Looking to order S3

sixlargebeers · Jun 2, 2015

Hi all, I'm new here - looks like a very busy and well informed forum which is great. I recently began looking seriiously at an S3 Sportback S tronic to replace my ageing SLK. At my age and with more grey than anything else in my hair (!) I reckon my convertible days are over. I also need something with space for my beloved carbon road bike (saves the hassle of towbars etc) for my weekend cycle trips.

Anyway I have driven a Golf R and liked the pace and grip but hated the sound aktuator thing pumping false exhaust noise into the cabin. I wasn't overly impressed with the finish of the interior either.

So here I am having test driven the S3 on Sunday and liked it a lot. Wife needs to go drive one on Friday before I make a decision as she will be the main driver during the week. I have a few quotes (carwow, coast2coast) but haven't discussed figures with local dealer yet.

Looking for some views on options. I realise they are always subjective but I'd like to hear views. My current provisional spec is daytona grey paint, lunar silver seats and headlining, pan roof, B&O sound, light and rain sensor pack, parking system plus and park assist, elec heated/folding mirrors and cruise control. In the "not sure" category are comfort pack, side assist (?), LED lights.

Is the Daytona paint a lot easier to keep clean than black and does it hide the swirls better ?

Look forward to hearing views.

Thanks.

Kugaman1 · Jun 2, 2015

I would go for the dark roof lining, especially if you are putting a mountain bike in/out frequently! Its so easy to catch the tyre on the roof lining.

I have the lunar seats with black roof lining, the contrast looks excellent in my opinion.

The comfort pack is the light/rain plus cruise and rear parking, so you are already speccing them!

LED lights divide opinion - most think that the HIDs as standard are just as good.

Hartwell · Jun 2, 2015

Lumber support is a must, especially for an 'older' back!

Mike1981 · Jun 2, 2015

****** hell. No ones mentioned mono pur yet :whistle2:

S3inSE21 · Jun 2, 2015

Would a bike fit in the back of a Sportback? Might be an idea to add roof rails, then get yourself a Thule bike holder.

As for the other options, I'd lose the park assist and spend it on something else. If you spec the comfort pack you can get front and rear parking for £250 and cruise control for free. As for LED lights, I tried both, and there's not really a difference other than in aesthetics.

Mono.pur is a must, obvs.

Interior lighting, hill hold, and lumbar support should be considered also.

Rob2k68 · Jun 2, 2015

Welcome to the forum especially to a fellow roadie !

I have Daytona and love it and with the chrome grille and slightly tinted lenses on the LED headlamps think it looks awesome but the LEDs will split opinion. B&O is awesome and I love the pano roof, would say that the comfort pack is a must for the money and also electric lumbar as has been said by Hartwell. ILP is great for the LED interior lights and also has illuminated cup holders that match the B&O speaker grilles.

sixlargebeers · Jun 2, 2015

Thanks for all the input guys - very insightful. I'll go back to the brochure and look again at the options. Ha ha lumbar support for the old back - will defo check that closely ! Never thought of the lighting pack but not a hugely expensive one and I would imagine it adds a touch of (more) class, particularly if the cup holders match the speaker grilles.

Rooflining - point taken on light colour but i will be super careful about avoiding rubber/oil on any part of the car from the bike. From what I saw when i put the rear seats down after the test drive, there will be plenty of room for the bike with front wheel off. I keep all our old blankets and bed sheets for eventualities like this !!! I do think a light headlining lists the interior and contrasts well with the black dash and carpet. Taste is a funny old thing !

Sounds like comfort pack is a must and if I drop the audi park plus with park assist that would free up more cash for other "essentials"...
Any views on daytona ease of cleaning and swirls etc ? I guess unless you are a very good detailer (and I reckon I am a decent amateur!), swirls will be impossible to avoid but I am hoping they don't show up as clearly on daytona....

In terms of deals discussed so far, carwow are offering 8.1% discount and coast2coast are at 8.7%.

Many thanks again for the advice so far - I will be back on soon with an update !

Cheers

S3inSE21 · Jun 2, 2015

I used carwow and got a 9.2% discount, so it's definitely worth haggling. The salesman I'm dealing with at the dealership told me that Coventry Audi are/were offering such ridiculous deals at the moment that he didn't think they could be making any money whatsoever, so depending on where you are it may be worth getting in touch with them. I would have investigated further, but couldn't be bothered to go all the way up north to Coventry.

Dtwm1 · Jun 2, 2015

I have daytona and love it, its such an easy colour to live with. Its look fantastic when cleaned and wears the dirt pretty well too!

As well as carwow try orange wheels, drive the deal, broker 4 cars etc as often dealers have the different offers with different brokers so you could save an extra few % going though a different site with the same dealer.

