RE: Audi RS3: Driven

[Ho Lee Kau]

Dave Hedgehog said:

kambites said:

DPSFleet said:

With options I expect £60k.....serious money - I think I will have the Alfa Quad instead.

It doesn't seem to make much sense to say the Audi is a £60k car because you'd spend 5 figures on options so you'd have a car with a base-price of £60k instead.

indeed, if your the sort of person to go mad with the options list why would you not do the same on the alfa or an M3 etc and add 10-20k on them?

option list on Giulia is short. Carbon seats (do you need them?), carbon brakes (stock seems ok even for sporty driving...unlike Audi)....that's it, the rest is what you would choose in Audi as well and it would cost you more in Audi, like nav system and better speakers.

[Ho Lee Kau]

TomScrut said:

JohnoVR6 said:

Audi do some amazing options

I agree, it's a shame most of them are the exclusive colours that generally aren't viable when thinking resale value or lease. There would be a lot of nicer looking ones out there if they were the same price as the normal metallic/pearl colours

I doubt it. People may like a special color...when they spec the car in the configurator...but then they buy something that is easy to sell on later - black, white, gray.

It's moment 22 and the price of the paint won't change it.

[Ho Lee Kau]

jl4069 said:

I don't believe this car is as different as these two journalists say they are.

It's most likely not, will be proven a year or two down the road when the same jornos, in some comparison, will stick RS3 in the last place because of dead steering and understeer.

Edited by Ho Lee Kau on Saturday 18th March 08:07

[Ho Lee Kau]

TomScrut said:

Ahbefive said:

New heights for an A3 but in the same article states thats its not as good to drive as competitors.

I read Evos review of the S5 sportback. In the main article itself they don't actually say anything (from memory) bad about the car, and the only negative is the gearbox which if it's that bad would surely be in the article, but they give it 3 stars. Just seems disjointed. Maybe it just doesn't do anything that well to justify a better score.

It's because the car is too generic. Plain vanilla.
I loved my tuned TTRS, the engine note took paint off the walls in tunnels (at one point i had neither pre-cat nor main cat on it, but it stank so I put the main back on), it was rapid. But a powerful engine is not everything.

[Ho Lee Kau]

stuart-b said:

Wider wheels on the front than back?.
Good grief... No.

With that power it needs those 255s on the front, being still FWD car first and foremost and still carrying most of the weight on the front axle.

[Ho Lee Kau]

Matt Bird said:

jl4069 said:

It's like piston heads and Evo were at an entirely different event. Evo says the RS3 reaches "new heights" positively loves the car...

http://www.evo.co.uk/audi/rs3/19070/2017-audi-rs3-...

Hello!

I thought this might come up. Put really simply I didn't get to drive the car on the same route as Dan did, which sounds like it was a lot more fun! He managed to drive the car on some quite slippery second-gear hairpins (see his Twitter for the video) which revealed another side to its character. Having only felt slight suggestions of that on my test drive, I wasn't willing to commit to an opinion on it. Maybe a damp and dank UK day will reveal it too.

Put it this way: if your only experience of a person is their strait-laced and reasonable work demeanour, you will have one opinion of them. If you only experience them as a bit of a giggle on a night out you will have another. I think that's what has happened here. Certainly I would be very surprised if the RS3 felt decidedly rear-driven in the UK but we shall see! As I said, I think the RS3 is a good car but still isn't the most engaging.

Cheers!


Matt

If you want oversteer in a 5-cyl Audi you need wet roads and commitment to be brutal with the car. Whether you are up to it, or even think it's a good idea, is up to you.

[Ho Lee Kau]

AMGJocky said:

hammo19 said:

£50k for an A3? That's insane.

You can get 2 x 2004 Bentley Continental GTs for that money - now that's a lot of horsepower! Still most of these will be on tick or company cars.

Colours are stolen from Skoda - sorry shared in the group!

Am I really reading this? Someone comparing an RS3 to two Conti GT's that have the capacity to financially cripple at levels an RS3 couldn't even dream of.

Oh. Deary. Me.

I bet it was a sarcastic joke.
Anyway, whoever buys a used Bentley on a shoestring in order to show off deserves everything he will get!

