Next RS3 - New Info

Whilst I can understand the Manual advocates impression of "more control", I wonder how a professional Motorsport driver in a Manual would fare against an identical DSG equipped car?

I get the impression that Manual advocates maybe believe it's more masculine to stir the gearbox themselves? because it's certainly not quicker.

I'm not trying to belittle anyone here & believe there should always be a choice, but after two years in a DSG I can no longer remember why I preferred manuals so much for so long. I still drive them at work, but I'd rather not.
 
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Whilst I can understand the Manual advocates impression of "more control", I wonder how a professional Motorsport driver in a Manual would fare against an identical DSG equipped car?

I get the impression that Manual advocates maybe believe it's more masculine to stir the gearbox themselves? because it's certainly not quicker.

I'm not trying to belittle anyone here & believe there should always be a choice, but after two years in a DSG I can no longer remember why I preferred manuals so much for so long. I still drive them at work, but I'd rather not.

If you drive in a city like Sydney (Australia), and I'm sure there are plenty of them around the world, peak hour traffic and it's bumper to bumper, and you're crawling at 5km/hr constant riding the clutch, that's when you wished you had gone s-tronic (DSG).
 
You guys must have a smoother S tronic set up than mine. In stop start traffic, when the handbrake engages either by auto or manually, the whump in the back when it releases is far from smooth. Not sure I don't prefer dipping the clutch occasionally and being smoother in a manual. That said, up and running I'd agree its benefits in town.

Back on topic I don't think there's a cat in hells chance the RS3 will be anything other than S tronic.
 
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Whilst I can understand the Manual advocates impression of "more control", I wonder how a professional Motorsport driver in a Manual would fare against an identical DSG equipped car?

I get the impression that Manual advocates maybe believe it's more masculine to stir the gearbox themselves? because it's certainly not quicker.

It's not a masculinity thing, it's a feeling thing. The only thing I can try and liken it too is that some drivers like the open top car feel. Whilst the car may feel like a just set jelly by comparison to a tin top they still love the experience.

What I can't ever seem to get across to DSG advocates is its plain and simple, I just like it. I'm a massive tech fan in all other areas of my life, latest games consoles, house is fully airport expressed for sound systems, smart phone enabled alarm & cctv systems, car is fully loaded with tech, YET I have DSG and I don't really think it offers a competent driver the same involvement of process for a spirited drive. Pressing a small electronic switch is no real challenge and it's quite insulated from the satisfying clunk of gears connecting. If you've come from a sh1tty manual gearbox with changes like stirring porridge then I can understand it, but if you've ever driven a well engineered fast changing short shift manual in a high powered car there is something quite rewarding about banging in good gear changes and getting it right (the challenge is mental and physical).

And it's not about 'faster', I fully accept I will be slower BUT I'll happily take that for what I get in return. A professional driver will be much closer to DSG speed than a joe average like me, but what DSG style gearboxes afforded motorsport was increased speed with reliability. Even today the gearboxes are Achilles heel on the cars, back in the pre-1990s when cars were manual the drivers used to blister their palms to blood at Monaco, so comparing Motorsport gearboxes to a road going car is quite a stretch. Every 0.1 of a second in Motorsport makes a massive difference so it makes no sense in paying sport to be stirring your own cogs if it adds risk and burns energy/concentration.

I don't think DSG fans will ever understand, so at this point I'll get my coat and give up. I've never suggested you should like manual more, all I've ever tried to do is enlighten as to why I still like manual.
 
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It's not a masculinity thing, it's a feeling thing. The only thing I can try and liken it too is that some drivers like the open top car feel. Whilst the car may feel like a just set jelly by comparison to a tin top they still love the experience.

What I can't ever seem to get across to DSG advocates is its plain and simple, I just like it. I'm a massive tech fan in all other areas of my life, latest games consoles, house is fully airport expressed for sound systems, smart phone enabled alarm & cctv systems, car is fully loaded with tech, YET I have DSG and I don't really think it offers a competent driver the same involvement of process for a spirited drive. Pressing a small electronic switch is no real challenge and it's quite insulated from the satisfying clunk of gears connecting. If you've come from a sh1tty manual gearbox with changes like stirring porridge then I can understand it, but if you've ever driven a well engineered fast changing short shift manual in a high powered car there is something quite rewarding about banging in good gear changes and getting it right (the challenge is mental and physical).

