8P S3 - whats it like to live with???

john_cook

john_cook

I was the STIG.
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Hi all,

this is for the S3 owners out here. How do you find it day to day, any particular problems with the car??? (eg brakes/suspension). What is the mpg like in it??

How have you found performance compared to other cars you may have come up against on the road (eg. M3/RS4/imprezza turbos) for the standard S3 and also a remapped S3??


Thanks in advance..
 
Day to day the car is very predictable. In fact 99% of the time its predictable, some say thats its downfall, I say i like predictability.

MPG for me around town is typically 23mpg. stretching to 30+ on the motorway, driving like miss daisy.

I hanvt come up against ANYTHING!!!, not a bean. Only an RS4 on teh motorway and we were neck and neck all the way(Me riding in his tailwind lol)
 
cool. I sold my audi recently and bought an R32 (the Mk4) as its a car I have always really liked. Its been tuned a little so its pretty quick. Have gone head to head with an RS4 cab and a 911 (996) Carrera 4 cab and was surprised they werent going anywhere or getting away from me at all.

See a few new S3's on my commute, they look nice. May consider one in a few yrs. R32 does between 25-30 mpg on commute, 30+ on motorway cruise so am happy with that.

Lot of R32 boys going to GTI international this weekend, approx 20+. There is a racing strip there so you boys with the S3's can try and out drag lotta different cars.

I am curious how the S3 stacks up against M3s and RS4s because I havent found them to be that quick on the road.
 
I'd say the major downfall is the standard suspension at high speeds, as an everyday car though it's good, especially on b roads.
 
nice motor the r32, look and sound well. What tuning have you had done?? Anything milder than a supercharger and you certainly wont be bothering m3's that for sure.
 
its got a cold air intake and milltek exhaust on it. I want to get the sports cats and remap so its about 270 bhp. Much harder/more expensive to tune than you 2.0 turbo boys!! :blink:

My old man has an E46 M3 and its pretty rapid, have driven it a lot.

The more I drive, the more I realise that average cars are getting faster. Take my old A3 2.0 TDI, if I was giving it some beans on a nice twisty road, an M3 or RS4 would struggle to get past me because that car can get upto 80-90 mph without much hassle. So you have to be a nutter hitting well over 100 to get round it, which is a bit extreme and not really worth it.

Wonder if you guys are finding this also, on a good B road, if the guy infront is cruising at 70-80 mph its a nightmare to get round them and they spoil the road because you have to sit behind them,
 
L60N said:
Day to day the car is very predictable. In fact 99% of the time its predictable, some say thats its downfall, I say i like predictability.

MPG for me around town is typically 23mpg. stretching to 30+ on the motorway, driving like miss daisy.

I havn't come up against ANYTHING!!!, not a bean. Only an RS4 on teh motorway and we were neck and neck all the way(Me riding in his tailwind lol)
Click to expand...

I agree with all the above.
MPG stinks a little on short runs, especially in London where you're sitting in traffic most of the time! On a long run though it's reasonable enough.
Great every day proposition though - good interior, easy to live with and mine hasn't touched a drop of oil in 13k miles, in fact the only thing I have had to do is fill it up with gas and top up the washer fluid!

With regards to how it competes with other cars on the road I'd say it's not to far behind any of the 400bhp saloons - I know others will beg to differ, but I remember playing with a old RS4 with mod's and a standard new RS4 saloon on Mallory Park last year, I was surprised to be more than holding my own against them, taking out an advantage through the corners, with them just pulling me back in towards the end of the straights. That was as a standard car too!

I love it!
I can't wait to hear the outcome when jonnyc puts his car against RS4 and 911 Carrera 4S at inters!

J
 
john_cook said:
its got a cold air intake and milltek exhaust on it. I want to get the sports cats and remap so its about 270 bhp. Much harder/more expensive to tune than you 2.0 turbo boys!! :blink:

My old man has an E46 M3 and its pretty rapid, have driven it a lot.

