S3 Reliability??

[j_richards123]

Hi all,
I looking to purchase a 51 plate S3 and am little concerned over the total reliabilty of the package.
I have investigated or I thought I investigated and came to the conclusion that all in all they are totally bullet proof, upon further reading this evening I came across the S3 Engine failure thread! and am little concerned to say the least! most faults seem to stem from weaknesses in the water pump and oil pump.

The car I am interested in or about to purchase is a 51 plate full Audi history recent cam belt and water pump done by an independant, should I be worried?
Is the oil pump worth changing on an 80k motor?

Any advise would be great!
Cheers!

[mel]

coil packs will go at £25 each, apart from that you appear to have covered the water pump and cam belt both of which will normally fail before 100k

[j_richards123]

Cheers mate!
Have you owned an S3? If so what was your general opinions on ownership?
Any other issues with the car?

[mel]

yes I had a 51 plate from 15k to 80k when the cam belt went (at the time the official service interval for cam belt was 120k) now dropped to 80 bit IMO should be 60 its a 4 grand bill if they go. Great car apart from that and very capable I very nearly replaced it with a new one buy plummed for a year old S4 instead which is in a different league.

[Benny Boy24]

Hi i have owned 2 S3's and loved every minute of both of them. My first car was a 2000 plate one owner vehicle with full Audi history and had done 75k when i bought it. I had the car a couple of years and the only problem i ever had was with the front passenger seat locking in the full forward tilt position due to a valeting company being too heavy handed with it.
My second S3 was a 2002 car again one owner full Audi history with 70k on it and i have just recently sold that as i have gone travelling for a year. No problems whatsoever apart from.......... you guessed it the front passenger seat AGAIN. I really think this was a freak occurance as i have never heard of this problem before. The seat was again moved this time electronically whilst being cleaned (at a different valeting company) and it locked into position. For two days i kept trying to move it but nothing happened and on the third day the problem dissapeared and never came back.
I would honestly recommend buying an S3, to be honest i am struggling to think of another car to buy when i return as the Audi ticks all the boxes, its quick, has one of the nicest interiors in its class, has superior build quality and has a nice image to go with it.
Would definately recommend the bose sound system upgrade and one other upgrade you may want to consider is a K&N induction system. I put one on my 210bhp 2000 car and the responsivness was greatly improved and i managed a 14.2 sec run at Santa Pod with it. It just felt more eager than my standard 2002 225bhp S3.

[j_richards123]

Hi mate, thanks for the reassuring feedback!
To be honest I may have been a little over paranoid about the engine failures I've been reading about as I have received nothing but postive feedback from owners and past owners on this forum and others.
Hopefully I'm due to pick up a 51 plate car tomorrow subject to a final check around. This car has a full Audi history, a quick phone call to the dealer who serviced it confirmed all is fine with the car which cleared my doubts.

Cheers for all you advise

[marctwo]

I've had mine 3 years now and the only time it's gone wrong was a flat battery. Not everyone has had the same experience though, just ask angryS3owner on here as he has had just about every problem in the book (in fact I think he wrote the book). I do think he is the exception rather than the rule though as most owners seem happy. Servicing is not cheap though and if something does go wrong be prepared for some pain. I would advise you to find a good Independent Audi Specialist for servicing. Head over to www.audi-sport.net as there are a lot of knowledgeable people over there who are happy to answer any questions you might have.

Good choice of car by the way

[Dave B S3]

Ive had mine a year last month and have covered 16000miles some of them quite hard on the hoons, have to say it is one of the most competent packages ive driven, not perfect in every area but it is fast no matter the weather, comfortable no matter the distance, and subtle (unless you want to be extravert)

It has been a pleasure to own and the biggest gripe I have is the Audi Servicing costs which in some cases are moe costly than Porsche!

Makes sure the brakes are in good nick of they are after the service look towards a Remap, APS did mine and im quite impressed its very drivable, but there's a plethora of companies that will do this for you, personally id only have a Jabba or APS one.

If you need new pads spend the money and go for DS2500 units, standard discs are good.

if you keep to arround 80-90 you'l see almost 30mpg however over a ton and it does drop off to 23-25mpg, start driving it hard and you'l easily see 14-16mpg!

Reliability, in the mileage I've done it seems good, I am enjoying the car, as has been said Ben (AngryS3Driver) has had every issue in the book but he's still smitten after 80,000miles+ iirc, abnd his car still performs well at over 115Kmiles

hope that helps

Dave