Facelift UK RS3 Saloon/SB (400ps) Order Thread...

Agh nooooooo....

Worth waiting for...
Have they got a PFL or another RS car y ou can go out in meantime?
 
D0C said:
Your dealership really is pi55 poor. Which one is it to make sure I never use them?

Hopefully the different car will have a sports exhaust on?
Click to expand...

I will PM you mate. But this dealer is just for the RS3 sale, not attached to the S3 or the repairs on that at all.

Nope it's the same bog standard car with a new tyre :( They can check all tyres before I take it out, not having any of that on a test drive at 70mph!!! Not sure if it's a puncture or blowout, they said blowout but that would lead to more damage normally.

Tried for the other car, but it is booked out. Just heard a brand new one with a sports exhaust leave, sounds amazing! The new owners revved it up while it was still on raised idle and then booted it leaving, shocking treatment :( Only young lads that looked like they wanted to kill me for taking photos.
 
Evotion said:
Agh nooooooo....

Worth waiting for...
Have they got a PFL or another RS car y ou can go out in meantime?
Click to expand...

Nope they don't have a lot of RS cars here, very rare.... sat in my lovely new Focus waiting for a glance at it haha!

I want some form of insurance proof too, too likely to get pulled.
 
teslaboy said:
Right then in that case you're gonna have to cane the fxxx out of it !
Click to expand...

They offered me a tank of V Power in my personal RS3 when it arrives. He said it's only around the corner, it's a 32 mile round trip.. they can p*** right off :lmfao:, will take it on fumes thanks!

It was a 24 hour lend from the time I take it, will just be telling the salesman I will see him between 6 & 7pm tomorrow now, have a few hours extra for this. Not sure if I will get a free tank of fuel to use, but I won't ask for one I don't think.
 
I am into my second hour and it's killing me!! Had so many plans for this evening, including the Brecon Beacons :( Nice 120 mile trip, no more!
 
Don't forget to drive it normally in traffic and test the different driving modes so you can tell us the difference between it and FL S3.
 
Mo Khan said:
Good news... Come on mate you can't tease us like that.. tell us more!!
Click to expand...

What an awesome car! I drove off shortly after 14:00, the car has 7 or so hours drive time on it now and another 250 miles!

The valves are shut totally in second gear, sounds rubbish around town. A little birdie told me unplugging the valves makes a big difference. The same birdie told me that he thinks it is plenty loud enough inside with the valves unplugged in normal driving, to the point when he thinks the sports exhaust is on the car it would be too loud to modify in any way... so I've been told.

The car is brutal. 5 minutes after collecting I called my Dad and said it wasn't a whole world quicker than the S3, that was before I got it into 3rd and 4th gear and stretched its legs to a whole 70mph! I was quick to phone back and say I made a mistake, you need to reserve respect for this car. My heart was pounding out of my chest at some stages, it can be scary. In the S3 you have time to correct yourself if you apply a little too much of the go pedal, in this it's often too late and I find myself thinking ahead a lot more (not that I didn't anyway, but I'm much more aware of what I have under my right foot). The boost kicks in, you think that's it then you hit 5000rpm and it's like a second turbo appears, the car launches and you can get up to a silly 70mph before you think to look at the speedo.

The car does need a sports exhaust, but it is loud already especially after how birdie described the valves unplugged. Yes the car doesn't pop and bang, but the 5 cylinder sound will never be beaten by anything comparable on the market and behind. I had one pop in 5 hours, it was a good one though. What's really irritated me about the car is the hugely annoying flutter (with standard exhaust) every time you get on the overrun or downshift. At 70mph cruising (2000rpm), let off and flutter.. it sounds like a grumbling stomach and ruins the car because after 7 hours I've had enough of it. The noise the turbo makes spooling is so addictive. I've noticed the engine seems to rattle a lot when driving beside walls etc. Can always seem to hear the brakes when coasting along, it must be the drilled discs that cause noise under braking.

