Audi S3 - do I need to give it the expensive stuff?

[chimtvr08]

Evening all,

I'm a new owner of a 2002 Audi S3 (1.8T) with ~70k on the clock. Since owning the car I've been giving it the good juice (ie super unleaded) but I'm not sure if I really need to, what are people's thoughts?

The reason I ask now is that me and my fiance are heading on a trip round Scotland in a few weeks which will be about 2,000 miles in total. Obviously the petrol I put in the car will make quite a difference in price.

I'm not particularly bothered about performance during the trip I'm just more concerned over price (and therefore mpg and price). Is it ok to run on standard rather than super?

Also, any general advice on prepping the car or anything I particularly do or don't need to do/take. After owning a TVR i'm not expecting any issues with the joy of German reliability!!

Thanks v much.

[Tame Technician]

chimtvr08 said:

i'm not expecting any issues with the joy of German reliability!!

Thats the funniest thing I heard in ages.

On a serious note, put in any fuel you like, only FSI cars really need super unleaded.

Edited by Tame Technician on Sunday 9th August 01:21

[chimtvr08]

Come on... I think in comparison to a TVR my S3 has got to do better on the reliability front?!

Anything I should particularly look out for before my long drive? Got a slight "ticking" noise from the engine bay, not worried about it tho as all seems to be fine?

Cheers, think I'll give it the cheapey stuff when covering the miles.

[rsstman]

friend had an 03 reg s3. joys of german reliabilty? ze germans earnt that tag a long time ago with mk2 golfs etc. long gone now and far from the most reliable in the current surveys, i think you will find the japs have it for sure. good luck with the trip though.

no need for super unleaded but you may get slightly better mpg with it.

[nonuts]

Mine has been more problematic that most of my friends TVRs...

I wouldn't use st petrol, you're just asking for trouble, it also says so in the handbook. Is it standard or has it been remapped?

Either way you can feel the car back off, especially at high revs if you don't use proper petrol on a hot day, but this is made a lot worse if it's remapped as everything is that much hotter anyway.

ETA: Check the oil with every fuel stop if driving hard other than that it should be okay, mines just been thrashed around Scotland for a week and it was brilliant.

Where abouts you heading?

Edited by nonuts on Monday 10th August 10:55

[chimtvr08]

No, just standard, not been remapped. For a long trip, not too concerned about the power, as long as its not actually bad for the car (which it doesn't seem to be from people's comments).

Heading west from Edinburgh then all the way to the top, back round the edge clockwise and back to Ed before driving back south to London, hopefully out to the outer Hebrides too. Looking forward to it!

[nonuts]

Sounds quite a lot like what we did, there's quite a few pics and notes about where we stayed in the thread below:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

Have fun!

[Niffty951]

^^^ Another man coming from a TVR to an S3. Excellent Me too and no regrets at all. Loved the Cerb but love the S3 too its such a nice place to do the miles in and really good fun when you want it to be.

Despite the comments above I honestly doubt you'll have any problems with the reliability of your S3 (providing its the older shape) it seems to be one of the good ones as far as German cars go. When the Germans do good cars they are very very good! The only badly made German cars I can say I've owned are a Mk5 golf and the E36 bmw's both of which seem to have been built mechanically to a lot less of a budget.

As for fuel I always use high octane stuff in turbo's because they run on more of a knife edge with the temperatures and air fuel ratios than road going N/A cars but really its probably a false economy and I'm sure you'll be fine putting in normal fuel in something as sedate as a standard S3.

OFF TOPIC:- I've been historically quite a good test of cars until I mellowed recently and slowed down. The only major mechanical failures I've ever had with German cars have been with BMW (and a 944 differential). Jap cars just don't seem to like me and I have destroyed the brakes first (which always warp) and then the big end in every jap made car I've driven honda, nissan, subaru they've all knackered the engines (except the mk2 mr2 which had a gearbox failure). I personally believe Jap cars are only made to last the length of their warranty. They work fantastically then all the hot models seem to start blowing up after 60,000miles (ESPECIALLY SUBARU!!).

[chimtvr08]

Man, you must really thrash your cars! Good work!

The Trev was fantastic fun, don't regret a minute of it. But thte reliability really did start to get to me when every journey you go on you seriously don't know if you're going to make it to your destination without some problem...! Think I was unluckly with a few strange issues but after I fixed it I was keen to go Jap/German but still with a bit of fun, hence the s3.

Will enjoy the scotland drive, thanks for the tip nonuts, looks awesome - excited, cheers.

[rsstman]

Niffty951 said:

OFF TOPIC:- I've been historically quite a good test of cars until I mellowed recently and slowed down. The only major mechanical failures I've ever had with German cars have been with BMW (and a 944 differential). Jap cars just don't seem to like me and I have destroyed the brakes first (which always warp) and then the big end in every jap made car I've driven honda, nissan, subaru they've all knackered the engines (except the mk2 mr2 which had a gearbox failure). I personally believe Jap cars are only made to last the length of their warranty. They work fantastically then all the hot models seem to start blowing up after 60,000miles (ESPECIALLY SUBARU!!).

i didnt make it up its just the results of recent surveys that tell the opposite of your story. but jap cars when they do go wrong are just as expensive to fix as german cars. fords, vauxhalls and french cars generally costing much less to repair.

[rsstman]

actually it seems that i was living in 2006/2007 where the japanese brands came out on top as for lots of previous years.

it would seem that last year bmw was the most reliable brand then followed by the japs.

http://www.glass.co.uk/DailyNews/501c03e2/BMW-tops...

[Niffty951]

rsstman said:

actually it seems that i was living in 2006/2007 where the japanese brands came out on top as for lots of previous years.

it would seem that last year bmw was the most reliable brand then followed by the japs.

http://www.glass.co.uk/DailyNews/501c03e2/BMW-tops...

I find this interesting. I wonder if there is a bias in the survey towards aftercare service rather than actual problems that have occurred? I can honestly say that my Z4m coupe was the nicest new car to own because if ever anything went wrong BMW took it in immediately, fixed everything with new parts without question rather than trying to get out of it or repair and gave me a courtesy car whilst works were carried out. This made me a very satisfied customer (much more so than with my R32 I had from new) but it doesn't actually mean the car was well made.. the interior was appalling and the leather was worn to buggery at 18 months old (replaced free under warranty).

Edited by Niffty951 on Wednesday 12th August 11:03

[Cupramax]

Tame Technician said:

Thats the funniest thing I heard in ages.

On a serious note, put in any fuel you like, only FSI cars really need super unleaded.

Thats also funny (and wrong), Both the FSi and 1.8T ECU's will dynamically deal with fuel quality and timing based on knock sensors. Both will give better results if run on 98 ron or above fuel. Put in 95 and they will produce slightly less than book power due to the timing backing off with the poorer fuel.

[Tame Technician]

FSI engines were designed to run on higher octane fuel, so you are as you say going to get less than book power on 95ron. Also, when FSI was new we had to replace loads of cylinder heads as they burnt all the valves, this was because customers wouldn't put the more expensive fuel in, to prevent damage.

The 1.8T while it will benefit from higher octane fuel, as it does indeed have knock sensors, its isnt going to hurt it or reduce the power, because its designed to be on 95ron

[nonuts]

Rubbish, the handbook for all S3s says use 98 Octane and it'll reduce power if you don't and I could find rolling road print outs that show the point if I could be bothered. You can feel even a standard S3 pull the timing back on a hot day if using ste fuel.