Question: Planned Upgrades or Part-ex?

A3_Turbo

A3_Turbo

Swaying towards IHI....
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Hi Guys in a bit of a Dillemma here,

I have my car booked in for the End of March for a K03S upgrade and a FMIC This will be costing me around 1800 as the FMIC is a Whopping 1000 Fitted a Pro-alloy item, which Jabba insist on fitting.

I orginally had the Ebay FMIC but took it to APS and they wernt happy with fitting it.

Which got me thinking whilst the A3 would be great to drive after the upgrade with around the 250 Bhp mark is it really worth the 1800 quid im going to be spending?

On the other hand i could trade mine in at a dealer maybe get 4k for it plus the 1800 i was going to spend out on it ive got nearly 6k there.

So that's 6k Towards an S3/TT and i'd get HP for the rest.

What are your views on this? Me being fairly young 1800 quid isnt pocket change for me thats all.

Many thanks!
 
Have you tried to get an insurance quote for an S3 Jas? I seem to remember you are paying something stupid, like £2k for insurance on this 1.8T, is owning an S3 or TT really an option? If you do take the plunge of course, S3 over the TT anyday bud. :)
 
Well to get a TT quattro 225 version its an extra 500 quid.

Im paying 1500 at the moment. Insurance prices arn't the big deal for me really.

Theres a fairly new TT quattro down the road from me its 14k on a 52 plate with 33,000 on the clock i was looking at spending around the 10k mark really.

Just cant decide what to really, the k03s'd A3 would be great fun but i can see myself spending more and more money on it.

Hmmmm.....
 
Personaly I would put the money you were going to spend on the FMIC and K03s towards gettign an S3. I am in the same situation with my A3. I have decided just to do a few things to it like remap, panel filter, and some new suspension then save the rest of the money that I could spend doin the K03s conversion for an S3 at a later date :icon_thumright:. it is your choice at the end of the day tho
 
Ive done a fait bit already to it its on H&R'S Remapped turbo back Miltek etc.

Ive bought the K03S turbo already which is why i dont know what to do!

Descions eh!

Jason
 
i cant see u needing £1000's worth of intercooler for 250 bhp ?

would a forge unit not suffise?
 
All I can say is, if you are going to squeeze 250ish BHP out of your 1.8T, then keep it for a while. If you plan to go for an S3 or TT regardless, no point in spending so much of your hardearned on your current car.
 
Hmm thanks for the replies guys it really depends what i'd get for my A3 really,

I might just keep it and sell it private rather than loose out by part exchanging it.

If i can find a Trader near me with a Decent facelift Low mileage S3 for around 10k Then i'll definitly have a look!

Thanks
 
To make this quick for you Jason:

You WILL NOT get 4k for your car, I was offered £2k for mine! you will get 2.5k max Id say trade in.

Any dealer S3 will be facelift (they wouldnt sell a pre facelift, too old) and will be 11k or more at least.

The jabba obsession is pointless when Storm are just down the road and will do custom code phase 2 for £470.

Jabba only want to sell you a pro alloy FMIC because it costs a fortune. It has been proved several times that the £300 ebay USA FMIC kit is MORE than good enough.

Stop wasting money mate! a ko3S A3 WILL be faster than an S3. the standard S3 is awful to drive unless you spend thousands on suspension and brakes, which you wont have due to paying ~£450 a month on insurance and HP payback.

Get an ebay USA FMIC, get APS to fit the turbo, fit the FMIC yourself (its a days work even for a ******!) and get it down to Storm for a CC2 map.

job done. You wont have blown a pointless £1800, and have exactly the same setup as jabba are offering!

Please Jason, you're a nice guy, and its a shame to see a nice bloke being screwed around because he doesnt know enough about what he wants doing!

Listen to me and Dave, we've been there, and its well worth it.

the S3 will only disappoint unless you spend a fortune on it.
 
