Anyone considered giving up the S3 due to rising fuel costs?

Ian W

Ian W

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I have put this off for as long as possible but its looking more and more likely that I might have to say goodbye to the S3 :(

I've always done alot of miles and just put up with it but its getting silly now, I think I put £90 in it last week, can't afford it really.

Considering just getting a Bora TDI as a work hack and something to play with at the weekends.
 
No never........but then my daily commute is only a 6 mile round trip....if worst comes to worst I'll get on my bike!!!
 
I thought about it, once lol, then thought I'd buy a cheap paedo ped for commuting and keep the S3 rather than sell it and get something I dont want, wont enjoy and wont compare to the audi. Cant beat the ped, costs me £100 insurance, £15 tax for a year and best of all about 80mpg plus I get to drive the S3 whenever.

Why not get a cheap runabout for a bit?
 
Sort of but decided against in the end. I don't really use the car much as I have a van now (self employed joiner) however the mrs uses it for work, she's a carer and get's through anything between £50-£80 a week in fuel. Thing is though we'd either have to buy her a runaround for work and keep the S3, which isn't really going to save anything when you look at tax/insurance/etc or downgrade to a more economical family car which I don't want to because I love the S3!
 
Stop been a bitch ian and suck it up :) haha. Btw id rathet sell our lass on a street cornerthan give the s3 up haha.
 
Probably never happen, just get sick of it every now and again, being doing 350 - 400 miles a week for over 4 years so its safe to say i've paid enough in fuel for half of us lol
 
I've been thinking about it recently but luckily I've moved back local so the long weekly drives are now alot shorter. Always liked the lupo gti's!
 
Dani_B19 said:
Stop been a bitch ian and suck it up :) haha. Btw id rathet sell our lass on a street cornerthan give the s3 up haha.
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LMAO is that how you fund your S3 isi Dani

Ive thought about getting rid of my S3 but not down to fuel cost but because it bores the s*!t out of me recently.
 
I sold my MK5 TDI Golf a few years ago to scratch the 'S3 itch' that I had. I loved every second of S3 ownership, but I sold up last July due to the increased running costs and bought another MK5 TDI! I do really regret getting rid of the S3, but the way fuel prices are now, I'm kind of glad I did. Hopefully my current MK5 will be a stop-gap until and I can get some extra cash together and buy something fun towards the end of the summer, might even look at keeping the MK5 as a daily and just get a weekend toy.

Its not an easy decision to make though, I toyed with the idea of selling my S3 for a couple of months, but when I sat down and actually forced myself to do all the sums it really made sense. I told myself I wouldn't modify the current MK5 and to date I haven't, whereas if I'd have kept the S3 I know I would have spent a load more cash on it. Instead I've just put the money saved from mods and running costs away, hopefully this will go towards a new toy when I make my mind up! Touch wood, to date the Mk5 has been very reliable, just a service and a radiator needed.


Chris
 
not S3 but i stopped driving the rocco to save on funds and bought a mondeo. 4 mths later i had enough of poorly built, souless piece of cack, hence buying the a3. imo its really good on fuel compared to every other car i've driven. can't imagin the S3 is much worse. i get 30mpg. just keep off the go button! rocco was 20mpg ish. i get 100miles for my £20.
 
I had a 1994 vw golf 1.8 GL, the fuel consumption is the same as my S3 which is quite funny, in fact the s3 might be more fuel efficant. No doubt due to a 7 year technology difference and etc. Has any one found that certain fuels seem to last longer then others?
 
audi upgrades
I'm lucky that I only do a 6 mile round trip each day but as of Tuesday I'm getting the bike out. This isn't really to save on fuel money, though it will help, but I wanted to get fit and in shape again.
 
