2013 Audi S3

New cars "shouldn't" need to be machine polished.

IMO

exactly. Although there may be slight swirl from the preparation process at the dealer durin PDI, I'd tend to clean carful
y and apply multiple coats of acrylic then top off with a light detailer. This would ensure a new purchase would be protected for a few months initially.


The worst thing you coud is take through a car wash the second worse thing to do is clean with a single bucket and synthetic sponge.

depends on your level of anal retentive ness of course :)
 
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New cars "shouldn't" need to be machine polished.

IMO

Even though they often sit out in car parks for 3/4 weeks. Given the time of year too, November/December, why wouldn't you recommend polishing the paint prior to applying a protective coat?
 
S3 sportback S-tronic, Misano Red, Comfort pack with parking plus, Roof Rails and Audi 10 speaker sound system ordered today! Delivery late march/early april its going to be a long wait! First new car and my first Audi!
 
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Even though they often sit out in car parks for 3/4 weeks. Given the time of year too, November/December, why wouldn't you recommend polishing the paint prior to applying a protective coat?

Polishing yes, machine polishing no.
Polishing removes layers of paint/topcoat.
Machine polishing does the same but in a more intensive way.

I have a machine polisher which i only use for correction of defects.
If there are any significant defects in the paint that need to be machine polished I would be taking that up with the dealer.

What I'll be doing when I get my car home is snow foam, wash (2 bucket), clay, polish (hand), wax.
 
S3 sportback S-tronic, Misano Red, Comfort pack with parking plus, Roof Rails and Audi 10 speaker sound system ordered today! Delivery late march/early april its going to be a long wait! First new car and my first Audi!
Any luck getting a discount?!
 
Agreed, the ACC on my A3 is fantastic - a definite must if you drive on motorways or dual carriageways regularly!
 
Use wax to protect the paint. It's non abrasive and protects grime from sticking to the paint. A new car should not need polished. With polish being abrasive it should not be used very often as it effectively thins the paint layer (I polish my car once per year. The rest of the time it gets waxed. ). If there are swirls on my car when I go to pick it up I will point blank refuse delivery. The car shouldn't leave the factory with swirls and hence any that are on it are effectively damage that the dealer is responsible for.
 
If there are swirls on my car when I go to pick it up I will point blank refuse delivery. The car shouldn't leave the factory with swirls and hence any that are on it are effectively damage that the dealer is responsible for.


have you seen / witnessed the muppets that de-grease and wash / clean the transported cars ?
 
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There's a Misano s3 sportback demo at Bedford Audi. Went and had a look today, stunning. Up for sale in Jan for just shy of 40k. Fully loaded.

Had a good old chat with the salesman, top bloke & knew his stuff.

There's also a few A3 saloons. Wasn't really a fan of them - although I didn't see an sline spec so that might be half the reason.

Also had a feel of alcantara in a tts, what a lovely lovely material. It's so soft to the touch but you get the impression it would survive a hurricane & would keep you stuck to the seat when cornering fast.
 
still in a dilemma / dilemna.

1.estoril with lunar leather
2.panther black with lunar
3.panther black with black sports seats
4.monsoon with black alcantara

time's running out LOL.......
 
still in a dilemma / dilemna.

1.estoril with lunar leather
2.panther black with lunar
3.panther black with black sports seats
4.monsoon with black alcantara

time's running out LOL.......

tough one. My thought process would be the following, when first considering options did the super sports seats come at the top of your list before considering a colour? If so then go with what you originally chose, Estoril and stick with the s/s seats. If they weren't as important as you feel for the order then by all means i would consider either panther or estoril, both exclusive to the S3, with lunar for either. The estoril is classy, sophisticated, versatile (some may argue more so than panther) and dark enough to offer 'wow' reflections once waxed or sprayed with a quick detailer like demon shine in between waxes that either black s/s seats or standard lunar seats will both look fantastic. Entirely up to you but remember what Jigsaw said 'I can't give you time , time's an illusion' and no doubt there will come a point when you cannot change your mind.
 
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Ive gone with Estoril and Super Sport Seats. Perfect combo IMO :)
 
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The A3/S3 brochure states that the footrest comes in brushed stainless steel but i understand that it is missing from initial UK S3 deliveries. Why is this? Seeing as customers on here have paid for them and they are available on ebay why are they not on UK cars?
 
possible but it's 4th on my preference.....

if your list 1-4 is in order of preference for you, mine would be the reverse.
Your choice 1 would be my worst out of the 4.

Lots of new S3 ex-demo used cars appearing on the Audi website now so a good chance to look at the available colours.
Not many dealer demo's with lunar. This doesn't surprise me.
Not a good option to select, very specific to taste, so could affect resale. Black interior might be seen as dull but it will appeal to more than a silver one.
IMO.
 
estoril demands lunar silver imho... Think I'm sticking with it.............

I will be keeping it for a minimum 4 years, possibly more, as it's our utilitarian mule.........

Ha ha.
How many times do we all say this about new cars????? Usually to appease the missus.......
I've only ever managed 18 months with any of my daily runners.

Said I'd keep the S5 for 4 years when it was delivered in March this year and it will be gone in under 9 months.......

