Dilemma

[Zig81]

Evening all,

A change in circumstances means my 3 month old S3 may have to go! We can't find an Audi we both like and have looked at a 325d M Sport with a few extras to match our S3 (spec wise).

OTR for the 325 is £34k, about £6.5k discount. Really struggling to make a decision and I thought I would look on here for some inspiration, the 325 comes with a 5 year service pack too!

help!

 

[Av4nt]

Don't turn to the dark side!

 

[Zig81]

Don't turn to the dark side!

It's a difficult one mate, even my mate who I buy my Audis through said it was a cracking deal!

 

[Pulp84]

The 3 Series is a step down in quality talking as an owner of the current F30 320d. Apart for the boot I would say my 3 Series is much more cramped in the front and back than my S3 SB. Being a saloon it's also a bit of a nightmare with a push chair. Paint quality is awful, plastics scuff easy - does drive nice mind but the 8-speed ZF is not a patch on the S-Tronic. Economy has also been way down on claimed. It's a shame the new A4 is not out yet as apparently it will give the current 3-series a run for its money.

£34k is still a lot I think for it - the starting price before discount is outrageous. BMW have high targets so there are good deals around but the fairly pants GFV don't actually make them that much cheaper to finance even at 3.9% APR. My best friend is paying £450 a month with £6k down over 48 months on a fairly loaded 328i M-Sport. He was super upset what I told him the deal on my S3 to the point he is looking to get rid.

The new C-class looks nice.? Sat in a pre-production one a few weeks ago at a dealer in Bristol. If it's about economy maybe something like a Diesel CLA Merc? Looks lovely.

 

[Zig81]

The 3 Series is a step down in quality talking as an owner of the current F30 320d. Apart for the boot I would say my 3 Series is much more cramped in the front and back than my S3 SB. Being a saloon it's also a bit of a nightmare with a push chair. Paint quality is awful, plastics scuff easy - does drive nice mind but the 8-speed ZF is not a patch on the S-Tronic. Economy has also been way down on claimed. It's a shame the new A4 is not out yet as apparently it will give the current 3-series a run for its money.

£34k is still a lot I think for it - the starting price before discount is outrageous. BMW have high targets so there are good deals around but the fairly pants GFV don't actually make them that much cheaper to finance even at 3.9% APR. My best friend is paying £450 a month with £6k down over 48 months on a fairly loaded 328i M-Sport. He was super upset what I told him the deal on my S3 to the point he is looking to get rid.

The new C-class looks nice.? Sat in a pre-production one a few weeks ago at a dealer in Bristol. If it's about economy maybe something like a Diesel CLA Merc? Looks lovely.

Good advice, thanks. My heart says keep my amazing S3, should you always follow your heart?

 

[steeve]

Is it better fuel economy you're looking for?
If so the amount you will lose by selling your S3 would pay for an awful lot of fuel before you broke even.

 

[Pulp84]

I would cry for many a day if I had to give my S3 up and only had my 3-series.

I spent many, many hours researching what commuter / family car to get and all the mags etc and my heart told me 3-series. It does have a great showroom shine to it but it soon wears off. BMW quality has gone down big time in my opinion. My friend with the 328i was told that the deals are on the bigger engine stuff is because they are hard to shift.

Two issues from what I can see from the S3 using it as a commuter car / family car. Fuel cost and rear boot space. Not much else.

 

[Zig81]

Keeping the S3, I haven't done 22 year in the Army to buy a fantastic car then get rid of it 3 month later!

Thanks for the advice and there was another car in the picture, the new Nissan Qashqai!

 

[steeve]

Thank goodness common sense has prevailed. Enjoy your S3 as you wouldn't have enjoyed the Qashqai

 

[Pulp84]

....or a 325d

 

[SJC]

Qashqai??!! Are you drunk.

 

[Zig81]

Qashqai??!! Are you drunk.

Did you miss the bit about the change in my circumstances?

 

[squiretolley]

Not quite sure why everyone's so opposed to the Qashqai, it's a decent looking car in my opinion and really good VFM. My wife has a 2012 Tekna which has all the bells and whistles and she loves it. I personally don't like how it drives compared to my A3, but it's certainly not bad and the new one has apparently improved the handling and comfort.

The new Qashqai's looks have improved and has even more kit as standard. The 1.6dci is pretty decent and produces 130bhp. If you're on a budget I don't think you'll find a better VFM car out there.

 

[Louay]

what and have no quattro? keep the S3, without trepidation

 

[Chimp]

Not quite sure why everyone's so opposed to the Qashqai, it's a decent looking car in my opinion and really good VFM. My wife has a 2012 Tekna which has all the bells and whistles and she loves it. I personally don't like how it drives compared to my A3, but it's certainly not bad and the new one has apparently improved the handling and comfort.

The new Qashqai's looks have improved and has even more kit as standard. The 1.6dci is pretty decent and produces 130bhp. If you're on a budget I don't think you'll find a better VFM car out there.

I drove one to Thruxton the other weekend and it drove really nice. Had much more tech on it compared to a s-line A3 for less money and looks really nice. The only thing is the plastic quality compared to Audi is not quite there yet.

 

[Zig81]

Not quite sure why everyone's so opposed to the Qashqai, it's a decent looking car in my opinion and really good VFM. My wife has a 2012 Tekna which has all the bells and whistles and she loves it. I personally don't like how it drives compared to my A3, but it's certainly not bad and the new one has apparently improved the handling and comfort.

The new Qashqai's looks have improved and has even more kit as standard. The 1.6dci is pretty decent and produces 130bhp. If you're on a budget I don't think you'll find a better VFM car out there.

It's a lot of car for the money to be honest, it isn't Audi quality hence the price difference between it and the equivalent Q3. If we had decided to sell the S3 I wouldn't have felt too bad going into the Qashqai.

 

[geefunk1978]

My wife and I test drove one a couple of weeks ago, an ex demo Tekna or whatever the top of the range is 1.5dci. To be honest it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, don't get me wrong it won't break any land speed records but it was pretty nice to drive. Plus had a ridiculous amount of kit on it for the price and zero tax. Think if we get rid of the family X5 it would be for one of these.

 

[Pulp84]

I drove the last generation a few months ago and found it very nice. Pano roof, leather, sat nav, good driving position, good economy and enough power for getting about. All for £18k I think. Just didn't like the old fashioned switch gear - seems very 80's some of it. The rear parking camera was a joke (screen too small) but I'm struggling to say much else about it that's bad. They will never be at the level of Audi / VW quality or engineering (paint, plastics and gear boxes being the main things for me) but for the money I guess you really can't argue.

The new generation version is winning a lot of awards too....

 

[squiretolley]

We'll almost certainly be going for the new one when my wife's current Qashqai is up for renewal. The tekna's got almost every bit of kit imaginable. If I could be ***** to do a comparison I reckon the equivalent Q3 would be at least £40k!

I agree it'll never rival a German car, but it's not that far adrift.