New A3 3.2 is No S-Express

[paultaylor]

Today's Autocar has a road test of the new shape A3 3.2 with the DSG transmission, the styling looks very un-sporting and the ride height looks too high, they rave about the gearbox but say the inherent understeer kills the handling. they also mention a 300/350 bhp RS3, looks like Audi are saving all the sports mods for this model, price approx £35,000, Feb.2005

Anyone tempted??

Paul

Black 2002 225 S3(with absolutely no mods, but not for long!)

 

[jamesa]

this is a quattro model, right?

 

[AlexStanley]

Funnily enough, yeah I am!

Especially after seeing pictures of the body kit that Oettinger (I think it was) have released.

That - teamed with the 3.2 would be ****** amazing I reckon.

Either way, I think I'm going to take one for a spin when they arrive at the dealers...

 

[AlexStanley]

Yep, it's Quattro

 

[Drill]

[ QUOTE ]
Alex Stanley said:
Funnily enough, yeah I am!

Especially after seeing pictures of the body kit that Oettinger (I think it was) have released.

That - teamed with the 3.2 would be ****** amazing I reckon.

Either way, I think I'm going to take one for a spin when they arrive at the dealers...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah Alex, it's the Oettinger "Ebay Edition" and it looks Suh-WEET /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/1luvu.gif Unfortunately there's only the one right and it's a diesel /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh_2.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif

 

[simont]

it is going to be very interesting to see what Audi do with the suspension/understeer issues if they do produce this fanciful RS3 as I understand the engine/tranny weight distribution is the major factor here, and I can't really see them producing a 'special' chassis/mounting positions just for this model.

£35k sounds too expensive - my bet is that if produced, it will go for circa £28k - then comes the ever so much bulging options list on top.

I'm still not 100% convinced on the new A3 shape personally - i actually like the look of the new Golf better. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[DavidR]

Simon, I think VAG justified their position re this when the orginal crop of TTs appeared and hamfisted posers spun them off the road due to their neutral to oversteer (esp lift off) characteristics. Audi have been bitten badly by that and sensibly adopted a more understeering attitude since. At least the S range has reasonable adjustment to compensate for some of the inherent shortfalls of the standard chassis setup.

 

[mramage]

[ QUOTE ]
simont said:
I agree David R. I will be very interested to hear VAG's 'Official' reasoning behind why they 'Promote'/favour understeer in their cars - especially when the road testers generally hate it and thus bring bad press to otherwise excellent cars.


[/ QUOTE ]

The problem (as I see it) is that road testers don't generally live in the real world. They thrash about in a car and expect everyone who drives anything with (air, figure, picked) 150BHP or more to want rear drive, oversteer and the kind of handling attitude that would see most of us (go on, admit it!) in the nearest hedge.

Autocar in particular have bashed the S3 (Audis in general) consistently, however they once did a summary piece and stated it was the sort of car they proffessionally shouldn't advise, but after spending a week with one they can see why people choose them over the competition.
Clarkson did a bit on the S3 a while back and rated it fairly highly, but did admit it was expensive.
Enough said really.

The A3 3.2 looks like it's aimed at the Golf VR6 4motion drivers, or similar ilk.

I'm not meaning to the diss the 3.2 in anyway. Audi is quite right their aim of the 3.2. They will want to ensure that the A3 based S/RS car is way above the current crop of increasing silly powered FWD hatches. The 3.2 isn't enough to do that in std. trim.
Brings me back to why I bought the S3, because, er, it's an S3 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[lost_it]

The best explanation I have heard for most companies designing in understeer are

1:Average drivers are safer with understeer, as most cannot really handle oversteer with any degree of safety.
Car understeers, mum or dad backs off, car turns more...

2: it is also designed in to try and ensure that most impacts are taken on the part of the car with most protection, the Front in other words

I am beginning to consider a replacement for the s3 but I dont think the new 3.2 does anything for me.