Audi S3 not living up to my expectations

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Wish

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Picked my S3 up at the end of March. Having owned a Golf GTi Mk7 (performance pack) for exactly 1 year.

The S3 was around 6 to 7k more than my GTi. However the Audi is missing adaptive cruise and front park and rear camera.

Having lived with the car for 4 weeks and 340 miles I'm quite underwhelmed with it and think the Golf was just as good, and the same build quality and a far better spec as standard.

Anyone else come from a mk7 Golf Gti and thinks the same?


I'm even tempted to put the s3 up for sale to see if there is any interest.
 
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Sounds like you had a really expensive GTI or you got a really inexpensive S3. 6-7K difference?
 
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images
 
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What were you expecting when you upgraded? The MK7 GTI is a well sorted car, and probably slightly more involving than an S3.

The interior is arguably better on the Audi, the GTI's fake carbon/plastic interior looks cheap IMO. It's also barely run in at 340 miles... I've had my S3 for less than a week, and at 600 miles in it's just starting to loosen up a bit.
 
My GTi was just over £28k my S3 was £35k
 
Fair play for the post. Expect a few criticisms from folk on your decision making or logic. Obviously such folk never make mistakes. And tis the world of t'internet and internet forums. But clearly you've thought you've made a mistake, not least on the options you valued in the car you bought.

What is it you are underwealmed with? Value for money? Did you expect it to be a 25% better car? (It may be worth 25% more when you sell it, so it wont have cost you any more...) Performance? Or something else?
Obviously I don't know how much discount you got, but expect to take a big hit on the resale so quickly, unless you fall lucky.
 
It sounds like the spec is the biggest stumbling block for you. But a poverty spec S3 is still a superior car to a fully loaded GTI. Dont get me wrong the GTI is a fantastic car but not in the same league as the S3 IMO (4wd, more power, better interior etc etc). I dont think you will get many people regretting a move like the one you have made!
 
I think for some/perhaps most people, myself included, there becomes a point where good (however we each define it) becomes good enough. For many things, including cars. In part that may be influenced by money. Such as the person finding a better use of that money (say on stuff like a house/ holiday's/ family) to get that side of things good enough for that persons life. But there will be many other areas, ranging from doing a job through to passing exams and all other things besides.

Once you reach that level of satisfaction then anything above may not really mean much to you. And other factors play much more of a part. I think the OP is thinking that.

I'm also definitely in that boat. Whilst clearly the new S3 is a fine car, for me it is far worse a choice than keeping with my 100k miles A3 SLine 2.0T. I would think it a waste of my money, I tried to fix something that isn't broke, etc. To me it is not much of an improvement and I'd rather keep that part of my savings for other means.

So I think you could easily get many people regretting the move from a car you describe as fantastic (shall we say 8/10 when factors like cash are excluded) to the S3 at what you may rate as 9/10. And that is without acknowledging that many other folk will rate it the other way round anyway! I think I'd rather have a fully specified GTI versus a low specification S3. When I last drove (albeit old versions of each) the driving experience of the GTI was better. So I can see why people would like that car versus the S3 anyway. And I think I could equally be underwealmed by a mid £30k car, especially if I'd come from one before which excelled.

The kick in the gooleys from the OP is, of course, he seems not, for whatever reason, to have managed to pre-empt this before parting with his hard earned. And being that honest on a forum of fine but sometimes fanboy and biased folk, can lead to some less than considerate commentary.
 
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You're not the first, you won't be the last.

There have been a few members on this forum that have sold up the S3 and moved on to (dynamically) better things.
 
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veeeight said:
You're not the first, you won't be the last.

There have been a few members on this forum that have sold up the S3 and moved on to (dynamically) better things.
Click to expand...

Totally agree but then again I reckon most of those bought an S3 for totally the wrong reasons.

If I was 20 years younger and came from a Golf GTI I may well be underwhelmed too but the truth is I wouldn't have a GTI now if you gave me one. I think the temptation with the S3 is to stick the torque figures and 0-60 time at the top of your priority list and lose sight of some of the more important aspects (at least for me).

