My opinion since getting an S3

[Spin140]

I took someone out in my S3 the other week, and the next day they went and mapped their R32.

The V6 sounds fantastic, but I think the 2.0T lump offers better bang per buck with respect to tuning, and subsequently far more enticing thrills (hard to imagine what stage 2+ is like until you've tried it). When I went in the above mentioned R32 it just felt plain slow (a great sound but not the shove to match the soundtrack).

I see the appeal of NA as I'm getting bored of the problems I've suffered with this car whilst getting to an appropriate stage 2 spec (pipe leaks / fuelling gremlins etc...), but even when I tested the V8 4.2 in an S5 it felt all noise and not much go.

I'm hanging in to see if there is an announcement on the RS3, and if it turns out to be another myth then I'm not sure where to go next.

Loving the old 3.2 vs 2.0T argument (almost as done to death as petrol vs. diesel). Horses for courses, personal preference, depends what you want from your car I guess.

I had an S5 for a couple of hours on Saturday morning and totally agree with what you have said it was a nice drive and a good sound but felt very restrained, it had all the negatives of an RS4 - high tax, high fuel consumption but none of the qualities offered by the same engine but tuned as it should be in the RS4, a totally different car, the S5 is a car that would be a pleasure to take across continents in a relaxed and sedate fashion, the RS4 shouts " DRIVE ME !!".

To be fair a stage 2 + S3 is pretty much nearly as quick IMO so offers exceptional value, it's just that sound you get from anything with 6 cylinders plus so I can see the attraction for the 3.2 owners.

 

[Brett Butler]

I had an S5 for a couple of hours on Saturday morning and totally agree with what you have said it was a nice drive and a good sound but felt very restrained, it had all the negatives of an RS4 - high tax, high fuel consumption but none of the qualities offered by the same engine but tuned as it should be in the RS4, a totally different car, the S5 is a car that would be a pleasure to take across continents in a relaxed and sedate fashion, the RS4 shouts " DRIVE ME !!".

To be fair a stage 2 + S3 is pretty much nearly as quick IMO so offers exceptional value, it's just that sound you get from anything with 6 cylinders plus so I can see the attraction for the 3.2 owners.

They must be Freezing in the winter with the windows open just to hear the roar of the engine

 

[Sarah's A3]

They must be Freezing in the winter with the windows open just to hear the roar of the engine

You think?? But well worth it lol

 

[paddy]

Ah Sarah...living proof that girls prefer 3.2s....So boys love a man ina an S3...

 

[Sarah's A3]

Ah Sarah...living proof that girls prefer 3.2s....So boys love a man ina an S3...

haa haaa haa

 

[warren_S5]

I read somewhere on one of the forums recently that 'BOOST = BITCHES', so as a boost junkie I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree!!!

 

[Sarah's A3]

I read somewhere on one of the forums recently that 'BOOST = BITCHES', so as a boost junkie I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree!!!

ok lovie!!! lol


I think the battle between V6 and 2.0 is fun. Its all personal choice and as long as you are getting fun out of whatever you drive, win win! If I could, id have the 4.2, nearly did but fuel costs would have been too high at the mo lol

 

[PH1L]

haha bet yorue glad you ddint make that move, which reminds me ive to get back to you about some stuff sarah apologies for not doing so, as you know im a busy bee atm ill get back to you via pm by the weekend and hopefully everything will be boxed etc, gutted that i missed out on recaros due to lack of cash so ive got a new drive on getting all the alloys etc that i have from various projects up for grabs

 

[Sarah's A3]

haha bet yorue glad you ddint make that move, which reminds me ive to get back to you about some stuff sarah apologies for not doing so, as you know im a busy bee atm ill get back to you via pm by the weekend and hopefully everything will be boxed etc, gutted that i missed out on recaros due to lack of cash so ive got a new drive on getting all the alloys etc that i have from various projects up for grabs

You know me by now, i'm cool, no rush! What alloys do you have??? lol, god you are costing me a fortune lol!

 

[paddy]

Glad your here S..I've been fighting these S3 junkies on my own for days now

 

[warren_S5]

where would Michael Knight have been without:

it's so good they named a chocolate bar after it:

and in case you were wondering....

The power of pictures ;-)

 

[Sarah's A3]

Glad your here S..I've been fighting these S3 junkies on my own for days now

I'll back you up! Ive had loads of cars and got fed up with the last one needing turbos!! So opted for the V6, and love it. Ok, there are faster ones, and ones that can be mapped etc etc but hey! My worry if I was an S3 owner and had a lust to map stage 1 then stage 2 etc is whats waiting to go wrong! Turbos, clutch.... hopefully nothing but after my experiences, anyway im now a happy bunny!

