Interior update for the A3 range

Mondie said:
Agreed on the screens and climate, I don't mind them on the M3 either. The graphics concern me. I hope the RS3 graphics are similar to the current RS3, but the German configurator shows not.
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Agreed - I hope there is a level of customisation with them. They do look like something off a kiddies Leap Pad V1.
It's not uncommon for orders to stay as the current MY but have the new features either.
I should know more when the VIN s produced early August.
 
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ptf said:
Out of interest what colour
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Kemora Grey. I like the transition with the carbon. I had a 2020 RS4 Carbon Black in Daytona which I loved but you lost some of the detail.
 
G7SUM said:
Kemora Grey.
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OK, I'm getting fobbed off by the dealer "build times can vary depending on specification" - yah, right. I know I want Python Yellow and it's probably not the most popular choice (but it is in the same group of slightly premium colours that include the Kemora grey) - otherwise it's a Carbon Vorsprung, standard seats, not the ceramic brakes, no other complex options. Ordered March, still no build date; I'm starting to get very sceptical that it will arrive in the 2026 trim.
 
ptf said:
OK, I'm getting fobbed off by the dealer "build times can vary depending on specification" - yah, right. I know I want Python Yellow and it's probably not the most popular choice (but it is in the same group of slightly premium colours that include the Kemora grey) - otherwise it's a Carbon Vorsprung, standard seats, not the ceramic brakes, no other complex options. Ordered March, still no build date; I'm starting to get very sceptical that it will arrive in the 2026 trim.
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That's my fear also. The Carbon Vorsprung has a separate build structure/ completion due to the 5-pot coming from Gyor for final assembly at Ingolsdadt and additional wiring for the sunroof, adjustable suspension etc.
I have tried to check back other customers over the last 5 years to piece together if they have received the new MY. Some have, some haven't. We are in the lap of the gods.
One thing for sure is that the factory will pretty much shut down for 2-3 weeks after week 31.
 
G7SUM said:
I have tried to check back other customers over the last 5 years to piece together if they have received the new MY. Some have, some haven't. We are in the lap of the gods.
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Indeed.

If it arrives in Python Yellow but new dash I might have to bite my lip and accept it. If it's any other colour (Python Yellow is no longer an option) then my dealer will have a nice new RS3 for sale with immediate availability, but I probably won't be buying anything from them in the future because I reckon they caused three months unneeded delay (ordered 3rd March, acknowledgement from Audi 3rd June - though still doesn't explain why I only have a hand-wavy build and delivery date and you seem to have a firm one).

They *say* it will be the 2026 trim, time will tell I suppose.
 
ptf said:
Indeed.

If it arrives in Python Yellow but new dash I might have to bite my lip and accept it. If it's any other colour (Python Yellow is no longer an option) then my dealer will have a nice new RS3 for sale with immediate availability, but I probably won't be buying anything from them in the future because I reckon they caused three months unneeded delay (ordered 3rd March, acknowledgement from Audi 3rd June - though still doesn't explain why I only have a hand-wavy build and delivery date and you seem to have a firm one).

They *say* it will be the 2026 trim, time will tell I suppose.
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I want to believe this is true but history suggests this isn't the case. Apologies in advance.
 
PTF, Did the dealership give you a reason why it took Audi 3 months to confirm the order. I ordered a Carbon Vorsprung in Kyalami green with red stitching and red calipers at the beginning of June and had the order confirmed a few days later. My build is estimated for the 24th of August with an expected collection in October, I am also starting to wonder if my car will come with the new dash layout. Either way it won't stop me getting the car, but I would rather it was the current dashboard but time will tell.
 
Simon R2RS said:
PTF, Did the dealership give you a reason why it took Audi 3 months to confirm the order. I ordered a Carbon Vorsprung in Kyalami green with red stitching and red calipers at the beginning of June and had the order confirmed a few days later. My build is estimated for the 24th of August with an expected collection in October, I am also starting to wonder if my car will come with the new dash layout. Either way it won't stop me getting the car, but I would rather it was the current dashboard but time will tell.
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From my understanding and previous experience, this is mostly down to dealer allocation in terms of timing.
 
