S3 Overkill?

Is the S3 overkill?... possibly but we like to buy what we want, not what we need or only fulfills the basic requirement of getting us from A to B.

My daily commute is over 80 miles on a m'way but my average speed for the last 25k miles is 40mph which is depressing when you think about it & with that average speed in mind I could possibly suffice with a Fiat Panda or other low powered car but I know where I'd rather be...

If you can happily afford the S3 why not?. You're only here once!!.

richinsoton said:

Is the S3 overkill?... possibly but we like to buy what we want, not what we need or only fulfills the basic requirement of getting us from A to B.

My daily commute is over 80 miles on a m'way but my average speed for the last 25k miles is 40mph which is depressing when you think about it & with that average speed in mind I could possibly suffice with a Fiat Panda or other low powered car but I know where I'd rather be...

If you can happily afford the S3 why not?. You're only here once!!.

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The OP is taking quite a jump in performance. There are several engines in between that would be a lot more satisfying to drive than a 1.6 TDI. Ultimately, the S3 has obvious advantages, but not without cost.

I like our A3 a lot. It was bought for comfort and economy and is the perfect car for us to be in together. However, if I was going somewhere by myself I would always go in my GTD. It is a lot less comfortable, but it accelerates and handles much better and is just a more satisfying car to 'drive'. Though it does have the advantage of being just as economical as our A3.

While I could 'happily afford' the S3, no matter how I looked at the maths, I didn't think I could justify it. Though I must confess I did manage to justify a new GTI Performance with £7k of extras. Which I know I don't need. I just wanted it. That's man maths

If it makes the jump seem less, I went from a 1.6 Polo GTi to a 3.2 in the form of a Golf R32 lol

Tom.H said:

If it makes the jump seem less, I went from a 1.6 Polo GTi to a 3.2 in the form of a Golf R32 lol

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That is not a big jump in performance. More of a sideways move

My brother-in-law had an R32. His road tax shocked me - over £400

Daz Auto said:

That is not a big jump in performance. More of a sideways move

My brother-in-law had an R32. His road tax shocked me - over £400

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125bhp to 250bhp was a big enough jump lol

Yeah I was paying about £500 a year in the end.

Tom.H said:

125bhp to 250bhp was a big enough jump lol

Yeah I was paying about £500 a year in the end.

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Sorry, you are right. I was thinking of the new Polo which has similar power-to-weight as an R32. After I posted I realised that you said 1.6L.

Just shows how car performance is changing when a modern Polo GTI is as fast around a track as an R32.

http://fastestlaps.com/comparisons/jsb96mchrdhm

The OP will be going from 110ps to 310ps

Daz Auto said:

So even driving like Miss Daisy you only get 25-28mpg around town and you don't find that shocking. You must have done your research. I read this forum and a Golf R forum. People seem genuinely shocked when their S3/R only averages around 30mpg +or- 3. There are lots of posts saying the cars will do over 40mpg, but that is not a realistic average. Then there are other posts with people saying how their cars 'driven properly' are doing 18mpg.

My wife has an Audi A3 1.6 TDI Stronic. We were away for the weekend and did over 300miles. The car averaged 57mpg. Though it does do less if my wife drives Considering that the S3 requires super unleaded I don't think it is unrealistic to double the annual fuel bill for an S3.

Yesterday I was talking to my wife's insurance company about her renewal. As I use the same company I though I would check what happens to my insurance when my new car arrives. Without getting into all the details I was shocked how much it would cost me to change. I'm an old git and I'm only jumping 3 insurance groups. The Sline 1.6 TDI is group 18. The new S3 is group 39.

Many will argue the costs are a price worth paying for the performance. Yes and no. Undoubtedly the S3 performance is something else. However, on our increasingly congested UK roads how often do you get a chance to use it! My wife summed this up very well. We were on the motorway and I pulled out behind a LaFerrari Aperta £1m hypercar. She said - and your both stuck behind that Fiesta!

Wasn't there a survey recently that showed the Audi S3 was the most stolen car in the UK? That's the kind of attention I would not want my car attracting.

Having said all that - the Audi S3 is an awesome car. You just have to be at a point in your life where you don't care about fuel economy, insurance bills and car thieves.

