel TT 2 lit 170 in the show room! Black pack and the colour was to die for....exclusive dark red mica it looked black from afar, dark brown when you got near and then when close up a dark red with red metallic flecks and 19" antracite alloys.

£34,500 (£1700 just for the paint) though and even with some discount with no satnav it would just be suicide to commit to it....this lead us on to looking at new S3!!!!