As regards the headlining I think the black looks lovely and gives the cabin a more premium feel especially with the ILP. I was given an A3 sport for a few weeks as my car was delayed and wasn't keen on the light headlining. As said LED lights with divide opinion, in a thread somewhere there is a picture of both cars side by side. With lunar seats mono.pur looks really well again there is a picture somewhere on here too, @jassyo06 might be able to help as I think he has this option.

buz · Jun 2, 2015

No sat nav??

I went to my local dealer with 3 different broker quotes and the salesman knew about the deals Coventry were offering as part of the same dealer group, after toing and froing I managed a 11.7% discount.

Simon L · Jun 2, 2015

Go Team Daytona

As for discount you should be able to do better than 8%. Just take the lowest quote you can find, usually Coventry, and ask your local dealer to match or get as close as possible. In my case 10%

...as for lunar mentioned above, here you go (all credits to jassy

)

sixlargebeers · Jun 2, 2015

Thanks again guys - feedback is great, particularly on discounts !

I'll do a bit of searching for the ILP and mono.pur and see what I think.

Sat nav - wasn't sure but it's not outrageously expensive so worth a re-think.

Wow - lunar looks fantastic in that photo against the black dash and carpet - cheers Simon.

steeve · Jun 2, 2015

I'm sure what ever spec you go for you'll love it, get your wife to take it easy its a very quick car and easy to travel at warp speed without realising it.
With wheels out bike should fit in the back easy. I'm not a fan of sticking an expensive bike on the roof as its like putting it into a pressure washer when it rains.

Jassyo06 · Jun 2, 2015

HI Sixlargebeers,me l can only manage 4 lol,if yer going for Lunar Silver leather/light grey headling? l personally think light grey headling would be a step to far,great with dark leather as the light grey headlining would brighten the cabin up,giving top/bottom of the cabin contrast,the same with light leather/black headlining its a contrast,you have the panroof,clever chap

heres a photo of the light leather against/black/panroof but as has been said its a personal choice for us,we are all here to guide

gordie1973 · Jun 2, 2015

Drivethedeal.com gave 11.8% and it didn't end up at Coventry Audi weirdly.

The SD nav I thought was ok at £495 - but you can have it added at any time if necessary with the dealer, you don't need to go for the tech pack which adds about £1k on top of SD.

Hope that helps!

Jassyo06 · Jun 2, 2015

gordie1973 said:
Drivethedeal.com gave 11.8% and it didn't end up at Coventry Audi weirdly.

The SD nav I thought was ok at £495 - but you can have it added at any time if necessary with the dealer, you don't need to go for the tech pack which adds about £1k on top of SD.

Hope that helps!

11.8% off a S3 THATS A INSANE AMOUNT OF DISCOUNT.............You wont get that North of the border and probably/definetly Audi's will have lower residuals South of the Border,God back in Feb l couldnt get that off a Ford Focus ST3,l know May/early June is Slow for the car trade but not 11.8% slow

Psyman79 · Jun 2, 2015

Surprised nobody has mentioned upgrading the cruise to adaptive cruise, works great with s-tronic.

gordie1973 · Jun 2, 2015

You actually made me double check!!! Yup 11.83% to be exact....!

Simon L · Jun 2, 2015

gordie1973 said:
You actually made me double check!!! Yup 11.83% to be exact....!

Yes indeed, this man speaks the truth.

Coventry offered me 11.something% but I wasn't about to do a 300 mile trip to save 1%

RichardT · Jun 2, 2015

Psyman79 said:
Surprised nobody has mentioned upgrading the cruise to adaptive cruise, works great with s-tronic.

Beat me to it Psyman! Comfort pack also includes acoustic glass.
I agree that electric lumbar support is good value for money.
Finally, why not try Brilliant Red :yahoo:

RichardT · Jun 2, 2015

steeve said:
.........get your wife to take it easy its a very quick car and easy to travel at warp speed without realising it.

Take it easy! That's verging on a sexist remark. I'm surprised one of the lady members hasn't come in there !!

Simon L · Jun 2, 2015

RichardT said:
Take it easy! That's verging on a sexist remark. I'm surprised one of the lady members hasn't come in there !!

Absolutely right Richard.

Besides, she shouldn't be in the car in the first place, should be at home making the tea

amped2 · Jun 3, 2015

Just to throw a spanner in the works, your bike will also fit in the saloon.(hides waiting for abuse to start)

Rob2k68 · Jun 3, 2015

sixlargebeers said:
From what I saw when i put the rear seats down after the test drive, there will be plenty of room for the bike with front wheel off. I keep all our old blankets and bed sheets for eventualities like this !!

Snap !! - me too. Currently using an old single bed quilt and very careful to pull the quilt rearward of the upper painted surface of the bumper when loading and unloading. It's quite large on the 8V so could be easily scuffed.

