Potential Owner - Deciding on a spec...

a3_phil

a3_phil

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Afternoon all.

After four years pootling around in a high miler Mondeo, the time is right for me to change the car and I'm pretty much set on leasing an A3 Sportback through my company given the nice low BIK rates.

The spec I'm currently looking at is:

A3 S-Line TDI 184 Sportback
-Monsoon grey
-Audi Sound System
-Heated Front Seats
-Adaptive Lights
-Comfort Package

Does this sound like a sensible choice or are there some options I must be considering?
 
Must is a strong qualifier!

Personally, unless you are going for full leather, I would drop the heated seats option. I don't find it useful or particularly comfortable in cars with cloth seats such as the standard S-Line trim and it frees up money for options that you will see benefit in more frequently (e.g. interior lighting pack).

While it is horses for courses, of the other available options that I consider a must have, hold assist is probably at the top of the list for its convenience and relative inexpensiveness.
 
GeoffdeBruges said:
Must is a strong qualifier!

Personally, unless you are going for full leather, I would drop the heated seats option. I don't find it useful or particularly comfortable in cars with cloth seats such as the standard S-Line trim and it frees up money for options that you will see benefit in more frequently (e.g. interior lighting pack).

While it is horses for courses, of the other available options that I consider a must have, hold assist is probably at the top of the list for its convenience and relative inexpensiveness.
Click to expand...

Hmm, what's the 8V TDI like for heating up? I notice it's got an auxilliary electric heater so does that mean near-instant heat?

My current car takes about 10 minutes until I get any warm air on a morning so heated seats are essential in winter, though it's a full leather interior on that one...

As for the hold assist, I live in the fens which is flatter than most car-parks so my hand-brake just gathers dust ;)
 
Personally I opted for heated seats with half leather and glad I did as I really like them.
I also enquired about after market leather as my build had been locked at the time and was quoted approx £900 which wasn't much more than factory price of £790 but adding the heated seats option aftermarket was going to be a lot more. I know Ill probably never fit the leather but thats how I justified it to myself at the time.
 
I do now wish Id gone for ACC though so might be worth a look
 
Think I'll probably stick with the heated seats then.

As for ACC, I thought about it but I'm really not that fussed at the price. I'm looking for a comfy small barge to sit in for 2hrs a day that can accelerate well but deliver good economy. I won't be piling into corners at any great speed and the standard (Sport) suspension that I experienced on the test drive felt more than adequate.
 
I used to think heated seats were worthless without leather as well, but I have them on my half leather seats and actually they are really nice to have in the winter. ACC and Hold Assist get almost universal praise on here. It's a very cheap option for what you get and how much the parts cost to retrofit, so consider that one carefully! The Tech pack is expensive, but it'll likely make your car higher value if you sell privately (not by much, but it will a bit despite what some people say on here about options not adding value!), or easier to sell.
 
Lumbar support, perhaps? As far as I'm aware, you don't get ANY lumbar support unless you opt for the £195 electrically adjustable option. Having spent many long motorway journeys with a rolled up sweatshirt stuck behind me, it was one of the first boxes I ticked...
 
ACC is great if you spend a long of time in queue traffic. Most people regret it if they do not include the interior lighting pack (QQ4) unless it is already included in one of the other packages. It is included in the Xenon light package (WB6) but not in the Adaptive headlights with Xenon Plus headlights (PXA) and is not standard on the S-Line but a £170 option.

I have cloth seats in my A3 and my wife finds the heated seats rather nice although I've never used them myself.
 
I'd keep the heated seats as they work really well in winter. I'd generally recommend that you add things to your spec but never remove them.
You going auto or manual?
 
I'd keep the heated seats as they work really well in winter. I'd generally recommend that you add things to your spec but never remove them.
You going auto or manual?
 
Agree on the Lumbar Support a friend made me tick the box, said I would regret it if I didn't. I think he was right it does make a difference although Ill never really know. I think with options whatever you get there will always be something that you regret not ticking, its sticking to a budget thats the hard part.

I was like you started with the 184 with no options but decided to get 1.4COD with more options as that suited my needs better.
 
Agree on the Lumbar Support a friend made me tick the box, said I would regret it if I didn't. I think he was right it does make a difference although Ill never really know. I think with options whatever you get there will always be something that you regret not ticking, its sticking to a budget thats the hard part.

I was like you started with the 184 with no options but decided to get 1.4COD with more options as that suited my needs better.
 
Having amended my order for the third time ... my latest spec (in order of personal importance) is:

S tronic
Adaptive Cruise Control
Hold Assist
Technology Pack
B&O
Fine Nappa Leather
Extended mono.pur
Interior Light Pack
Comfort Pack (only because i can't have ACC without it!)

As a company car i wanted a some driver aids to make life simpler and I love gadgets and leather!
 
I'm going for manual. I have a pretty steady drive that doesn't require much stop start so I'm quite happy to stir the gears myself. Having taken the hints I'm now looking at:

Audi A3 Sportback TDI 184 S-Line
-Daytona Grey
-Audi Sound System (after the B&O crackled like crazy on my test drive, I'm just not taking the risk)
-Heated Front Seats
-Adaptive Lights
-Interior Lighting Package
-Electric Lumabr Support
-Hold Assist
-Comfort Package

That comes in at a list price of £29,540 and I've set myself a (fairly arbitrary) limit of £30k for the P11d value.
 
