Interested in buying an S3

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gkf

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Hey guys,

I’m new here & I’m interested in buying an 8l S3. Used to own a super clean 2014 Fiesta ST, was mapped and properly set up by Mountune and had all of the goodies you’d ever want. Currently saving for a house so she had to go, so naturally, my attention has turned to getting a cheaper car which ticks all of the boxes (maybe more) than the ST did. I looked at a B5 A4 1.8t non-Quattro which are my favourite generation of A4 but they’re rare to find a model worth buying to tick these boxes!!

I’m looking into buying one within the next 3-4 months and I’ll hold out for the right one with a decent spec. Just wondering what other common faults there are?

I’ve heard about rust on the roof and arches but is there any other common things to look out for? As these are getting on a bit, I’d obviously be looking for a good stack of maintenance and recent refreshes of suspension, joints, boots etc.

Is there any specific model year to avoid?

What are nice to have specs on these?

What are these like to drive? - Never driven an Audi or anything German before

How much should I expect to pay for a clean one?

Lastly, is there any for sale on here? Budget is £3500 but willing to pay more for something a bit special!!

cheers for reading this far, sorry to waffle on at you all
 
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gkf said:
Lastly, is there any for sale on here? Budget is £3500 but willing to pay more for something a bit special!!
Click to expand...
Have a look in the stickies there is a thread where people link their classified ads etc... there is the classifieds section too you can look at...

Please note that classified style posts (wanted, selling what have you got for sale etc) are not allowed in the main sections but feel free to post a wanted ad in the classifieds

<tuffty/>
 
The st would probably be quicker unless you get a stage 2 plus s3 they are a heavy car for their size due to the 4wd, haldex is a common failure on these, , due to the age of them now bushes tend to need replacing unless already done by the previous owner,
I love mine hence why I’ve decided to go all out but you’d be surprised what cars get a lead on these in a little race
 
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Everyone always mentions the bad things so I’m going to mention the good things for a change.

1. The third sun visor behind the rear view mirror.
2. The heated door handles so your door doesn’t freeze shut in the winter.
3. The heated wing mirrors that activate when outside temp is less than 5 degrees Celsius.
4. The rear parcel shelf has retractable strings so they don’t get in the way when you remove the shelf.
5. The headlight washers that pop up and then retract completely into the front bumper.

Nice optional extras to have are:
1. Heated front seats If you have full leather
2. Polished aluminium door mirrors
3. Matching alcantara seat inserts (blue on Nogaro blue cars, yellow on the Imola Yellow cars) look pretty awesome.
4. All the other things can be retro-fitted. With the exception of electric sunroof. And any third party decent audio installation will beat the Audi Bose system.

BAM engines aren’t any better than AMK. Yes the BAM engines leave the factory with 225bhp and the AMK, 210bhp, but if you get a remap they’ll both go to about 260-270, so don’t get suckered into paying more for a BAM.
 
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s3mad_dude said:
Everyone always mentions the bad things so I’m going to mention the good things for a change.

1. The third sun visor behind the rear view mirror.
2. The heated door handles so your door doesn’t freeze shut in the winter.
3. The heated wing mirrors that activate when outside temp is less than 5 degrees Celsius.
4. The rear parcel shelf has retractable strings so they don’t get in the way when you remove the shelf.
5. The headlight washers that pop up and then retract completely into the front bumper.

Nice optional extras to have are:
1. Heated front seats If you have full leather
2. Polished aluminium door mirrors
3. Matching alcantara seat inserts (blue on Nogaro blue cars, yellow on the Imola Yellow cars) look pretty awesome.

BAM engines aren’t any better than AMK. Yes the BAM engines leave the factory with 225bhp and the AMK, 210bhp, but if you get a remap they’ll both go to about 260-270, so don’t get suckered into paying more for a BAM.
Click to expand...
Didn’t know about the heated door mirrors, not to be a downer, the handling isn’t great get a r32 anti roll bar and some coilovers on there, probably try to get one all ready modded you your taste save you having to change stuff
 
If you go one a bmw or r32 (I have a mk5 one aswell) they will tell you all about how mint they are and won’t give you A clear idea we on here all love ours but they do have there downsides
 
your getting into a potentially 20 yr old car, its gonna have its faults and problems, but its worth it.

not too much really costs an awful lot, so maintaining isn't really too bad plus theres a lot of spares out there, vw-audi group etc.

i was after a focus st prior to buying mine, and im glad i didnt :)

i guess the haldex can be an issue, but at 60 odd quid for a second hand one [not fitted] aint really breaking the bank, vac pipes can be brittle due to age, but easy to mod up to date.
tie arms apparently can fail, so prob worth looking at them.

had mine since dec, rebuilt the entire engine due to it being abused and not looked after correctly and shes sweet now. not difficult to do either with the most basic of tools. ****, if i can rebuild one anyone can ;)

theres defo something about the way these drive and feel, its more connected to the road than my old evo felt, but like TJ said, theres room for improvement with certain mods.
i'm gonna grab an 8p for a while for the wife but i ain't lettin the 8l go.

