Audi S3 - any good?

Im looking at getting one of these as my next car, but I dont know a great deal about them.

I do know they are 210 or 225 bhp, Quattro 4 wheel drive system. Full leather or leather & alcantara, but not a lot else!

Has anyone ever driven one or even owned one?

Ive done a search for info - but I cant seem to find a lot on the net, so any help would be much appreciated!

Cheers

 

They are slow and can be beaten by a 1.3 , apart from that i'd have one. On a serious note my mate had one and never had any problems with it. They are easily tunable to 280-290bhp if that's what you are into and they look nice IMHO.

What about a seat leon cupra R, still 225bhp, cheaper and not as heavy due to being front wheel drive??
Edited by: LregG

 

Erm, isnt there a Haldex bias adjustment system now available biasing the 4wd to be more rear wheel drive? This would make it handle better getting rid of the understeer the s3 & tt suffer from.

But apart from that, yea, nice car. Bit expensive though.

 

yeh i think the general opinion is that they are heavy there for not all that quick, and not cheap!!!


i want an RS4

 

my mk1 16v matched it up to 110 till we had run out of clear road! but they look nice cars, well built.

 

There's a bit of bias on here because it's a golf forum, if you go to www.vag20v.net and ask there, you will get some real owners opinions.

They are 300Kg or so heavier than the A3 1.8T, so a chipped 1.8T will be faster in the dry than a standard S3, however, they use the K04 turbo so can be remapped very well, as mentioned earlier in this thread.

The build quality far outstrips anything that has a VW badge in the same price range, and the cars are solidy built.

Personally, I'd go for a 1.8T Sport (which I have) as it's easier to get big turbos on them, and they are quicker 0-60 due to the weight advantage. However, if you intend to leave it fairly standard then the S3 is the way to go.

And if a Mk1 16v matches it up to 110 then the driver of the S3 was asleep, or tuning his radio or something, or had a full boot, as they will destroy a Mk1, even with the extra weight.

 

im not so sure it would?

 

they would destroy a mk1....

 

Cheers for the comments guys.

If and when I get one I do have plans to moddify it, initially with the Revo or AMD remap up to 265bhp, beyond that im not sure really as I will be using for quite a few miles so I need to keep a semi reasonable mpg.

I really like the Nogaro blue or Dolphin grey.

Cant decide between straight black interior or black with the blue alcantara centres.

Im looking at a 02/03 model, with fsh and under 40k miles, available for under 15k.

Other options were an R32 - the fuel consumption is just a bit to low for the miles I do, and a Saab 9-3 convertible, which I love - but I think I would get bored with the power and driveability when the novelty of the drop top has worn off.

Any more comments?

 

fair enough,


mk1 16v would have a simlar power to weight ratio i would have thought?

 

Not going off topic here, but having owned a civic type r, I can honestlysay that my stock hatch Mk1 is as quick to 60-70mph, and it's only a lightened and balanced 1.6 GTI. My civic in turn could keep with standard S3s, so I could believe a 16v Mk1 could easily keep with a standard S3 up to a certain speed.

 

to be honest I would have thought power to weight of a mk1 with a decent engine would be near if not better than a standard s3

 

Not at all, this isn't pub talk this is what actually happened. I kept up with him all the way up to 110 then we had to slow down for safety's sake. I would imagine he would have pulled away from me from there on but I'm talking from about 10mph through the gears up to 110.

If it was say in 3rd gear and accelerate from there he would have easily had me, but this was from more or less a standing start.

I'd prefer an S3 anyway, I think they ooze sheer class. But money just doesn't allow poor students these type of cars!!

 

I had a fair few in my Mk1 16v. I even had one S3 driver ask me after wft you got under the bonnet. But then again my 16v was 183bhp.

 

If you don't mind a boot I can recommend an S4

There's a very tidy one on autotrader at the moment... 2000 face lift, silver, black leather, B6 S4 alloys with around 50k miles for 13k

A remapped S4 will quite easily out pace a remapped S3

 

There a Great Car !!!!.



Buy one

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agree with both those points....my mates has a nogaro blue s3, very nice car inside....wasn't really any faster than my mk3 vr6 though.

 

Load of testicles a s3 will dick a mk1 and for 500 quid you will have quick class car As for rs4 you better get an extra 10,000 out the bank
Edited by: s3lupo

 

the s3s are not bad was racing a audi tt quatro top spec model, and my m8 hammered it in his volvo c70 t5 the lad was well dun in

 

Nice car the S3. Had two S3's and driven a chipped one..........I have no doubt a mk1 with 180bhp + wouldmurder a stnd S3 due to the weight - probably worry a modded one to the ton. Lovelly to look at/sit in and waft about in butI think they are a slightly aloof car & not as quick as they look. Crying our for a re-chip to make you smile & an exhaust/filter tomake the enginegrowlIMO. Agree about the quality of interior.


Something to bear in mind is they are a real target for theives - had a few incidents with mine & glad to be shot of it in that respect.