RE: Driven: Audi RS3 Sportback
Discussion
Hot Potatoes said:
If most BMW drivers don't know their car is RWD then why, especially in this day and age with the economy, produce expensive RWD cars when they could utilise a cheaper FWD one. Yes enthusiasts would mock but the majority wouldn't be bothered as long as they got the badge...
Put it this way, you can be damned sure it costs Audi alot less to make an A3 than it does BMW a 1er or Mercedes A Class. Tarting up a Golf and selling for premium prices has made Audi very profitable. I'm not saying that's right but at the end of a day it's all business...
Why would it be cheaper for BMW to engineer a FWD platform than a RWD? If anything it could be more expensive due to their lack of relative expertise in this field. Improved margins comes from economies of scale through high volume (which is the success of the VAG) but unless BMW can combine everything with Mini there is no guarantee a FWD platform is cheaper, or more profitable..Put it this way, you can be damned sure it costs Audi alot less to make an A3 than it does BMW a 1er or Mercedes A Class. Tarting up a Golf and selling for premium prices has made Audi very profitable. I'm not saying that's right but at the end of a day it's all business...
Hot Potatoes said:
If most BMW drivers don't know their car is RWD then why, especially in this day and age with the economy, produce expensive RWD cars when they could utilise a cheaper FWD one. Yes enthusiasts would mock but the majority wouldn't be bothered as long as they got the badge...
Indeed. The only reason the 1-series hatch is RWD is that BMW decided their brand dictated it. It has no need to be RWD and its market segment, packaging and target demographic would all be better suited to it being FWD. Munich said:
Why would it be cheaper for BMW to engineer a FWD platform than a RWD? If anything it could be more expensive due to their lack of relative expertise in this field. Improved margins comes from economies of scale through high volume (which is the success of the VAG) but unless BMW can combine everything with Mini there is no guarantee a FWD platform is cheaper, or more profitable..
Especially since they're talking about making the next 1-series platform support both layouts. I wonder if they'll stick with longitudinal engines in the FWD ones? kambites said:
Especially since they're talking about making the next 1-series platform support both layouts.
That could work pretty well actually. Lesser models could benefit from the bigger boot and better packaging of FWD, whilst the more powerful ones like the current 130i could retain RWD. Plus it raises the interesting possibility of a 4WD version. JonRB said:
Indeed. The only reason the 1-series hatch is RWD is that BMW decided their brand dictated it. It has no need to be RWD and its market segment, packaging and target demographic would all be better suited to it being FWD.
Rumours I've heard indicate that the next 1 series is planned to be front wheel drive. Far from being a bad thing, if BMWs lessons learnt through the MINI can be part of a FWD 1 series DNA, then VAG should be very worried about a "propellor" driven Golf/A4 rival.JonRB said:
That could work pretty well actually. Lesser models could benefit from the bigger boot and better packaging of FWD, whilst the more powerful ones like the current 130i could retain RWD. Plus it raises the interesting possibility of a 4WD version.
Is there not already a 4WD 1-series? I'd assumed there was, since the larger cars are all available as 4WD. SpeedEight said:
Bezerk said:
I'm not sure if they will shift 500 in UK.
It does seem expensive, but has anyone configured a VW or Audi on their website recently?
Seems the norm now..Add a few options and the price gets silly.
This will probably some with most pricey options included such as Leather and Nav.
I ordered mine about a month ago and I was lucky to get a build slot, try now and it might be too late.It does seem expensive, but has anyone configured a VW or Audi on their website recently?
Seems the norm now..Add a few options and the price gets silly.
This will probably some with most pricey options included such as Leather and Nav.
By the way, it's very well specified as standard, full nappa leather, sat nav, parking sensors, xenon headlights, bluetooth phone prep, heated seats, the 19" wheels. Most of which are extra on the TT-RS which is 7k more to start with.
Also the red trimmed wheels shown here aren't standard, the silver ones are which are nicer IMO.
