Joe's Countdown Thread...will it be the first S3 Saloon on ASN...?

Here are some low res pics, will add some high res ones later. First impressions are awesome, so glad I got Panther the sun brings out so many colours! Drive was fantastic but there is a story which I'll explain later...

First the pics

So the sad story...

All went well at pickup, great service at Cambridge, and really enjoyed it all. They even video'd me flooring it out of the garage lol. However two roundabouts later on a slow lefthander I heard a very loud bang from driver side. Pulled over immediately to look at the tyres thinking I'd had a blowout. Couldn't see anything and no warning lights so kept going. Pulled up at a car park and discovered a significant dent in the driver side door!! Absolutely gutted, I must have had 5 mins of ownership before the dent...

I do have dent cover so hopefully it will be able to be sorted but what sort of f'ing luck is that?! I think as the tyre has turned for the corner it must have spat out a large stone at speed straight into the door. Never had the like on any car in 10 years.

Did spoil the experience somewhat...

Anyway, sh!t happens, the car does look amazing (dent aside) and drives so well. I pretty much ignored the running in guidance on the way home a few times, and whilst I wasn't a prat, I did floor it just to see it do it's thing. Will be reasonably gentle for first few weeks, but it is an S3!!

More to come when I ran a few miles

And Sandra, this won't be my last post...

Cheers buddy that's cheered me up

Thanks guys, absolutely loving it, it was a revelation driving into work this morning, seats so comfortable, and stron and ACC made slow traffic in west london so much easier to bear. The B&O helped with that too Of course a couple of foot down moments and the 'farts' from the exhaust brought a smile to my face. I don't think I've ever looked forward to driving into work for a long time!

Pilot, I'm afraid not on the alloys, I'm in love with them, although I'll be sure to get proper black next time

Veeeight...still here

As promised, some high res photos

Thanks Warren, never having driven one, or even seen one in the metal, you always have a little niggle in your mind until you pull the cover off, saying "what if its not as good as you hope...", but in this case, I just had a massive grin. In the words of Jeremy Clarkson, "what a machine". I think my step up from a Scirocco is a part of that, some folk here are used to proper sorted machines, S5's, Merc's, GT3's etc, but for me, this is one massive step up in performance, but also pretty much everything else.

So summarised as chuffed, and also extremely lucky and privilaged to be in a position to get one, not everyone is. Its easy to forget that on here, as most folk can obviously afford their lovely cars. I was taken by it the other day when a tech helping sort my Scirocco was so taken with it, it was his dream car but couldn't afford it even second hand, whereas I was thinking, "I've had enough of this, its a bit long in the tooth etc". Brought it home with a bit of humility.

Cleggy70 said:

Great looking car Joe, gotta wait till September for mine!

Once you've done a few miles let us know what the feel, traction and performance are like?!

Click to expand...

Thanks and will do! Initial impressions are, feel is limited, but with a precision planted confidence inspiring sense to it, traction is impressive, not tested it really yet, but its not missed a beat so far, and performance outstanding, I'm still getting used to the 'box, and how to get the best from it. The kick-down is pretty brutal actually, as is the sudden noise you get, and I'm still grinning as the cars behind suddenly get a lot smaller

I actually find it really good. Coming from 18's on my scirocco, I actually think that both the primary and secondary ride is actually better than what I'm used to. The S3 Saloon also comes with Mag ride as standard, which I've currently got set on comfort on the individual setting which I think helps a bit.

I think it comes down to what you're used to, as the ride is still, firm and sporty, which to some they wouldn't like, but to me its excellent so far, from admittedly from little over 100 miles to date

Been waiting to change it

OZAudi84 said:

This thread needs more photos in the SUN!

Click to expand...

As soon as we get the one sunny day of the year we normally get in England I'll definitely rush out

Sounds like a lovely car you've specced, and like all things you can't really go wrong, it's all down to personal preference. Personally the SS seats where one of the main things I was looking forward to, partly down the the looks, which I think are gorgeous and classy, but also the support and comfort, and they have definitely lived up to it, and I'd spec them again in a heartbeat. As for the mag ride...it comes as standard on the S3 Saloon, and it is useful, but mainly in my case to set on comfort to improve the ride and counter my 19's. I'm not sure I'd pay the £1000 if they weren't standard. I had pano roof on my Scirocco and to be honest it might as well not have been there. Barely noticed it, never opened it, I guess it slightly improved the look of the car from the outside but marginal, hence didn't bother this time, and don't regret it.