V6 burble!!!!! mmmmmmmhhhhh (get those windows open lol, oohhh and the sunroof!)

 

[Sarah's A3]

where would Michael Knight have been without:

it's so good they named a chocolate bar after it:

and in case you were wondering....

The power of pictures ;-)

Aw!! if you need boost to get laid you are maybe doing something wrong lol, I dont need pics to get what I want haa haa

 

[warren_S5]

The only mods you'll need with your V6:

 

[PH1L]

You know me by now, i'm cool, no rush! What alloys do you have??? lol, god you are costing me a fortune lol!

haha thats what we're all here for
one set wont be for a while, a set of s3 alloys, a few sets of merc wheels think ive a set of saabs somewhere too along with a few stereos and other stuff of dads that needs selling too

 

[Sarah's A3]

The only mods you'll need with your V6:

haa haa that made me spill my lager!! lol soo funny!

Nah! im bringing the V6 back to life! Heels and some .......... fizz rather than pipe n slippers

 

[Sarah's A3]

haha thats what we're all here for
one set wont be for a while, a set of s3 alloys, a few sets of merc wheels think ive a set of saabs somewhere too along with a few stereos and other stuff of dads that needs selling too

hmmm which merc alloys?? There is a pic of some that N8 posted of some similar to what we had on our A6, may look good on the A3..... but also liking the new RS6's too!

 

[warren_S5]

you know I only take the **** out of you V6 guys for the crack; I'm the first to admit the S3 sounds like a bag of nails and runs right about 3 days a week on a good week!! Glad to hear you're going to re-invent V6 chic Sarah!

 

[Sarah's A3]

you know I only take the **** out of you V6 guys for the crack; I'm the first to admit the S3 sounds like a bag of nails and runs right about 3 days a week on a good week!! Glad to hear you're going to re-invent V6 chic Sarah!

result!

No seriously, its all fun! Nothing personal in any way! Well, agree ours sounds better lol! One day I will get an S3 and will do the same and map map map lol! But then again, i'm never happy and always want more! Dont we all where cars are concerned!

Just hope Paddy gets his sorted or im on my own here lol!

 

[PH1L]

old style ml ones, quite cool actually

 

[gingers3]

v6 is a great engine in sound and performance but is too heavy for the golf / a3 platform and up sets the handling imo

 

[paddy]

I agree the V6 is heavy but i have never had a problem with handling ! i think this is a myth perpetuated by a few journalists and a track day...On the road in the real world there are all sorts of problems with the A3/S3 that crop up long before the engine weight becomes a factor.....like the awful vague steering for starters and the very average suspension...Lets face it, it was not a chassis designed to carry 250bhp+ AND handle like a Lotus....

 

[warren_S5]

I agree the V6 is heavy but i have never had a problem with handling ! i think this is a myth perpetuated by a few journalists and a track day...On the road in the real world there are all sorts of problems with the A3/S3 that crop up long before the engine weight becomes a factor.....like the awful vague steering for starters and the very average suspension...Lets face it, it was not a chassis designed to carry 250bhp+ AND handle like a Lotus....

whilst there are companies like BMW or Nissan ringing more power out of their 6 cylinders, I'm sure the VR6 is supposed to be one of the lightest most compact 6 cylinger engines available, and the testiment to this is the fact you can easily shoehorn one into a Mk2 Golf without any real trouble.

There are many journo myths and sound bites, but then the world seems to survive by them. Somebody once mentioned K&N filters were bad for MAF's due to someone overoiling a filter and the next thing you hear is everyone professing it was an issue raised by God as the 13th commandment: Thou shalt not fit a K&N filter to a car with a MAF! Like the myth about coilovers being the oinly way to proceed with great suspension (then the owners fit them themselves, or don't have them corner weighted / Beissbarth aligned), at the end of the day it's people adopting sound bites as opinions and turning them into fact through chinese whispers. If the VR6 / 6 cylinder was a dead loss would VAG ever spent the money developing it as far as they did from the 174bhp version in the Mk3 Golf through to the version in the latest R32 Mk5/A3 today???

 

[Brett Butler]

Wonder why Audi stopped using it though. Quite a few Car Companies have dropped there larger engines in small cars, suppose fact of matter, they are not selling enough of them due to cost, and fuel.

 

[paddy]

I had a mk 3 VR6 in1992...........

Just out of interest i wonder how fast you would have to hit a roundabout before under-steer due to a heavy engine meant you couldn't get round it ??