And it's not about 'faster', I fully accept I will be slower BUT I'll happily take that for what I get in return. A professional driver will be much closer to DSG speed than a joe average like me, but what DSG style gearboxes afforded motorsport was increased speed with reliability. Even today the gearboxes are Achilles heel on the cars, back in the pre-1990s when cars were manual the drivers used to blister their palms to blood at Monaco, so comparing Motorsport gearboxes to a road going car is quite a stretch. Every 0.1 of a second in Motorsport makes a massive difference so it makes no sense in paying sport to be stirring your own cogs if it adds risk and burns energy/concentration.

I don't think DSG fans will ever understand, so at this point I'll get my coat and give up. I've never suggested you should like manual more, all I've ever tried to do is enlighten as to why I still like manual.

For what it's worth Warren I think you're spot on and you've taken the words right out of my mouth
 
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So it's all about the "buzz"! Maybe I lost that when I passed 50 years of age.

These days I'd rather not be over stressing the car.
 
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So it's all about the "buzz"! Maybe I lost that when I passed 50 years of age.

These days I'd rather not be over stressing the car.

I don't think I've ever over stressed a car with a manual gearbox. Even when on or near the limit part of the attraction of a manual is trying to keep the car smooth, not stressed and matching the rev and gear changes. If that makes me a couple of tenths slower on the limit its a price I'm happy to pay. And I'm not too far behind you in the age stakes.

Warren sums it up perfectly and closes the debate for me. I'll settle for being in the (slim) minority who, having DSG and without being adversely negative towards it (it has advantages), would happily return to manual.
 
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Manual gearboxes and petrol engine have one thing in common; neither will exist in any form of mass production... eventually.

It will probably take another 10 years for this to happen; but it will definitely happen.

If you mean the internal combustion engine (petrol and diesel) then you may be right (who knows) but if you are excluding diesel then I definitely disagree as the powers that be are only now waking up to the environmental issues with diesel - which they should have known about when they pushed us towards diesels some years ago.
 
Play with that left-leg jig and left-arm flail as long as you can 'cos the change to DSG is already here and more are seeing the benefit by the day... OK, maybe that doesn't include YOU! However...


You know what the best thing about this post is? The image you have posted perfectly portrays your OWN attitude.
 
Whilst I can understand the Manual advocates impression of "more control", I wonder how a professional Motorsport driver in a Manual would fare against an identical DSG equipped car?

I get the impression that Manual advocates maybe believe it's more masculine to stir the gearbox themselves? because it's certainly not quicker.

I'm not trying to belittle anyone here & believe there should always be a choice, but after two years in a DSG I can no longer remember why I preferred manuals so much for so long. I still drive them at work, but I'd rather not.

Ditto all of that. I quite like driving a manual now and again, but the novelty soon wears off. Auto boxes are so good these days, I do wonder if any cars will be manuals in years to come? Talking to the chap at Porsche, who sold us our Boxster GTS (PDK of course) and he said he can't remember the last time someone ordered a manual car. All Audi RS are s tronic and most S are auto only. I was surprised the S3 and new TTS were still being offered as manuals. I suppose the demand is still there. Never thought I would prefer an auto over a manual, but times change...
 
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It's not a masculinity thing, it's a feeling thing. The only thing I can try and liken it too is that some drivers like the open top car feel. Whilst the car may feel like a just set jelly by comparison to a tin top they still love the experience.

What I can't ever seem to get across to DSG advocates is its plain and simple, I just like it. I'm a massive tech fan in all other areas of my life, latest games consoles, house is fully airport expressed for sound systems, smart phone enabled alarm & cctv systems, car is fully loaded with tech, YET I have DSG and I don't really think it offers a competent driver the same involvement of process for a spirited drive. Pressing a small electronic switch is no real challenge and it's quite insulated from the satisfying clunk of gears connecting. If you've come from a sh1tty manual gearbox with changes like stirring porridge then I can understand it, but if you've ever driven a well engineered fast changing short shift manual in a high powered car there is something quite rewarding about banging in good gear changes and getting it right (the challenge is mental and physical).