If it's a company car is it worth considering petrol rather than diesel? The latter always used to be a no-brainer but not any more.

The 1.4 COD engine is a bit less powerful at 150PS and a little slower but it's £2.5k cheaper and 3% less BIK tax which could save you a fair bit, either to just pocket or spend on other options.
 
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Vertigo1 said:
If it's a company car is it worth considering petrol rather than diesel? The latter always used to be a no-brainer but not any more.

The 1.4 COD engine is a bit less powerful at 150PS and a little slower but it's £2.5k cheaper and 3% less BIK tax which could save you a fair bit, either to just pocket or spend on other options.
Click to expand...

Very interesting...

Just ran the numbers and even though it's going to get worse mileage (though not much worse), it'll probably be about £1,200 cheaper over the course of the three year lease. That's assuming that the lease payment is proportional to the list price though.

It's tempting, but at the minute I'm still leaning towards the diesel on the basis of performance:

bhp/ton
184 TDI ~ 140
1.4 CoD ~ 122

and perhaps more decisively for lazy in gear passing moves, the NM/ton
184 TDI ~ 288
1.4 CoD ~ 204

That said, I'm still amazed at those performance + economy figures from a petrol. It had never even crossed my mind to consider the petrol.

EDIT: The difference in leasing costs isn't all that much meaing my actual saving would probably be closer to £690 over three years so I'm still probably headed to the diesel.
 
Last edited:
You can still fit ACC in and be under the £30k :p
 
I didn't have heated seats on my 184 sline and didn't miss then one bit. You will find the car soon pumps heated air out.
Nice spec.
 
cemerson said:
You can still fit ACC in and be under the £30k :p
Click to expand...

Dammit, forget I'd already decided on privacy glass. That means ACC would put me over...

I did notice though that the standard spec seems to include heat insulating side windows. As I'm only interested in privacy glass to keep the back seats cool (kids under 2) I could probably get away without it couldn't I?

I'm already regretting joining this forum as I've been (far too easily) convinced to add more options to the spec that I'd originally planned on... :D

If I were to do that it'd look like this:

Audi A3 Sportback TDI 184 S-Line
-Daytona Grey
-Audi Sound System (after the B&O crackled like crazy on my test drive, I'm just not taking the risk)
-Heated Front Seats
-Adaptive Lights
-Interior Lighting Package
-Electric Lumabr Support
-Hold Assist
-Comfort Package
-ACC

and would come in at £29,890
 
There's nothing wrong with getting the car you want as opposed to regretting not getting something later on!
 
a3_phil said:
That said, I'm still amazed at those performance + economy figures from a petrol. It had never even crossed my mind to consider the petrol.

EDIT: The difference in leasing costs isn't all that much meaing my actual saving would probably be closer to £690 over three years so I'm still probably headed to the diesel.
Click to expand...

Yeah the emissions on diesels used to be so much lower that they were a no-brainer, even with the 3% surcharge but petrols have basically caught up.

I've had diesel company cars for 17 years now but am switching to the 1.4 COD next. Most of my journeys are short urban ones where the diesel isn't really any more economical and what I do lose on longer runs I'll make back via cheaper fuel in the first place. I'm also in the 40% tax bracket so the 3% BIK saving is also not insignificant.

I know many actually prefer diesels for the "lazy" driving style with gobloads of torque and that does appeal to me as I'm hardly a boy racer. Aside from the slight cost savings I just fancy having a petrol again after 17 years! :)
 
The BIK benefits are what swayed me to the 1.4 CoD. And the long term demo helped me see that it's no slouch, plus the 50-52mpg real world fuel consumption is better than I anticipated!
 
Same here - just at base Sport spec, I am going to be saving at least £2372 over the four years I will have the company car - once all the extras and gadgets were added the savings were even more due to the higher cost and higher tax percentage on the diesel.

After a few test drives I also found I preferred the 1.4 CoD, it was quieter and just felt nicer to drive (obviously my own purely subjective opinion here).

Not that I imagine I'll notice the difference but the small increase to BHP over the cars I test drove is nice to know too :)
 
a3_phil said:
Very interesting...

Just ran the numbers and even though it's going to get worse mileage (though not much worse), it'll probably be about £1,200 cheaper over the course of the three year lease. That's assuming that the lease payment is proportional to the list price though.

It's tempting, but at the minute I'm still leaning towards the diesel on the basis of performance:

bhp/ton
184 TDI ~ 140
1.4 CoD ~ 122

and perhaps more decisively for lazy in gear passing moves, the NM/ton
184 TDI ~ 288
1.4 CoD ~ 204

That said, I'm still amazed at those performance + economy figures from a petrol. It had never even crossed my mind to consider the petrol.

EDIT: The difference in leasing costs isn't all that much meaing my actual saving would probably be closer to £690 over three years so I'm still probably headed to the diesel.
Click to expand...

The 1.4 COD is 150 bhp not 122.

The normal 1.4 is 122 bhp ..... this could help make your decision easier? :sm4:
 
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