I agree, the S3 is a bit of a pointless buy right now, unless you happen to be making very good money already, at 18 that's cash every month on finance and insurance that you could be keeping for a couple of years - whilst having a very nice very quick A3.

I'm not sure how old your A3 is or the mileage but im assuming its pre facelift, plus the modifications already on it, you will be very lucky to see 2.5-3k on a trade in so not really worth it in my book.

I'm only 23 and now that i'm trying to buy a house im really really regretting ever getting any sort of HP or finance, its a massive waste of money.

Plus follow prawn's advice above and you'll have a very quick, well handling car that's a little different, that'd keep me happy for a while
 
Well i personally think u should keep the a3.
Like prawn said, you can more than easily do the k03s for much cheaper!!

That intercooler price is ridiculous for a start!!

Put it this way a before few months ago apart from once helping a mate do my polo suspension, the most i had done on a car was drill an airbox and without any help from anyone wiser ( apart from the helpful people on this and other forums) ive fitted my intercooler and my k03s myself and the intercooler really is a peice of p**s!

Stick with it mate:whip:

josh :icon_thumright:
 
voorhees said:
Nope
Click to expand...

I would actually think this will be true if youre some is used to trying to get the best out of your car as im imagining jason is!

I dont know about others but i know that whatever car i will have, i will more than likely end up modding it in some way!

josh
 
voorhees said:
Nope
Click to expand...

YES. no questions about that im afraid.

If you are from a background of good well sorted cars, you will know how a car should handle.

the A3, and the S3, do not handle well in standard form at all.

the S3 in standard form is a good all rounder at best, with many flaws.

These can all be gotten around, and with good suspension mods, it can be made into a very capable car.

but as standard, its a bit lame.

compared to my well sorted A3, the few S3's I have driven have seemed very poor. Power wise a standard S3 pulls similarly to a well mapped 1.8T. a ko3S's 1.8T with the right mods and good mapping will outrun most chipped S3's.

Handling wise an A3, with a good matched shock/spring combo, and a decent set of anti roll bars will easily out handle a standard S3 in the dry, and probably in the wet too I reckon.

Considering Jasons A3 is already very well sorted, it must be as great to drive as mine is. knowing how that compares to an S3, without spending levels of cash Jason simply wont have (if he is paying for the purchase of an S3) , then the S3 can only disappoint.

Dont get me wrong, I am by NO means an S3 hater. I desperately want one myself, I love them. But I know that due to the initial cost of buying a good one, I could never afford to modify it to make it as good as it could be from the outset, So I have modified my A3 into something that will keep me happy for a few years.
 
Thanks for all the positive replys guys the problems started when i bought my FMIC it was the Ebay UK Kit and basically all the piping is crap they give you so many different pipes and connections that your going to have a leak sooner or later, APS wouldnt fit that for me as they said id be back with a leak which i didnt want to do.

The reason im going with Jabba is because they're cheaper, i need the K03S fitted and APS were too expensive. Jabba said they would fit the turbo and map it plus give me a courtesy car all for around the 800 mark.

Storm isnt an option as i need the courtesy car, So that's where the jabba obsession comes from.

I wasnt too fussed in the lay-out for the FMIC to be honest its alot more than i hoped to pay. I just didnt want the hassle ive had with the last ebay FMIC.

Im not 100% sure on what it'll cost with the FMIC, but it was 1000 fitted inc Vat but i should get the vat off and a bit moer as im paying in cash.

The reason for considering a change is that i know i wont stop with this i'll end up spending loads on it!! But i suppose in the end it'll be a very well sorted car.

I paid out my insurance in one hit for my A3 hoping it'll go down in may i guess at my age in a S3/TT it would be quite high but the insurance company im with wanted an extra 500 which i thought wasnt too bad for fully comp in my own name.