And it's not about 'faster', I fully accept I will be slower BUT I'll happily take that for what I get in return. A professional driver will be much closer to DSG speed than a joe average like me, but what DSG style gearboxes afforded motorsport was increased speed with reliability. Even today the gearboxes are Achilles heel on the cars, back in the pre-1990s when cars were manual the drivers used to blister their palms to blood at Monaco, so comparing Motorsport gearboxes to a road going car is quite a stretch. Every 0.1 of a second in Motorsport makes a massive difference so it makes no sense in paying sport to be stirring your own cogs if it adds risk and burns energy/concentration.

I don't think DSG fans will ever understand, so at this point I'll get my coat and give up. I've never suggested you should like manual more, all I've ever tried to do is enlighten as to why I still like manual.

Agreed to some extent there. I find myself in the fortunate position of having both the DSG in the Audi for daily driving & a manual for "real" driving.
My main reason for switching to DSG this time was on the rare occasion I do drive in town I wanted something easy for all the stop starts.
Having a bad back doesnt help mind.

One thing I will say though is the 8L S3 never had what I would call a slick shift, even with a SSK fitted. To me it always needed what I would call a heartbeat shift with a pause when crossing the gate.

No doubt about it though, I love both Manual and DSG but for very different reasons.
 
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Geeeeez ....... only said "hope Audi release the RS3 with a manual option" :)

You Guys may be right and they may not release a manual version - as the last RS3

But you can get a manual TT RS in the UK ... and you can get a manual S5 in the States - so there is still some hope perhaps !

VW did say that they would consider a manual for the Golf 400 so again, that gives more hope too.
 
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On the manual vs DSG debate, I think there's another dimension that nobody has yet mentioned. You get characterful DSG and soulless ones. For me, having jumped form an R35 GTR to the s3, I'm finding the Audi's DSG realtively soulless - there's no mechanical feel to it. The shifters are plastic and there's too much insulaiton from the noises in the transmission. The Nissan one was way better - much more feel to the shifters and you could hear the box working (almost to the point where it made you worry it was about to fall apart - which of course it wasn't despite what you may read on internet forums!). The way it blatted through the gears on full bore upshifts was, to my mind, a joy to the senses.

Then again, I guess you could sayt the same thing about a good quick-shift manual vs a soupy one.

Back on topic, I'd be amazed if they offer the new RS3 with anything other than the s tronic. At the end of the day, DSG represents progress, just like traciton control, ABS, AWD, magnetic dampers....... We'll take it for granted in a few years' time.
 
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Even Porsche are going down that route with the new GT3 only available with PDK...
 
If you drive in a city like Sydney (Australia), and I'm sure there are plenty of them around the world, peak hour traffic and it's bumper to bumper, and you're crawling at 5km/hr constant riding the clutch, that's when you wished you had gone s-tronic (DSG).
Agree with this... But also totally get warren's pov

In the end I went S-tronic. I'm happy with that, but strangely sad that I'm happy with it
 
If you drive in a city like Sydney (Australia), and I'm sure there are plenty of them around the world, peak hour traffic and it's bumper to bumper, and you're crawling at 5km/hr constant riding the clutch, that's when you wished you had gone s-tronic (DSG).

totally understand that viewpoint, but if my day to day commute consisted of that, i wouldnt buy an S3 anyway and probably got an Auto smaller engined petrol or diesel. each to their own tho and that goes for auto and manual.

im not saying one is better than the other for anyone other than my needs
 
I don't think decisions about whether to go auto or not on a certain range of cars from any manufacturer are made without considering what the company's clientele wants, or in the case of Audi, mostly buys. If the proportion of buyers of a certain make/ range mostly buys auto boxes and it far outweighs the number of manual box orders, then it is wise (from a business point of view) to put more emphasis on that market. If more manual box cars are bought by buyers of these cars, I'm sure the argument would be reversed.
 