140 miles of driving, over half a tank burnt and 19.8MPG with between 20 and 23 indicated, I expected it to be worse but fuel goes fast. The car had 200 miles on when I picked it up, now has 450 and it is noisier and making better overrun sounds by the mile.

Comparing to the S3? (I'm being brief with all because my girlfriend is sat beside me chewing my ear off). The car drives like an A3 in comfort as you'd expect and want, albeit one with enough torque to pull the earth. The car always has a subtle engine burble and I can't get enough of it. The car pulls up to any road legal speed absolutely effortlessly, such an easy car to drive. It's less reluctant to kick down than the S3 which is great, utilises the torque much better.

I must admit I expected a more brutal launch, I've done 2 and the way the car makes progress off the line is unbelievable and never shows any difficulty of making traction it truly is incredible.

One thing I've noticed is the rev limiter, instead of bouncing off the car violently pulls back to 4000 or so rpm and it's horrible, truly is. It would totally lose you a race on a strip. I've found myself feeling incredibly guilty the twice I've done it, because it's brutal. As usual manual mode in town driving can be very lurchy, it's had a few moments but not as bad as the S3 is come days.

So that summarises my day. Tomorrow I am getting up early to give the car a wash, the country roads have hidden the Ara Blue sparkle and the silver wheels are now titanium, damn I could have saved myself £1100 by using it. Then a what I plan to be steady (will be unsuccessful) run down the motorway to speak to a security company about my RS. Then the car will be going back for 18:00 tomorrow, but I'm going to have to be sensible with mileage.

My eyes are on stalks and it's time for bed. :salute:
 
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infernox said:
No mag ride right? How was the ride comfort like?
Click to expand...

Yep no mag ride, it's brutal!

The car handles well, I haven't been pushing it because quite frankly you can't.. the car is too fast for you to pushing its abilities in any way on the road.

The ride is honestly brutal on a bad road, I couldn't cope long term in Wales. On a smooth mountain road I have no complaints, but we did 15 miles through the welsh valleys over rutted and bumpy streets and it was awful. On winter pot hole littered roads, it won't be pleasant as a daily driver (depending on your kind of drive). I don't want to put a downer on anybodies order, I am just being honest on what it's like for me.

If you can afford it then get Mag Ride, but if you can't or haven't don't worry because the car handles great and unless you're on a bad road it's perfectly fine. Only 2/3 times in 250 miles has it been an issue.

I usually drive the S3 in individual, which has the suspension in Auto supposedly the comparable setting with the fixed rate RS suspension. The RS suspension is definitely not Dynamic on Mag Ride its more civilised. Rarely do I use comfort, but I'd have used it tonight.. perhaps my body after 9 hours driving was making it seem worse too.
 
PFL hits rev limit and bounces near the limit, what are you saying the FL does?

TX.
 
The demo I drove didn't have mag ride and I was quite impressed to be honest. Maybe simialr to Golf R DCC race settings and not as firm as a mk3 Focus RS for example. I was pleasantly surprised how good it was.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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terminator x said:
PFL hits rev limit and bounces near the limit, what are you saying the FL does?

TX.
Click to expand...

The FL cuts back, it violently pulls the revs back to around 4500 and if you still don't let off the car revs back up to the red line and then bounces off while you're just freewheeling.

There is no accidental red line bouncing, because on RS' it sounds amazing. As soon as you hit it, it cuts back big time.

It's a little difficult to describe but I won't be intentionally doing it to make a video or anything, it really isn't very nice.
 
I just realised that I've put £87 fuel in the car and got 250 miles out of it, oh...

... speed doesn't come cheap haha! In the S3 that would probably be £60 on full chat the same.
 
AudiNutta said:
I just realised that I've put £87 fuel in the car and got 250 miles out of it, oh...

... speed doesn't come cheap haha! In the S3 that would probably be £60 on full chat the same.
Click to expand...

That's obscene considering you were only doing 70mph ;)
 
@AudiNutta

Thanks for a very honest & detailed review.

