Autocar Audi S3 Saloon review

[foofoo]

Autocar have reviewed the New S3 Saloon


https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/audi/s3/first-drives/audi-s3-saloon-2020-uk-review

Phil

 

[dbm]

Sounds promising, just wish the interior ergonomics were better. I lament the obsession with touch screens for cars...

 

[8YARWY]

Sounds promising, just wish the interior ergonomics were better. I lament the obsession with touch screens for cars...

Ghastly dashboard


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[Jassyo06]

Ghastly dashboard


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I have no problems with dashboard once sat in the car...its actually very nice....its the terrible plastic door arms and rear interior door cards that look as if they've been taken from a Suzuki

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[8YARWY]

I have no problems with dashboard once sat in the car...its actually very nice....its the terrible plastic door arms and rear interior door cards that look as if they've been taken from a Suzuki

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Sorry but I can’t get over the myriad of design elements that conflict, because of those stuck on Air vents the VC looks lost in a sea of dash plastic


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[voorhees]

It looks like its been T-boned by a hummer at the side :/ Interior isn't as bad as the new Golf

 

[8YARWY]

This says it all about the dash.

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[Terminator x]

If Audi quality is now no better than VW then surely people just won't pay the premium ...

TX.

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[8YARWY]

If Audi quality is now no better than VW then surely people just won't pay the premium ...

TX.

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8V FL dash / interior is now one they couldn’t actually improve on


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[Mr Freeze]

8V FL dash / interior is now one they couldn’t actually improve on


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Totally agree . The new dash is terrible and not a patch on the 8v dash .

 

[Sparks43]

Totally agree . The new dash is terrible and not a patch on the 8v dash .

You say that now, but until you actually have one for a period of time it's difficult to make that assumption surely - I love my 8V dash, but our works pool car is a Seat Leon last of the old model and having been driving it for the last 6 months, you do get used to the touchscreen etc

You can't stay with the old dash forever, whilst everybody else goes touchscreen otherwise people will just say Audi aren't moving with the times and they are having to look towards the younger generation who only know touchscreens etc

 

[tb123]

You can't stay with the old dash forever, whilst everybody else goes touchscreen otherwise people will just say Audi aren't moving with the times and they are having to look towards the younger generation who only know touchscreens etc

And this is the situation I find myself in, looking at the new RS3, probably won’t be available here in Australia until 2022, so by then, the current dash will be going on 10 years old, will be 15 if I keep the car 5 years. I can’t justify spending what is a significant amount if money (to me at least) on something that whilst feels more premium, is so far out of date already.

I have a touchscreen in my current Mk7.5 Golf, it works well and I almost never need to touch it while driving, there are enough buttons on the wheel and dash that common functions are easily executed “old skool”.

 

[Dubjam]

You can tell there is a fair amount of industry backhanders going on with the new A3 reviews..they seem to omit things like the plastic and hideous dashboard, and overall very poor looks etc.

 

[Mr Freeze]

You say that now, but until you actually have one for a period of time it's difficult to make that assumption surely - I love my 8V dash, but our works pool car is a Seat Leon last of the old model and having been driving it for the last 6 months, you do get used to the touchscreen etc

You can't stay with the old dash forever, whilst everybody else goes touchscreen otherwise people will just say Audi aren't moving with the times and they are having to look towards the younger generation who only know touchscreens etc

I get what you are saying but my issue isn't the touch screen its the over all look of the new dash . Like you say after a period of time you would get used to it .

 

[AdamInKent]

You can tell there is a fair amount of industry backhanders going on with the new A3 reviews..they seem to omit things like the plastic and hideous dashboard, and overall very poor looks etc.

I have read and watched a lot of reviews over the past few months. Many, if not the majority, discuss the drop in the quality of some of the interior materials. They all consider the new looks.

Whether or not you like the new dash is very much down to personal preference. As someone who has never owned an A3 before, I like it: I prefer it to the outgoing design. It’s worth mentioning that the interior looks nicer IRL than it does in photos and video and the touch points have a quality feel.

 

[Dubjam]

I have read and watched a lot of reviews over the past few months. Many, if not the majority, discuss the drop in the quality of some of the interior materials. They all consider the new looks.

Whether or not you like the new dash is very much down to personal preference. As someone who has never owned an A3 before, I like it: I prefer it to the outgoing design. It’s worth mentioning that the interior looks nicer IRL than it does in photos and video and the touch points have a quality feel.

Would you be able to link some of these discussions?

I think personal preference is one thing, not everyone has taste that's for sure . But from a design perspective, it's a bit of a hash.

Having spent some time in one, I can definitely say for me it looks about the same as in photos, which actually made me quite sad as I was hoping that it would be 'more' than what it looked like. The side plastics and rear door cards are a disgrace and abusive to the customer at this price point.

