Facelift S3 Purchase Advice

M

MB01

Registered User
Joined
Jan 14, 2017
Messages
7
Reaction score
2
Points
3
Hi All,

Looking to ask some questions regarding purchasing a S3, after reading the forum since last February when I picked up my current A3 I'm hoping some of you may be able to offer some advice.

I'm currently trying to decide between whether to go down the route of a new / nearly new facelift S3.

A local Audi dealership has mentioned the possibility of a car with my specification going on sale around April after it has been used for 3 months as a demonstrator model. The other option is to order a new car which will probably arrive around the same time but will obviously cost more money.

At the moment I'm leaning towards going down the ex demonstrator route but I would be slightly concerned as to how the car is treated during the 3 month demo period in terms of how much it gets ragged and potentially 'run in' incorrectly. Although saying that any previous used car could have been treated badly by a previous owner!

Has anyone had any good / bad experiences of purchasing an ex demonstrator? Or would you just recommend buying new?

Also not decided on how to finance yet, I purchased my previous car outright so will be able to use that as a deposit (about £16,000 trade in). I've looked into a 3 year PCP previously but that seems to be more expensive than via a bank loan etc, so any suggestions / experiences would be welcome.

Here's the spec for those instersted:
Audi S3 3Door Black Edition - S Tronic (Best Carwow Quote - £35,121 - 12%)
Ara Blue
Audi parking system plus
Hill hold assist
Folding door mirrors
Technology pack advanced
Extended interior upholstery pack
Fine nappa leather + super sports seats

Appreciate there's a lot to read but thanks in advance
 
I bought a 3 month old ex demonstrator, facelift S3. The price was too tempting compared to brand new (even assuming a discount). My old car was beginning to get unreliable so I didn't want to wait months for a car to be built. My S3 had a 4 year warranty (less the 3 months) so if it has been flogged at least it will get fixed.

The downside to an ex-demo is you don't get to choose your exact specification and there may be some slight wear and tear especially of the paint. The cars get washed frequently and mine has some swirls to the paint.

Funnily enough I put down a very similar deposit and financed the rest through the bank at 3%.

So far so good. No problems. Fantastic car, the best I've ever owned.
 
If your worries about how a car is treated then an ex demo is the worst car to buy. Driven by people who don't care about it as it's not theirs. Probably gone out on test drives 10-20 times. And ragged from day 1. Also paintwork probably won't be in great condition either
 
  • Like
Reactions: AudiNutta
I've previously bought an ex demo, although not a sporty model. Based on my experience, I wouldn't hesitate in buying another demo if the deal and spec were right. My Golf had over 100k miles when it got p/x'd and only ever had one relatively minor problem (a tensioner).
 
Based on the two test drives in S3's I had with hardly any miles on and the 'spirited' driving the salesmen encouraged not sure I would be looking down the ex demo route unless buying on a PCP with serious discount...
 
Thanks for all the replies, I think I've decided on a new factory order as there doesn't seem to be a huge difference in cost and I'm not in a huge rush to replace my existing car whilst waiting for a new car to be built.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RSS-S3
The S3 that I test drove turned up at our house (the salesman from my local dealership was grovelling after having screwed up our original test drive and was trying to make amends by bringing it to us) and the smell of a burning/slipping clutch (or maybe Haldex) was awful. There wasn't much tread on the tyres either. It was about four months old. Goodness knows what a life the thing had seen.
 
samo26 said:
Based on the two test drives in S3's I had with hardly any miles on and the 'spirited' driving the salesmen encouraged not sure I would be looking down the ex demo route unless buying on a PCP with serious discount...
Click to expand...
I think that's a little over the top.....they encourage you to open it up, it's an S3.....it's power is one of its big selling points.
They wouldn't ask you to push the car past a point where it would cause it any sort of damage where it may even endanger people. Discount yes.... but how heavy are you talking?
My mates just bought a PFL S3 sportback with 6k miles in the clock with quite a few extras for 28.5k from the dealership. He's over the moon, especially with how much he's potentially saved by buying "newly new"
 
seanbeckerleg said:
I think that's a little over the top.....they encourage you to open it up, it's an S3.....it's power is one of its big selling points.
They wouldn't ask you to push the car past a point where it would cause it any sort of damage where it may even endanger people. Discount yes.... but how heavy are you talking?
My mates just bought a PFL S3 sportback with 6k miles in the clock with quite a few extras for 28.5k from the dealership. He's over the moon, especially with how much he's potentially saved by buying "newly new"
Click to expand...
I have no issue with them allowing you to push the car as its intended to be drove in fact I rather like it as you say it is an S3 at the end of the day.

Just wouldn't want to buy one.
 
If you are at all concerned about how a demo has been driven, don't buy one. I had a demo from Audi, an S3 with 1000 miles on and salesman expressed how much he had thrashed it and loosened it up. The edge of the tyre walls were all scrubbed in, my car now has 3700 miles on the clock and that's something I'm not anywhere near close to ever doing.

The cars are driven as fast as possible on test to sell the model to a potential buyer, driven foot to the floor from stone cold.. just a no go unless it is ridiculously cheap. Chances are all will be okay, these cars are built like brick s**t houses and I suspect a couple thousand harsh miles although not ideal won't ruin the car by any means. If you can go new, go for it! Besides, to assist with man maths the new car finance rates are half an approved car at least. I got a 12% discount on my S3 because it was in the showroom. That's £38,200 down to £34,000. My mate just bought a factory order Ara Blue S3, list price was £43,500 and he got it for £41,500 I believe.

If you want details of the dealer that can give you that deal and the salesman, give me a PM.
 
Think my factory order was £41,000 down to £37,000.
 
The dealer got back to me today with pricing of what they would be selling the ex demo at in 3 months time with approx 5000 miles on the clock. For the same spec as listed above they have quoted £32,000 which I would not be interested in as my best quote since for a new factory order is just under £34,500 when taking finance and a further £1000 cheaper without the Black Edition.

So looks like I may be going down the route of a factory order. Only other thing I had considered was the possibility of picking up a pre-reg if any were available as they should start to show up around March / April although I don't know how likely this would be as the FL is still fairly new along with Ara Blue. Does anyone know if Pre-Reg cars are usually listed on the Used Approved Audi website?
 
If you are a cash buyer and intend to sell before the warranty runs out there may be merit in a well priced ex-demo. The hard life isn't so much the issue as it probably being thrashed from cold. This may result in high oil consumption and premature wear that will come to light in a few years time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B-J-P
Possible 2019 S3 purchase advice
Replies
38
Views
3K
B-J-P
B-J-P
Moots
S3 potential purchase
Replies
26
Views
2K
MikhailCompo
MikhailCompo
Itguy
  • Start Poll
Your S3 Purchase - Head or Heart purchase?
Replies
69
Views
5K
Itguy
Itguy
musicegbdf
long term purchase S3 ?
Replies
32
Views
3K
Daz Auto
Daz Auto
G
New A3 Sportback Black Edition purchase advice
Replies
73
Views
4K
mistac
mistac
Top
Back