[TomScrut]

Ho Lee Kau said:

TomScrut said:

JohnoVR6 said:

Audi do some amazing options

I agree, it's a shame most of them are the exclusive colours that generally aren't viable when thinking resale value or lease. There would be a lot of nicer looking ones out there if they were the same price as the normal metallic/pearl colours

I doubt it. People may like a special color...when they spec the car in the configurator...but then they buy something that is easy to sell on later - black, white, gray.

It's moment 22 and the price of the paint won't change it.

I disagree, most of the colours they show them off in are exclusives that cost £1500+. I wouldn't pay that much for a paint job on a new car, I think the £600 they charge for metallic is about fair but not the exclusive money.

[Dave Hedgehog]

TomScrut said:

I disagree, most of the colours they show them off in are exclusives that cost £1500+. I wouldn't pay that much for a paint job on a new car, I think the £600 they charge for metallic is about fair but not the exclusive money.

its 3k i think and i believe they are pulled off the line for the exclusive paintwork

[TomScrut]

Dave Hedgehog said:

TomScrut said:

I disagree, most of the colours they show them off in are exclusives that cost £1500+. I wouldn't pay that much for a paint job on a new car, I think the £600 they charge for metallic is about fair but not the exclusive money.

its 3k i think and i believe they are pulled off the line for the exclusive paintwork

Even more unfeasible then!

[lord trumpton]

Matt/Dan

How does this RS3 compare with the Mk3 Focus RS?

I've just bought a FRS and would be interested in the opinions. Bluntly stating things there are both grunty 4wd hot hatches...

[jl4069]

Ho Lee Kau said:

jl4069 said:

I don't believe this car is as different as these two journalists say they are.

It's most likely not, will be proven a year or two down the road when the same jornos, in some comparison, will stick RS3 in the last place because of dead steering and understeer.

Edited by Ho Lee Kau on Saturday 18th March 08:07

Ho Lee you are probably right. Journalists just play games extolling certain cars in the beginning and then cutting them down quietly later on. I do hold out some hope that this Audi does have a better Haldex than the others in the VW group. But in truth I fear it's still not as good as the system in the Focus RS which was judged to be Superb when it was launched and now somehow has lost favor with the U.K. Press for unknown reasons. Certainly the comparison piston heads did between the Focus and Civic R was rather incomplete. Even Evo magazine was easily able to detect that the Civic R has serious problems with poor surfaces/roads. J

[jl4069]

Ho Lee Kau said:

Matt Bird said:

jl4069 said:

It's like piston heads and Evo were at an entirely different event. Evo says the RS3 reaches "new heights" positively loves the car...

http://www.evo.co.uk/audi/rs3/19070/2017-audi-rs3-...

Hello!

I thought this might come up. Put really simply I didn't get to drive the car on the same route as Dan did, which sounds like it was a lot more fun! He managed to drive the car on some quite slippery second-gear hairpins (see his Twitter for the video) which revealed another side to its character. Having only felt slight suggestions of that on my test drive, I wasn't willing to commit to an opinion on it. Maybe a damp and dank UK day will reveal it too.

Put it this way: if your only experience of a person is their strait-laced and reasonable work demeanour, you will have one opinion of them. If you only experience them as a bit of a giggle on a night out you will have another. I think that's what has happened here. Certainly I would be very surprised if the RS3 felt decidedly rear-driven in the UK but we shall see! As I said, I think the RS3 is a good car but still isn't the most engaging.

Cheers!


Matt

If you want oversteer in a 5-cyl Audi you need wet roads and commitment to be brutal with the car. Whether you are up to it, or even think it's a good idea, is up to you.

Right you are again. But the heavy Focus RS does a good job avoiding too much understeer. The future of all wheel drive should be with that new GKN system. It's just too bad VW are too cheap to use it. J

[menousername]

kambites said:

TomScrut said:

I agree, more second hand buyers ought to appreciate that without new buyers they would have nothing to buy more often rather than the often said "people who buy new or lease are crazy"

I feel a great debt of gratitude to new car buyers/leasers. That doesn't mean I don't think they're crazy, though.

