S1 in for service. Tested RS3 SB facelift.

My S1 was in for an oil change service inc haldex oil, so took the opportunity to test the dealers RS3 facelift Sportback. Rate of accellaration was good though I’m spoilt by my TVR which is vicious on full throttle /dry tarmac. What surprised me the most was that the RS3 felt a lot more composed on the local rippled fluctuating camber roads than my S1 does. Some on my local roads are hard to traverse at speed in dynamic on the S1 as it just leaps from dip to crest (on 18” wheels) , the RS3 just flowed down them. The sales lass thought it didn’t think have the magnaride option so just on simple springs/dampers, I suspect she was right as the car was in dynamic mode which if think if magnaride is on will default to stiffest if not fiddled with (I could be wrong). Any way up shot is tempted to do a swap next year . My S1 is now entering its 4th year so due a change in 2018 as pcp will be up. In other notes my S1 engine felt a lot smoother post service even though it hadn’t done a huge amount of miles since the last change 1year ago! Which makes me think I wouldn’t want to run it on mileage based oil changes only.

I'm guessing its Tony-Cs personal preference and not an audi dealer recommended change interval. Even my old Evo9GT had 4.5Kmile oil change intervals. Back to another TonyC comment I suspect most oil will appear fairly dark if changed early on an engine that has already had a few K on it bores and bearings. I have noticed idle speed oil pressure dropping on relatively low mileage oil usage on my T350C TVR (less than 2Kmiles) which was restored following an oil change though this may have been also due to using a claimed high quality Millers Nanotech oil in the change, and the old oil may have been a bit too generic synth oil which lost viscosity early. I'm still impressed with how the engine is feeling in my S1 since the change, its almost creamy (for an IL4).