184 TDI Quattro or S3?

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dave320

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Hi guys, after having a couple of A3's (8p) and an A4 avant I've been away and my current car is a golf mk7 GTD however I'm wanting to come back to audi but I can't decide between the A3 TDI Quattro 184 s tronic (head) or the S3 s tronic (heart). I use a van for work so annual mileage between me and the mrs is about 8000 miles a year, I notice on the audi website the combined MPG for the S3 is quite reasonable however how inflated are these figures? Any feedback and S3 owners average real mpg figures would be much appreciated.
 
the best I've ever had MPG wise is 30.2mpg to a tank mostly commute but a few long drives pushing on average MPG from a tank is 28.6mpg, I've read on here someone done 168miles to a full tank that's about 14mpg so depends on how you drive it
 
I was torn between the 184 Quattro and S3 also but as I wanted a manual my only option was the S3 (the only manual box for a A3 Quattro) the MPG is lower than expected but I would buy my S3 again in a heartbeat awesome car
 
Thanks Ben, what's your annual mileage and what spec did you go for?
 
 
I had a 184 before my S3. Depends what you are looking for in a car. If you enjoy driving and like that extra bit of performance then it's a no brainer. I'm not going to suggest other cars as you've been quite specific with a simple either or question. If your'e not doing many miles then you are unlikely to save much at all what with diesel being more of a rip off compared with petrol.

Why not go try both see what you like he most? You're only here the once.
 
I have a 184Q and was thinking of buying an S3. I do 12000 a year and decided I'd go with the diesel for economy. I am getting about 45 to the gallon on my commute (30 miles each way mainly A roads & motorways). At 8000miles/yr and 30mpg for the S3, you'd use ~270 gallons of fuel. At 45mpg (184Q) you'd use 180 gallons. Given diesel is ~10% more expensive than petrol, that equates to 200 gallons at the same price as petrol. Meaning, it's 70 gallons of petrol fuel cost difference a year. At 4.5 litres to the gallon, that equates to £315 extra a year in petrol prices at todays rates or £410 extra for £1.30/litre. The running cost difference per month is going to be £30 - £40 assuming you can get around 30 to the gallon out of the S3. Question is: is £10/week a lot of money to you? (I'm guessing not given you're thinking of a new S3).
 
Mileage is about 12000 annually
S3 SB in Sepang Blue (easily the best colour! Go see it)
Comfort pack
Audi sound system
Lighting pack
Privacy Glass think that's about it! Not a massive spec but everything I needed and wanted the only thing I wish I had was the electric folding mirrors which were supposed to be on the car!
 
Diesel is now the route of all evil and is been targeted moving forwards.
Islington council have already voted to charge more for their parking permits if you have a diesel. It's only the start....
 
Don't think you can make a bad choice with either car.

I have said a few times on the forum that IMHO the 184Q is a fantastic all rounder. If economy is a concern then it does offer a good mix of performance and lower fuel bills.

My S3 is averaging 32mpg. I have seen 43 mpg on a 125 mile run and as bad as 18mpg driving around town.
 
2014 S3 - I do maybe 10k pa, mostly commuting to an airport and back.
Averaged so far 32mpg over 5k miles, best on my 75mile trip is late 40s, worst coming home in a hurry was late teens but I was really giving it some. Delivery of a petrol turbo is soooooooo much better than the invisible push feeling you get from a diesel, much more aggressive and the S3 engine is very keen to rev, I hire a car every week from the destination airport and so far wouldn't swop any of the cars for the S3, having tried diesel Audis/BM/VW/Mercs.

Given your mileage a diesel is pretty pointless imo, my only slight regret is not buying a bigger engined car as the fuel cost on a limited mileage is small fry in comparison. The S3 is fantastically easy to drive slowly or fast, I find it as grunty as most diesels low down.

Bizarrely only hire car I have been impressed by was the 1litre Focus I had !!
 
Performance and economy are not the only considerations when choosing a car. I choose the 184Q because there are standard item on the S3 that I personally don't want on my car. For example sports suspension and 18" wheels, leather upholstery and flat-bottomed steering wheel. I see little point in paying an extra £4800 pounds for things I definitely don't want as well as getting much less mpg. I'm now 67 and have had all sorts of cars with so called sports suspension in the past including three Gold GTIs and a Golf VR6 and four A3 1.8Ts and it's something I no longer want, preferring a little more comfort for both me and my passenger. The A3-184Q gives me everything I want from a car, comfort, enough power, good handling and a quality interior especially for the longer trips of around 3000 miles I drive for holidays to places where diesel is much cheaper than petrol.

Peoples requirements for a car do change as they get older as I have found, but at least Audi give us plenty of models and options to choose so we can each have what we want and enjoy owning and driving them. Quite a few other manufacturers, take the few that they know what we want and don't give us the same level of choice. Long may it continue with Audi.
 
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Guys, thanks very much for help S3 it will be just need to decide between sepang blue or glacier white
 
Glacier White!! In view of the previous post, guess that's not helpful!!!
 
