S-tronic mpg on your S3???

[Bradders89]

Hi guys I'm new to the forum and the world of Audi.

Been to test drive a new S3 S-tronic this afternoon. Safe to say I know that's going to be the choice gearbox in the future. Just wondering what everyone's MPG findings are across the board? 2/3 of my mileage will be motorway and really hoping for mid 30's. I currently run a Clio 197 which has never seen over 31 and that was on a run to the south of France.

I appologise if there is a thread about this somewhere, but I've just spent an hour searching all forums to no avail. And specifically want answers in the s-tronic. Please offer up your experiences with this box.

TTS is also a possibility, but it currently appears to be losing upto £800 a month according to Glasses guide. As apposed to £200 for S3.

Cheers in advance.

 

[Paullie]

Hi there, welcome to ASN! If most of your driving is going to be on the motorway I think you could easily get around 35mpg out of an S3 S-Tronic. Mine is Stage 2 at the moment and I get that out of it on a good run on the motorway. Around town and it's more like 24-28mpg-ish. My S3 is the first DSG car I've owned and I am loving every minute of it. x

 

[Bradders89]

Great thanks, youre beginning to fill me with confidence that I might get some reasonable returns from the s-tronic. It was a cracking drive!

Excuse my ignorance but what's a stage 2 involve? What would be the stage 1?

 

[Paullie]

No probs, Bradders. Stage one is purely an engine ECU remap (you can also get specific S-Tronic gear box remaps as well as engine remaps, though I don't have the DSG mapped at the moment). Stage 2 requires a freeflowing downpipe and Sports cat (such as Milltek, Blueflame or Supersprint), a cold air intake (such as Forge Twintake, ITG etc) and also the remap. My car is mapped to approx 330 BHP at the moment with Stage 2. I have a set of uprated fuel pump internals (Autotech HPFP internals) waiting to go on the car to take it up to Stage 2 +, which will mean power of around 340-350 BHP. x

 

[Bradders89]

Wow impressive figures. Is there not any risk to damaging the engine, turno, clutch etc? If its a fairly safe option I may well consider it when I finally get the car.

Do you find the s tronic grabs the wrong gears much? From my test drive it was perfect, but also noticed that it was always auto even in S, unless I touch the paddles, how long is it until the car makes the decisions again, say I want to hang in 3rd for a while before flooring it, am I at risk of the car changing up into 4th?

 

[Bradders89]

Anyone else got any mpg figures to offer up? Thanks

 

[Paullie]

The 2.0TFSi engine is quite some piece of engineering, judging by all the awards it's won over the years since it was introduced to the VAG fleet. Its components are more than up to the job when remapped and most owners believe that it's a great waste of an engine NOT TO remap it, lol. S-Tronic boxes are more capable of withstanding remaps than their manual counterparts, ..not many peeps with Stage 2 S3's still have their standard clutches as they start to slip pretty much as soon as the remap has been done, but this is not the case for those of us with DSG transmission, ..thankfully! The 2.0TFSi has stronger pistons, conrods and gudgeon pins than lesser models, along with a reinforced cylinder block and the turbo is good for around 350-360BHP. The key to keeping everything running smoothly is to warm up and cool down well, if remapped change your oil (fully synthetic 5W 30 Mobil 1 or Castrol Edge or the like) every 6K miles along with your spark plugs and your car will look after you.


I find the DSG to be pretty much spot on, ..just like you did on your test drive, lol. If you don't touch your paddles for around 20 seconds or so, the DSG picks up the reins once again, ..but auto change up pretty much depends on how you are driving. If pootling about town, it will change up much quicker, but if you are looking to floor it, ..then the change ups will adjust accordingly and will take place around 6,500K revs and put a great big cheesy grin on your face for you, lol! Hope this helps x

 

[Bradders89]

It helps alot, thanks very much. My main concern was the mpg on a run, my clio has just never attained renaults figures. A friend a about 3 years back had a manual S3 and said his fuel return was terrible, managing at best 31 on the motorway, if sat at 70 for a long run what's it likeley to attain? Regularly?

Any comments on exhausts? I don't want a droning car, but a slight increase in acoustics higher up would be lovely. Would decatting do the trick?

 

[Brett Butler]

Mid 30's is possible though I know for sure I would not get that out of mine on the motorway doing around 80 MPH, tbh I get around 28-30 on a long motorway journey, but that is knocking on a bit, the way I would see 35 mpg would be cruising around 50-70 mph, and more of the lower than the 70.
I do often get well over 30 on general driving around journey's but not motorway.

