Would you buy a Golf R or an S3 if you had the choice (again)?
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akash_sky1
Registered User
As has already been said the price of the new Golf R is a complete p!ss take, esp when compared to the mk4 and mk5 versions, which although still had inferior interiors to the S3, had the lovely vr6 engine to give it something unique. As this is lacking in the new one..S3 all the way.
The mk6 is even a completely new car and its chassis is barely any different from the 8P2 S3.
A 4wd 'rocco would have been so much better.
The mk6 is even a completely new car and its chassis is barely any different from the 8P2 S3.
A 4wd 'rocco would have been so much better.
No suprise most favour the Audi - the Golf R is still very tempting but I think a few people might have missed the fact that if you spec both cars to the same level - the Golf is a lot more money and get inside the VW and no way is it like say sitting in say a Rocus RS or a Renault, but it is definately not as nice a place to be as the S3. It's all down to personal choice and if your bank balance can take it I suppose. Performance wise there's nowt to seperate them... I also repeat that my experiences of VW dealers is enough to make it a no brainer anyway! If I was 'forced' to buy a VW product right now it would be the Socco R (even with an interior that's on a par with my sisters Polo!).
BOSSS3
Registered User
Um..... lets think about this one. A Golf is a cheap version of an A3 VAG even admits this. Audi is the premium brand everyone knows this. This is the Audi forum and thats obviously why we favour Audis but the fact that the S3 is put on a podium is because it is the BEST hot hatch on the market!!!
The Golf R is rediculously priced and sure you going to get people who will buy them and the only reason they will is because they want to be part of the select few who will own them. But it doesnt make sense because they taking an S3 an slapping a Golf body on it with a few tweaks and charging more money for it, surely its meant to be the other way round???
The Golf R is rediculously priced and sure you going to get people who will buy them and the only reason they will is because they want to be part of the select few who will own them. But it doesnt make sense because they taking an S3 an slapping a Golf body on it with a few tweaks and charging more money for it, surely its meant to be the other way round???
willmac
Registered User
For me comparing VW with Audi is a no brainer , same as the offering's from Ford , Vauxhall, Renault and the rest of the wannabe's. Audi is different class and re-sale value is always going to be better. The only down side of the current A3/ S3 line up I can see at the moment is that it is an ageing platform, and if a new revised model is in the pipeline then it may affect residuals. However for the moment you are getting more for your money.
The way I see it is that VW is the trial platform for future Audi developments. When they have tweaked everything on the prototype VW's they will then apply this knowledge to give you a another premium product in the Audi. As for price there is no such thing as a free lunch so you get what you pay for in my eyes anyway
The way I see it is that VW is the trial platform for future Audi developments. When they have tweaked everything on the prototype VW's they will then apply this knowledge to give you a another premium product in the Audi. As for price there is no such thing as a free lunch so you get what you pay for in my eyes anyway
Well i can answer this.
I went to test drive a 09 S3 today and was left rather under whelmed. I have to agree with Pete that it is a nice car but its just so basic ! I mean a £27.5k car without even a map light. who configures a new car with heated seats and steering wheel and no light pack ?? come to that, who ever needed heated seats and steering wheel anyway...........lol. And as for that Vauxhall Astra brushed ally stuck on the doors and center console!!
Bottom line is its a good car but no better than my 3.2 on the road and without that V6 howl . I dare say that on the track or driving at completely illegal speeds the S3 has the edge but in the real world it is just a top of the range A3 hatch now they have finished the 3.2. That said, all that applies to the golf but more so.
Yea i know...I'm moaning again but to go shopping with £30k in ya pocket and come home feeling i need to spend a lot more than that to get a quick sporty car pee's me off a bit. Have to sell a few more investments i think !
I went to test drive a 09 S3 today and was left rather under whelmed. I have to agree with Pete that it is a nice car but its just so basic ! I mean a £27.5k car without even a map light. who configures a new car with heated seats and steering wheel and no light pack ?? come to that, who ever needed heated seats and steering wheel anyway...........lol. And as for that Vauxhall Astra brushed ally stuck on the doors and center console!!
Bottom line is its a good car but no better than my 3.2 on the road and without that V6 howl . I dare say that on the track or driving at completely illegal speeds the S3 has the edge but in the real world it is just a top of the range A3 hatch now they have finished the 3.2. That said, all that applies to the golf but more so.
Yea i know...I'm moaning again but to go shopping with £30k in ya pocket and come home feeling i need to spend a lot more than that to get a quick sporty car pee's me off a bit. Have to sell a few more investments i think !
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The S3 is a car that NEEDS another 100bhp,if ever there was one,as the standard car does feel a bit underpowered,and as a previous 3.2 owner I can say that it is quicker and better balanced from stock,but not hugely so.
The fact that you can do all of that for relatively little outlay is both a plus and minus,as it should perhaps have had that from the start....but of course it would then have rivalled the RS4 for pace etc etc.