Likewise new buyers should appreciate that without the second hand market there would be no first hand market. People wont pay 60k for these they will pay the depreciation they experience until they trade it into the second hand market. If that market is strong they will pay less.

Most will pay,lets say, 20-30k in reality. If they had to pay 60k they wouldnt by it. The second hand owner over a similar time frame might pay 15-20k lets say. Not much difference there. The whole thing relies on there being always being a pipeline, front to back

[BigLion]

Wills2 said:

Matt Bird said:

jl4069 said:

It's like piston heads and Evo were at an entirely different event. Evo says the RS3 reaches "new heights" positively loves the car...

http://www.evo.co.uk/audi/rs3/19070/2017-audi-rs3-...

Hello!

I thought this might come up. Put really simply I didn't get to drive the car on the same route as Dan did, which sounds like it was a lot more fun! He managed to drive the car on some quite slippery second-gear hairpins (see his Twitter for the video) which revealed another side to its character. Having only felt slight suggestions of that on my test drive, I wasn't willing to commit to an opinion on it. Maybe a damp and dank UK day will reveal it too.

Put it this way: if your only experience of a person is their strait-laced and reasonable work demeanour, you will have one opinion of them. If you only experience them as a bit of a giggle on a night out you will have another. I think that's what has happened here. Certainly I would be very surprised if the RS3 felt decidedly rear-driven in the UK but we shall see! As I said, I think the RS3 is a good car but still isn't the most engaging.

Cheers!


Matt

And this is why you should always make your own mind up when buying car....I read the reviews you did of the F80 M3, drove one myself and wondered what you and other journalists were on about, it was great so I bought one, although I have to say it can sometimes frustrate and delight in equal measure.

I did suggest you drove the ACS M4 and you obliged and agreed it was very good, so I guess it can be all down to the roads and conditions you happen to drive the car on.

A road test is just a snap shot in time rather than a definitive answer.

Edited by Wills2 on Friday 17th March 22:01

Why does the f80 frustrate sometimes?

[twoblacklines]

What I loved about 8P RS3's and even S3's is they didn't look much different to an S-Line.

Now it is all about quad exhausts, stupid exhaust bangs, shouty colours etc..eugh.

[Wills2]

BigLion said:

Why does the f80 frustrate sometimes?

Too much torque too soon, not enough traction, gear shifts in S3 can clause the DSC to rob you of the throttle completely, bumps in the road under throttle really do upset the dampers and again the DSC comes down like a hammer, it isn't a floor it and go kind of car, you have to get it right IMHO.

Great car but not perfect, like any other.

[Yipper]

£50k for an Audi repmobile is insane. If you're spending that kind of cash on a fast, loud, 4-seater, do it in style with a Bentley Continental 6.0 GT and lord it up like a PH director or midlevel drugdealer, not a travelling salesman.

[BigLion]

Wills2 said:

BigLion said:

Why does the f80 frustrate sometimes?

Too much torque too soon, not enough traction, gear shifts in S3 can clause the DSC to rob you of the throttle completely, bumps in the road under throttle really do upset the dampers and again the DSC comes down like a hammer, it isn't a floor it and go kind of car, you have to get it right IMHO.

Great car but not perfect, like any other.

Xdrive needs to come sooner rather than later...I'm starting to think the e92 m3 variant was the best ever!

[Wills2]

BigLion said:

Wills2 said:

BigLion said:

Why does the f80 frustrate sometimes?

Too much torque too soon, not enough traction, gear shifts in S3 can clause the DSC to rob you of the throttle completely, bumps in the road under throttle really do upset the dampers and again the DSC comes down like a hammer, it isn't a floor it and go kind of car, you have to get it right IMHO.

Great car but not perfect, like any other.

Xdrive needs to come sooner rather than later...I'm starting to think the e92 m3 variant was the best ever!

The engine/powertrain was better with the e92 yes especially the CP which had better DSC that kept the throttle and just used the brakes however the CP f80 does the same so perhaps that's the car. The handling no, e92 a bit of a boat compared the F80 in that regard, but you can't have everything.

Xdrive will just dull down the car completely not looking forward to that.

I've done 34k in a year in my F80, I like the car but you have to drive it according to its character.