Need opinions S3 found a possible cars

[mortygttdi]

Iv'e been looking at a silver S3 Sportback on a 58 plate it has the recaro buckets, nav and some other toys, but its DSG/S-Tronic.  

Iv'e driven an Octy Vrs dsg but it was a TDI and the power I would expect is different to the S3 so I'm a bit of a virgin when it comes to the DSG...can the guys who have gone from the golf to the S3 please give there opinions on how your finding living with it and a general use and cost i.e petrol mpg that sort of stuff also been haldex do you go through tyres??

I will only be using this car mostly for weekends and it will be a toy, but the wife will be using it aswell so it will get mapped but that's about it.

Cheers guys and thanks in advance

Darren

[sub39h]

the only issue i've read about with the S3 and DSG is that it likes to change up early and drop the car out of boost. a Stage 1 remap remedies that fairly well and the power delivery is much more linear

a lot of S3 owners on VAGOC and the like reported getting up to around 350mi from a tank, but bear in mind that S3s (and quattro A3s) have a 60L tank rather than the 55 in the other cars

[vRS Carl]

I have a petrol Octy vRS TSi DSG and love it. My last vRS was a manual one and I would say the DSG is nicer/better to drive.

You can be lazy when you want, override and go to manual by using the paddles for a quick blast and then let it settle back to auto in D

Manual mode is great as you can pretend your Jenson Button on your favourite B-Road (or am I the only one that does that   )

Or you can put it in Sport and leave the box to do all the tomfoolery. Even better when you turn the ESP off  

In either D or S you can override and go to manual by using the paddles.

I use D round town/traffic and manual for everything else.  

[Jussa]

I went from a manual GTi to a DSG S3, and will never go back to manual 

I'm stage 2+ now on the S3 and it's an awesome piece of kit.  Even with torrential rivers in the road she will not slip under heavy acceleration, and the DSG is an absolute pleasure.  Also u don't have to really worry about getting an uprated clutch every few thousand miles.

I get around 28mpg on average, but I live in London.  When I drive to work with about 7 miles of town driving and 22 miles motorway I average around 30-32mpg, but I could get it lower.



The problem is u just love to put your foot down at the lights 

[Moschops]

Darren,

Go and buy it if you like it, we loved ours, but with Sonia on doing short journeys it was burning the juice but on my run to work it was fine returning 32mpg , plus trying to get a 70 year old into those buckets was a no no...

DSG was a pleasure, especially sat in traffic and traffic light GP's...

[ub7rm]

Went from a gti to s3 sportback and whereas my long term average on the gti was 33 mpg its now around 30. Rural a road, mostly sticking to posted limits and no significant traffic. It is more sensitive mph wise to how you use the load pedal than the gti was. Boot it and see the guage drop. Grip and acceleration more than make up for that though! Dsg  would be awesome as you blast through the rev range quickly when pressing on.

[mortygttdi]

Cheers guys appreciate the info, think I will be having a look at a few before I flash the cash but not having a car now its hard to get to far away places to view cars

Another Q can you get cloth seats in the S3??

Darren

[mortygttdi]

I do like the sound of the mpg although it will be a weekend car until the winter months, so not too fussed about that side of it...ill just be  gonna go down to local Leeds Audi and see what delivery times are on new?

Darren

[Moschops]

Darren,

I think IIRC that the last ones are about to be produced in the current 8P shape, so you may bag a bargain. Go for the Black Edition if cash is no problem. 

Just a taster...













Stafford Audi had a nice Java Green one... 

http://www.staffordaudi.co.uk/vehicles-for-sale/vehicle-information.aspx?vehicle_id=12964

Bit pricey though and not a Black Edition

[Jussa]

Cheers guys appreciate the info, think I will be having a look at a few before I flash the cash but not having a car now its hard to get to far away places to view cars

Another Q can you get cloth seats in the S3??

Darren

Never seen 1 with cloth, but u can go half leather half alcantara.  Mine has white alcantara inner and black leathe outer 

[mortygttdi]

Been looking at these but also want to go and look at new as well

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201220470798155/sort/default/usedcars/quantity-of-doors/5/model/s3/make/audi/page/1/radius/1501/postcode/ls90ne?logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201211457368548/sort/default/usedcars/quantity-of-doors/5/model/s3/make/audi/page/1/radius/1501/postcode/ls90ne?logcode=p

Darren

[Poverty]

In everyday driving it's much better. On a blast that involves corners manual is better though. I've had times where you ate mid corner, apply power and there's a pause as the car tries to decide what gear would work best. Also the manual mode itself can be a bit frustrating at times.

Saying all that, unless your car is purely a weekend toy I'd get dsg.

[sub39h]

no UK S3s come with cloth unless it's a special order. standard equipment is full leather 

[neg]

I'g go DSG/S-tronic for sure.

Price of those S3's is very good compared to a Golf R which I have been looking at recently - like £7k difference.

[RedRobin]

Manual mode is great as you can pretend your Jenson Button on your favourite B-Road (or am I the only one that does that  )

....Damn! I thought I was the only one who did that!

I use D round town/traffic and manual for everything else. 

.... x 2 - Think Manual but use D (auto) for town and traffic crawl queues etc.

DSG / S-tronic is the best of both worlds. As Carl describes in his full post, there are so many options and it takes a thousand miles to find what suits you best. Then it becomes natural and fluid. I now wouldn't buy another car without such a system.