Aside from the natural evolution of tech, the seats I think are the only real improvement over the 8V.

Interesting though, as these designs are created with a marketing strategy, so if you are new to fold, maybe they are concentrating on a new customer base, rather than retaining old ones.

 

[Walternate]

Interesting though, as these designs are created with a marketing strategy, so if you are new to fold, maybe they are concentrating on a new customer base, rather than retaining old ones.

My thoughts exactly

 

[AdamInKent]

You can tell there is a fair amount of industry backhanders going on with the new A3 reviews..they seem to omit things like the plastic and hideous dashboard, and overall very poor looks etc.

I have read and watched a lot of reviews over the past few months. Many, if not the majority, discuss the drop in the quality of some of the interior materials. […]

Would you be able to link some of these discussions?

[…]

Interesting though, as these designs are created with a marketing strategy, so if you are new to fold, maybe they are concentrating on a new customer base, rather than retaining old ones.

You could well be right about the design decision. But then, any significant change in design risks being considered a step back by those who like the existing one? Personally, I’m not a fan of the big round air vents and pop-up screen in the 8V: but I understand that’s going to be a minority view amongst a group of people who own a car with big round vents and a pop up screen ;-D

As for reviews that consider the material quality, here are two for starters:

https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/audi/a3-sportback
“Angular interior design and mish-mashed trim materials don’t look or feel as expensive as an Audi ought to”

https://www.carwow.co.uk/audi/a3/interior#nav
“...if you look hard enough though, some of the materials feel a bit cheap.”

 

[Dubjam]

You could well be right about the design decision. But then, any significant change in design risks being considered a step back by those who like the existing one? Personally, I’m not a fan of the big round air vents and pop-up screen in the 8V: but I understand that’s going to be a minority view amongst a group of people who own a car with big round vents and a pop up screen ;-D

As for reviews that consider the material quality, here are two for starters:

https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/audi/a3-sportback
“Angular interior design and mish-mashed trim materials don’t look or feel as expensive as an Audi ought to”

https://www.carwow.co.uk/audi/a3/interior#nav
“...if you look hard enough though, some of the materials feel a bit cheap.”

It's a step back, because it is a step back based on poor design and poor materials.

You mentioned you havent owned an 8V (have you owned any other incarnations of the car?). The 8V was a great evolution from the 8P which also had a brilliant interior, that even nearly 20 years on is still a very nice place to be, almost timeless. The 8v extended this with more premium materials, and as such won massive praise as being one of the best interiors in a car. It was pretty much an unanimous feeling within the entire industry, and not so much just personal opinions.

The 8Y has already seen its negative elements expressed and created a marmite effect. With the cost cutting taking place to pay for Dieselgate, this has really shown in the build of the interior - which maybe acceptable to you as a new customer, but those that have experienced better, many realise it is a huge step down for a step up in price. It's not so much about personal preference, its about experience and expecting evolution not devolution. Granted, the new tech and the dopamine enhancing technicolour of the new displays and 'modern' factor can create a diversion effect from what is essentially bad design, thus many customers will buy into it and feel its an improvement, which is a clever trick of marketing and design psychology working together.

“...if you look hard enough though, some of the materials feel a bit cheap.”

This is a great example of my point regarding backhanding media bias, it dosent take anyone to look 'hard' enough to see the poor quality materials, a blind person would find them just as quickly, even more so if you have experience of how premium the A3 had evolved to. The ambiguity in that statement 'brushes' over the facts to avoid angering the brand. Having worked in marketing for a long long time, I can assure you, these things are taken into consideration quite heavily.

For me, the 8Y is being marketed to the Bluetooth speaker generation, forget quality, just make it happen, and make it happen loud.

 

[Euans2]

I own both an 8v and an 8y, imo, the interior on the 8v is starting to look a bit dated, however, there is no escaping that some or the plastics are nicer in the 8v but that doesn’t make the 8y a horrible place to be, I find it quite pleasing, most of the lower quality plastics are in areas that don’t bother me, I think the vents are in a better place and don’t look as bad as they do in the pictures and the MMI is easy enough to use once you’re used to it, even voice activation picks up my Scottish twang first time lol.

I get that people aren’t happy about some or the choices made when designing the 8y, we inherently don’t like change, I was the same until I took one out for a test drive

 

[8YARWY]

I own both an 8v and an 8y, imo, the interior on the 8v is starting to look a bit dated, however, there is no escaping that some or the plastics are nicer in the 8v but that doesn’t make the 8y a horrible place to be, I find it quite pleasing, most of the lower quality plastics are in areas that don’t bother me, I think the vents are in a better place and don’t look as bad as they do in the pictures and the MMI is easy enough to use once you’re used to it, even voice activation picks up my Scottish twang first time lol.