However all said and done, these things are personal choice and you'll find other folk with differing opinions to mine!

So my two week write-up...

Well it started well with a lovely sunny day and a decent frist drive, but somewhat dispirited by the dent in my side door within 5 mins of setting off!

After that have put around 600 miles on the clock with a few drives into london, and down to Kent as well as short drives around town.

Initial positives:

- Such a lovely place to spend time. The SS seats are so comfy and I've been playing with the thigh support, lumbar support and so on, to now get a very comfortable seating position.
- The interior is so well set out, and now I'm starting to get used to the MMI and buttons, it's all very intuitive. I'm also impressed with the little things, like the damping on the switch-gear. You forget that you use the indicator stalk all the time, and I love the weighting, noise and damping on things like that, it helps it feel like a quality product.
- The two 'faces' of the car. A lot of the time, you can't use all the power, for example when cruising on a busy motorway or sat in traffic. When thats the case, I can sit in a comfortable car, being soothed by the B&O, with my ACC and s-tronic basically driving itself, and my heated seat relaxing my back, in my comfy SS seats. It's then a lovely exec cruiser. Then I come off the main road, turn music off, stick it in dynamic and give it the beans and it becomes a touring car! Absolutely love that you can have both. Its exactly what I wanted in a car. I do too much driving on congested roads for an out and out sports car during the week (although I am looking at one for the weekend , but thats another story), so the S3 is a perfect fit.
- S-tronic gear box. Not had one in my car before, but its pretty faultless. The combo with ACC is amazing, and I love the ease in which I can switch to manual when I want some fun. It actually has made me a 'better' driver on normal roads, as in D it lets you just cruise along without urging you to floor it all the time and be a tit. S is a different matter of course
- B&O is fantastic, it really brings the music to life, and actually have loved listening to things like talksport and classic FM on it as well as some banging tunes, and helps offset the tyre noise...(more on that later)
- The looks...the Panther Black is lovely and have had non-car people staring at it and asking what is was, so the fact that its different from 'normal' black is visible to those not in the know which is cool. I love the combination of black and chrome, and the fact that it's both subtle, but the car still looks 'special'. Have already had a couple of blokes literally hang out of their punto window in traffic to stare at it!
- The traction, which is phenomenal. I used to hate the scrabbling around in my Scirocco, as well as the traction control kicking in and ruining my fun, so liking the 'grip and go'. Not tried it in the wet yet though.


The not so good...

- Tyre roar is pretty bad, worse than my Scirocco (which was also bad IMO). I presume its partly down to the 19's, but also I suspect the Conti's I have on. Its actually fine on decent tarmac, but as soon as you go on rubbish road its really quite loud and annoying. As I'm on the maintentance pack, I'm stuck with the Conti's too. Its not the end of the world, as I tend to have the B&O on when I'm cruising which easily masks it, and when I'm driving hard the engine and exhaust take over, but its the fly in the refinement ointment I'd say
- My dent, nuff said, although hopefully getting it fixed in two weeks
- The ride has be a bit bad over rubbish ground, and especially any big bumps. I've taken to going over road humps like an old granddad as a result. Its not that the overall ride is bad (actaully its pretty good on normal roads) but potholes and bumps really thump, and because the car is sprung so firmly going over road humps at over 1 mph seems to result in a real bounce! Its not the end of the world, and will probably actually help me out in the long run in terms of looking after my suspension and shocks, but there you go
- and .....not much else

Putting a pretty big grin on my face to far. My wife laughs at me as I'm out every few days cleaning it, especially the quad pipes which I've been looking after with some brasso (the inside ones in particular seem to get black quickly). Took the kids out in it at the weekend too, and it does work well as a family car, boot swallowing our big pushchair and other kiddy stuff no problem, and car seats etc going in fine.

Further updates as I break into the post 1000 mile bedding in period and really start to push it a bit

We don't have a performance pack option in the UK, so magnetic ride is an option on its own, but for the S3 Saloon only it comes as standard