+ the help from the community here is second to none!
 
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danny_dj3 said:
your getting into a potentially 20 yr old car, its gonna have its faults and problems, but its worth it.

not too much really costs an awful lot, so maintaining isn't really too bad plus theres a lot of spares out there, vw-audi group etc.

i was after a focus st prior to buying mine, and im glad i didnt :)

i guess the haldex can be an issue, but at 60 odd quid for a second hand one [not fitted] aint really breaking the bank, vac pipes can be brittle due to age, but easy to mod up to date.
tie arms apparently can fail, so prob worth looking at them.

had mine since dec, rebuilt the entire engine due to it being abused and not looked after correctly and shes sweet now. not difficult to do either with the most basic of tools. ****, if i can rebuild one anyone can ;)

theres defo something about the way these drive and feel, its more connected to the road than my old evo felt, but like TJ said, theres room for improvement with certain mods.
i'm gonna grab an 8p for a while for the wife but i ain't lettin the 8l go.

+ the help from the community here is second to none!
Click to expand...

Did you buy a manual for the rebuild ?


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Last edited:
nope. i watched a few vids from different peeps on youtube, asked a few questions here and bought a spare engine. i stripped that down to see how difficult they really are then setabout mine.

main points are torque settings, the rest really is reverse engineering what you took apart. fun engines to work on tbh, but the timing belts a git lol.
99% is taking time and making sure you are doing things right, which for some can be scary [me included] and pointers are needed, but with the guys here its easy. theres loads of advice here and i defo wouldn't have been as confident to do it if i wasn't on here.

on a side note im now 20 miles off fully run in and gave it a little kick over the tops tonight....80 was a breeze in a matter of seconds and left me and the daughter on an adrenaline rush :D
 
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That is brilliant to hear Danny a life achievement id say id love to rebuild mine always had a thing about engines and how they work have you done a build thread on it ? Decimal tenths guy does some brilliant vids on YouTube makes it look easy lol


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i watched a few of their vids n thought sod it, i wanted to do a rebuild prior to actually doing it, but due to the way mine was i had to.

i linked a few pics of the story and a couple of posts up on the issues i had but in all honesty i prob wouldn't have done it without help from here.

its not difficult tbh. basic tools, a clean area to work, torque wrenches etc not bad really.
i did;
valves + seats
valve stem oil seals
cleaned and checked head for warp
checked the block for warp [cast and apparently dont tend to go]
new rings [badger 5]
new shells [badger 5]
blasted out the oil pickup
new head gasket kit
swapped out the sump for donor part
swapped out manifold
honed the bores
timing belt/tensioner/waterpump - gates i think i used.
simplified the vac system
n249 delete
badger 5 intake [ cheers TJ ;) ]
plus a few other bits.

i have plans tho.....>:D
 
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You reckon you’d forge it yourself ? I take my hat off to ya and your wife she must have some patients lol


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Why not mate best of luck I’d give it a go if I had a garage at home


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Do you have a driveWay? Swapping for a set of forged rods is easy, I hired a storage unit to strip and rebuild a 3.2 engine for the swap and fitted it on the drive
 
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i dont have a garage yet, i did most of the headwork in the back garden, using a wheelbarrow as a engine stand, seriously lol, and then did the work on the car on my spot. 2 axle stands n a jack to raise n lower the engine for the belt and your laughing.
 
I do but in the middle of doing the garden so have no shed atm storage ect, have 2 old school mechanics in the family that would probably help but at the moment I need to build up general knowledge doing anti roll bars tomorrow and driveshaft gaitors if I get the chance I love it it’s interesting haven’t had a car for 6years coilovers and brakes after though first
 
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I was paying £;5 a week for the staorage unit and it was worth that just so I could get everything delivered there and the misses had no clue how much I was ordering ha

have a read through some of the threads on here everything has been covered a you’ll get all the info you need
 
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danny_dj3 said:
i dont have a garage yet, i did most of the headwork in the back garden, using a wheelbarrow as a engine stand, seriously lol, and then did the work on the car on my spot. 2 axle stands n a jack to raise n lower the engine for the belt and your laughing.
Click to expand...

haha I thought the wheelbarrow was just to get it from the van haha
 
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yeah i get where your coming from, the wifes been cool about all the car crap i have hit her with and things needed to be done on the house too. honest tho, i started my rebuild in the first few weeks of lockdown, and with the right tools woulda had it done in 2 days max but shockingly i have only managed to put 478 miles on her since the rebuild.
 
LOL naw mate, the wheelbarrow was while i waited for a stand to be delivered, but it never did so i thought ******'s to it n did it all from there :D
 
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Wheelbarrow that is class that’s a story to tell the grand kids when the s3s worth a few quid ‘we hope’


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heh heh yeah, i forgot to mention all the others too that had done rebuilds here, check thro the forums, theres some amazing stuff been done.
 
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