The more I drive, the more I realise that average cars are getting faster. Take my old A3 2.0 TDI, if I was giving it some beans on a nice twisty road, an M3 or RS4 would struggle to get past me because that car can get upto 80-90 mph without much hassle. So you have to be a nutter hitting well over 100 to get round it, which is a bit extreme and not really worth it.

Wonder if you guys are finding this also, on a good B road, if the guy infront is cruising at 70-80 mph its a nightmare to get round them and they spoil the road because you have to sit behind them,
Click to expand...

I had a play with a black A3 TDI (it had the black optics grill too) on the way to Cornwall this weekend, I was quite impressed by it's pace. Also had a go with a TT-S, I was quicker than him, but the TT-S was an 08 reg so probably not chipped yet.
 
I'm not an S3 owner as of yet but i was at Audi over the weekend and test drove my potential next car.... Very different cars but i'm looking at either an A5 3.0TDI quattro sport or a nicely spec'd S3.

Anyway, the S3 really is a lovely car. Feels the same as my 2.0TFSI quattro pootling about but the extra power really does bring it alive when you need it. I definitely wouldn't regret buying one if i do.

Not sure about a few comments which have been made comparing it to other cars though. I've driven M3's and my uncles 911 C4S and there's an ocean betwen the S3 and the Carrera. The S3 is no M3 beater but its easily miles ahead of any hatchback. It's just a great everyday performance car. Very refined, predictable and controllable.

If you can run to it when you're ready you won't regret it.
 
PNH80 said:
I'm not an S3 owner as of yet but i was at Audi over the weekend and test drove my potential next car.... Very different cars but i'm looking at either an A5 3.0TDI quattro sport or a nicely spec'd S3.
Click to expand...

A5 TDI would get my vote in your shoes. I really like the look, and the interior is fantastic.
 
yeah, the S3 sounds like a solid hot hatch. I know how nice the A3 is inside from having mine for 2yrs.

The A5 3.0 tdi is supposed to be sub 6 secs to 60 as standard. Remap and it could be an even deadlier car, esp on the roll. If it looked like this would be seriously tempted.....

:hubbahubba: :hubbahubba: :hubbahubba:



a5sline19wheels.jpg
 
L60N said:
A5 TDI would get my vote in your shoes. I really like the look, and the interior is fantastic.
Click to expand...

Sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread!... I only had a short drive but The A5 and S3 are apples and oranges. Totally different. Nowhere near as much connection to the car or bang for the buck with the A5 as you'd expect but the running costs are a fair bit less so the extra price would balance out.
My only set back with the A5 is whether or not i'd get bored and miss a proper drivers car. Beautifully planted, refined car though and it's as quick as my 2.0TFSI on paper. Oh and it was ibis white which looked drop dead gorgeous!

Going back to the point of the thread though i'd say the S3 is a good step up from an R32. It's a proper grown up's hot hatch. I couldn't find any down sides to it after my test drive (other than the insurance).
The only concern of mine is petrol prices. If i got an S3 i'd have to put premium 95+ RON petrol in it as i do now with my 2.0TFSI.... Stopped off at a BP garage on my way back from Chester yesterday and BP Ultimate was a mind blowing £1.27 per litre. So unfortunately petrol prices are going to sway my next car purchase.
 
surely you should run 98 ron or higher in the S3? Otherwise it wont perform as it should. I always run superunleaded in the R32.
 
john cook.... The A5 is sub 7 seconds but not sub 6 (i think Audi quote 6.6 on paper). With a remap i'd imagine it'd easily be a match for an S5 and quite a bit cheaper...and looks pretty much exactly the same.
As i say, the demo car was ibis white. I'm not sure if a black styling pack is available yet but i'd be sure to throw some phantom black mirrors on it and a black grille. £35K i think is about the going rate. Considering there's a guy on here who's just spec'd an A3 cab at £34K it's not really over-priced.
 
john_cook said:
surely you should run 98 ron or higher in the S3? Otherwise it wont perform as it should. I always run superunleaded in the R32.
Click to expand...

