normal suspension - 17 inch wheels or sports suspension

[maw444]

Hi I am looking at buying a 2020 A3 choice is one with normal suspension - 17 inch wheels or 18 inch with sports suspension

My commute is down country lanes and I was wondering how 'harsh' the 18 inch would be with potholes etc. Had a sports version of a mondeo once it was was too firm down the country roads and had to get rid of it?

 

[tb123]

Can you take it for a test drive and see for yourself?

 

[maw444]

I can but its always good to hear the views of people who drive such a car regularly

 

[Jassyo06]

I can but its always good to hear the views of people who drive such a car regularly

Given that all 8y A3s sit higher off the tyres than is normal lt would imply that the ride quality will be extremely comfortable even on 19s nevermind it wearing 18s or even smaller wheels

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[Daz Auto]

We live on county roads, so suspension was a big concern. The previous Sline setup was too firm for our roads. Most reviews recommended deleting it. On our test drive of the new Sline A3 we found the car firm, but not crashy. Probably about the same as as my GTI with the suspension set to comfort. I would not say my car is good on bumpy country roads, but it’s not terrible.

 

[sebtomato]

Once you start asking yourself whether you should go for normal suspensions or sports ones, there is no coming back: you will always regret having chosen the sport suspensions down the line.

I have had 4 Audi A3s so far:

• One S Line (with S Line suspension) - Harsh ride
• Two Sport (with Sport suspension)
• My current one (67 model) is an S Line with standard suspension, and it's more comfortable, while still good to drive

 

[SteveF1]

I got my 2021 A3 S Line 1.5tfsi at the start of March and I'm generally happy with it. I factory ordered it to come with standard suspension in September last year as I was worried about the S Line being way too harsh as I had a 2016 A4 a few years ago and it was way too firm.

My A3 is generally good over speed humps and potholes but fidgets a bit on rough road. It's much better than my old 2019 A Class on standard suspension though!

However, I've had an A3 on S Line suspension as a courtesy car all week and have to say it's much better than I thought it would be. In fact I saw virtually no difference in bump absorption, it was just as good over bad roads but actually felt a bit more composed overall and had better corner bite and less roll. The difference in height is only 1.5cm but my cars wheels don't seem to fill the arch's as well as the loan car (despite both being 18") so S Line suspension looks better too.

I wish I would have specced S Line after all.

 

[auzzam_crd]

I've got the sports suspension on 19s and it isn't too bad. Of course if you had 18s into the mix the chances are you'll have a thicker tyre wall which should help.

My only issue with the standard suspension is the car already sits high even with the -15mm from the sports suspension.

But with the standard suspension it starts looking like a mini SUV.

Have you seen the standard suspension on these in person?

 

[SteveF1]

My car that I've had a few months now has standard suspension. You do notice it sits a little higher than on the S Line suspension but you don't notice it unless you're looking for it. Day to day the slightly softer setup is easier to live with but the gap between it and the S Line setup isn't night and day, in fact it's very small after using a car with it all week.

This is why I would now advise anyone currently ordering a car not to delete the S Line setup for the standard suspension as the trade off for a higher ride Vs comfort is hardly noticeable. I'll post some photos later of both cars for reference.

 

[SteveF1]

S Line with lowered sports suspension

S Line with standard suspension (15mm higher)

Thoughts?

 

[Bigjase88]

View attachment 237356
S Line with lowered sports suspension
View attachment 237357
S Line with standard suspension (15mm higher)

Thoughts?

I can’t even tell the difference

so if comfort is the goal then pick the non sport suspension

 

[Q5 TRS]

View attachment 237356
S Line with lowered sports suspension
View attachment 237357
S Line with standard suspension (15mm higher)

Thoughts?

If this is photoshopped then how could you possibly measure the correct difference?

I would say if confort is your main goal, go for standard. S-line is harder. Better yet, why not ask the dealer to test drive both. They’re bound to have something available!


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[SteveF1]

I don't think I have made myself clear enough.

The top car is a courtesy car I had use of all last week. It's an S Line on sports suspension. This was a picture of the exact car on my driveway.

The bottom picture is my actual car which is an S Line on standard suspension.