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Simon R2RS said:
PTF, Did the dealership give you a reason why it took Audi 3 months to confirm the order. I ordered a Carbon Vorsprung in Kyalami green with red stitching and red calipers at the beginning of June and had the order confirmed a few days later. My build is estimated for the 24th of August with an expected collection in October, I am also starting to wonder if my car will come with the new dash layout. Either way it won't stop me getting the car, but I would rather it was the current dashboard but time will tell.
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No, they sent an additional document to sign 2 months after I ordered which I couldn't deal with as I was (oh, the irony) in Germany. I forgot about it for a week or so on my return and had to chase - you'd think it if was important to my order they would have queried why I had not returned it. I got the confirmation just after I signed it for them which makes me think it was forgotten originally and the order was held up because of that - but not a peep out of the dealer at the time, or since.

Then I had the diversion of getting them to fix the broken thermostat housing on the S3 as a warranty repair - it failed 3 weeks after the warranty ran out. At least they did that (after a bit of discussion).

But I'm getting more and more fed up with the situation on the RS3 order.

G7SUM said:
From my understanding and previous experience, this is mostly down to dealer allocation in terms of timing.
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So, get a dealer without much of an allocation and wait for ever. Seems very un-equitable, post code lottery style of thing.
 
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ptf said:
No, they sent an additional document to sign 2 months after I ordered which I couldn't deal with as I was (oh, the irony) in Germany. I forgot about it for a week or so on my return and had to chase - you'd think it if was important to my order they would have queried why I had not returned it. I got the confirmation just after I signed it for them which makes me think it was forgotten originally and the order was held up because of that - but not a peep out of the dealer at the time, or since.

Then I had the diversion of getting them to fix the broken thermostat housing on the S3 as a warranty repair - it failed 3 weeks after the warranty ran out. At least they did that (after a bit of discussion).

But I'm getting more and more fed up with the situation on the RS3 order.


So, get a dealer without much of an allocation and wait for ever. Seems very un-equitable, post code lottery style of thing.
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Sadly - Most high end vehicles the same, BMW M3, Porsche etc.
 
Now the Germans have got their RS3 configurator running too.

Btw it's interesting that Audi released the RS3 Competition so close to this interior update, to be the "final" version of the RS3. Are all the 750 units already built by now?
 
JKP said:
I'm not brave enough to ever use the parking assistant again. Even if it's surely improved from what it originally was, it's hard to get past of my experiences when I tried it few times - a minor bumper hit and almost-curbed alloy. Luckily polishing and touch-up paint were enough to fix the bumper, and my tyres had rim protectors wide enough.
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Touch-up painting you did by yourself?
 
I don't understand this move by Audi. This feels like a facelift of a facelift that just happened. Instead of making a few subtle improvements, they completely redesigned the cockpit and spoiled one of the best-looking interiors they had.
 
If you don't understand something, the answer is always money.

This feels like a cost-saving exercise and an attempt to make the volume-selling A3 models more competitive by adding more auto-driving gubbins that the typical non-enthusiast motorist values.
 
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Mondie said:
If you don't understand something, the answer is always money.

This feels like a cost-saving exercise and an attempt to make the volume-selling A3 models more competitive by adding more auto-driving gubbins that the typical non-enthusiast motorist values.
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I cannot see it as a cost saving, because you have tooling that is already produced, should be paid (is part of the project cost), now you have to spend some time in design/engineering (for this ugly design this is minimal :) ) at the end you have to produce new tools to produce new cockpit components. If somebody can explain to me this move I would appreciate it.
 
There are clearly much less different parts and pieces in the new dash compared to the old one, and the display is probably the same exact component they already use in Q3. You only need to design once and maybe make use of the ready-made similar designs and then you have a much lesser number of parts to manufacture for every single car that rolls off the production line. It also simplifies the supply chains I think.

And yes, I did the touch-up painting myself. I have done some stone chip fixes too. It's quite simple to do well enough so they fade from sight unless you know exatly where to look closely, especially to a white car.
 
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JKP said:
And yes, I did the touch-up painting myself. I have done some stone chip fixes too. It's quite simple to do well enough so they fade from sight unless you know exatly where to look closely, especially to a white car.
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Could it be possible for you to explain the steps how you did it?, I have few stone chips that I plan to fix by myself.
 
There are lots of videos for that in Youtube, even though most of them are too "professional".