Ive got a pretty decent paying job at my age but getting myself in Debt for an S3/TT might be a silly idea... I'll have to have a think about it, but as it stands its booked in @ jabba for the end of march for the Pro alloy FMIC, K03S fitment And Mapping.

Thanks for all the help!

Cheers
 
A3_Turbo said:
i bought my FMIC it was the Ebay UK Kit and basically all the piping is crap they give you so many different pipes and connections that your going to have a leak sooner or later, APS wouldnt fit that for me as they said id be back with a leak which i didnt want to do.
Click to expand...
And then you try and sell the same FMIC on this board? Man, thats pretty low.


Ignoring that, obviously I agree with Prawn as I had exactly the same decision to make, get an S3 or speed up the A3.

I've been A3 biased from the start as its 300kgs lighter and WAY cheaper to buy parts for, so once you factor in those, the A3 is a better buy.

I now have an A3 thats faster than an S3 for about half the money I would have had to spend on making the S3 just as good.

That said, to be pefectly honest, it probably cost me 2K total to get my car as good as it is today, and if I had that choice again, I'd spend 1500 on a VW Golf Mk2 with a VR6 in it and get the standard audi phase 1 remapped for 500.

Theres no WAY I'd consider spending 2K I'll never see again on the Audi.
 
Wel there wasn't anything WRONG with the kit it just wasnt right so i wasn't trying to sell a damaged or faulty item anything like that.

I'll have to seriously have a think about what i want to do with the A3 if i intend on keeping it a while i may as well just go ahead with the planned mods as its not on ultra high mileage only 90k.

Cheers
 
go ahead by all means Jason, but for gods sake PLEASE do not pay a totally un-needed £1000 on a Pro alloy FMIC. its just not worth it
 
Just buy the USA kit for 300 and fit it yourself.

Thats the remap money saved.
 
Dave/Prawn can i have a link to the USA kit please.

Is there some-where you can order it other than ebay as i dont have paypal..

Many thanks
 
Dave_Bayern said:
And then you try and sell the same FMIC on this board? Man, thats pretty low.
Click to expand...

Good job i've not got a job and am indicatorless!!

basically all the piping is crap they give you so many different pipes and connections that your going to have a leak sooner or later
Click to expand...

Wel there wasn't anything WRONG with the kit it just wasnt right so i wasn't trying to sell a damaged or faulty item anything like that.
Click to expand...

Not damaged yet, but you knew it was poor quality


Good luck in whatever you pick to do it - £1k on FMIC does seem pretty hefty though.
 
A3_Turbo said:
Dave/Prawn can i have a link to the USA kit please.

Is there some-where you can order it other than ebay as i dont have paypal..

Many thanks
Click to expand...

No point linking if you dont have paypal.

Seriously, who DOESNT have paypal???

Search for 'Ebay FMIC' on www.vwvortex.com forums, you find all the info you need there.
 
There is NO difference in the core i believe its just the UK kit has more pipes with the pipes thus meaning more connections and more possibility of a leak.

There probably is no problem with the kit at-all just APS weren't happy in fitting it for that reason in-case there was a leak.

I wasn't trying to sell a Faulty or broken kit just to clear that up.

I'll have a look at the US kit i didnt realise at the time that the US and UK had differnt piping if i knew that at the time then i would've saved myself alot of money!

Cheers
 
I dont have paypal for a reason i sold something a while ago and paypal came back 3 months later saying the money they used to pay me with was fraudulent from a stolen card.

There wasnt a problem as your covered but because i hadnt kept the proof of when i sent it through Royal mail they couldnt cover me. So paypal took the money which i got for the item directly from my bank.

I didnt keep tracking slip from royal mail because the buyer had already received it and i didnt see the need to keep it.

Since then i havnt used pay-pal, maybe i should try again.....
 
just out of interest, does anybody have any pics of a FMIC and/or ko3s being fitted? I am thinking of going down the ko3s route with my pre-facelift A3 and would be looking at doing most of the work myself to save as much money as possible
 
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