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Yes I did do my research! 25-28 mpg in crawling bumper-to-bumper traffic doesn't surprise me. What you get as an average depends on the ratio of city vs dual carriageway/motorway and how heavy the right foot is. In my case there is far more relatively constant speed driving on dual carriageways/motorways than there is stuck in city traffic jams. On my run from Portsmouth today (86 miles) I got 41 mpg average (with the air conditioning on) and that includes 9 miles of urban driving. Personally I don't think that is bad. My previous car was a 1.9 TDI (the Mark 1 Skoda Fabia VRS) that I had from new and put 120,000 miles on over 12 years. Despite fairly impressive claimed mpg this was not reflected in real world driving and I see very little difference in my weekly fuel bill.

A lot of S3 owners use Super unleaded (98/99 RON) but it is not mandated by Audi. You can use 95 RON if you want. I use 98 RON in my car but then again I collect Shell points so that does partly offset the extra cost.

If I only drove in cities then the S3 would be a ridiculous car to have. It would be nothing but a pose-mobile. I would be better off with a city car or no car at all but that is not the type of driving that I do. Regarding having a chance to use the performance clearly the top speed is way in excess of what is legal in the UK but it could be argued that there is no point having any car that can go faster than 70 mph in the UK. From my own point of view, the acceleration is fun and I drive through Germany at least 4 times a year so I can actually use some of that performance if I wish.

Yes, the S3 is a higher insurance group. It hasn't made a great deal of difference to my annual bill though. I would suggest shopping around. My previous insurer wanted a much higher premium but other insurers were far more reasonable. Some insurers do not want the business of insuring performance cars and price accordingly (so my friend who works in insurance tells me). Before I bought my S3 I researched insurance costs by the plugging the details into a comparison site.

There was survey that said the S3 was a popular car to steal but so are most quick and desirable cars!

I would certainly argue that it is worth it for the performance but if that is not a priority than there are plenty of other cars to choose from.

i went from a base spec 1.2 polo 60hp to my S3. The polo didnt even have electric windows or central locking, never mind the rest of the toys I have now. The way i see it is either get the car you really want and enjoy it, or just get a shity old shed to get from A to B and use your money for somthing else. just don't end up with something middle of the road that's neither cheap or fun/special

66 people are saying the average fuel economy for an Audi S3 is 30.9mpg - https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/audi/s3-2013

Audi A3/S3 insurance groups - http://www.parkers.co.uk/audi/a3/sportback-2013/insurance-groups/

"Figures from the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service reveal the most-stolen car was the Audi S3." - https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jun/25/hi-tech-thieves-keyless-car-crime-electronic-security

Daz Auto said:

66 people are saying the average fuel economy for an Audi S3 is 30.9mpg - https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/audi/s3-2013

Audi A3/S3 insurance groups - http://www.parkers.co.uk/audi/a3/sportback-2013/insurance-groups/

"Figures from the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service reveal the most-stolen car was the Audi S3." - https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jun/25/hi-tech-thieves-keyless-car-crime-electronic-security

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I don't really see how that adds anything to what you have already said.

The fuel figures you reference are for the 300 hp pre-facelift and not the current 310 hp. The fuel consumption is a bit better on the current model but in any case you can hardly expect such a powerful car to sip petrol like a puritan sipping weak orange squash at a church fête.

Yes we all know what insurance group the car is. Despite that, insurance is not that expensive if you shop around (unless of course you happen to live in a high crime area and are under 25 but that will put up the price of car insurance on any car).

The theft stats have been widely discussed on this forum and elsewhere. It is a desirable car for ne're-do-wells to steal, drive too fast and crash but there are also organised crime gangs stealing to order and shipping cars overseas.

Mrs Wogan's Lemon Drizzle said:

The way i see it is either get the car you really want and enjoy it, or just get a shity old shed to get from A to B and use your money for somthing else.

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LaFarrari Aperta??? Now all I have to do is rob a bank. I hear an S3 makes a good getaway car

Svenedin said:

The fuel figures you reference are for the 300 hp pre-facelift and not the current 310 hp. The fuel consumption is a bit better on the current model but in any case you can hardly expect such a powerful car to sip petrol like a puritan at a church fête.

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If you look down the list you will see both 300ps and 310ps cars listed.

I decided to post the links to show that my previous discussion was realistic.

I have the facelift S3 and my average mpg over 6,000 miles is 35.2, I'm really happy with this, mostly down to my motorway commute to work, it does drop significantly when really using the horses.

For comparison my previous car, TT 2.0 tdi 184 bhp in the same commute was returning 52, for the power increase and 4wd I really don't think the S3 is that bad.

