Never
Just out of interest, does the 1.4 A3 u mentioned also understeer?
V8 trying in vein to derail this thread from the point that was being made regarding understeer and I'm glad you've taken it back to basics.
Yes, it appears that V8 is a VERY hard man to please. I'd hazard a guess that the main reason for this is he's a bit of a throttle jockey, and needs that perfected, over engineered approach to the design of a car, in order to keep him on the road. Any hint of trouble and he's on the forums, bumping his gums about geometry and lack of ultimate precision handling.
Truth of the matter is, I could meet anyone on a track, me in my S3 and them in their Golf R, and it wouldn't matter one bit about steering racks or dampening. If you know how to accommodate the downsides of a car, then you can drive around the issue. Nose not quite as pointy as you want? Then set the car up before hand and give it a bit more thought before barrelling into a corner, hoping it will show no signs of understeer.
With all due respect, we can all read motor magazines and paraphernalia about how cars are designed and engineered. The real taste of pudding is in the eating. And V8 just comes across as a some bloke who's got a heavy right foot and enjoys a bit of opposite lock. He also smacks of someone with a bit of a bee in his bonnet about Audi's and hence why I can't get my head around him being on here, just to pop up wherever someone dares to suggest the S3 is a great car. In his eyes, it's never going to be. There's so many design flaws in it - why on earth would you want to buy one over a Golf R?
Me, I know how to accommodate a car that is a bit loose on the front end. Most of my formative years behind the wheel of 'fastish' cars were in front wheel drive cars. They ALL understeer when you're marching on. Do I drive like that nowadays - always on the ragged edge? Do I hell. Can I? Sure, and my test drive in the S3 was as close as it's ever been. So over that period of testing the S3 to it's limits, where I agree, it's perhaps not the most spell binding car I've ever driven or as raw as some you can buy. Over the last 3 months of driving in rain, sleet, ice, muddy, dry and a combination of all those factors - driven 8/10ths of what I could potentially drive to, based on the fact I have no need to eak out the last remaining 2/10ths.... I have had no understeer jump out at me and no moments where the car has got a bit lairy. In fact, the only time I've had an OFFS moment was twice, on roads I didn't know and a t-junction approached me out of nowhere. Standing on the brake pedal, I was amazed at the manner in which the ABS brought it to a halt. May cars I've driven would have gone past the point of where I needed to stop. So well done S3 in that dept!
Never seen V8 drive, no idea if he's Sebastien Loeb in disguise for that matter! But he does have rather too much 'information' at his disposal when it comes to the engineering aspect of a car. Maybe a snap judgment, but I reckon he's a crap driver who just pushes his car over the limits and is far too heavy handed. A refined driver will get there just as fast, but in a far less scrappy way. Bit like Prost - never the most exciting racer, but his lap times were all the evidence you needed.
