Gearbox
- Thread starter Leevr
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S Tronic for me, previous car was a manual TT, with my mileage and broken knees from rugby I had to go auto.
I think the 7 speed in the facelifts is great, smooth, responsive and easy to T up.
If I did less miles I’d be tempted by the manual but have heard that it’s clutch isn’t particularly robust.
I think the 7 speed in the facelifts is great, smooth, responsive and easy to T up.
If I did less miles I’d be tempted by the manual but have heard that it’s clutch isn’t particularly robust.
Manual and wouldn't change it (other than a stronger clutch for stage1 
).
Enjoy 'em whilst Audi still make 'em.
Caveated by I do almost no stop start driving ever hence a manual, for commuting/town driving/UK roads etc then the DSG is an awesome bit of kit.
).Enjoy 'em whilst Audi still make 'em.
Caveated by I do almost no stop start driving ever hence a manual, for commuting/town driving/UK roads etc then the DSG is an awesome bit of kit.
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S-tronic - I said I'd never not have a manual until I test drove my S3 8p with S-tronic. I haven't looked back since. I have S-tronic on my S3 8v as do loads of miles and it's my daily driver so this had some bearing on my choice.
RSS-S3
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RSS-S3
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Gear knob came off at 6 days old.
Notchy feel, tiresome around town...
Clutch is dying at 8k and the stronic is a faster car.
Resale value is **** on the manual!!
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I'm manual and Stage 2 with Sachs 4 paddle clutch and love it. Resale on all S3 are very poor at the moment.
The whole clutch longevity thing is odd, there is without doubt recorded issues with both the S3 and Golf R about early failure of clutches (whether it is statistically significant we will never know) however there are also examples of reasonable longevity. I know someone with 45k on their manual 2014 S3 and the clutch is fine, my clutch is still fine at 24k.
My view is that I run the OE clutch until it fails then replace with a Sachs (as per MikeP above) then go stage1.
I actually like the 'notchiness' of mine as feels mechanical but market forces are market forces.........my £29.5k new S3 in 2014 is still booking around £17-18k trade which is within expectations so don't think the market is unfair on manuals.
p.s. DSG versus manual shouldn't be driven by being quicker........a good driver in a manual TDi will be quicker than a bad driver in a DSG RS3.
RSS-S3
Registered User
Whats annoying... is that I have always had manuals.
I always think that anyone can pull paddles and drive fast.
but the residual on the S3 manual is a good £1500 less and Its feel is far from the crisp changes they claim it to be.
It is a let down really.
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But didn't the car cost you about £1300 less in the first place? We lose far more on any extras. Personally, I intend to keep the car until it is at least 5 years old. I had 3 month's driving experience of STronics and preferred the manual so I just bought what I wanted and didn't consider whether I'd effectively 'lose' £200 more on the car than if I'd gone STronic.
Having known someone who's had two replacement DSG boxes and the cost of the warranty claims, I'd be far more wary of buying a 5 year old out of warranty STronic with 50k miles that had experienced a hard life on the end of a 310 BHP engine than similar with a manual gearbox.
I'd be surprised if a five year old S3 with the 'rare desirable manual gearbox' will be worth less than an auto that'll cost big bucks to fix when it plays up.
Seven speed DSG. I had a 6 speed DSG in my12 TT and I personally think the seven speed is far superior, I would never go back to a manual. I had the TT until Sept this year and never had any problems with the box whatsoever.
