To those who think the A3 is just a Golf with a premium badge...

h5djr said:

My wife owned several VW Polos but she wanted to purchase another car and decided to use a PCP. An Audi A1 worked out cheaper than the Polo and the reason, according to my dealer, was the great residual value of the A1.
Perhaps it's the same between the Golf R and a similar speced A3/S3.

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As John Cleese once quoted ' that's stating the bleeding obvious ' unfortunately many take a long time to truly understand the costs of running a car. Depreciation is a big killer!

Joetidman said:

I can't see the Golf R getting anywhere near the sales of the S3 though, its just, strangely, a more niche model than the S3, and it has the Gti to compete with within brand, which cost conscious but speed happy punters will settle for, whereas the S3 doesn't...

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Exact opposite down here. Golf R's way outsell the S3. But the R is quite a bit cheaper than the S3....about $8k.

I own an A3 sport, with a few added extras, which my partner drives. I also have a a golf SE as a company car. Both of which have the 1.6tdi. Even though that are supposed to me the same the A3 is far superior to the golf. It's nice, handles better and always puts a smile on your face. Ok the golf may have more spec as standard and cheaper. But end of the day everyone is entitled to an opinion, with that it's always the Audi that wins.

Ps the golf went in the garage last week, the service was very poor and it even came back with a scratched alloy, not happy... The Audi garage and VW garages are owned by the same company, but have totally different level of customer service?

I dont think its a VW Golf with an expensive badge. I think its a Seat Leon with a really expensive badge.

But I can tell where the little extras are and finer touches that add to the car. And at the same time know the underpinnings of some of the engineered parts have the benefit of being used across a wide rage of cars.