Exactly, thats what i'm saying. BP Ultimate is now £1.27 a litre and i only think i can justify that for so long. No wonder the bottom is falling out of the performance car market. Scary.
 
I agree with the above really, that's why the S3 is such a good car imho. It's practical and yet very fast. The only two things I dislike is the relatively small boot, but still bigger than a true sports car, and the difficultly in putting a childs seat into the back, as it's only 3 door.

I'm getting 26-27mpg average, with a wide mix of town, motorway and b-road blasts. The suspension is fairly firm, but not unfcomfortable. The interior is fantastic, very well put together :)

Overall a fantastic car!
 
If I could get an M3 or RS4 or anything to go against me it would be nice!!
Have out run everything so far though!
I get 15 mpg if I drive hard, I do mean hard too! and 25 mpg if I potter around like a oap on prozac!
But I love it for everyday driving and laying some rubber down all within the speed limits I must add!!!!!
 
PNH80 said:
Not sure about a few comments which have been made comparing it to other cars though. I've driven M3's and my uncles 911 C4S and there's an ocean betwen the S3 and the Carrera. The S3 is no M3 beater but its easily miles ahead of any hatchback. It's just a great everyday performance car. Very refined, predictable and controllable.
Click to expand...

I don't want to get in to the whole comparing thing - I wasn't saying it was as good as a RS4 or 911 C4s, I was merely saying when I was on track I was having a great ding dong with a new RS4 and a mod'd old RS4.

Having said that, a friend of mine has an M3 (E46) convertible and there is genuinely nothing in it until you get to anti-social speeds! Again - it's not an alternative to an M3 though - as mentioned - very different rewards you get from the drivers seat!!

I guess my point was, it can more than hold it's own out there and with a few choice mod's could even surprise a few more powerful and even exotic pieces of kit!

If I had the money i'd much prefer a V8 under my right foot!!!
 
The S3 isn't 'worse' than an RS4, it's just different. Does literally everything very very competently. Don't think i know or have heard of anyone who's bought an S3 and been disappointed.
 
PNH80 said:
The S3 isn't 'worse' than an RS4, it's just different. Does literally everything very very competently. Don't think i know or have heard of anyone who's bought an S3 and been disappointed.
Click to expand...

I was disappointed with the driver involvement... but in the last 2 months I seem to have found the joy of it again...

Pedro
 
It is a bit uninvolving, but it does seem like a decent all rounder. I guess its a jack of all trades, master of none.

Suits me fine at the moment, and I'm convinced that a few tweaks to the geometry could bring some substantial improvements to the turn in, I've just not got round to doing it yet.

I've had mine 6 months now, and its been good-

-Takes 3 mountain bikes on the roof
-Takes junk to the tip when required
-Is pretty fast in a straight line
-Has a reasonable level of driver involvement
-Reliable so far
-Fuel economy seems reasonable for the performance available.
-insurance is really cheap for me
-Band F for car tax
-Looks as if I can fit a tow bar, so I might start using it to tow my caterham to race tracks.
 
And around £500 gets you comfortably over 300 bhp.....unthinkable in a hatch back not that long ago.....:superman:
 
julians said:
It is a bit uninvolving, but it does seem like a decent all rounder. I guess its a jack of all trades, master of none.

Suits me fine at the moment, and I'm convinced that a few tweaks to the geometry could bring some substantial improvements to the turn in, I've just not got round to doing it yet.

I've had mine 6 months now, and its been good-

-Takes 3 mountain bikes on the roof
-Takes junk to the tip when required
-Is pretty fast in a straight line
-Has a reasonable level of driver involvement
-Reliable so far
-Fuel economy seems reasonable for the performance available.
-insurance is really cheap for me
-Band F for car tax
-Looks as if I can fit a tow bar, so I might start using it to tow my caterham to race tracks.
Click to expand...

Julians... where did you source the roof racks? Don't they scratch the paintwork?

Pedro
 
I got my rack from Thule. Mine haven't scratched the paint work so far, but I guess it could happen if you're not careful. I just make sure the roof is clean and the feet on the roof rack are clean before fitting.
 
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