But, sorry the off-topic, this it how it goes:

Buy the touch-up paint. Carefully clean the stone chip, especially wax and grease must be removed completely. Then apply the paint with a dental stick or a pencil brush that is significantly smaller than the one in the paint bottle cap, otherwise you get a bubble of the paint that's too high. Then do the same to the clearcoat (unless the paint is a one component one) and let it dry. You can apply the coat (or the one-component paint) two or three times, don't try to fill the whole cavity at once (or at all). Then very carefully wet-sand it with a very fine sandpaper and finally polish correctly. I even polished by hand since I don't have the machine tools and never used them, and a new car isn't the right one to try it the first time. Hand polishing is verry laborous and may not work well for all colours.
 
JKP said:
There are lots of videos for that in Youtube, even though most of them are too "professional".

But, sorry the off-topic, this it how it goes:

Buy the touch-up paint. Carefully clean the stone chip, especially wax and grease must be removed completely. Then apply the paint with a dental stick or a pencil brush that is significantly smaller than the one in the paint bottle cap, otherwise you get a bubble of the paint that's too high. Then do the same to the clearcoat (unless the paint is a one component one) and let it dry. You can apply the coat (or the one-component paint) two or three times, don't try to fill the whole cavity at once (or at all). Then very carefully wet-sand it with a very fine sandpaper and finally polish correctly. I even polished by hand since I don't have the machine tools and never used them, and a new car isn't the right one to try it the first time. Hand polishing is verry laborous and may not work well for all colours.
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I already watched some videos, but was curious how you did it, I have experience with polishing but never did touchups. I have OEM two bottle kit from Audi, I just don't know after you apply paint do you have to wait and how long to dry before applying clear coat or you can immediately apply clear coat without letting paint dry?
 
Wait some 10-15 minutes. Better leave the sanding and polishing for the next day.
 
RBR has posted a review of the new RS5 on YT where he goes into the new screens, similar to the RS3 update. The centre screen graphics look well thought out, but he has similar complaints about the virtual cockpit and can't understand why it's so lame. He says Audi may still be working on it and an update may come, which seems to be the only explanation for it to be so uninspired, especially as Audi has offered the excellent virtual cockpit for years.
 
I think the firstly released cars with the new screen, like Q6 E-Tron and even the basic A5, had nicer looking virtual cockpits. Since Q3 it's been like in the RS5 and this new A3. No idea what the heck happened since you don't even have to be an expert to create good looking graphics nowadays. The another thing is what to display, but the main problem of the new VC doesn't seem to be the actual content but just the crappy look, which I find pretty an incomprehensible problem that shouldn't take more than few hours from one employee with a good vision to fix.
 
Just spoke to the dealer. Even although my car is in build as week speak - Week 31, there's still no update on the official Status. Still at 20.
As a reference point, The Seat Ibiza we also ordered (5 days after the RS3) switched to Status 30 the Friday before the build and went from MY26-MY27.
It's now in transit to Teesside.
I know it's not an RS3 but there's a lag in the ordering system vs production.
 
G7SUM said:
The Seat Ibiza we also ordered (5 days after the RS3) switched to Status 30 the Friday before the build and went from MY26-MY27.
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Having spoken to my dealer I'm told the car is built and will be here by end of Aug for pick up early September. Not a peep from Audi themselves in terms of status updates.
 
ptf said:
Having spoken to my dealer I'm told the car is built and will be here by end of Aug for pick up early September. Not a peep from Audi themselves in terms of status updates.
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Really - I am still sat at status 20 and no further updates. How odd. I tried Audi direct. Not the most helpful at all.
 
I maybe missed this before but I see there's an increase in price of the base RS3. The Sportback has increased by £2275 & £1875 on the saloon.
 
Mondie said:
Where are you seeing those prices, the configurator is still not updated?
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If you click on the new model which takes you to the register interest page - the price has been updated - Starting price from OTR £64,250
 
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I posted earlier in the thread that I had read or seen something indicating the range had been reduced to two models: Carbon and Vorsprung. If that's true, the base price will go up, but regardless, inflation from the war in Iran won't help.
 
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The press release also now states that the order books will open in August.

If cars are due to land at dealers from mid-september and given the fact that Germany order books have been open for 3+ weeks now, I would hazard a guess that the MY27 has been in production for some time now. Theres 480 + Audi dealers across Germany alone and 120+ in the UK. That's a lot of demo cars to push out. The questions remains, did they have left over MY26 screens etc to use or will all orders in recent months be moved to MY27.
 
The standard equipment list shows blank, the configurator may have come public unfinished...
 
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