Slightly irrelevant S3 8L question-looking for 'unbiased' opinions

As title says... This could be seen as being in the wrong sub-forum, however I'm looking for unbiased opinions-maybe people who have owned one but don't anymore/ have upgraded to the 8P2/3 variant.

So I pretty much had my heart set on an 8P S3, have been putting money away each month for one about half a year and will continue to do so, and was recently strongly recommended to go for the 8P3 facelift for certain improvements (such as the gen4 quattro system). Wasn't initially that keen on the 'pointier' looking front end and headlights, but they've grown on me.

However, I always still wonder about an 8L facelift S3... I've always loved the look of them and I've heard great things about the 225bhp BAM engine. From what I've seen lots of people still have them. Obviously they're pretty dated in terms of tech and certain features, however there's lots of things I love about them-the recaro seats and squat, flared arches look. Given I've never driven one that all I have to go on really haha.

So are they still a viable car to go for these days? It would be my first 'performance' car so I'm not necessarily looking for a huge power motor, I've just always wanted one, always lusted after one and stopped to admire every time I see one. Make the missus cross the road if there's one parked up on the other side etc. Ha. A cousin had one and loved it, and my old man had a B5 S4 many years ago-granted a completely different car and engine-but similar look. I've seen a few come up with pretty low mileages, unmodified, but are they simply too old of a model to be spending money on?

Thanks

prt57 said:

An interesting question. I have an S3 8P prefacelift but like you always have a look at an 8L if I see one.
The trick is finding a really good one that has not had any poor modifications. There must be a fine balance between spending money on one if you have your sensible head on so that money is not wasted. They map well with 265bhp achievable on a stage 1 alone.
In a way I am in a similar situation in that my daily driver is a Mk 4 Gti 1.8T with an AGU engine. I’ve had it from new in 1998. It goes to shows and people give good feedback. It did 600 miles just last week with no problems. No rust and the mechanicals are strong. Is it worth spending money on apart from the RTech stage 1 map it has run for over 50 k miles? Probably not worth going any further on such a car as I will never see a return when I sell it.
So it is a tough one but the S3 8P is a more sophisticated vehicle than the 8L

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Yeah I see what you mean... I mean really my aim is to get a car that I'm going to love and want to keep for a few years. I'm really tempted by the 8L, however from owning an 8PA A3 this year, there are things I'd really like tech/ feature wise that I wouldn't find on an 8L, but would on an 8P3. Many of the ones I've seen for sale have been modded a lot. There are a few unmodded ones with low miles for the car and age (60k), but I'm just not sure about if the rest of the car would keep me satisfied.

paddy said:

My thinking is once a car is over 10 years old it probably doesnt matter if its 20 years old because you are really looking at how well a previous owner looked after it more than anything else.
as far as looks go the 8L was the best i think, i really liked my twin grill 8p 3.2 but never been a fan of the big grill models even though i own one....as for the 8v ? no thanks.
Really its a question only you can answer

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Well I love the look of most 8Ls. I think some I've seen look a bit rough or I'm not sure about the colour they're in, but I'm pretty sure I'd like them more in the flesh. I wasn't sure of my own car from the pics the seller showed me, but when I saw it in person I was like 'yes, this is lovely'. I'm feeling to get an 8P3 as I want a bit of an upgrade from my 8PA A3 atm. And yeah, not keen on the look of the 8v ones myself. They're nice, but I wouldn't pick one over the other two variants.

Daveyonthemove said:

Can't argue with the above answers, they both cover the basis of weighing up how well it's been looked after Vs how much you spend.
One thing I found out recently when looking for info on my own car, was that 2006 run of the 8L ending production and the 8P entring production makes both cars quite rare (for that year).
IIRC there were only Three 8L's around from that year, and 90 of the 8P. So if you can find an 8L on a 56 plate that is well looked after, you would have a rare car.

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Yeah that's it. I do think 'yeah it costs around half the price of an 8p variant' but then I suppose I also have to weigh up how much I might have to spend if it turns out to be a car that hasn't been looked after. I never new the 8L went to 2006! I've also never seen any 06 models when looking, so yeah must be pretty rare!

samuelh_888 said:

My brother has an 8L (S3) and it’s brilliant, it is a 20 year old platform but what a hot-hatch it was for its day and even for today.