There's no denying that bang for buck the S3 is far from being the best purchase you could ever make but in my opinion it's worth every penny because the luxury comfort side means more to me than thrashing the sh*t out of it 24-7. Like many reviews have stated it doesn't feel as fast as other cars in this price bracket because of the way it's set up. Feels plenty fast enough for me coming from boring family motoring ;)

It's all about expectations as the OP rightly says............. :)

(and I hope you all noticed I didn't mention boy-racers once in this assessment.........................oh f*ck I knew I couldn't do it!!)
 
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Did you test drive it?

Anyone who knows anything about cars would have been able to a make a call against their current car after a 30 minute test drive.

You made a mistake, an expensive one, as seems like you also paid full price or close to it.

Take the lesson, learn, move on, or enjoy what you got as it is not a bad car and you will still be the envy of 99% of the car loving population
 
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Daveotto said:
Did you test drive it?

Anyone who knows anything about cars would have been able to a make a call against their current car after a 30 minute test drive.

You made a mistake, an expensive one, as seems like you also paid full price or close to it.

Take the lesson, learn, move on, or enjoy what you got as it is not a bad car and you will still be the envy of 99% of the car loving population
Click to expand...

+ 1,
If you said you came from a mk7 Golf R, I could understand your comments, but a GTI PP I am not so sure.

but either way, if you don't like the car that much, sell it .
 
I got rid of mine after 11 months, didn't get on with it.

You'll be lucky not to lose £6k if you sell this quickly.
Keep it unless you can afford to throw £6k down the pan.
 
You've gone from one luxury to another but with less options. The Gti feels much more involved and even punchy because of its set up and both being turbo engines sounding almost the exact same you wouldn't notice much difference.

What was your reason for change?
 
I guess it all depends on how you look at this and it would be interesting to hear your reasons for changing as asked by @A3_Rider.

I traded an Audi S3 8P3 (running stage 2+ revo) for my current S3 8V. When I bought the S3 8P3 it was 3 years old and cost me £17k vs my current S3 8V which I bought new for £37k. The difference I paid is £20k but at no point when buying this car did I expect it to be 20k better or 2x times better as it doesn't work like that.

Once you reach 90 or 95% happy (as you were with your golf) it gets harder and harder to eek out that extra percent to get to 100%. For me I'd need a Lambo, Ferrari or some other supercar to get to the next level and this would cost BIG, in excess of £100k plus. I am at the point where it wouldn't make financial sense to make the upgrade. Cost vs Increased Happiness.

I'm in my early 30's and there's only so many hours I have in a week to drive, so for me the S3 is perfect.

Just out of interest, if you do sell the S3 will you go back to a golf or something else?
 
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340 miles in 4 weeks is less than a hundred a week; less than 15 miles a day on average. I'd be inclined to say that you are very unlikely to have given the car enough time or distance to really get to grips with it - I did 400 miles through Wales in mine the first weekend I got mine, and even then it was another 3 months before I became intimately familiar with it.
 
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Just for the record I change my car every year.

The spec on my car is

2015 (15) 28th March 2015

Audi S3 5dr 300bhp Quattro

Manual

Metallic Mythos Black

Extras include
Full Leather Super Sport Seats
Satellite Navigation
Winter Pack
Auto Xenon Lights
Auto Hold
Reverse Park Control
Heated Seats
Privacy Glass
Red Brake Calipers
Roof Rails
Interior Light Pack
Power Fold Door Mirrors
Cruise Control
Rear Arm Rest

Car supplied by Audi Canterbury 4 weeks ago.
Perfect condition no marks or dents, never smoked in. No accidents or any outstanding finance.
 
Wish said:
Just for the record I change my car every year.

