A3 TDI, suprisingly impressed!

A3 TDI, suprisingly impressed!

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Discussion

sleep envy

62,260 posts

248 months

Monday 5th July 2010
quotequote all
Accelebrate said:
Then there's the issue of every office junior in the country apparently thinking their 1.6 'Sport' is the fastest thing on the road.
that's if you care about image

OnTheOverrun

3,965 posts

176 months

Monday 5th July 2010
quotequote all
sleep envy said:
Accelebrate said:
Then there's the issue of every office junior in the country apparently thinking their 1.6 'Sport' is the fastest thing on the road.
that's if you care about image
Image is the only reason to buy an A3 over a Golf isn't it?

ShiggyBiggs

713 posts

173 months

Monday 5th July 2010
quotequote all
f1nn said:
I'm talking slip angles that tighten lines/quell understeer rather than unrecoverable slides.

One annoyance, why do VAG cars not allow left foot braking at the same time as acceleration?, It dips power for 3 seconds or so unless you release accelerator and re-apply. Silly.
I thought Id lost the ability to left foot brake when I changed from a Nissan to a VW. I assumed the pedal was more sensitive. But soon figured it out. Seems a bit stupid to me but in some circumstances I suppose it might be very usefull.

sleep envy

62,260 posts

248 months

Monday 5th July 2010
quotequote all
OnTheOverrun said:
sleep envy said:
Accelebrate said:
Then there's the issue of every office junior in the country apparently thinking their 1.6 'Sport' is the fastest thing on the road.
that's if you care about image
Image is the only reason to buy an A3 over a Golf isn't it?
not in my case

tried to buy a golf but the salesman wasn't interested, so I popped over the road and waved at the VW guy as I drove off in my A3

david_h

579 posts

262 months

Monday 5th July 2010
quotequote all
Accelebrate said:
Doesn't sound like the same car I've driven.

Numb steering, heavily over assisted brakes. Yuck.
I would agree, test drove the 3.2 quattro version, it's horrid.

Makes a lot of noise and doesn't go anywhere, brakes over-servo'd, steering way too light.

Silverbullet767

10,680 posts

205 months

Monday 5th July 2010
quotequote all
Mr Gearchange said:
biggrin
Have a look at 'S Line Luxury's' post history. EVERY single one is a peice of quite incredible VAG fanboyism.

Edited by Mr Gearchange on Sunday 4th July 15:51
Christ, I may sell my car if they attract nutters like this.......

Maybe he will buy it? £300k sound reasonable, it is of course from the luxury brand that no-one else can come close to. I'll even trhow in an Audi keyring, known to be the best keyrings ever designed.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Monday 5th July 2010
quotequote all
S Line Luxury said:
superb cars, the finish, the power, the handling, the imagine

i would say mine they are one of the top 10 cars on the road, real luxury
laugh

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Monday 5th July 2010
quotequote all
S Line Luxury said:
Cant think of many cars that have all the boxes ticked

like i say, comapare it to most cars and you will struggle to beat it
Umm, how about no.

rb5230

11,657 posts

171 months

Monday 5th July 2010
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
S Line Luxury said:
superb cars, the finish, the power, the handling, the imagine

i would say mine they are one of the top 10 cars on the road, real luxury
laugh
that really is priceless. roflrofl

HellDiver

5,708 posts

181 months

Monday 5th July 2010
quotequote all
f1nn said:
One annoyance, why do VAG cars not allow left foot braking at the same time as acceleration?, It dips power for 3 seconds or so unless you release accelerator and re-apply. Silly.
It's a fuction of the Bosch ABS computer that also does the traction control. Even my old 2003 Mk4 Astra 2.0DTI did the same, touch the brake with power applied and it'll lift the power.

I'm assuming it's a safety feature, in case someone tried to stop the car while still applying throttle - better having the computer lift the throttle than the engine fighting the brake.

There's more incompetant fools at the wheel than people who can or want to left foot brake.

edo

16,699 posts

264 months

Monday 5th July 2010
quotequote all
Back on topic.

I bought a 2007 A3 170 tdi DSG (S-Tronic).

It was a nice car in many ways - great build, great seats, good economy, plenty of grunt, and the dsg/s-tronic gearbox is a great system.

On S-line suspension and 18 inch alloys the ride was a little too crashy/firm. Never had an issue with steering sensitivity or the brakes.

Castrol Craig

18,073 posts

205 months

Wednesday 7th July 2010
quotequote all
MX5 x 335D (mapped) = a3......awesome.

f1nn

Original Poster:

2,692 posts

191 months

Sunday 11th July 2010
quotequote all
edo said:
Back on topic.

I bought a 2007 A3 170 tdi DSG (S-Tronic).

It was a nice car in many ways - great build, great seats, good economy, plenty of grunt, and the dsg/s-tronic gearbox is a great system.