A couple of things concern me from your comments though ...

Brake noise

The biggest issue I have with the PFL is the brakes which have caused so many owners including myself so much annoyance.
I've had several pad & disc changes due to squeal & warping.
I've had the optimised circular discs fitted since March this year and vibration has been sorted but occasional squeal is still there as is tappety noise when the discs have a build up of brake dust.
So I have to on a weekly basis pressure wash the discs thoroughly to remove all the pad residue, which keeps on top of the squeal & noise.
If I don't so this, during the 2nd week the brake noise becomes very annoying as does the squeal.
So I am compelled to clean the discs / alloys weekly whether I want to or not.

It sounds like the newly revised discs STILL have not sorted this issue.
If I were to consider another RS3 I would need 100% assurance that the brakes have been sorted completely.
Your comments are leading me to believe that they have not.

Sound @ 3,500 rpm

You mentoin that the valves are shut completely in 1st and 2nd gear .... WTF !!!!
Really ?
That can't be true surely ?
One of the best things I enjoy on my car is winding the windows down and even under moderate accelleration when the car hits 3,500 rpm in 1st & 2nd (any faster and you need the windows up due to bufforting) but the sound is amazing.
Especially in built up areas where the sound resonates off buildings.
Like I say you don't need to be accellerating fast - just hitting 3,500 rpm - if that factor has gone too that is really sad.
There is mention of Audi having their knuckles rapped over the sound levels of the PFL - but come on there are louder cars out there so that seams crazy.

All that said ... the RS3 is still the best car I have ever owned and most fun to drive and it does give me pleasure every day, for all its brake annoyancies. I'm just not sure I could put up with another 3 years of brake issues if they have not sorted that problem completely.

I'm sure all you new owners will love the car though and for the money it is still an incredible piece of kit.
You are all choosing one for the exact same reasons I did 2 years ago.
I do look at the FL and with its styling tweaks, virtual dash, increased power etc have moments where I would really like one.
When I am due a change I will possibly consider another but I will carefully monitor all you new owner comments with interest first though.
 
audi upgrades
So basically it doesn't automatically change up a gear at the red line in manual like the Golf R/S3 do?
 
zaka7 said:
That's obscene considering you were only doing 70mph ;)
Click to expand...
I get 280 miles out of a tank (£65 ish) of normal driving so I can believe if hooning around in it for a day that you would indeed spend north of £80 on fuel.
 
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Not had any issues with brake noise on mine yet - was out in it again last night.
As for bouncing on the redline - I've got above 6000 but not redlined it, but done close to 400miles so might considered a test asap.
And noise wise - I get the odd pop on downshifts, but I think it sounds good at 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 !! as AutoMann said in his review the noise is better across the whole rev range.
As for fuel consumption - ummmm, how do you get 30+mpg out of this!!! I can't help myself but its in dynamic all the time.
Its is true though on our roads it is hard to floor this in anything other than 1st and 2nd gears without a long stretch of empty road in front of you !
 
teslaboy said:
Not had any issues with brake noise on mine yet - was out in it again last night.
As for bouncing on the redline - I've got above 6000 but not redlined it, but done close to 400miles so might considered a test asap.
And noise wise - I get the odd pop on downshifts, but I think it sounds good at 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 !! as AutoMann said in his review the noise is better across the whole rev range.
As for fuel consumption - ummmm, how do you get 30+mpg out of this!!! I can't help myself but its in dynamic all the time.
Its is true though on our roads it is hard to floor this in anything other than 1st and 2nd gears without a long stretch of empty road in front of you !
Click to expand...
I've had 35mpg a few times on my 20 mile commute to work. Admittedly it has to be driven gently, but 30mpg is very easily achieved.
 
audi upgrades
Don't like the sound of it dropping revs back to 4k or whatever though!

TX.

Sent from my STV100-4 using Tapatalk
 
AudiNutta said:
What an awesome car!
Click to expand...

Those 4 words are the only words that matter. Great to hear.