I have managed to keep a weekend car for 3 years (and counting), but I get bored of my daily's far too quicky!
I will, naturally, be keeping the S3 for 4 years incase Mrs CraigI is reading......
 
The A3/S3 brochure states that the footrest comes in brushed stainless steel but i understand that it is missing from initial UK S3 deliveries. Why is this? Seeing as customers on here have paid for them and they are available on ebay why are they not on UK cars?

Really, the S3 I sat in at Bradford Audi had it?
 
gonna have a look at used S3's on audi site, perhaps it only comes with the S tronic? was the Bradford S3 s tronic or manual Silks?

confused, are all the used S3's demo cars to be sold now for collection in the future? how does that work if that is the case? Surely you walk in buy the car and drive away? why are they only available in the future yet for sale? Perhaps the dealers have removed the stainless steel footrest to refit after the demo car is ready to be sold now but to be collected....later....after it's been used some more? what?!

any thoughts people?
 
confused, are all the used S3's demo cars to be sold now for collection in the future? how does that work if that is the case? Surely you walk in buy the car and drive away? why are they only available in the future yet for sale? Perhaps the dealers have removed the stainless steel footrest to refit after the demo car is ready to be sold now but to be collected....later....after it's been used some more? what?!

any thoughts people?

OOO I know I know!

I was speaking to a salesman yesterday at Bedford and he said they're not allowed to sell demo models at the moment because it's so hard to get hold of an S3.

He said any demo bought now won't be offered to the customer until January.

Regarding the extended delivery times for new cars, he was saying Audi have tried to slow down new orders for their Q5's to keep the resale value of the cars already available high. If you order a q5 now it won't be delivered until July next year.

I would imagine this is why S3 waiting times have been rising also.

Oh, he also said that because the S3 is so hard to get hold of dealers are managing to sell used ones at 5% more than a new one!
 
still in a dilemma / dilemna.

1.estoril with lunar leather
2.panther black with lunar
3.panther black with black sports seats
4.monsoon with black alcantara

time's running out LOL.......



Estoril with super sports seats is the way to go.

Best colour and best seats by a long way.

Regular seats are same as s line and do not look special enough for an S3.

Don't go grey exterior - I made that mistake on a car and soon got bored of it.
 
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There's a Misano s3 sportback demo at Bedford Audi. Went and had a look today, stunning. Up for sale in Jan for just shy of 40k. Fully loaded.

Had a good old chat with the salesman, top bloke & knew his stuff.

There's also a few A3 saloons. Wasn't really a fan of them - although I didn't see an sline spec so that might be half the reason.

Also had a feel of alcantara in a tts, what a lovely lovely material. It's so soft to the touch but you get the impression it would survive a hurricane & would keep you stuck to the seat when cornering fast.

if your gonna by an ex-demo lets hope it's not been out too many times. I had a demo for two days and I'm sure every other potential buyer drove it like I did.

id wait for a new one :racer:
 
if your gonna by an ex-demo lets hope it's not been out too many times. I had a demo for two days and I'm sure every other potential buyer drove it like I did.

id wait for a new one :racer:

I have waited for a new one! Ordered in September for delivery hopefully in early December.
 
Thats hardly got any extras on it and manual! where the hell did they get that price from?
 
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gonna have a look at used S3's on audi site, perhaps it only comes with the S tronic? was the Bradford S3 s tronic or manual Silks?

Bradford was a manual.
 
if your gonna by an ex-demo lets hope it's not been out too many times. I had a demo for two days and I'm sure every other potential buyer drove it like I did.

id wait for a new one :racer:

Yes agreed! I have had two extended test drives in S3 SBs and have been encouraged by dealer to properly sample its performance/noise capabilities. One only had 200 miles on clock the other 500 miles. They are always going to be driven hard so I wouldn't want an ex demo, and especially when they are more expensive than a discounted new one!!
 
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Bradford was a manual.

Dylock a current owner of an Estoril blue S3 informed me that his did not come with the brushed s/steel footrest...i will be asking for it if mine it's missing on mine in March.
 
have you seen / witnessed the muppets that de-grease and wash / clean the transported cars ?

That may be true but if they damage the paint then the dealer car fix the paint. With the money I am spending on a car that is supposidly brand new it will be perfect. If not I will not be buying it. If I wanted a second hand car I would have bought one.

Aberdeen Audi have already agreed that I can come in the day before I pick it up to seal and wax it. They have been warned that I'm a former show and shine competitor so will go over every single inch of the body.

Having said that the cars I seen in the showroom all looked pretty spot on so I very much doubt there will be an issue - I suppose it helps that Audi paint is pretty hard :)
 
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Test drove a SB S3 S-Tronic today, had it for the day. Loved the car, but no deal to be done as 'no discount'

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I missed your comment earlier about which was our local dealer sorry.

By the look of it we have the same dealer, Blackburn? Blackburn told me no discount, so I went away and have got a quote from Drive The Deal for around 9% off. I went to Preston Audi to see what they would do and was told that they won't discount them as they have a target of 125 S3's to sell and I quote 'we will hit that easily selling at RRP'

They are the same group as Blackburn so I guess we will have to go further afield for a deal! I am going to call Carlisle tomorrow as suggested earlier in the thread. It seems they deal with DTD and a nice drive down through the lakes after collection wouldn't be too bad would it :)
 

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