FL RS3 suspension options pros/cons

[PanamaS3]

First Facelift RS3 thread!? Guess I'm a bit early to the party...but after reading the initial reviews and watching the latest vids I'm interested in people's thoughts on how best to option the suspension on the new FL RS3 for average/bad roads (not smooth tracks). Some pre-FL owners have been happy with magride, some not so much....waiting on some real world feedback not 'paid for' journo reviews....guess I have to wait until much later this year...like I said, I'm a bit early....discuss

 

[wab172uk]

I want a test drive, but for me, I'd like just passive dampers. I have Mag ride on my S3, and just always have it in dynamic. I had a MK7 Golf GTI and ordered that with passive dampers, and it was absolutely fine. Wanted the S3 with Passive, but it wasn't available in the Saloon.

A sporty car should be sporty the second you get in, not pressing buttons to make it so.

Edited to say,
I think I'll sruggle to get a test drive in a non-mag ride RS3. Every dealer demo car wil have mag ride and virtual cockpit (another thing I don't want)

 

[D0C]

The more I drive mine (it has mag ride) the more I think it's actually pretty rock hard, even in comfort mode it fairly thumps over small bumps. I'd have liked comfort to be far softer but I suppose there's a limit to how far some metal filings floating around can do.

 

[Terminator x]

Sort yourself out @D0C as comfort is very soft! Dynamic is a bone shaker and best left for short blasts imho. I leave the car in individual most of the time with auto steering and ride with dynamic exhaust etc.

TX.

Sent from my STV100-4 using Tapatalk

 

[Rocketer]

To get it softer you have to compare it with higher profile tyres starting with 50 and magride isn't enough to fix that. This is not a sportcar and for instance I use it as a daily driven car but a sportcar is used often weekends, events and so on. Although I think its soft enough as it is with mag ride and yes comfort isn't so much softer but I like it.

 

[D0C]

Sort yourself out @D0C as comfort is very soft! Dynamic is a bone shaker and best left for short blasts imho. I leave the car in individual most of the time with auto steering and ride with dynamic exhaust etc.

TX.

Sent from my STV100-4 using Tapatalk

Perhaps you've got a few more layers of fat to cushion the bumps in the road!

 

[AudiNutta]

Sort yourself out @D0C as comfort is very soft! Dynamic is a bone shaker and best left for short blasts imho. I leave the car in individual most of the time with auto steering and ride with dynamic exhaust etc.

TX.

Sent from my STV100-4 using Tapatalk

A man with my own taste

Dynamic is too harsh for normal use. I once had a salesman say that dynamic was if anything dangerous for country blasts. He said that on a race track it's fine, but on country roads it's so firm you can lose wheel contact with the tarmac and that's everything you want to avoid so he said avoid dynamic on the road.

'So I've been told' comfort is too soft for high speed, so I've been told once in excess of 115+ it gets a little hoppy in the car with comfort setup. Automatic is better suited then. S3 anyway.

 

[Rocketer]

A man with my own taste

Dynamic is too harsh for normal use. I once had a salesman say that dynamic was if anything dangerous for country blasts. He said that on a race track it's fine, but on country roads it's so firm you can lose wheel contact with the tarmac and that's everything you want to avoid so he said avoid dynamic on the road.

'So I've been told' comfort is too soft for high speed, so I've been told once in excess of 115+ it gets a little hoppy in the car with comfort setup. Automatic is better suited then. S3 anyway.

The ride is rock solid in dynamic and the car has no attemption to lose grip and even when airborne after jump over a bump its steady as a sportcar although it isn't but you know. This is the most safe car I ever have had. I can guess the salesman had only tryed some car which were in for sell and hasn't own one?

 

[AudiNutta]

The ride is rock solid in dynamic and the car has no attemption to lose grip and even when airborne after jump over a bump its steady as a sportcar although it isn't but you know. This is the most safe car I ever have had. I can guess the salesman had only tryed some car which were in for sell and hasn't own one?

The salesman was a long time employee and huge fan, he had brochures for every RS product dating back to the early 90's in his desk.
He owned a super car driving experience company for a few years.
He owns a C6 RS6 and a track car, he uses the RS6 to tow it.

He's experienced in the RS products and the best driver I've been out with....

 

[Rocketer]

The salesman was a long time employee and huge fan, he had brochures for every RS product dating back to the early 90's in his desk.
He owned a super car driving experience company for a few years.
He owns a C6 RS6 and a track car, he uses the RS6 to tow it.

He's experienced in the RS products and the best driver I've been out with....

Ok, there are many different people out there but ask what's so bad as you say he says? I am driving also the busa with nearly 200 rwh and comparing to that this is like a sunday cruising. I don't know what's he is comparing with, maybe the trackcar? As for you hearing things it's better that you drive the rs3 yourself instead hearing things from people who is acting totally different comparing to for instance you. I know a bunch of guys who has read a lot on the net but don't really know anything experied by themself, not the same thing, if you understand what I mean?