Im in the same boat as Dani..... Im puttin about 80 quid a week in..... So her indoors is goin to have to go and loiter with intent round street corners cos the S3 is going nowhere. Thinking of just getting a little runaround and saving my precious for the weekend. I have put 13k on it since I got it in July and the man who I bought it off put 16k on it in 5 years of ownership.... Its funny cos when I bought it I was working in Lowestoft so it was a 4 and a half hour drive to were I bought it from in Thatcham, and now I have just come to work on Aldermaston 4 and a half hours away from were I live in Middlesbrough but 10 minutes away from Thatcham...... And 1 hour away from Bills......:yes:
 
Westle said:
I'm lucky that I only do a 6 mile round trip each day but as of Tuesday I'm getting the bike out. This isn't really to save on fuel money, though it will help, but I wanted to get fit and in shape again.
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I wish I could do the same mate, love riding my bike but its 35 miles to work on the motorway route, hate to think how long the non motorway route would be !
 
All depends

60litre tank - 95ron @1.30 - £78 / 98-99ron @ 1.38 - £82.8

S3 circa 33-39Mpg

Nasty tractor - 60litres @ £1.39 -£83.4

MPG circa 50

Gaining ~15mpg great, ****** tractor with rubbish interior, even worse handling, cheesecake build quality not great
 
My S3's up but for the opposite reason ive gone for something ALOT worse on fuel but god it makes me grin....
 
See I made this thread after having an annoying two or three days of chucking fuel in then not really using it for a couple of days.

So today I go to work then go out in it doing a bit of pottering about and now selling it is a stupid idea haha
 
Ive thought about it as im doing 50 miles a day but as soon as im back in driving it i dont want to settle for anything less, if you drive them steady you can get a reasonable mpg figure, i know its boring but im on 220 miles and still got half a tank left, getting around 34mpg going to work which is all country roads / small amount of motorway.
 
Breezey said:
Ive thought about it as im doing 50 miles a day but as soon as im back in driving it i dont want to settle for anything less, if you drive them steady you can get a reasonable mpg figure, i know its boring but im on 220 miles and still got half a tank left, getting around 34mpg going to work which is all country roads / small amount of motorway.
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Wowzas 220 miles and you have half a tank left?! Is yours an S3??? Even if I drive all motorway I'd never ever in a billion sundays get 440 from a full tank... Even if the the needle was glued to 70 all the way!!!!!
 
fran-s3 said:
Wowzas 220 miles and you have half a tank left?! Is yours an S3??? Even if I drive all motorway I'd never ever in a billion sundays get 440 from a full tank... Even if the the needle was glued to 70 all the way!!!!!
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If you are using the fuel as a gauge, it's not very accurate is it? Takes ages to get to the half way mark, then the needle drops like a stone for the last half, it's more like 1/3 tank left isn't it?
 
I do 380-400 miles a week and the cost is crippling me but I just cannot face ever getting rid of the S3. On the motorway for work I drive at 65mph (I kid you not) and my DIS on average displays 36-37 mpg. I can get 38 over the week with the A/C off. Then, when I go on those country roads at weekends the horns come out and I love it to bits. I use V power all the time which I find gives me much better mpg.
 
s3mad_dude said:
I do 380-400 miles a week and the cost is crippling me but I just cannot face ever getting rid of the S3. On the motorway for work I drive at 65mph (I kid you not) and my DIS on average displays 36-37 mpg. I can get 38 over the week with the A/C off. Then, when I go on those country roads at weekends the horns come out and I love it to bits. I use V power all the time which I find gives me much better mpg.
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this is the truth
 
jojo said:
If you are using the fuel as a gauge, it's not very accurate is it? Takes ages to get to the half way mark, then the needle drops like a stone for the last half, it's more like 1/3 tank left isn't it?
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Quoted for the truth, i shall post results when im down to the light, id hope to get 400 atleast.

fran-s3 said:
Wowzas 220 miles and you have half a tank left?! Is yours an S3??? Even if I drive all motorway I'd never ever in a billion sundays get 440 from a full tank... Even if the the needle was glued to 70 all the way!!!!!
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Yep S3 8L, 56mph is the golden speed dont forget that, its nly 1 junction for me so i sit at 56 its boring but only for a few mins and give thae car a small warmdown from its boring uneventfull journey lol.
 
not a chance i am getting rid as much as i moan about having to fill up every friday. its the sunny days on twisty roads that put a big cheshire cat smile on me face even if fuel went to £2 a litre i would still have it :)
 
I paid £1.41 a litre of vpower yesterday! How long till it's £1.50 a litre?!

