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Hi folks.

I am probably older than 99% of you on Audi-Sport but young at heart!:whistle2:

A question if I may, I intend to purchase an A3 sportsback 2litre TDI S-tronic 170hp, now the problem is, I like a soft ride but a sporty looking car, but on test driving the sports model I find the suspension too hard for me, but love the look of the car, so, I want the sports model but with the softer SE suspension, I bet some of you guys on here have heard of people changing the suspension from SE to sports, but have you heard of anyone changing sport to SE ??
If so what has to be changed and would it be viable and at what approximate cost would it be to convert.

Thanks in anticipation.

John.
 
It would be quite simple I'm sure but the ride height will increase and the car will sit a lot higher. The cost of the swap should be minimal, just buy the springs and shocks from an SE and have them swapped over.

Or you could just buy an SE and buy the S-line kit for it at a later date, if it's just the looks that you want.
 
If I was you I think I buy an SE. You can than modify your car and make it look as sporty as you like by changing the wheels, adding a roof spoiler etc. That way it becomes more personal and you can do as much or as little as you like.
 
Welcome to AS.net

Maybe ask the dealer if they can do the spring swap as part of the deal????
 
There are good reports on people swapping shocks on Golf GTis to the Koni FSD's, might be worth a shot, although I still think audis ride hard, for soft yet sporty get an S type
 
Hi, am in similar shoes as you, age-wise and seeking to purchase the 170bhp with S-Tronic. We have a Sportback SE with 2.0TFSi on a 56 plate and that was fitted with 16" wheels (so more 'give' in the tyre walls). This spec was changed for the 2007 MY to 17" becoming standard. The new facelift SE is back on 16s.

We also have a 55 plate A3 (3dr) 2.0TDI 140 bhp S-Line on 18" wheels. There doesn't appear to be a huge difference between the two, so maybe a set of 16" wheels would soften the suspension enough although, obviously, 16s will detract from the sporty appearance of the car.
 
Many thanks for your time and advice folks.

I have been out today to my local Audi dealer to test the A3 SE and the A3 Sports, this time with my wife as co driver:ermm:,....we spent nearly two hours in each car, and to be honest I didn't find much difference in either of then, but both on the hard side though, and guess what....the wife chose the slightly more harder suspension "the sports" the reason being I believe is the sports seats, that tend to grip you on the bends and stop you rolling about!

So, the A3 sportsback 2.0 TDI 170ps Sport S-Tronic it is. in Condor Grey which is one of the new colours.

Many thanks again for the advise.

Regards.

John.
 
I am also on the senior side of the posters on this board. I wanted an auto with a softer suspension. I chose the 2.0 TFSI in SE spec with DSG. The ride is still quite choppy on 17s. You can spec the sports seats for SE if your wife likes them.

2 hours road test will not be the same as the bumping you will be subjected to every day and you will soon find you know where the bumps are on your regular roads to avoid them!
 
Maybe there is an option in the catalogue to cancel the sports suspension. When I ordered my sportback Ambition (the sport version) last November here in Greece, there was such an option in the list. The cost for that was 0. No wonder why ...
I regret not going for it, esp with all our bumpy roads here.
Btw this is my first post here, though I've been watching for some time.
So hi all, and happy shopping John.
 
I went for an SE with sports seats added,and the 17's are ****** noisy!Need to turn the music up to drown it out!
Good choice on the 170,plenty of grunt to easily over take anything slowing you down and the S-tronic is super smooth.
Great drive
 
I have never been so indecisive about buying a car before, and now after reading your posts I am doing a re-think!

According to my Audi dealer the options and prices on the new face lift A3 are not even available to them yet, so while I was there she phoned Audi and they told her the brochure will not be available for some time, but by the end of this week they will have a paper version to work off, so she said that she will email it onto me.

One thing she did say was that the speck on the SE model has gone down somewhat, that is, manual climate control, 16" wheels, (which would probably help in the comfort zone) no drivers information system slight body changes like no spoiler cheaper radio and other things, so to add those onto the SE model now as extras would cost a bomb, the climate control alone she said costs over a £1000.00 so this brings me back to my original question, would it be better to change the suspension!

The sales lady said she believes that by reducing the speck and price of the SE, Audi are going for the mass market on this one!

I will ask the question as Couveland recommended, if its possible to have SE suspension on the Sport?
 
It sounds like your sales person is mixing up the SE with the Special Edition model. The Special Edition is a step up from the base model as it has manual air con but the SE has a different spec with climate control.
 
MJZ 6370 said:
I am also on the senior side of the posters on this board. I wanted an auto with a softer suspension. I chose the 2.0 TFSI in SE spec with DSG. The ride is still quite choppy on 17s. You can spec the sports seats for SE if your wife likes them.

2 hours road test will not be the same as the bumping you will be subjected to every day and you will soon find you know where the bumps are on your regular roads to avoid them!
Click to expand...
Prefer my SE suspension but goodness do I wish I'd paid for Sports seats!!
 
MJZ 6370 said:
It sounds like your sales person is mixing up the SE with the Special Edition model. The Special Edition is a step up from the base model as it has manual air con but the SE has a different spec with climate control.
Click to expand...
"has manual air con" I think (but am confused...) that should read "had manual air con" as the new standard spec. is close to the old special edition?

PLEASE Audi - it's been flippin ages since the new model "launched" - get the info. out

PS had a look (for work reasons) at Ford and Fiat sites for Ecomotion and Eco details following AutoExpress tests and guess what.... can't find them. Audi UK not alone!!
 
One thing she did say was that the speck on the SE model has gone down somewhat, that is, manual climate control, 16" wheels, (which would probably help in the comfort zone) no drivers information system slight body changes like no spoiler cheaper radio and other things, so to add those onto the SE model now as extras would cost a bomb, the climate control alone she said costs over a £1000.00 so this brings me back to my original question, would it be better to change the suspension!
Click to expand...

The facelift SE has manual air-conditioning as standard. According to the options price list for the A3 Cabriolet the standard version of that also has manual air-conditioning as standard and the cost to upgrade to electronic air-con is only £375. The SE also now has the DIS, multi-function leather steering wheel, rear floor mats and front fog lights as standard.

The price of the SE trim option used to be £1400 and is now £650. I did a check the other day and if I add back all the items which I have as standard on my current SE to the new SE the price works out about the same.
 
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