On S-line suspension and 18 inch alloys the ride was a little too crashy/firm. Never had an issue with steering sensitivity or the brakes.
Hmmm, the sport spec model that I'm in currently is on 17's and I believe that the suspension is a little higher/softer, and its a fair compromise. Shame as the S-line set up looks better.

Did over 600 miles in it on Friday and agree with the seat comfort, although I wish they returned to the original position when you tilted them on the 3dr!

Think of the progress in the last 10-15 years. Diesel hatch which will return near 50mpg, handle better than some "hot hatches" I could mention, and indicate just south of 1.5 leps, and have no probs turning in 600 mile days in relative comfort.

Not specifically the A3, but modern stuff in general. We've never had it so good, wonder how much further the peak is before we are all forced into electric/hybrid stuff.

Celt

1,264 posts

191 months

Sunday 11th July 2010
quotequote all
HellDiver said:
f1nn said:
One annoyance, why do VAG cars not allow left foot braking at the same time as acceleration?, It dips power for 3 seconds or so unless you release accelerator and re-apply. Silly.
It's a fuction of the Bosch ABS computer that also does the traction control. Even my old 2003 Mk4 Astra 2.0DTI did the same, touch the brake with power applied and it'll lift the power.

I'm assuming it's a safety feature, in case someone tried to stop the car while still applying throttle - better having the computer lift the throttle than the engine fighting the brake.

There's more incompetant fools at the wheel than people who can or want to left foot brake.
So it stops you be able to H&T? My mum has been driving 20 odd years and wont have even considered moving her left foot right of the clutch. But I think people who want to left foot brake or H&T should be able to. Granted neither is particularly needed on a diesel hatch. But I think it disinterests people who like to drive away from VAG. I would rather have the option than not.

Also is all VAG cars the same? Does the S3, GTi, R32, Bentleys, lambos share this or just there lower end stuff?

LukeBird

17,170 posts

208 months

Sunday 11th July 2010
quotequote all
Celt said:
So it stops you be able to H&T? My mum has been driving 20 odd years and wont have even considered moving her left foot right of the clutch. But I think people who want to left foot brake or H&T should be able to. Granted neither is particularly needed on a diesel hatch. But I think it disinterests people who like to drive away from VAG. I would rather have the option than not.

Also is all VAG cars the same? Does the S3, GTi, R32, Bentleys, lambos share this or just there lower end stuff?
It does indeed... my old Clio did the same. It had an electronic throttle, so I guess it was a very easy thing to do.
Bloody stupid really... you shouldn't really be allowed to drive if you can't differentiate between the brake and throttle...
No idea if my MX-5 does it though!

sleep envy

62,260 posts

248 months

Sunday 11th July 2010
quotequote all
F1nn - same spec as mine

push the seat squab all the way back before you push the back rest back, all whilst holding the lever in the up position, 'tis a little awkard to begin with but you'll get the hang of it

Munter

31,319 posts

240 months

Sunday 11th July 2010
quotequote all
LukeBird said:
Celt said:
So it stops you be able to H&T? My mum has been driving 20 odd years and wont have even considered moving her left foot right of the clutch. But I think people who want to left foot brake or H&T should be able to. Granted neither is particularly needed on a diesel hatch. But I think it disinterests people who like to drive away from VAG. I would rather have the option than not.

Also is all VAG cars the same? Does the S3, GTi, R32, Bentleys, lambos share this or just there lower end stuff?
It does indeed... my old Clio did the same. It had an electronic throttle, so I guess it was a very easy thing to do.
Bloody stupid really... you shouldn't really be allowed to drive if you can't differentiate between the brake and throttle...
No idea if my MX-5 does it though!
MK1 MX5s don't do it. I've pushed all 3 pedals trying to come to a stop before now. If the foot on the clutch is a bit to the right. Then the foot touching it on the brake pedal has to be a bit to the right. And then the throttle pedal is very easy to just catch with a few mm of the right foot. So you pull up at the pedestrian crossing with the engine revving away.... Tad embarrassing.

kieranjholland

3,572 posts

169 months

Sunday 18th July 2010
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OllieWinchester said:
S Line Luxury said:
superb cars, the finish, the power, the handling, the imagine

i would say mine they are one of the top 10 cars on the road, real luxury
The what?

hehe
^I would say this is one of the top 10 quotes on this forum^

It takes a lot of imagine to think that and Audi A3 is one of the top 10 cars on the road laugh

MX5guy

22,077 posts

200 months

Thursday 12th May 2011
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Surely this deserves a bump for those who haven't seen it, biggrin

Cupramax

10,469 posts

251 months

Thursday 12th May 2011
quotequote all
I wonder if S Line luxury is Powerfully built? rofl