AudiNutta said:
I'm much more aware of what I have under my right foot!
Click to expand...
Great attitude. You are probably more mature than me. I tend to floor the ****** out of it at every opportunity. Only a matter of time before I get into big trouble...

AudiNutta said:
because my girlfriend is sat beside me chewing my ear off
Click to expand...
I hope she didn't get in the car - all that extra weight!!
She does realise that the car comes first from now on, right? :)
 
Evotion said:
Those 4 words are the only words that matter. Great to hear.


Great attitude. You are probably more mature than me. I tend to floor the ****** out of it at every opportunity. Only a matter of time before I get into big trouble...


I hope she didn't get in the car - all that extra weight!!
She does realise that the car comes first from now on, right? :)
Click to expand...
All that extra weight?! I hope she doesn't read that comment!
 
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D0C said:
All that extra weight?! I hope she doesn't read that comment!
Click to expand...
Ha :)

Well, we can clearly deduce the following from the following data:

@AudiNutta lives in Wales.

THEREFORE it must have been a sheep chewing his ear.

He said the term 'girlfriend'.

We therefore now know it was a female sheep (is this better or worse? :) )

According to Wikipedia, the average weight of a female sheep (known as an Ewe) is 72 kg.

72 kg adds 1/2% extra weight to the approx. 1500kg of the RS3.
This impacts the power to weight ratio and lessens acceleration due to the increase in inertia. The top speed will not really be affected but it will take longer to get there. It will also affect the handling.

Image4


Apologies if this was in Baaaaaaaaaaad taste :)
 
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Evotion said:
Ha :)

Well, we can clearly deduce the following from the following data:

@AudiNutta lives in Wales.

THEREFORE it must have been a sheep chewing his ear.

He said the term 'girlfriend'.

We therefore now know it was a female sheep (is this better or worse? :) )

According to Wikipedia, the average weight of a female sheep (known as an Ewe) is 72 kg.

72 kg adds 1/2% extra weight to the approx. 1500kg of the RS3.
This impacts the power to weight ratio and lessens acceleration due to the increase in inertia. The top speed will not really be affected but it will take longer to get there. It will also affect the handling.

View attachment 136624

Apologies if this was in Baaaaaaaaaaad taste :)
Click to expand...
I don't think much to your mathematical skillls...72 into 1500 is 4.8%!
 
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zaka7 said:
That's obscene considering you were only doing 70mph ;)
Click to expand...

I didn't say I was using higher gears ;)

AlexDR said:
And your view on handling?
Click to expand...

Yesterday I didn't get much of a chance. Those who have been to Brecon, the tight and twisty roads are usually on a cliff edge with no barrier. Having heard the car supposedly had a blowout (Audi were reluctant to give me details of the actual issue), I took it easy. To be honest, yesterday I were getting used to the power and where it was safe to put it down.

Today I've gone for some slightly smaller and tighter roads, the handling is absolutely incredible. I have been driving to sensible limits on the road and the car is just laughing at you, it is totally unfazed by anything my talent could throw at it. Genuinely, without driving like a total utter bumhole you will never outdo this cars abilities on a public road and I think you'd be hard pushed to on a road. It turns in on a pin and holds the bends so well, regardless of how you plant your foot. I haven't been burying it until 3/4 of the way around bends, it is just too fast for someone with little experience in it and I don't fancy putting it in a hedge.

One thing to note, the S3 traction control issue that led to RS3 owners saying they have never seen the TC light flash? On quite a few occasions I've had the light flashing at me, so when I was really trying to get on it I set the TC to Sport and that solved any issue.

Snake Pliskin said:
@AudiNutta

Thanks for a very honest & detailed review.

A couple of things concern me from your comments though ...