Guess the OP already made up their mind however as someone above has already posted with such a low annual mileage the fuel cost difference is not going to be that great between the petrol and diesel. I have brimmed my fuel tank and calculated the mpg on my S3 at every fill after getting the car a few months back. (Having previously owned a diesel I felt compelled to justify my choice). I was very consistently getting 31 to 32 mpg on a mix of fast road, town and motorway driving for the first few months. The car is not used for commuting and I do not often drive in very heavy traffic (normal SE England busy roads in the London commuter belt outside the M25). I did get it down to 29mpg after a fast motorway run but have got 35mpg after a trip where I stuck rigidly to the speed limits. Unbelievably good for 300hp, I have no complaints!
 
.........and I forgot to add you can buy the S3 as a manual (or auto). The 184 diesel Quattro is auto only.
 
For me part of getting the 184Q was the range (I can get 600 miles at a pinch). S3 would have been more fun though and probably similar cost to run.

Sepang Blue (and chrome) all the way :)
 
The difference in the purchase price between a 184Q and an S3 is £4,835. At today's price from diesel (116p/litre = £5.27/gal) that equals a total of 41,285 miles. (917.46 gallons at 45mpg).
 
dts439 said:
For me part of getting the 184Q was the range (I can get 600 miles at a pinch). S3 would have been more fun though and probably similar cost to run.

Sepang Blue (and chrome) all the way :)
Click to expand...

That kind of comes down to actual use though, if your motorway driving a lot and doing more that 20,000 miles a year then the 184Q is the choice to be made as you get all the long run economy that you would need plus the range as you mentioned.

But the adverse to this would be town driving and lower annual miles means the S3 and the 184Q would most likely achieve similar range.

I currently have an 8P diesel, that is getting replaced with an 8V S3, when I was doing circa 25000 a year, with maybe 80% motorway the range and mpg was great on the diesel, but now that I am barely doing 12,000 miles my mpg is well down and might as well have a petrol for the same economy.

Just my thoughts on that anyway :)

Also Glacier white and chrome :D
 
Six months of ownership over a variety of roads, driving styles and trips have yielded an average of 31mpg.

The world is awash with Seeping Blue..... ;)
 
rrav3n said:
That kind of comes down to actual use though, if your motorway driving a lot and doing more that 20,000 miles a year then the 184Q is the choice to be made as you get all the long run economy that you would need plus the range as you mentioned.

But the adverse to this would be town driving and lower annual miles means the S3 and the 184Q would most likely achieve similar range.

I currently have an 8P diesel, that is getting replaced with an 8V S3, when I was doing circa 25000 a year, with maybe 80% motorway the range and mpg was great on the diesel, but now that I am barely doing 12,000 miles my mpg is well down and might as well have a petrol for the same economy.

Just my thoughts on that anyway :)

Also Glacier white and chrome :D
Click to expand...

My 184Q gets around the 40-45 mpg even on local running around and this goes up to around 53 mpg when I do my 3000 miles to Germany for holidays, usually twice a year. I currently do around the 14,000 miles a year with some local and some fast dual-carriageway and motorway. The day-to-day running cost for an S3 would possible not work our that much more but my point is that with the 184Q you have around 41,000 miles purely from the extra purchase price between the 184Q and the S3.
 
I had this dilemma when choosing mine although decided that I needed the boot space so went for just the 184 FWD. I really wanted to keep my overall spend to under 30k and wanted lots of toys and was able to achieve this for my budget. If I went for the S3 I'd be paying another £100 per month which I didn't want to do. I do 12K a year so the gains on MPG and the cost of diesel are marginal. I also factored in the cost of tax which is more on the S3, the servicing of the haldex (which isn't very often I know) and getting through all 4 tyres at a faster rate.

To be honest the 184 is plenty quick enough for me!
 
I didn't get as far as getting quotes for an S3 but on a PCP I'd not be surprised if the residuals are slightly better than my 184Q. Given that I threw the kitchen sink at the options list on a 184Q I'm sure I could have had a (still well spec'd) S3 for the same money.

95% of my journeys are an hour or so on mundane motorways infested with roadworks that suit the diesel perfectly. Would be a bit of a waste in an S3. I don't do a big mileage but most of the journeys I do are long. I have 'fun' car for the occasional times I can actually enjoy myself.
 
dts439 said:
I didn't get as far as getting quotes for an S3 but on a PCP I'd not be surprised if the residuals are slightly better than my 184Q. Given that I threw the kitchen sink at the options list on a 184Q I'm sure I could have had a (still well spec'd) S3 for the same money.

95% of my journeys are an hour or so on mundane motorways infested with roadworks that suit the diesel perfectly. Would be a bit of a waste in an S3. I don't do a big mileage but most of the journeys I do are long. I have 'fun' car for the occasional times I can actually enjoy myself.
Click to expand...
Exactly the same for me.

Oil burner (F30 320d) for the commute and then have my S3 for weekends. Bit extravagant but hey ho.