I think the consensus is that Daytona is probably easier to maintain than Sepang or Panther but can't say about the Whites or Reds. My wife once had a white A4 Avant and the paint on that was like tile enamel very tough indeed.

sixlargebeers · Jun 3, 2015

Sound advice about the back bumper Rob. Good to hear positive comments about the Daytona maintenance - the paint on my wife's Discovery 4 is painfully soft so hope the DG makes a pleasant change !

Daveotto · Jun 4, 2015

jassyo06 said:
11.8% off a S3 THATS A INSANE AMOUNT OF DISCOUNT.............You wont get that North of the border and probably/definetly Audi's will have lower residuals South of the Border,God back in Feb l couldnt get that off a Ford Focus ST3,l know May/early June is Slow for the car trade but not 11.8% slow

I got 12.0% and only a 40 minute drive to pick it up

Daveotto · Jun 4, 2015

Psyman79 said:
Surprised nobody has mentioned upgrading the cruise to adaptive cruise, works great with s-tronic.

Just had ACC and DSG, for the third or fourth time in a hire car, this time in a Golf for last 4 days and 600+ miles through France and it still freaks me out. I love standard cruise control but for me there is someothing unnerving about ACC

Daveotto · Jun 4, 2015

sixlargebeers said:
, there will be plenty of room for the bike with front wheel off. ......

Sounds like comfort pack is a must ................, swirls will be impossible to avoid but I am hoping they don't show up as clearly on daytona....

Yep, there is plenty of room for a bike with front wheel off
Yep, comfort pack is a must but would suggest trying ACC upgrade before buying ( personally i dont like ACC, see separate post)
You can avoid swirls as long as you are careful with cleaning, Daytona is a great colour and is awesome in certain lights (posted a few pics in pics thread of mine a few days ago)

Psyman79 · Jun 4, 2015

Daveotto said:
Just had ACC and DSG, for the third or fourth time in a hire car, this time in a Golf for last 4 days and 600+ miles through France and it still freaks me out. I love standard cruise control but for me there is someothing unnerving about ACC

I get what you're saying, it can be a bit weird while getting used to it. As with everything else, best not to rely on it too much as you still need to be in control and alert

Simon L · Jun 4, 2015

Daveotto said:
Just had ACC and DSG, for the third or fourth time in a hire car, this time in a Golf for last 4 days and 600+ miles through France and it still freaks me out. I love standard cruise control but for me there is someothing unnerving about ACC

Precisely why I didn't spec it Dave. To be honest I'm not a huge fan of normal cruise control either. Just something about relinquishing control and getting too comfortable then not being able to react quickly enough if anything unforeseen came along.

.....probably just me on that one though

Blackwhite · Jun 4, 2015

Simon L said:
Precisely why I didn't spec it Dave. To be honest I'm not a huge fan of normal cruise control either. Just something about relinquishing control and getting too comfortable then not being able to react quickly enough if anything unforeseen came along.

.....probably just me on that one though

I never use the Cruise Control.

sixlargebeers · Jun 5, 2015

OK so Mrs SLB has just been on the phone having been for her test drive - she loves it ! She was there for 90 minutes and seems to have had a a right good shot at it and got talked through some of the options and gizmos. I thought she might be a bit underwhelmed but quite the reverse - although she did seem particularly pleased that the dogs would fit in the back if her Disco wasn't available for whatever reason so how much that influenced her I don't know :whistle2:

In summary, it looks like it is definitely the car for us. Now for the phone calls....... :chuncky:

sixlargebeers · Jun 7, 2015

so Friday night was spent looking through the brochure and putting options into "must have" and "nice to have but not essential" categories. We finally agreed on the spec as follows:-

S3 stronic
Daytona paint
Pan roof
Comfort pack
lumbar support
B&O system
ILP
Through load facility
Reversible mat
Non-smoking package
HBA
Aluminium roof rails
Adjustable, heated, folding mirrors
Hold assist
Privacy glass
Audi Parking System plus

Plan is to confirm spec to a couple of brokers tomorrow and take it from there. I emailed the local dealer last night with details and confirming what he must have known (ie wife loved the car). Slightly disappointed not to have heard from him today but maybe I expect too much....

Let the fun begin..

RichardT · Jun 7, 2015

As you have Parking System Plus, why not add reversing camera.

sixlargebeers · Jun 7, 2015

thanks Richard. I must have missed that (not sure how) - what is cost of camera if i have specced comfort pack and PSP ?

RichardT · Jun 8, 2015

£275 incl VAT (last year's brochure)

sixlargebeers · Jun 8, 2015

That's the deal done via Carfile. Discount was 10.8% which I am very happy with.

sixlargebeers · Jun 11, 2015

Actually it was 10.86% discount to be exact

Happy so far with the experience with the dealer. Delivery estimated for second half of September. Dealer reckons that he should be able to update me on that within two weeks.
Thanks again for all the input on the options guys - very helpful indeed.

Looking to order S3

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