I get that people aren’t happy about some or the choices made when designing the 8y, we inherently don’t like change, I was the same until I took one out for a test drive

Even those plonked on the binnacle air vents
Makes that area quite dark I remember thinking when I sat in one.
VC looks lost in the middle of all that dash plastic.
I was actually wondering what the stitching effect on the dash was trying to say ....sorry for the drivers side maybe ?


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[Jassyo06]

Even those plonked on the binnacle air vents
Makes that area quite dark I remember thinking when I sat in one.
VC looks lost in the middle of all that dash plastic.
I was actually wondering what the stitching effect on the dash was trying to say ....sorry for the drivers side maybe ?


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Stitching on the dash is the same as the ones on Frankenstein masks you get at Halloween

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[8YARWY]

Stitching on the dash is the same as the ones on Frankenstein masks you get at Halloween

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FrankenA3


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[Dubjam]

Stitching on the dash is the same as the ones on Frankenstein masks you get at Halloween

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...in Poundstretcher..

 

[Euans2]

Thankfully, not all the models have the stitching on the dash

 

[Snake Pliskin]

Even those plonked on the binnacle air vents
Makes that area quite dark I remember thinking when I sat in one.
VC looks lost in the middle of all that dash plastic.
I was actually wondering what the stitching effect on the dash was trying to say ....sorry for the drivers side maybe ?


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even compared to a lambo, the vents are ludicrously high lol

plus I think the fact they do not align with the passenger side vents accentuates their unusually high position further ....

 

[8YARWY]

even compared to a lambo, the vents are ludicrously high lol

plus I think the fact they do not align with the passenger side vents accentuates their unusually high position further ....

Even the Seat Leon gets them symmetrical kind of.

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[pburv]

Even the Seat Leon gets them symmetrical kind of.

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Been looking at another Leon for my wife...Need to get rid of her Q3 . I have yet to sit in the new Leon hopefully once the lockdown has been and gone we will go to our local Seat dealership.

 

[Jassyo06]

Been looking at another Leon for my wife...Need to get rid of her Q3 . I have yet to sit in the new Leon hopefully once the lockdown has been and gone we will go to our local Seat dealership.

Yer kidding me right the welsh gov have shut business's down....ie dealerships?

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[pburv]

Yer kidding me right the welsh gov have shut business's down....ie dealerships?

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Lol Yeah....Even just thinking of buying anything other than food or medicine is considered a capital offence.
Until the 9th of November anyway

 

[Jassyo06]

Lol Yeah....Even just thinking of buying anything other than food or medicine is considered a capital offence.
Until the 9th of November anyway

Disgraceful mate non compliance by business's has got to happen....soon

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[pburv]

Disgraceful mate non compliance by business's has got to happen....soon

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Not good is it. There's more to come I think??

 

[Dubjam]

Not good is it. There's more to come I think??

It should have been done properly the first time, then this wouldn't of needed to happen.

 

[Mr Freeze]

It should have been done properly the first time, then this wouldn't of needed to happen.

I agree it should of been handled better the first time round . I 'am currently self isolating after testing positive for covid last Tuesday
it as totally floored me I wouldn't wish it on anybody .

 

[Dubjam]

I agree it should of been handled better the first time round . I 'am currently self isolating after testing positive for covid last Tuesday
it as totally floored me I wouldn't wish it on anybody .

I’m sorry to hear that dude

 

[pburv]

I agree it should of been handled better the first time round . I 'am currently self isolating after testing positive for covid last Tuesday
it as totally floored me I wouldn't wish it on anybody .

Hope you have a quick recovery

 

[Snake Pliskin]

I agree it should of been handled better the first time round . I 'am currently self isolating after testing positive for covid last Tuesday
it as totally floored me I wouldn't wish it on anybody .

Yeah sorry to hear that mate ... sending you lots of get well soon wishes

 

[NevMan]

I agree it should of been handled better the first time round . I 'am currently self isolating after testing positive for covid last Tuesday
it as totally floored me I wouldn't wish it on anybody .

All the best for a speedy recovery mate

 

[Mr Freeze]

I’m sorry to hear that dude

Hope you have a quick recovery

Yeah sorry to hear that mate ... sending you lots of get well soon wishes

All the best for a speedy recovery mate

Thank you for all for the kind comments

 

[Jassyo06]

Thank you for all for the kind comments

I agree it should of been handled better the first time round . I 'am currently self isolating after testing positive for covid last Tuesday
it as totally floored me I wouldn't wish it on anybody .

Covid-19 discussion is a volatile Topic as most people have now a lot of built up frustrations/anger on the subject....."Governments"....and l appreciate you've not been feeling great at all but no doubt you'll back to your own highly opinionated self soon....lol