If I used the s3 for commuting it would lose its fun factor quick I think.
 
Ben Daniel Grant said:
Mileage is about 12000 annually
S3 SB in Sepang Blue (easily the best colour! Go see it)
Comfort pack
Audi sound system
Lighting pack
Privacy Glass think that's about it! Not a massive spec but everything I needed and wanted the only thing I wish I had was the electric folding mirrors which were supposed to be on the car!
Click to expand...

That's a bit uncanny!
Apart from yours being a SB (min's a saloon) and me going for the sd nav we're almost identical in options.;)
 
dts439 said:
For me part of getting the 184Q was the range (I can get 600 miles at a pinch). S3 would have been more fun though and probably similar cost to run.

Sepang Blue (and chrome) all the way :)
Click to expand...


600 miles!!>!, I haven't even cracked 500miles/tank yet, and that's not driving like a loon with 17K on the clock.. Is that all driving at 55mph?
 
M1ke H said:
The world is awash with Seeping Blue..... ;)
Click to expand...

Must be a regional thing.

I have have neither seen a sepang blue S3 or a S3 saloon in any colour

Plenty of 'grey' Audi's tho' ... ;):D
 
Where I live all the A3s, except mine, are either Black or White.
 
Round my way, it's all Bill Plants in various colours...

driving-instructor-cars-audi-a3.png
 
audi upgrades
Well I can think of a lot worse cars to learn to drive in.
 
smk82 said:
600 miles!!>!, I haven't even cracked 500miles/tank yet, and that's not driving like a loon with 17K on the clock.. Is that all driving at 55mph?
Click to expand...

My typical hour long journey is probably perfect for economy
- 2 miles urban
- 15 miles at 50mph
- 30 miles at 70mph

From new I was getting 50-52 mpg. Now loosened up a bit at 2k miles and getting consistent 57-58, best of 60 one way. All in Efficiency mode so it can coast. I'm also now quite OCD about keeping the mpg up employing the usual tricks og avoiding the brakes planning ahead which also helps with staying awake in what is a pretty bland commute.

What I like is that the economy does seem to be controllable, so if you need to eek out a tank for some reason you can cruise at 65 rather than 70 and it makes a difference (never had that in my A4)

Being quattro it has a 55 litre tank (5 bigger than non-quattro), so I can get 11+ gallons in each time. On last refill it showed a range of 630.
 
Cleggy70 said:
That's a bit uncanny!
Apart from yours being a SB (min's a saloon) and me going for the sd nav we're almost identical in options.;)
Click to expand...

It's a good spec I'm really pleased with it! I don't like Sat Nav have enough of the wife giving me directions couldn't handle Sat Nav as Well! I looked at the saloon really wanted one but decided with a small child, buggys and the usual the boot opening of the SB would be better maybe next time it's a gorgeous looking car, congratulations when's it due?
 
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It's due March'ish (build week 9) but wait for it................ I ordered last March (2014)
I went through a broker so don't know whether that's had any impact on timescales (pushing me to the back of his orders) each time I query the wait he (the dealer) mentions the factory are struggling to keep up with the demand for the saloon. I nearly pulled out of the deal last October as was getting so frustrated. So apparently I am on the cusp of the vehicle commencing the build.:):(
 
dts439 said:
My typical hour long journey is probably perfect for economy
- 2 miles urban
- 15 miles at 50mph
- 30 miles at 70mph

From new I was getting 50-52 mpg. Now loosened up a bit at 2k miles and getting consistent 57-58, best of 60 one way. All in Efficiency mode so it can coast. I'm also now quite OCD about keeping the mpg up employing the usual tricks og avoiding the brakes planning ahead which also helps with staying awake in what is a pretty bland commute.

What I like is that the economy does seem to be controllable, so if you need to eek out a tank for some reason you can cruise at 65 rather than 70 and it makes a difference (never had that in my A4)

Being quattro it has a 55 litre tank (5 bigger than non-quattro), so I can get 11+ gallons in each time. On last refill it showed a range of 630.
Click to expand...


That woudl explain things - mine is a front wheel drive only, so I only have the 50Litre tank :(.
 
Cleggy70 said:
It's due March'ish (build week 9) but wait for it................ I ordered last March (2014)
I went through a broker so don't know whether that's had any impact on timescales (pushing me to the back of his orders) each time I query the wait he (the dealer) mentions the factory are struggling to keep up with the demand for the saloon. I nearly pulled out of the deal last October as was getting so frustrated. So apparently I am on the cusp of the vehicle commencing the build.:):(
Click to expand...

Brokers can get good discounts but often get pushed to the back of the queue when it comes to deliveries. If a dealer has a car on order and can see they can make more money by taking over that order for one of their own customers they are quite likely to do so, and then re-order the brokers car, thus pushing back the delivery date.

When I purchased my current A3 it was factory order and delivered in 9 weeks because my dealer already had a car on order to replace a demonstrator. The most I have ever waited for a factory order was 4 months.
 
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