New guy looking for A3 buying advice!

[ManicMunky]

Hi all!

I'm a 20-year-old guy from Newport, South Wales. I'm a theatre electrician and student, and I currently drive a VW Lupo Sport.

I'm looking at buying an Audi A3. The 1.8T Quattro is now reasonable to insure, so I've been looking at those. Out of interest, I checked an S3 for insurance, and was only about £500 more, at £1500/year. I've not yet checked any 'specialists', like Brentacre, Adrain Flux et al, so I expect it to actually be less than that.

S3's seem to be good around £8000, whereas A3TQ's seem good around £6500.

Is the S3 actually going to be worth the extra £2000-£2500 (buying and insurance) over the A3TQ?

Honest opinions would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[MikeA3]

I think the S3 would hold it's value a little better over the A3 but at £8000 would you be getting a decent S3 or one with problems over a mint A3 at £6500?

Unfortunately due to the performance & handling of the S3 theres a strong chance that a cheaper £8000 car could have been ragged around quite a bit by the previous owner(s) although i guess thats the same with any car really.

welcome to the forum btw

 

[ChriS3]

Hey BaBs, Welcome to the site.

You should get a good 1.8T Quattro for £6500, but you won't get a good S3 for £8000. I think the overall difference in price for comparable conditioned cars may be bigger than that.

It's a difficult decision; you'll be more than happy with the 1.8TQ, but how long till you're hankering after an S3?

Insurance wise, I've always been with Adrian Flux or Admiral throughout my S3 ownership. They've been cheaper than anywhere else, and they've been ok with the modifications I've made.

 

[ManicMunky]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

What sort of money would get me a good S3 then? The £6500 for an A3TQ would get a 50k Y/51 plate

 

[silver75]

I say get a nice A3 for 8 grand, if you really badly want an S3 then maybe it will be worth saving up for a bit till you can afford a decent one.

 

[MikeA3]

I think you'd be looking at roughly £11k for a decent S3, maybe more - theres always the odd bargain though.

personally i'd save up for the S3 but thats just me

 

[ManicMunky]

£11k might be a bit much for me at the moment.

I'm still in uni, but I have a well paying job, so £8k was "do-able".

I'll try and get a drive of both, and see if the extra expense is worth it

 

[jedwa115]

Don't drive the S3 unless you want to spend the cash... guaranteed shiney-fast-car syndrome will happen and you will not be happy till you buy one!

 

[MikeA3]

you could always consider the A3 turbo quattro and a remap - should give it close to 210bhp - perhaps the best of both worlds?

 

[ManicMunky]

that's a path I was considering, Mike.

could possibly even take it further with additional mods.

it's just in my head, is it worth modifying a "lesser" car? I know it shouldn't be seen as that, as it's nearly as competant as the S3, but still.

it does sound like I've made my mind up, but I really haven't!

I'm trying to fathom whether the S3 "package" would be better for me

 

[dickys3]

If you can stretch to a S3, go for it.

If its going to be difficult, don't bother and go for a A3.

Welcome to the forum btw!

 

[ManicMunky]

Had a think... could possibly stretch to an S3, next Summer. more work, more savings, and a graduation present from the folks, and other people.

I could do it then!

 

[batwad]

I'm sort-of in the same dilemma, except I resolved to go for the TDi quattro instead. I decided that for the money, I could get an mint 03 plate well-specced TDi quattro that I could get a four or five year old S3 that probably hadn't been treated too well. Add on the running costs and I decided it was the right thing to do.

I never test-drove an S3 though, becuase I knew as soon as I did, I'd want one Ignorance is bliss!

 

[ManicMunky]

I was toying with diesel... even came close to putting my name down on the line for a Skoda Fabia VRs, I was that impressed. But there's just something there about them... lol

 

[steve1975l]

I went for the A3 1.8T first but for the 3 years i owned it I always wanted the S3 but I always have. I just couldn't afford an S3 at that time.

I got a nice bonus from work so sold the A3 for 6.5K and bought an S3. My girlfriend was not impressed with spending 6k for the "same year, "same car just different colour" were her words. I quickly put her right.

If you desperately want the S3 you find a way or wait until you have the funds. If not get an A3 either way you won't be dissapointed.

 

[fasteddie]

Hi I drive an S3 and it's lovely, you should be able to get a lovely S3 for around £10k, it would be prefacelift and it would be well worth the extra cash over the 1.8TQ. As you walk up to your S3 you know you've made the right choice, and dont be fooled by thinking that a 1.8TQ will not be ragged more than an S3. The S3 is built to take it and cost the owner more money, the cars you want to worry about are the 1.8TQ's because there owners wanted an S3 but couldn't afford it, they drive it like it were an S3 because they wish they had one!!

 

[ManicMunky]

fasteddie - you speak with knowledge! I'll take a look at the differences between the S3's, and what changed in the facelift, see if it's worth *even* more to save for that

 

[rickparmar]

hey mate

ive had 2 A3's and am dying to get a S3. The thing is no matter what you will always want a S3 after you drive a A3 for a while

best thing to do is go for a decent S3 about 10k, by doing this in a couple of years once you get bored of your A3 you wont need to save more money into buying a S3 and modding that up

if you go for S3 straight away least you will save money in the long run if you know what i mean

sorry if i make no sence, am recovering from a very bad hang over lol

 

[ManicMunky]

I know what you're saying, no point modding an A3TQ then to sell it, loose money and buy an S3 and mod that.

Should be fine for next summer, and it gives me some time to do the IAM test... quotes have gotten me a few hundred off insurance