S3 v STI v S2000 v Aston

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ianysm

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Had a great journey home from work today (going to have to work late more often - far better cars on the road up for some fun!)

Anyway, my daily 35 mile commute takes into the Peak District. So a mix of tight bumpy lanes and smooth fast A roads. Perfect for the S3.

I caught a slower vehicle and had to wait for an overtaking oppourtunity, suddenly 2 sets of Xenons and a pair of LED running lights were behind. I spotted one was an S2000, the other an Aston. I overtake the slower car and actually pulled a couple of car lengths on the S2000 initially, before he was matching my pace, Aston poised behind him clearly being held up by us both!

Next road i turned onto is a very tight, bumpy road which is great but often had my M3 twitching. Its very rare a car follows me down here but to my delight, the S2000 did - Aston went a different way :(

So, sleeves rolled up, music off, time to concentrate. S3 had no problems increasing the gap to at least one corner. Again, a test in overtaking a slower vehicle had the S3 pulling a few car lengths and maintaining this. Up the bumpy hills it was clear the traction was winning this one. I slowed down for th enext village a flashed my indicators as i turned off - and got a sporting flash of the lights in return. Not too annoyed with me then!

Next up, i catch a bobbing large rear spoiler unmistalably an STI ~(07 plate). I closed the gap alittle to see if he bit and luckily he did. This was alittle different. Out of the corners he was pulling a car length or so until i was on full boost and holding the gap. Corner speeds the same though his looked like it was the more composed and his turn in was very impressive. In hind sight, i should have been dropping to second for those corners as i was staying in third and watching him pull a gap until i was on boost. Both cars had alot more to give but for a not too hard blast it was interesting to see the differences.

All good and what i enjoy the most. Shame they are so few and far between these days
 
Nice story, I could see myself doing this. :)
 
It is nice when someone is of similar mind and everything is kept friendly and in a safe and orderly fashion :) Its nice to see what other cars are capable of in the real world...
 
audi upgrades
Excellent to hear! I'm surprised the S2000 did so well having taken one for a very spirited drive myself I was dissapointed to say the least. The Z4MC I bought later that day would have crushed it (which is basically the same as your M3 under the skin).

p.s. Uprated ARB's make a HUGE difference to the turn in on these cars if you wanted little improvement;)
 
na dont worry about it being warmed up...a mile down the road is my gauge and thats all it takes for it to hit 90 on the temp.... unless someone can enlighten me im pretty sure the oil will have dispersed around the engine
 
1animal1 said:
na dont worry about it being warmed up...a mile down the road is my gauge and thats all it takes for it to hit 90 on the temp.... unless someone can enlighten me im pretty sure the oil will have dispersed around the engine
Click to expand...

The gauge displays the coolant temperature, and this only takes around 5 minutes to get up to 90c. Oil takes a little bit longer to get warm so I give the car around 10 minutes before I start ragging it. Do a short journey, open the bonnet and look under the oil cap. If you see creamy white gunk it means the oil hasn't warmed up properly (or that oil and water is mixing!).

Audi really should have included an oil temperature gauge in the S3 somewhere, like turbocharged Audi's of old.
 
I wait about 10 mins too before ragging it. Also had to back out against a Focus ST the other day because it wasn't warm enough. I was annoyed as it was obviously standard. I'll keep my eyes open for him!! That would ahve been a straight line test up the slip road onto dual carriageway. No driver skill required in that oine!!

The S2000 seemed quite grippy but certainly didn't have the overtaking punch.


Its all good fun as long as both parties stay safe (if you don't mind speed and safe being in the same sentence!)
 
cheers golf, didnt realise the corrolation although what you say makes sense.... cant understand why you mentioned the creamy gunk tho? thats more associated with condensation or as you say failed HG
 
Whats the general opinion on the astra VXR compared to a remapped S3 ? A lad at work has the limited edition race version but were yet to compare the two. I think the extra weight of the S3 would be the deciding factor although the astra is only capable in perfect conditions. He was seen off fairly comfortably by a 306 gti rallye in the wet not so long back.
 
I think the general opinion is that a standard vxr V a remapped S3 is a fair match up but if the VXR is mapped the S3 stands little chance if the VXR can get the power down. Corners would be a laugh though because I can imagine a remapped VXR will struggle to apply 300+bhp out of a bend where the S3 can.
 
Dry conditions I wouldn't fancy my chances against an Astra VXR, even though I'm remapped, I've witnessed how quick the corsa can be, the Astra would be a fair bit quicker than that. I think it was Top Gear where they put the Astra up against a golf mk5 and a Renault megane 225 iirc in a simple drag race and the Astra trounced them. In the wet I could imagine they are useless but dry another matter...
 
Standard vxr astra's are shocking on the handling when driven hard, my next door neighbour had a red one and would torque steer like mad, was very hard to control properly but then he chopped it in for the nurembourg (i know ive spelt it wrong haha) and my god, its like a completely different car, the power is transferred staright to the road, no torque steer etc, ive been in it at 90-100mph around a sweeping bend and it did not flinch one bit, was very impressive.
 
There aren't any changes to the suspension though the nurburgring has bigger light weight alloys, they also put a better exhaust on the nurburgring...that's about it I think...
 
One of favourite cars when I was growing up was the Astra GTE 16v, my dad had one and that was an awesome car in a straight line, a few years back I would of jumped at driving an Astra with a Turbo strapped to it, problems is now for some reason Ive gone completely off the idea of ever owning a Vauxhall, I think it'll always be German for me now...:salute:
 
Me too.

My dad had an Escort RS Turbo for years and that was my fave affordable car, so when i was 18 i bought one.

Loved the GTE's too. Some people strapped turbo's to them!!! Rapid

Astra VXR's are quick. Handling wise i don't think the average driver would win or lose against an S3. I think the S3 would be less fussy at getting the power down out of corners etc, especially in the wet, therefore making it the better A-B car!
 
So does the Remus exhaust on the VXR nurburgring add any more power ? Theres 1 near where i live and it does sound pretty nice when driven hard.
 
Nope, purely cosmetic and aural.

Still outputs the same 237bhp!

Smart cars though.

I'll be sure to hunt for one for 'comparisons'!!!
 
Yeah im gonna try and catch the lad on the way to work some time and see what happens. Theres 2 sets of traffic lights on the way for a good standing start comparison and at 6 30 am its fairly quiet.
 
yup i had a play with a nurburgring in the wet and he wasnt far behind on straights or roundabout..... although i had misus in the car and didnt really go to my full potential..never touched one on the straights yet...although not relishing the challenge given what the nurb did in the wet

lets hope they heat soak like the old GSI :)
 
I dont think there's much chance of heat soak with ne turbo'd cars! I know the Seat Leon and the Golf Ed30 both have fmic as standard, not sure about the VXR?

Us S3 lot still hold our own with the new kids on the block.
 
audi upgrades
so do i, unfortunately though there are some disapproving people that don't...all healthy if you ask me
 
leggy said:
One of favourite cars when I was growing up was the Astra GTE 16v, my dad had one and that was an awesome car in a straight line, a few years back I would of jumped at driving an Astra with a Turbo strapped to it, problems is now for some reason Ive gone completely off the idea of ever owning a Vauxhall, I think it'll always be German for me now...:salute:
Click to expand...

some of the gte's were made in germany!
 
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