2010 S3 DSG Stage 1

 

[jsh]

I run the accufuel app and maintain it religeously. Over 6k miles, I have had an average of 27. When I have done long motorway journeys, its been 32 at best.

 

[Paullie]

It may sound weird, but my fuel consumption improved quite dramatically when I went Stage 2 with Blueflame TBE and Forge Twintake CAI. Not sure, but it might be down to the car finding it 'easier to breathe' through more freeflowing pipes than through its OEM 'drinking straw-like' pipes. Brett's right though, motorway at 80mph and the figures would be nowhere near 30 mpg, never mind 35mpg. I was talking cruising at between 60 and 70. xx

 

[Bradders89]

Fair enough, if I'm in no hurry I usually drive for economy anyway. But as long as I can achieve the same as or better than the 197 then il be fairly happy.

You guys with stage 1 remaps, who have you used, to what gains, and importantly did you bother informing your insurance of just an ECU upgrade. I only ask because I can only imagine that my insurance company will rub their hands together and ask for some more pennies.

 

[The Cardinal]

I had a Clio 197 and now run an S3 Sportback S-Tronic (see my Pistonheads write ups on both here: Basil Hume's Profile)

I get about the same MPG with the S3 that I used to in the 197 - a long term average of about 27mpg and a peak of about 35mpg on a motorway run (not sticking to 55mph or anything).

 

[Yaks]

Sitting at 70-80mph I don't think I ever saw over 30mpg in my S3, normally about 28 for me, with an overall average of about 24-25.

 

[Bradders89]

Ben H, great review!thanks for that. How do you find the handling compared with your 197? That's the one thing I enjoy the most is the chuckability of the clio.

One last thing to ask about is my lingering question of Recaroor not to Recaro, again my clio is fitted with them and I love them to bits, how are standard seats?

Cheers again guys

 

[The Cardinal]

In short, the S3 is just "different" in terms of handling; whether it's better or not depends on what you use it for. The S3's main benefit is that you don't need to rag it to make very rapid progress.

My priorities changed after having our first child and I had an A3 2.0T quattro after the 197. That was clearly not as good as a 197 to drive quickly down a B-road, but was much better than you might have thought and I soon came to value 4WD, subliminal luxuries and forced induction.

The S3 moves that all up a gear, but is still a very different concept from a 197. One is a track-honed budget(ish) enthusiast's car that positively drips specialist engineering finesse and hot hatch blue-bloodedness - and the other is a subtle, sophisticated luxury express that you can use anywhere and anytime.

The main benefits for me of the S3 are the engine flexibility (even with its big turbo), 4WD traction, predictable all-weather handling, subtlety, very high quality and style. It's also a reasonably fuel efficient car for one that weighs 400kg more than 197 and running costs are low once you take depreciation into account.

My S3 doesn't cover ground noticeably quicker than my old 197 on dry, twisty roads. But if it's raining, if you're in the wrong gear or just don't feel like ragging it, then an 8P S3 will carry you at a much higher pace over any road than a 197 would. The S3's handling isn't as feelsome as a 197's, but it has very good body control and the ride is pretty much on a par unless you take it down seriously unsmooth roads.

 

[Bradders89]

Looking forward to getting my hands on one then! Yeah I hear the residuals on them are great which might compensate for mpg. Found a sprint blue in London, it's only 7 months old full spec bar recaros. Only thing I would love to change would be the mirrors, I much prefer the big chunky ones on the slightly older models. Is this possible?

 

[paddy]

Insurance will be all about age but i found stg 1 revo map added 95% extra fun to the car and added just 10% to the premium. TBH it should be illegal to run a S3 without stg 1.

If you dont reset it Audi's clock mpg from day 1, mine shows 29mpg over 5k miles. Thats traffic jams, motorways and flooring it some times. I do a regular run Surrey to Norfolk so M25- M11 about a 100 miles motorway stretch. I travel early morning and ave 90mph on the cruise control and get about 32mpg, drop to 50 in the road works for 10 miles after the Dartford tunnel and its showing 36-37mpg so that shows you the mpg range. Once you have REVO stg 1 it all depends on your map settings.

 

[sparky72]

My long-term average is 28.3mpg (DIS), I get around 29mpg in summer, 27mpg in winter. However I drive mainly in manual mode and overtake where possible, so it would probably be higher just cruising in D mode. A mate who owned a TTS S-tronic was getting about the same figures.

I don't have the Recaro's, I believe they are a nice upgrade but best suited to 'slimmer' profiles? The standard seats are fine.