Whether you get the 210ps (APY & another) or the 225 BAM they both map well. The BAM is more desirable for no good reason (both map to the same but unmapped obviously there is the PS increase).

Look out for rust along the roof line, arches and boot handle area but make sure it also has a full/decent service history. Parts are cheaper and plentiful for the 8L

Don’t be sucked into spending ‘000’s on ‘the best available in the uk’ on eBay or autoteader, possibly see if any of the 8L forum members are selling.

These are cheap enough now that any boy racer can afford one but treat it as boy racers do. If you go the 8L route take your time and search for a good one.

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Thanks, I think I will definitely go looking on here if I do look. As you say on Autotrader, a lot of the low mileage ones are pretty far away. The service history is huge to me, I shake my head when I see sellers saying something like 'has full service history but can't find the book'... Funny you say about boy racers haha, I went into Audi Chingford recently, toying with the idea of an 8v and to look about leasing one of the newer S3s, and the salesman instantly went 'bit of a boy racer yeah?' and laughed to himself (****). I'm not sure I'm young enough anymore to qualify as that anymore anyway. Guess I still have a young face at least

leshkin said:

I'd echo the other comments and add...

The 8L was definitely more special in the lineup when it was released, as the styling was not held back by marketing department in the hope of selling a more aggressively styled RS3 down the line.

If you can find a mint condition 8L, it might actually be a more sensible buy as they stopped depreciating in value. If I had the space to keep one along side my current 8P, I'd definitely have one already.

Do realise that they are getting old now and tend to come with old car issues if you intend on using it as a daily though.

I used to own a lovely silver 8L and always regretted selling it... It never pretended that it was the best at anything, but it always felt like a special little car that defined the premium hot hatch segment and wouldn't be surprised if their prices started to increase as they became more rare.

Writing this made me want to trawl the internet for a nice example now...

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Mate literally, saw one around where the missus lives the other evening and immediately got distracted while we were watching TV, going on ebay looking at some. I do worry about buying them simply because of the age of some of them. I like getting my hands dirty but I'd need it as a daily yeah, so I'd rather not buy one that ends up needing work down the line.

Charlie23 said:

Hi mate, have owned an 8L S3 and fair play was a really nice car and I would buy another one.

They do drive nice and have some good features but when in side they do feel abit dated, and they are also pretty heavy which you can feel when driving. Solid cars tho.

Depends what you want really.

S3 8L £2500-£4000 for a decent one
S3 8p £6500 - £10k plus

Overall I would say the Pre-facelift is the better choice for your first S3 as it’s an all round good car, has the looks, performance, comfort, etc etc and you can pick up decent examples now for good money, and progress from there.

But if your looking for a cheaper solution then go for the 8L you won’t be disappointed at all.

Here was my 8L

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I wouldn't have thought they were that heavy, where does all the weight come from? To be fair the recaro buckets on their own look pretty heavy I guess. Maybe other sellers would sell for cheaper, but yeah I've seen lots of autotrader, both trade and private sellers selling for around 5-7k. The 8p2 models go for 8-10 and the 8P3 seem to go from anywhere between 10 and 14k! Although there was one for about £9800, 'great price' according to autotrader standards.

Do you mean the prefacelift 8p, the 8p2? I'm looking for a car I can keep for the next few years, that's why I tempted to go for a slightly dearer but newer 8p3.

A little pick me up this evening... Someone told me about a certain insurance company that is not listed on the comparison sites. Since I got undertaken coming out of a light a few weeks ago, which ended up with the back half of the car dented and was declared 'part liable' (no cameras in the area to provide proof according to admiral), all quotes I've tried on comparison sites for an S3 next year have been crazy-understandably I suppose. The 'lowest' quotes added about £3000 excess with sensible premiums, and then brought the excess down to a sensible amount for all the other higher premiums that in actual fact were going through the roof.

Anyway, tried a quote through the insurer's site tonight, put in my age, time driving and the time of the accident to replicate me insuring an S3 in a year's time, used the reg from a 2011 S3 on autotrader, and the premium came to £1400, with a £250 comp excess and £200 voluntary. Which is about the same as the quotes I was getting for an S3 before having to declare the accident! I'm sure most will still say that's still a lot, but considering the prices compare the market was giving me (and the fact I probably would've paid the 'lowest' higher premium/ lower excess one too, I'm pretty happy with that