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I don't think decisions about whether to go auto or not on a certain range of cars from any manufacturer are made without considering what the company's clientele wants, or in the case of Audi, mostly buys. If the proportion of buyers of a certain make/ range mostly buys auto boxes and it far outweighs the number of manual box orders, then it is wise (from a business point of view) to put more emphasis on that market. If more manual box cars are bought by buyers of these cars, I'm sure the argument would be reversed.

Pretty much. And this is the reason why I think 3 door RS3s will probably never exist unfortunately.
 
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I don't think decisions about whether to go auto or not on a certain range of cars from any manufacturer are made without considering what the company's clientele wants, or in the case of Audi, mostly buys. If the proportion of buyers of a certain make/ range mostly buys auto boxes and it far outweighs the number of manual box orders, then it is wise (from a business point of view) to put more emphasis on that market. If more manual box cars are bought by buyers of these cars, I'm sure the argument would be reversed.

Not sure how true it was, but my salesman reckoned his dealership was 70% / 30% DSG to manual. From my experience of visiting dealers and looking at used stock that definitely "feels" right to me. Regardless of how soul less the system is, the majority of people want it.
 
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Not sure how true it was, but my salesman reckoned his dealership was 70% / 30% DSG to manual. From my experience of visiting dealers and looking at used stock that definitely "feels" right to me. Regardless of how soul less the system is, the majority of people want it.

Seems a bit of a reversal from the 8P as manuals seemed to be more popular in that generation. I'm jumping from manual to S-Tronic and it does seem to the trend at the moment.
 
Ha funny thread this.

Much prefer manual myself, gives you a much more engaging driving experience. Just to stir the pot a bit..personally i think autos are for lazy people lol
 
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Ha funny thread this.

Much prefer manual myself, gives you a much more engaging driving experience. Just to stir the pot a bit..personally i think autos are for lazy people lol

DSG is NOT an AUTO it is an electronically controlled MANUAL gearbox.
 
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Ha funny thread this.

Much prefer manual myself, gives you a much more engaging driving experience. Just to stir the pot a bit..personally i think autos are for lazy people lol

What would you know about "engaging" ...you bought a Derv! Which means you're a bodyshell away from Truck ownership. :p
 
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What would you know about "engaging" ...you bought a Derv! Which means you're a bodyshell away from Truck ownership. :p

Ohh fighting talk lol what's wrong with a derv? When you're at the petrol station every 5mins I'll be sailing past waving ;)
 
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Lol, yeah you'll be "sailing" is right, the weight of your engine makes your car handle like a boat! :)
 
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Oh God now we are arguing about fuel types lol. I agree with Brennan's post about the lazy thing though. Id say that 70/30 split is because the vast majority of drivers just want their driving experience as easy as possible and simple as possible, and DSG/Tiptronic/whatever you want to call it, achieves that for them. The likes of myself that gets into their car and really enjoys actually driving the thing, are probably in the minority.
 
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70/ 30 split probably coincides with the proportion of fat lazy people compared with slim healthy active folk! :ohmy:
 
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LOL - what gearbox you choose is dependent if your fat or thin? That really did make me laugh! Best reason yet as to why the market is shifting to DSG - the government do keep banging on about obesity levels getting higher so makes perfect sense!

Next someone will suggest that the more industrious / wealthier people only choose DSG purely to lord it over the DSG naysayers who are actually all just tight wads / hard ups / low income (delete as appropriate) that choose a manual as it keeps purchase costs down.

Sweeping statements and generalisations - got to love them......I hope Audi get some reinforced chairs for all the fat people going in to order the new RS3 which will come DSG only for certain! :p
 
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Lol, yeah you'll be "sailing" is right, the weight of your engine makes your car handle like a boat! :)

Is this lad for real?

come-at-me-bro.jpg
 
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I'd suggest that anybody looking for the "seat of the pants" thrills offered by a manual gearbox should be looking at a different Marque altogether! A high build quality, and "feel" are at different ends of the spectrum ...and even if they offered the RS3 in manual, there would be those that claimed it was lifeless\soulless, You can't serve two masters.

...and Yes trev, I was joking.
 
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I think I might need a Gayman next, the GT4 is looking particularly interesting even with the PDK box. Given the price of an RS3 loaded with options is nearly £50k there won't be a lot in it.

porsche-cayman-gt4-002.jpg