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Considering how slow the S3 is out of the box, for more money the Golf is even less enticing. Thank god for Stage 2+. And that is what elevates it from a 3.2. Without it there's not a lot in it.
S3Alex
Thanks for taking my post at face value and not as an attack on S3 owners. good on you !
Its difficult to describe how i felt about the S3 but i suppose i just expected something a bit more special. Had i been coming from a 2ltr or TDi 170 etc i am sure it would seem a worthwhile step up but looking at my well equipped 3.2 i found it difficult to justify an extra £18k with the step down in spec. I am to tall for a TTS i have decided so it looks like i will be looking at other makes now. I really only need 2 seats, I want more power than i have, but i dont want to get into RS4 fuel consumption and tax...I think it might be worth a trip to look at the 3 series coupe but that dash puts me off
)
Thanks for taking my post at face value and not as an attack on S3 owners. good on you !
Its difficult to describe how i felt about the S3 but i suppose i just expected something a bit more special. Had i been coming from a 2ltr or TDi 170 etc i am sure it would seem a worthwhile step up but looking at my well equipped 3.2 i found it difficult to justify an extra £18k with the step down in spec. I am to tall for a TTS i have decided so it looks like i will be looking at other makes now. I really only need 2 seats, I want more power than i have, but i dont want to get into RS4 fuel consumption and tax...I think it might be worth a trip to look at the 3 series coupe but that dash puts me off
)
PaulAr
S3 (8P)
If the Golf R cost the same or less than the S3, then the conversation would be different. As it stands, this tells us more about VW's pricing structure than anything else.
In terms of product differentiation, there's not as much between the S3 and Golf R as say between the A3 2.0T (quattro or not) and Golf GTi. You'd buy these cars for quite different tastes (as with the R32 and A3 3.2 in the past), but not so with the new Golf R and S3.
In terms of product differentiation, there's not as much between the S3 and Golf R as say between the A3 2.0T (quattro or not) and Golf GTi. You'd buy these cars for quite different tastes (as with the R32 and A3 3.2 in the past), but not so with the new Golf R and S3.
Audi_nut
Registered User
Have you ever considered a Cayman ?
A proper car...............just need to sell that kidney.
PaulAr
S3 (8P)
Have you ever considered a Cayman ?
He He.
Actually no.
Apparently they are a poor mans 911 ?
cheers
Paul
The list price for a new S3 here is 78.5k without any extras, and the Golf R is just shy of 74k. Now THAT is bonkers!
Having said that, IF I had the money, it would be the S3 over the Golf. For now, will stick with my smoke-machine!
We have a company in Stavanger and our guys over there can't believe how cheap we get S3's. I looked at a 2yr old one over there for 880,000 NOK................£88K
Yeah, I'm English and was gutted when I found out how much cars were over here. I was more gutted when I took my car into an Audi dealer in England to get the brakes checked and there was a 6 month old S3 with only 5k miles and it was several thousand less than I paid for a 3 year old TDI!
The only benefit being that they tend to keep their value a bit better here, a 10+ year old S3 will sell for over 22k pounds.
I can't see anyone (even in the land of inflated car prices) paying that money for a 10 year Golf R. But I guess we'll have to wait 10 years and find out.
PaulAr
S3 (8P)
The last time I stayed in Stavanger it was around 70NOK (£7 ish) for a beer at the Hotel bar.
And it wasnt even a pint. Ouch.!
Thank the Lord for expenses......
(Sorry bit off topic)
Paul
And it wasnt even a pint. Ouch.!
Thank the Lord for expenses......
(Sorry bit off topic)
Paul
But you still get hot Norwegian blondes? And massively higher average salaries than the UK?
I've been meaning to do this for a few days now but have been a little busy. I have made a table that uses the exchange rates since October 2006 (around the time when the S3 came out) to calculate how much the cost of an S3 is in euros assuming the car costs £27k. No it's not an exact science of course and it doesn't take into account many things such as dealer discounts, the VAT change and also the site I have got the data from hasn't necessarily given me the lowest and highest rates in the time period I have used. The variations in the Euro price are that vast is makes no real difference though:
Now if we assume that Audi need/want to sell their S3s for the original 40,238 Euro (and bear in mind that currently a basic S3 is 38,265 OTR in Germany) using the same rates I have worked out how much Audi UK should be selling their cars for so that Audi can make around about the same profit:
That tells me that VAG (and other European manufacturers) are currently losing massive profits to the UK market! I guess VW are trying to claim back some of those losses by selling the R models at about the right price but they know if they tried to up their prices they just wouldn't be able to shift any cars whatsoever. A Golf GTI would be around the £25k mark for example.
Very inaccurate figures of course but it gives an idea.
Very inaccurate figures of course but it gives an idea.
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Great work Staz and exactly what my dealer mentioned when i ordered. Which made it surprising that they only raised prices by less than 2% in Jan. Ford seems to have upped their prices BIG time.
As i said previously, the S3 i believe to be good value for money, especially with a sizeable discount.
As i said previously, the S3 i believe to be good value for money, especially with a sizeable discount.