Brake noise

The biggest issue I have with the PFL is the brakes which have caused so many owners including myself so much annoyance.
I've had several pad & disc changes due to squeal & warping.
I've had the optimised circular discs fitted since March this year and vibration has been sorted but occasional squeal is still there as is tappety noise when the discs have a build up of brake dust.
So I have to on a weekly basis pressure wash the discs thoroughly to remove all the pad residue, which keeps on top of the squeal & noise.
If I don't so this, during the 2nd week the brake noise becomes very annoying as does the squeal.
So I am compelled to clean the discs / alloys weekly whether I want to or not.

It sounds like the newly revised discs STILL have not sorted this issue.
If I were to consider another RS3 I would need 100% assurance that the brakes have been sorted completely.
Your comments are leading me to believe that they have not.

Sound @ 3,500 rpm

You mentoin that the valves are shut completely in 1st and 2nd gear .... WTF !!!!
Really ?
That can't be true surely ?
One of the best things I enjoy on my car is winding the windows down and even under moderate accelleration when the car hits 3,500 rpm in 1st & 2nd (any faster and you need the windows up due to bufforting) but the sound is amazing.
Especially in built up areas where the sound resonates off buildings.
Like I say you don't need to be accellerating fast - just hitting 3,500 rpm - if that factor has gone too that is really sad.
There is mention of Audi having their knuckles rapped over the sound levels of the PFL - but come on there are louder cars out there so that seams crazy.

All that said ... the RS3 is still the best car I have ever owned and most fun to drive and it does give me pleasure every day, for all its brake annoyancies. I'm just not sure I could put up with another 3 years of brake issues if they have not sorted that problem completely.

I'm sure all you new owners will love the car though and for the money it is still an incredible piece of kit.
You are all choosing one for the exact same reasons I did 2 years ago.
I do look at the FL and with its styling tweaks, virtual dash, increased power etc have moments where I would really like one.
When I am due a change I will possibly consider another but I will carefully monitor all you new owner comments with interest first though.
Click to expand...

The brake issues, don't read too much into that because I have used them both lightly around town and given them a bit of a kicking on mountain roads and I have not experienced a single ounce of squeal.

The noise I described is when you're driving alongside an object and it may be the 'tappety' noise you have described. To me it sounds like the pads are still in contact with the disc and its a consequence of the drilled discs. When you step on the brakes, you can also hear the fronts making noise but this only happens with the windows down in tighter areas. I have yet to perform a full emergency stop and I won't be doing one, I have gone to about 75% and it hurts.. it really does.

I have a short mountain pass 20 minutes away from me that is brutal on brakes, overtime I have taken an S3 up there the brakes end up in smoke. The two RS3's I have taken up, PFL and FL don't seem bothered by it. Yes you can smell them at the bottom, but no fade and no smoke or discolouring of the discs.

I am very happy with the brakes and have a LOT of confidence in them.

D0C said:
So basically it doesn't automatically change up a gear at the red line in manual like the Golf R/S3 do?
Click to expand...

Funny you should ask this, it did it ONCE this morning, where it would have hit the redline in first and I am glad it did to be honest. In all other gears no, it hits the red line and really does violently pull back to 4000rpm. I will go as far as saying I don't want to test, because I hate the noise it makes when it pulls back. I have a section of video where it did it, I will try and cut that later on this evening and upload it.

D0C said:
I get 280 miles out of a tank (£65 ish) of normal driving so I can believe if hooning around in it for a day that you would indeed spend north of £80 on fuel.
Click to expand...

I had a steady motorway run for 40 miles today, 34mpg and then dropped to 27mpg after another 100 or so miles of heavy driving.

teslaboy said:
Not had any issues with brake noise on mine yet - was out in it again last night.
As for bouncing on the redline - I've got above 6000 but not redlined it, but done close to 400miles so might considered a test asap.
And noise wise - I get the odd pop on downshifts, but I think it sounds good at 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 !! as AutoMann said in his review the noise is better across the whole rev range.
As for fuel consumption - ummmm, how do you get 30+mpg out of this!!! I can't help myself but its in dynamic all the time.
Its is true though on our roads it is hard to floor this in anything other than 1st and 2nd gears without a long stretch of empty road in front of you !
Click to expand...

