RE: Audi S3 saloon: Review

[Bladedancer]

From the side it looks like a Seat.
It's not bad looking, not pretty either but it would be nice if Audi started designing their cars again instead of just scaling A4.

[Spyder5]

I like it, but I would be interested to see the price of this with the spec shown in the pictures - 40k?

[garypotter]

a 21st century VW Bora in drag.

[Too Late]

Looks like a face-lift A4??

[Nors]

I like it too!

Not all that lardy at 1450kg depite it having a 4wd system.

2 - 3 year old, a remap and exhaust (2 oval ones instead) and that'll be a great all rounder.

[DoubleSix]

So an S3 hatch is a crashy, understeering piece of dullness with no steering feel but attach a boot and actually it's ok again....

/not a fan btw

[anonymous-user]

pimpin gimp said:

slk 32 said:

My thoughts exactly- since when does a 4 cyl 2 ltr car need 4 pipes- just looks like overkill

Look at it a different way, my 140bhp 2.0 tdi A6 had 2 pipes, this has twice as much power and thus deserves twice as many pipes. Simple.

With that mentality in a few years time we'll have this:



Looks ridiculous and where will it all stop? Bring back the days of one, possibly two purposeful but meaty exhaust tubes (and room for a proper spare tyre without the boot floor space being taken up with an extra 'bling bling' exhaust). Simply but effective.

[Nick Young]

Andy20vt said:

With that mentality in a few years time we'll have this:



Looks ridiculous and where will it all stop? Bring back the days of one, possibly two purposeful but meaty exhaust tubes (and room for a proper spare tyre without the boot floor space being taken up with an extra 'bling bling' exhaust). Simply but effective.

You missed a bit in the middle there - room for another set of pipes

[Riyazc]

This is a very interesting segment now... this and the CLA 45 AMG def making it interesting, both hitting 60 in frankly stupidly quick times and delivering rather good MPG - whats not to like in convincing the wife another car is a good idea (will play the 4wd and its great in the snow card!)

I wanted the AMG, but this represents a £7k saving - on a PCP, this is going to be amazing.

Think ill see about a test drive as merc cant get me a CLA drive til jan!

[Nick Young]

IanJ9375 said:

Depends if you look at it as a white goods item to do a job or if you factor in the price is for a 0-60 in 4.9 saloon load with todays' tech?

Whatever the real MPG you have to take your hats off to the VAG group for the CO2 figures they are chucking out for some of these S/RS cars

I wonder how much of the "todays' tech" you'll get for 33k. Being an Audi it will probably be closer to 45k once you've plundered the options list!

[AudiWurst]

matsoc said:

I feel a bit confused about these cars. Small saloons disappeared in many European markets 25 years ago because of poor sales

But Asians love them. And Americans quite like them, too.

matsoc said:

the tombstone in Italy was the Fiat Duna, a Uno derived saloon which became the term of comparison for an ugly car.

Not sure the ugliness of an old Fiat Uno saloon has much relevance to the success of a much bigger and more upmarket car?

I think the A3/S3 saloon looks far better than most other hatchback-derived saloons, and is a good thing for Audi to have in its range when people moan that the A4 has grown too big.

[james_tigerwoods]

HorneyMX5 said:

Much better looknng than the hatch.

Agreed. And I have the hatch (sportback).

[RSgeoff]

Been waiting for this to come out - (only bought my A5 2.0TFSi because these weren't out), so will be waiting for a demo then if good enough will change the A5 for one.

Just prefer small 4WD performance saloons, but there aren't many about!!

[anonymous-user]

DoubleSix said:

So an S3 hatch is a crashy, understeering piece of dullness with no steering feel but attach a boot and actually it's ok again....

/not a fan btw

Have you driven the new one?

[Antj]

It looks nice, but i suppose this is why the new 2 series BMW is coming with a 4 dr as well, as much as it does not make any sense

[CYMR0]

Antj said:

It looks nice, but i suppose this is why the new 2 series BMW is coming with a 4 dr as well, as much as it does not make any sense

Engineer the saloon body it for China and the US, who expect saloons even at this size and price point.

Right hand drive engineering for the mechanicals is already done for the hatch.

Combining the two is comparatively trivial, so even if they only sell about three here, it's worth offering.

[GG89]

Love that interior. Can see myself owning one of these in a few years time.

[Glade]

Riyazc said:

This is a very interesting segment now... this and the CLA 45 AMG def making it interesting, both hitting 60 in frankly stupidly quick times and delivering rather good MPG - whats not to like in convincing the wife another car is a good idea (will play the 4wd and its great in the snow card!)

I wanted the AMG, but this represents a £7k saving - on a PCP, this is going to be amazing.

Think ill see about a test drive as merc cant get me a CLA drive til jan!

Have you sat in a CLA yet.... it might make your mind up already.

I wanted one as a co. car, but the crappy screen on the dash, and the fact there is no room in the back, combined with the price made me write it off straight away.

This has the performance,packaging, interior and price advantage... bound to steal a lot of sales from the CLA.

(I did like the seats in the CLA though)

[IanJ9375]

Nick Young said:

I wonder how much of the "todays' tech" you'll get for 33k. Being an Audi it will probably be closer to 45k once you've plundered the options list!

Go see how much you got for a similar powered E36 M3 back in the day - remembering that came with slightly less power pre Evo.

Todays' tech doesn't just mean all the sat nav/ipod connectors - your also getting all the new ideas and implementations

[Mark Wibble]

When will they bring an estate version out?!

I agree on the exhaust pipes. I remember when an M5 had 2 discrete pipes off on the one side. Now all performance variants need 4 pipes, or one f*** off one in the middle because it's The Law. Have a look at rally cars, that shows you what you actually *need*.