The spec on my car is

2015 (15) 28th March 2015

Audi S3 5dr 300bhp Quattro

Manual

Metallic Mythos Black

Extras include
Full Leather Super Sport Seats
Satellite Navigation
Winter Pack
Auto Xenon Lights
Auto Hold
Reverse Park Control
Heated Seats
Privacy Glass
Red Brake Calipers
Roof Rails
Interior Light Pack
Power Fold Door Mirrors
Cruise Control
Rear Arm Rest

Car supplied by Audi Canterbury 4 weeks ago.
Perfect condition no marks or dents, never smoked in. No accidents or any outstanding finance.
Click to expand...

'Just for the record I change my car every year'

That's fine but surely you usually do a bit more than 340 miles.

There's 2 good reasons why the car might feel sluggish:

1. Manual transmission ;)
2. You got them silly *** roof rails on there weighing it down!!
 
Simon L said:
'Just for the record I change my car every year'

That's fine but surely you usually do a bit more than 340 miles.

There's 2 good reasons why the car might feel sluggish:

1. Manual transmission ;)
2. You got them silly *** roof rails on there weighing it down!!
Click to expand...


Says the chap with a weighty pano roof ;)

And don't forget, us manual box peeps weigh less than those S-Tronic types too :p
 
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I can't upload a photo to the sales section. I'm on my iPad and it's not. Asking the upload clickable ?
 
Wish said:
Just for the record I change my car every year.
Click to expand...

And just for the record, would you care to spend some time discussing some of the thoughts and comments the good people of ASN have given you, following your thread?
 
Sure.

The power is not the issue, I'm happy with the power of the car. Not that it can be used to its full protential on UK roads.
I find the steering just too distant from to road. It's a lovely car, don't get me wrong. It's just not really for me.
I feel numb when I'm in it.

It may get better with more miles on the clock. To be honest it's not had much of a chance.

Would I buy another golf GTI ...... Not for my next car. The reason I didn't replace with the same was it did attract unwanted attention. Which I happy the Audi doesn't do.

If I were to sell it I don't know what would replace it.
 
Wish said:
Sure.

The power is not the issue, I'm happy with the power of the car. Not that it can be used to its full protential on UK roads.
I find the steering just too distant from to road. It's a lovely car, don't get me wrong. It's just not really for me.
I feel numb when I'm in it.

It may get better with more miles on the clock. To be honest it's not had much of a chance.

Would I buy another golf GTI ...... Not for my next car. The reason I didn't replace with the same was it did attract unwanted attention. Which I happy the Audi doesn't do.

If I were to sell it I don't know what would replace it.
Click to expand...
You may well find that modern cars suspension and steering have now been so refined that many of the bad traits which contributed to how the driver had to driver the car have contributed to this. What you now have is steering that is predictable under almost any conditions assisted by ESP etc. This is suspect may be a factor; I've bought my son a newish Astra as his first car and the steering on that feels wooden - but the steering wheel does what it says on the tin
 
I have 2 recent examples that go against what you've suggested above.

The humble 1.4 A3 8V with the non variable rack has better road feel and turn in than the S3 8V
A humble 1.0 Toyota Yaris (new) or Seat Leon diesel (new) also has better road feel and turn in than the S3 8V


It is immensely frustrating to me that Audi produced the S3 8V with such (comparatively) poor steering setup (amongst other issues), unbecoming of a "S" car.
 
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I would like to position a point here.

Ever wondered why the S3 doesn't appear on the main stream Hot Hatch reviews?

Image


That's because it's not aimed at being a Hot Hatch, it's open for debate but it's a premium point to point car and I'd expect it to be less involved in that respect (not saying it's not competent at all mind).

My old GTI felt like a pair of trainers compared to the 2.0t s line I had before it but I wouldn't compare the two as they were built for their different places in the market.

I'm getting the same feeling in reverse this time coming from an A5 to the S3 with it feeling more purposeful and light which is nice. It just goes to show that it's a matter of personal opinion and I would sertainly not be worried about making the wrong choice nor be looking to change cars so soon as it's a wonderful bit of kit and still allot better than most of the other dross that is plodding lethargically along the roads. Chin up, foot down.
 