Thinks ours is 43 something list and well specced (with buckets):
I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if they were all spoken for.
That's not what I meant. I meant a proper car rather than a monstrous MPV thing. Sold all 500, thats good going, suspect a lot will have gone to speculators but also there are people that just want that particular car and live in a different financial paradigm to most of us, whether its 35 or 40 grand to start they dont care as they enough money not to care, they probably have the supercar for the weekend and just want a runabout that isnt too big. It is easy to see things from just our own point of view and means, its taken me a good few years to realise that the fastest (alledgedly), most powerful thing for the least money is not they way to go, when freed of the financial realities you just buy what you fancy and fits the bill.
seefarr said:
Yup, nice one Riggers.
Except.
What's the ride like? Hard and crashy or angling more towards confortable?
Well, if I told you everything in one go we wouldn't have anything to talk about here, would we? Except.
What's the ride like? Hard and crashy or angling more towards confortable?
To answer your question, however, I would say the ride is firm, but not crashy. In as much as the bumps are there, but they're not jarring or intrusive. I wouldn't want to make a proper call one it without driving one in the UK, however...
Hot Potatoes said:
Every morning i get dangerously overtaken on my daily commute backroad by an idiot in an A3 Sportback, to the extent i have now had to change my route to avoid this moron.
I drove into Glasgow the other day and an A4 S Line was so close to my bumper it was f
king dangerous..
Oh, and my boss drives an Audi and he drives like a ck too...
I know every car company has it's dangerous drivers but i have never witnessed it as bad as Audi, it's not Jeremy Clarksons view, it's real life.
I would also like to point out though i do like Audis i have owned two, but you can't deny the modern day Audi driver is more than likely going to be agressive.
This is most probably confirmation bias at work...your biased against Audi/BMW/etc drivers and therefore whenever you see a "cock" driving one of those cars you use that as confirmation of your existing belief that all Audi/BMW/whatever drivers are like that. The other 95% of Audi/BMW/etc drivers that don't drive unusually are ignored because they don't stand out and don't agree with your preceived notion of what an Audi/BMW/etc driver should behave like. If you really assessed all Audi drivers you see, from A1 up to R8, over a decent period of a week to come up with a cock/non-cock (using your definitions) and then did the same for BMW, Merc, etc I doubt you would find a difference in the percentage, assuming you could overcome your innate feelings and judge drivers of all car makes the same.I drove into Glasgow the other day and an A4 S Line was so close to my bumper it was f
king dangerous..Oh, and my boss drives an Audi and he drives like a c
k too...I know every car company has it's dangerous drivers but i have never witnessed it as bad as Audi, it's not Jeremy Clarksons view, it's real life.
I would also like to point out though i do like Audis i have owned two, but you can't deny the modern day Audi driver is more than likely going to be agressive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
Reardy Mister said:
SB10 said:
Am i the only one who noticed the interior close up of the seats doesnt match those of the actual car shots at the side of the road?
Tidy looking car IMO... needs something different done with the wheels though.
Thats because there are two different cars used in the pictures. IN RS 3007 and IN RS 3010.Tidy looking car IMO... needs something different done with the wheels though.
I hope Riggers drove one of them. 3007 looks more likely. 3010 looks like press release shots.
(3007). Also drove a grey-white one with less in-your-face wheels, but took no pictures of that (fail).Want one, but £40K + options 
£40K with £5k options then would be waiting for my build date...
If dealers would accept a discount...however every dealer seems to have the same statement "we have sold at least 3/4/5/6/7" delete as appropriate. Northampton Audi allegedly had someone put a deposit on one in 2004 !!?!?!?
Only thing I have been offered is a deal on finance - what that means I do not know
£40K with £5k options then would be waiting for my build date...
If dealers would accept a discount...however every dealer seems to have the same statement "we have sold at least 3/4/5/6/7" delete as appropriate. Northampton Audi allegedly had someone put a deposit on one in 2004 !!?!?!?
Only thing I have been offered is a deal on finance - what that means I do not know
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