There is no Photoshop used these are two different cars parked on my driveway this week.

My point was that when I had use of the courtesy car on sports suspension I saw hardly any difference in ride comfort (compared to my car on standard suspension) but it was tighter in corners and felt more composed on rough road. Oh and it ride a little lower which made the wheels fill the arches a little better.

My main point was that for people ordering a car, for me, I'd stick with the sports suspension instead of deleting it and having the standard suspension as I did as the benefits of standard suspension aren't as great as I thought and the ride of sports suspension is nowhere near as firm as I expected.

The pictures were for those worrying about what the car looks like with standard suspension and as most have said there isn't that much difference. However in person the sports suspension edges it visually.

 

[KXL]

The loan car with Sline suspension is a 30TFSI/TDI badge car, and your actual car on 'regular' suspension is a 35TFSI/TDI badged car right? Could be the lighter car has slighly higher stance on 'lowered' suspension, and the slightly heavier car on standard suspension is 'lowered' a bit due to more weight? Therefore making the gap even closer if car were the same weight? Btw did you feel your loan car had a significant power drop? If I didn't see the pics of cars on top of each other, I wouldn't notice that one was riding higher. Only after I look closely for a bit, the extreme parts of the wheel arch, (front part of wheel arch of front wheel and rear part of wheel arch on rear wheels) are ever so slighly showing a bigger gap/space, but there's nothing really in it.

If the loanee car was indeed a 30 badged car, then originally I was worried that the lack of independent rear suspension was going to hinder it's ride quality, but I'm glad that your experience you did not feel any obvious signs of that...

 

[SteveF1]

The loan car with Sline suspension is a 30TFSI/TDI badge car, and your actual car on 'regular' suspension is a 35TFSI/TDI badged car right? Could be the lighter car has slighly higher stance on 'lowered' suspension, and the slightly heavier car on standard suspension is 'lowered' a bit due to more weight? Therefore making the gap even closer if car were the same weight? Btw did you feel your loan car had a significant power drop? If I didn't see the pics of cars on top of each other, I wouldn't notice that one was riding higher. Only after I look closely for a bit, the extreme parts of the wheel arch, (front part of wheel arch of front wheel and rear part of wheel arch on rear wheels) are ever so slighly showing a bigger gap/space, but there's nothing really in it.

If the loanee car was indeed a 30 badged car, then originally I was worried that the lack of independent rear suspension was going to hinder it's ride quality, but I'm glad that your experience you did not feel any obvious signs of that...

The top car is the loan car on lowered sports suspension. It was a 30TDI S Line that weighs about 1345kg.

The bottom car is my 35TFSI S Line which is on standard suspension and weighs around 1285kg by the spec sheet.

Technically the diesel loan car is heavier and on sports suspension so has two things in its favour lowering it to the ground. The tfsi is 60kg lighter and already on higher springs but as you can see the difference isn't night and day but you can just about see it if you flick through the images side by side.

As for the rear independent suspension, any car with less than 150bhp should have torsion beam rear end so yes the 30TDI had the 'inferior' setup. However, in conjunction with the lowered sports suspension I was hard pressed to tell the difference if I'm honest. Maybe if you throw the car round a track you could pick it out but for what most of us do it's not a deal breaker.

 

[KXL]

The top car is the loan car on lowered sports suspension. It was a 30TDI S Line that weighs about 1345kg.

The bottom car is my 35TFSI S Line which is on standard suspension and weighs around 1285kg by the spec sheet.

Technically the diesel loan car is heavier and on sports suspension so has two things in its favour lowering it to the ground. The tfsi is 60kg lighter and already on higher springs but as you can see the difference isn't night and day but you can just about see it if you flick through the images side by side.

As for the rear independent suspension, any car with less than 150bhp should have torsion beam rear end so yes the 30TDI had the 'inferior' setup. However, in conjunction with the lowered sports suspension I was hard pressed to tell the difference if I'm honest. Maybe if you throw the car round a track you could pick it out but for what most of us do it's not a deal breaker.

That threw my theory out of the water with it being a 30TDI and not 30TFSI haha, oh well!