 

[AudiNutta]

Ok, there are many different people out there but ask what's so bad as you say he says? I am driving also the busa with nearly 200 rwh and comparing to that this is like a sunday cruising. I don't know what's he is comparing with, maybe the trackcar? As for you hearing things it's better that you drive the rs3 yourself instead hearing things from people who is acting totally different comparing to for instance you. I know a bunch of guys who has read a lot on the net but don't really know anything experied by themself, not the same thing, if you understand what I mean?

I've driven 4x S3's, one of them I own... I have driven 5x RS3's, one of which for 8 hours and 200 miles on country roads.

I'm fairly experienced with the products considering and all cars have had Mag Ride.

All I tried to say was that the dynamic mode is so firm that it enables you to lose contact with the road surface thanks to its then 'lazy' damping ratio. Plus I was only quoting what someone once told me.

 

[Spaceman_RS3]

Dynamic on back roads and losing contact with the road is great fun little skips and slides tho I drive my rs3 in individual 99% time with dynamic everything except the suspension I leave that on auto and works great.
Took it a proper blast last night and will be very sad to trade it in in the next few days.

 

[Rocketer]

It's still what people have driven before to compare and how they react or feels with different cars. I can also compare a special edition of A5 with everything picked for better handling. One was mine a 5 door A5 SB and a STCC edition A5 2 door coupe with same configuration, dampers, etc etc. The boss on sales department who also was very interested in cars and loved driving them plus had the opportunity to a load of different cars all the time said they were equal in setup and I checked it before test ride and noticed the coupe had lower profile which was 30 instead of 35 which in my world isn't equal and told him that too. We went on a test ride and I drove approx 500 meter and it was already in air for the first time because it was so stiff in damping and those really low profile tyres made it like a track car and it was really too much on common roads to drive and if I compare it to this RS3 which I have been driven every day since aug 2015 its like sunday cruising but in a good way. Those cars was in comparing as night and day to drive and the only thing I found different was the lower profile, very strange.

 

[AudiNutta]

It's still what people have driven before to compare and how they react or feels with different cars. I can also compare a special edition of A5 with everything picked for better handling. One was mine a 5 door A5 SB and a STCC edition A5 2 door coupe with same configuration, dampers, etc etc. The boss on sales department who also was very interested in cars and loved driving them plus had the opportunity to a load of different cars all the time said they were equal in setup and I checked it before test ride and noticed the coupe had lower profile which was 30 instead of 35 which in my world isn't equal and told him that too. We went on a test ride and I drove approx 500 meter and it was already in air for the first time because it was so stiff in damping and those really low profile tyres made it like a track car and it was really too much on common roads to drive and if I compare it to this RS3 which I have been driven every day since aug 2015 its like sunday cruising but in a good way. Those cars was in comparing as night and day to drive and the only thing I found different was the lower profile, very strange.

......

Very exuberant test drive that was then.

 

[D0C]

I've driven 4x S3's, one of them I own... I have driven 5x RS3's, one of which for 8 hours and 200 miles on country roads.

I'm fairly experienced with the products considering and all cars have had Mag Ride.

All I tried to say was that the dynamic mode is so firm that it enables you to lose contact with the road surface thanks to its then 'lazy' damping ratio. Plus I was only quoting what someone once told me.

That's some hardcore willy waving right there

 

[AudiNutta]

That's some hardcore willy waving right there

Just wanted to point out I'm not one of those commenting on a car they haven't seen in the flesh let alone driven

My thoughts are backed up with experience.

 

[D0C]

I've done a few thousand miles in mine and I'd still be hard pressed to tell comfort from dynamic as far as ride goes. Perhaps I'm just getting distracted by that noise!

 

[big residual]

I haven't driven an S3 with mag ride. I have a Mk7 R with DCC on VWR lowering springs, with, front and rear sways, bushings, endlinks swapped etc. It's tight, flat and a bit rough to daily on Race but that and Sport work well on the track -- on any setting some of our potholes and roads feel like you've certainly bent a rim. I daily @ Sport on Individual mode.

I just couldn't decide on mag ride vs. the fixed suspension. I think the fixed might have gotten old daily, and if the mag ride isn't firm enough, we'll we'll do springs and things. Maybe someone will have a good coilover setup for mag ride someday (they don't for DCC).

The thing that made my decision: fixed was only available with ceramics and I didn't want them, so tips things for mag ride. In the end, I don't think Audi's going to ship what people think is a pretty legit RS car that won't be enjoyable on a track with a hack like me driving.

 

[Rocketer]

I've done a few thousand miles in mine and I'd still be hard pressed to tell comfort from dynamic as far as ride goes. Perhaps I'm just getting distracted by that noise!

Same here, about it . Hard to say what it is, not soft and not hard, most of us thinks it's enough and probably never gonna run it on a racetrack. Those who will do it anyway can swap out different parts for a pretty good experience but on common roads its fine and not too hard.

 

[wab172uk]

The S3 Dynamic must be a lot softer than the RS3 Dynamic mode then, as my S3 is perfectly fine on any road when in Dynamic mode. Never come across all this skipping talk, or wheels leaving the road.