If you can afford it do it, if it's a big stretch then I wouldn't recommend it, it's a great car but not worth crippling yourself for.

Let me see if I can break this down to a more simplified response for you;

S3 - Yes
S-Tronic - Yes
Navarra - Your choice.

Hope that helps.

SamP97 said:

Very close to getting a bike (if this doesn't hint to you that I'm after performance I don't know what I can do, not many people will be looking at R6's to go slow). Again, this should highlight that although many cars will have more power than a 1.6TDI, not many of those will come even remotely close to that of a supersports bike (one thing none of you will convince me otherwise on trust me).

If you think owning two vehicles, my current one, and something fun, would be cheaper than using this as an all rounder, please say so!

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Only people who have owned sports bikes can appreciate how quick they are. My old bike did 0-60 in 4 seconds, before it was turned into an engagement ring.

There are ways of mitigating the cost of owning a second car. Though, I think it is better just to pay 1 road tax/insurance and put the money into 1 good car.

SamP97 said:

Interesting that you say you could justify a GTI performance but not the S3, that car was initially my backup option. However, once I looked into it further, and put full leather in it etc, the price was virtually the same. I can't also imagine that at 245PS, it gets much better fuel economy than the S3... As someone who couldn't justify the S3, how do you now feel about your GTI?

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I'll let you know when it arrives. It is confirmed build week 30, end of July.

You probably would not have been happy with a GTI. Sounds like you have an itch that needs scratching.

I ordered the new GTI Art Velour seats to replace the red tartan. They definitely lift the interior. Though not up to Audi standards.

I will miss the fuel economy of the GTD. It did over 60mpg on a 30 mile run yesterday. Though I know the trip computer was probably lying to me. It is not a precise calculation. Just like the 'estimated miles remaining'. I use to regularly drive 30 miles after the computer said '0' miles remain. I always reset my trip meter when I fill the tank. I managed to do 630 miles on a tank of fuel once. My GTD used to do around 600 miles to a tank. So that's 50mpg. Though I'm doing a lot less miles now so it is not as economical.

I read this forum and a Golf R forum and people were saying around 300 miles to a tank Though I see someone on another thread has said their S3 managed to get 400 miles from a tank. Now as far as I know the S3 has a the larger 55L tank which is 12 UK gallons. 400/12 = 33.3 mpg. If the S3 will do a genuine 40mpg and you multiply by 12 that would be 480 miles per tank.

As for the GTI, my expectation is 35mpg +or- 3. Though I believe the Mk7 GTI now has the smaller 50 litre fuel tank the same as my wife's A3. So depending on the drive mode, journey, traffic and my right foot - 350 to 420 miles per tank.

Another consideration was the lack of super unleaded in petrol stations near me. People on the forums are saying that the GTI will run fine on 95RON premium unleaded. Apparently the S3 and Golf R run smoother and more economically with 98RON super unleaded.

Ultimately, I have never owned a GTI and after much thought decided it ticked the most boxes with the fewest compromises.

man an A3 is not going to get you that smile..

Audi Bairn said:

Not sure if you mean my post #59 on this thread?
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/thread...a-full-tank-all-engines-welcome.327222/page-2

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No it was another thread.

Unfortunately, the computer is not accurate. There can be a big difference between the computer calculated mpg and actually mpg.

My GTD computer has said 70mpg on occasion. (So has our A3) Which would mean 840 miles from my 12 gallon tank. The most I have ever achieved from a tank is 630 miles on fumes. The computer rarely says less than 55mpg. Though I know from my fill-to-fill calculations that the car does 50mpg.

Unfortunately, I don't drive my wife's A3 enough to do the calculations. The new diesel miss-fuel device makes it difficult to know exactly how full the tank is. Some diesel is frothy and causes the pump to cut out sooner than other diesel. On my car after the pump cuts out another litre +/- fills the car to the neck. I read that the computer says '0 miles' remain with a least a gallon of fuel left in the tank. I have never put anywhere near 50litres of diesel into the A3's fuel tank. So there is still a lot of fuel/miles left in the tank when the computer says NO and the red light on the fuel gauge starts flashing.

With the petrol car it should be relatively simple to calculate the actual mpg. Fill the car to the neck. Reset the odometer. When the car is filled again record the miles travelled since reset and the amount of litres taken to fill to the same point. Convert the litres into imperial gallons and divide into the mileage eg. 55L=12 gallons, 480miles/12 gallons = 40mpg. Simple