WOW what can I say, this car is awesome, :cool: It's so much better than I thought it was going to be, even my wife said the last time I smiled that much at a car was when I bought my Escort Cosworth over 12 years ago...
So the car was an Ibis White one, only three options, Roof bars, Rear Tints and Arm Rest and the rear tints had not been done properly as the rear most glass was still untinted on both sides...:rolleyes:
The look of it from walking up to it is quite an aggressive looking car with the standard deep Audi RS grill all finished in black. No other black trim on the front which against the white looks really nice. The front wings are rather flared to cover those massive 19" alloys and bigger tyres fitted to the front. The doors mirrors are the standard S3 alloy coloured jobs. The rear of the car was finished with a piano black rear diffuser and black chrome twin tails pipes exiting on the near side rear. A small rear wing extends out over the rear hatch. Again this was all white, but if you spec the silver/ally finish then the little side extensions will also match the front trim and also the top most parts of the door handles. The 19" Rotor alloy wheels really fill the arches and look the part, they'll also be easy to keep clean too.
Inside is standard A3 fare apart from a smattering of RS3 logos on the gear shift and and dials. Missed the boost gauge display on the car...forgot to check it out..doh!!
The steering wheel is a chunky affair with a dimpled finished, not to my liking as i prefer the smooth finish of the S3 version, but it has a nice overall feel none the less.
This car also had the standard RS3 sports seats, no electric lumbar support on this car either. All finished in Silk Nappa leather. On firing the car up get a nice burble from the exhaust.
On leaving the forecourt the acceleration is just awesome and unbelievably smooth, the 7 speed S tronic gearbox is superb, really smooth both on going up and down the ratio's. change down using the paddles and it blips the throttle
The car really is a wolf in sheeps clothing, over rough roads it soaks up the bumps never getting crashy or riding rough like some sports hatches I've driven before. Round town it's really docile and happy to pootle along at 20 mph. Open it up and the 5 pot engine really comes alive and that lovely offbeat sound brings a big smile to your face. The brakes a brilliant too. We travelled over a mixture of fast dual carriage way, A and B roads and some small country roads. Both dry and wet, the RS3 took them all in it's stride.
For those that know what it is, we got some admirable glances and a thumbs up, otherwise she just blended in with the other cars, for me I'm happy with that.
So overall, yes I'm mightally imprssed and can't wait now to get mine.
:jump:
This todays car, these were taken last week when it was dry. Enjoy..
Some from Goodwood FOS
A big thanks to Simon Jackson and the team at Stoke Audi for todays demo..