I'd rather just get a run around and keep my S3 as a weekend car. Spent so much money on her now that it wouldn't make sense to sell.
 
Westle said:
I paid £1.41 a litre of vpower yesterday! How long till it's £1.50 a litre?!

I'd rather just get a run around and keep my S3 as a weekend car. Spent so much money on her now that it wouldn't make sense to sell.
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Couldn't be long I paid 148 last night, was the only garage open that does super unleaded! If anyone has an iPhone the gas app is quite handy!!
 
Did a 295 mile motorway trip yesterday - thought I'd drive the car rather than use the cruise control (read something in the paper saying that cruise uses up to 10% extra fuel), got 36.8 mpg at an average speed of 64mph (that included about 35 miles of 50 limit roadworks). And that is in a chipped S3.

I've noticed that outside the rush hour, traffic in general seems to be driving slower.
 
I thought along the same lines as you, with regard to fuel costs. But then I thought sod it. You only live once and I will simply have to make cut backs elsewhere. My car is my toy, my fun thing. Why should I give that up?

I went the other way and made it more thirsty....:-/
 
For a 225hp car I personally think the S3 is very good on fuel I don`t drive mine hard and luckily don`t do high mileage per year.In fact I did the opposite and bought the S3 because running a VR6 Golf then an Impreza was expensive and find the S3 a BIG difference than those two in fact its no different than the wifes old (150) 1.8T A4 .Petrol is expensive no matter what you drive and i have found for me that the S3 is the best compramise between good economy when you drive steady (ish) plus you have a car that is a whole heap of fun when you feel like a blow out.Say sod it and enjoy I intend to keep mine years :s3addict:
 
Yea I'm already selling mine :( just had a fresh MOT as well
 
Well i got 374 miles for all my hard work and economic driving before the light came on and the DIS said 25 miles left that was to 54 litres so 31mpg kinda hoped for over 400 but its looking pricy to use the s3 going to work. After the halfway point you can virually watch the gauge go down started off so well getting 220 miles to half a tank :(
 
Just did 360 miles before the light came on with the DIS showing 45 miles left, I put £40 in which was about 28 litres which put it over half tank mark, but if I change jobs which im hoping to then the S3 is going, price of fuel is silly these days and I cant justify the return mpg these days, which is sad.
 
It is a sad day when people have to sell something they love and enjoy due to the crazy fuel prices. I had some money in an oil exploration company shares which have recently gone down the pan too. We'll all be driving battery cars before too long :(
 
I dont want to get rid but there comes a point when you need to get more from your money, its sad when you have to consider how much its going to cost you to drive somewhere, something I never really worried about but now I find myself thinking its going to use a tank a petrol getting there and back and thats £80 of fuel :(
 
mk1chopper said:
I dont want to get rid but there comes a point when you need to get more from your money, its sad when you have to consider how much its going to cost you to drive somewhere, something I never really worried about but now I find myself thinking its going to use a tank a petrol getting there and back and thats £80 of fuel :(
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Yeah, luckily I dont do many long journeys. My longest journey is a 90 mile round trip every 2 weeks.
 
Westle said:
Yeah, luckily I dont do many long journeys. My longest journey is a 90 mile round trip every 2 weeks.
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I dont use my car during the week as I bike to work which is one of the reason I've kept my S3 so long, but will have to drive if I get a new job, but then its things like the cost when I go away somewhere for the weekend or on holiday soon starts to add up, I can see the pumps hitting £1.50 a litre this year making it £90 to fill the S3 up. Along with increased insurance costs and tax, just getting priced out of ownership these days, and whats worse is I'd be lucky to get 3.5k private sale for it these days but to get an oil burner thats on par spec wise and not stupid milage will cost about 8k :(
 
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