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Hmmm.

Lets see. Golf GTi PP = Hot Hatch

Golf R = Haldex point to point car, relative comfort, and yet a more involving drive.
A45 AMG = Haldex point to point car, relative comfort, and yet a more involving drive.

I wouldn't mind if Audi had made the S3 and called it an upmarket S-Line car, great point to point car, comfort, power and Autobahn cruiser.

However in calling it a "S" car one might reasonably expect it to have more driver involvement, especially as their marketing compares it with the S2 of old, and Stig driving it on a rally stage.

Hmmm. ;)





PS: The Golf R makes it into the evo list of "Top 5 best hot hatchbacks" ;)
http://www.evo.co.uk/features/15324/the-top-five-best-hot-hatchbacks-on-sale-right-now

PPS: And Top Gear's "Top 5 hot hatchbacks"
http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/Top-Gear-top-five-hot-hatches-2014-11-27



<dons flame proof suit>
 
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veeeight said:
Hmmm.

Lets see. Golf GTi PP = Hot Hatch

Golf R = Haldex point to point car, relative comfort, and yet a more involving drive.
A45 AMG = Haldex point to point car, relative comfort, and yet a more involving drive.

Hmmm. ;)

<dons flame proof suit>
Click to expand...

Vee I'd never disagree with you as too knowledgable, I will Agee to a point but :-

Golf is the pinicle of a hot hatch and regardless of spec it's built with that in mind 100% hot hatch.
A45 AMG - I'm not seen a good review of the gear box in this and that discounts it in my mind - also mec's are the same ethos as an Audi premium luxury but they are supposed hot hatches by the virtue that the A45 was their first attempt into that market, it may stick and time will tell.

good or bad, right or wrong that's how I see it anyway.
 
(slight tangent here ;) )

The A45 AMG box programming is not as quick as the VW Group DSG, that is for sure. But it's not a bad box per se, just the shift timing (not shift quality) that needs improving. what is encouraging is that the same criticism was levelled at the Merc SLS Getrag box - encouraging in the sense that the same box, in the new AMG-GT, is so much improved, and is now comparable/better to the VW DSG.

At the risk of "tangent-ing" this thread - have a look at Chris Harris and his review of the GT - specifically mentioning the improvement in the box. I hold out hope that this will also translate to changes in programming the A45 AMG box too :)

 
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All good debate though.

Agree that if they can translate that into the A45 they will have cracked it but then just need to fix there build quality and that dumb stuck on iPad.

Chris Harris for Top Gear too.. Just get that in there.
 
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My thoughts were the same as the op.
I was incredibly disappointed with the s3, it's too smooth and offers almost no feedback, it feels like a scaled down Bentley.

The solution is simple and since doing these two things I can honestly say I love the car!

Remap
Downpipe
 
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Thought.....anyone wanting a more engaging drive why don't you just turn off ESP and traction control etc etc.?
 
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I have major itchy feet with my S3 12 months in. I have only done 1800 miles during those 12 months which speaks volumes I think......

Is it slightly embarrassing that I currently grab the keys to Mrs Pulps full electric Renault ZOE when I want a spin? Certainly enjoy driving it more (however there is a novelty factor to that I'm sure).

The RS3 isn't pushing my buttons at the moment truth be told. I have very fond memories of the A45 AMG I test drove last year and I will be looking at the face lifted version when its out (rumour is it will be more power than the RS3).

Only thing keeping the S3 on the drive at the moment is money. In my opinion when a car is 2 and a bit years old is when depreciation becomes a bit easier to swallow. So might have to keep it a bit longer.
 
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veeeight said:
The OP has said that power is not the issue, it's the steering.
Click to expand...

You will be doing alot more steering to keep it in a straight line :jester:
I agree with the steering though it is numb but then again modern cars are, did i ever mention my 3 minute test drive of the mk7 GTI?
It was so boring i u-turned and went straight back to the dealer, so i find it surprising you find the S3 worse.
 
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