If you do it, you won't want to do it again I hate it when it pulls back and it makes me feel so guilty.

The car does sound great throughout, but with the standard exhaust you have to be on it to get the sound, not sure about any others but sitting at 4500rpm makes you look a tit because it is just engine noise, no exhaust note.

terminator x said:
Don't like the sound of it dropping revs back to 4k or whatever though!

TX.

Sent from my STV100-4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

It isn't good, it feels really violent and yesterday it confused me so I kept my foot down having pulled the paddle to change. It didn't change and after cutting back it shot back up tot eh redline with the box disengaged and bounced then, horrible!!!

Evotion said:
Those 4 words are the only words that matter. Great to hear.


Great attitude. You are probably more mature than me. I tend to floor the ****** out of it at every opportunity. Only a matter of time before I get into big trouble...


I hope she didn't get in the car - all that extra weight!!
She does realise that the car comes first from now on, right? :)
Click to expand...

That's what is keeping me alert, you will get into big trouble so quickly and I really am respecting it. I have had more confidence today in the bends and the car is on rails, cannot find fault in that aspect.

J_3_f_f said:
So any instruction on how to unplug this? Curious to try on mine.
Click to expand...

Put the car into dynamic with the engine running and unplug the valves, so they stay that way. Try it, huge difference!



Anyway, off now to take it back :sob::sob:
 
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AudiNutta said:
Yep no mag ride, it's brutal!

The car handles well, I haven't been pushing it because quite frankly you can't.. the car is too fast for you to pushing its abilities in any way on the road.

The ride is honestly brutal on a bad road, I couldn't cope long term in Wales. On a smooth mountain road I have no complaints, but we did 15 miles through the welsh valleys over rutted and bumpy streets and it was awful. On winter pot hole littered roads, it won't be pleasant as a daily driver (depending on your kind of drive). I don't want to put a downer on anybodies order, I am just being honest on what it's like for me.

If you can afford it then get Mag Ride, but if you can't or haven't don't worry because the car handles great and unless you're on a bad road it's perfectly fine. Only 2/3 times in 250 miles has it been an issue.

I usually drive the S3 in individual, which has the suspension in Auto supposedly the comparable setting with the fixed rate RS suspension. The RS suspension is definitely not Dynamic on Mag Ride its more civilised. Rarely do I use comfort, but I'd have used it tonight.. perhaps my body after 9 hours driving was making it seem worse too.
Click to expand...

Hmm it could be because you have Mag Ride on the S3. I don't have it on my S3 and find the ride comfort good. I think the stock S3 suspension is meant to be in between Auto and Dynamic for mag ride suspension so you must be used to a softer suspension than me. It's sounding good so far.
 
infernox said:
Hmm it could be because you have Mag Ride on the S3. I don't have it on my S3 and find the ride comfort good. I think the stock S3 suspension is meant to be in between Auto and Dynamic for mag ride suspension so you must be used to a softer suspension than me. It's sounding good so far.
Click to expand...

I take it back, the ride is great. My complaint came from after 8 hours of driving last night and my body was hurting haha.

I've been on a mixture of country roads and motorway. If this was the only option, I'd be happy with it but I like the idea of Mag Ride and it's a pretty desirable thing to spec.
 
So that's the car gone, sadly! Audi just said "you did well to do that", when I told them I had 13 hours behind the wheel. I left before they noticed the car left with 204 miles on and came back with 652 :lmfao:

448 miles, good going I think! I left it with a quarter of a tank left, I estimate the total cost of that would have been £140 or so.
 
So would you say its like the S3 in normal driving until you get to 3rd gear and above plus louder when valves are closed too?
 
The noise with the brakes sounds like the usual sound when having drilled disks - I put the Clubsport S drilled disks on my R just before I sold it and they made the same noise, like you said it sounds like they are catching - they got better over time.
 
Those with the FL - is there no sound proofing under the bonnet on the RS3?
 
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