A lot of this is down to Clarckson who will hit a corner of an airfield at 120mph, put his foot on the brake , light the back tires up with 10,000rpm, disappear in a cloud of rubber smoke..........and emerge looking shocked and pronounce ...The car dosnt handle...
And Mr average TG viewer sitting in his council house thinks....Thats that then, Ohyy Waynetta ! we aint getting a Gallardo no more..there crap !

 

[Brett Butler]

I had a mk 3 VR6 in1992...........

Just out of interest i wonder how fast you would have to hit a roundabout before under-steer due to a heavy engine meant you couldn't get round it ??

A lot of this is down to Clarckson who will hit a corner of an airfield at 120mph, put his foot on the brake , light the back tires up with 10,000rpm, disappear in a cloud of rubber smoke..........and emerge looking shocked and pronounce ...The car dosnt handle...
And Mr average TG viewer sitting in his council house thinks....Thats that then, Ohyy Waynetta ! we aint getting a Gallardo no more..there crap !

SO TRUE, it is amazing how many people have stated this, its steering is all woolly blah blah, and I guess a lot of people/journalists who have not even driven it, sure its not perfect, but I think it handles pretty dam well personally.

 

[warren_S5]

You could put Tiff Needel in a 1.0 Clio and he would cane me around the Ring in our Stage 2 S3.

Why, because it's about finesse, skill, understanding the physics of the car, not overdriving the car, driving the optimal lines. Likewise, with the 3.2 a skilled driver will be able to control it perfectly well if the brakes are up to the job and the suspension is working well. We're talking tenths of difference between cars these days, there is more difference to be had from the driver than the car, but as everyone thinks they are the best driver in the world this is often overlooked.

Brett, I think the big engined cars are being dropped from car makers portfolios as they have defined targets from the EU to hit with respect to fuel consumption / C02 etc.. They will address the big cars last as they can patch the issue on smaller cars with charging devices (turbo/super).

Journo's who write for mags don't necessarily love cars, they may have been working on What Hi-Fi last month and are just casting a personal opinion on their perceptions after just getting out of a 911 GT3!

 

[Spin140]

That's another reason I wanted to own a large engined car sooner rather than later, pretty sure they will be dinosaurs in all but the most extreme sports cars.

Car journo's are a fickle bunch and I do read far too many magazines but I find myself agreeing with them far less these days, I know we are considered biased as an Audi Forum but I truly don't believe many of the models deserve the average reviews they get, there are some excellent models in the portfolio and the S3 happens to be one of them.

 

[paddy]

LOL Warren..

I was at Brands Hatch a few years ago doing a couple of demo laps on 700cc Konig outfit and there was a Clio race that afternoon . Those guys just nail it off the line and dont lift off again till the flag !! You hear kids saying their Clio's dont handle ? well IMHO its not until you have 3 or even 2 wheels on the ground that you have started to reach the limits...Those guys were just having so much fun and on the cheap as well..
I first went racing with my Uncle in the early 70s as a kid with his Mini Cooper S at Goodwood and that's when i first realised you don't need a ton of power to go very quick and have brilliant fun, you just need to be competitive with those around you.
The thing i never got was consistency. I remember a guy on a Suzuki 750 SRAD going round Goodwood. He just went straight out and did 6 laps absolutely flat out within 1 second of each other...and came in as cool as a cucumber..Thats when i realised i was never going to be very good

 

[PaulAr]

Some of the crap these journos write is utter nonsense IMO.
I read a back to back test in EVO for the MK6 Gti and Scirroco, and the journo prefferred the the Scirroco because the Golf was `too good` and the Sciroccos flaws "gave it character" etc..or some other ********.
I think they often just run out of things to write. Modern cars are so good nowdays journos struggle to find thing to moan about and to avoid saying that every car is `great`, simply make up intangable cack to try and make it a good read.
A good read doesnt always equal a balanced review.

The MK5 received rave reviews and was praised for being `fun` blah blah, but yet the S3 was panned.
Ive owned both back to back and can confirm that the S3 is no less fun than a MK5 Golf. Fact.
What planet are these reviewers from?

I also recall Jason Plato saying the TTRS was best in its class, yet EVO handed some kind of wooded spoon. How? Its the same car ***!

Proof to me that mag reviews mean nowt. Good to read on the bog but about as factual and useful as the Viz.
Or Top Gear far that matter.

Cheers
Paul

 

[warren_S5]

Proof to me that mag reviews mean nowt. Good to read on the bog but about as factual and useful as the Viz.
Or Top Gear far that matter.

Unfortunately all true Paul. Most of these magazines should be filed under fiction rather than motoring. All they do is give me piles!

 

[N8]