Audi Review...
Discussion
A3 TDI 140 DSG
Ok, so I have owned this for a few months now and thought I would do a little review of it for those who are considering one. I have waited 'till now so that my views are somewhat unbiased and inpartial, I am actually bored of the car but keeping it for practicality reasons (and slight image factor, will come to that).
Audi make good cars, and thanks to depreciation it allows people to enjoy a car thats more comfortable and built better than the competition. The only other car in the same price league as this is a low ish mileage Ep3, which has much better performance however most of them do not even have AC!
I had a budget of £15k originally and was looking at S3's, I then drove one and found I cant fit my leg in between the silly dash support strut and the steering wheel to operate the clutch. Bummer I thought! I test drove a DSG model and loved it, however I couldnt find one below £19k so that was out of the equation. I then test drove both 2.0 TFSI's and 2.0 TDI's and, although no doubt this will create arguements, as far as ride quality and driving normally went, I couldnt find a difference. The new 2.0 tdi seemed much smoother than the 1.9 PD130 I had had in a passat before, and actually was more refined than the 1.8t passat I was driving at the time. Fuel economy is awesome, I drove from Plymouth to Newquay last night doing around 70mph in 6th and it was doing 52.1mpg average according to the computer. The 2.0 TFSI is not even that bad, Dad has the manual version and gets high 30's to low 40's, and petrol is cheaper to purchase.
Anyway I ended up going home to do research etc and a few days later happened to spot this car, an 03 140 3 door DSG in Lava Grey. It was a Sport (I had wanted an S-Line) but it had a wierd spec from factory, where options seemed to have been selected out of a lottery, so it had the full expensive better quality extended leather, Bose system, heated seats, but no cruise control and things like that. Wierd. Anyway it was only 20 miles away, so I went to see it, drove it, etc and ended up buying it for sub £5k.
For the driving I do its great, I didnt really see the point in spending 3x its worth, in my head it makes sense, a car that does better MPG for 3x less cash... but in my heart I do miss a petrol engine. But its quite quiet at idle and compared to my fathers 1.8 TFSI Sportback its like for like on the move. I dont drive agressivly so the narrow power band and big sludge of torque right down low suits it fine for me. I liked driving my passat post-remap, and always thought it needed a good auto, and the DSG is amazing in this A3. Leave it in drive, driving round town is great, driving with my right arm on the window sill is great, driving more enthusiastically is great for saftey too, as at "10 to 2" your fingers are just infront of the paddles.
Which leads me to the paddles..which are tiny... why they put them on the steering wheels and not larger ones on the column I dont know...you can only change gear when the wheel is straight! Also, I dont know if its just because the car is the Tdi version, and not an instant-response N/a petrol like the 3.2, but when you change gear, its not instant. Theres a bit of a dead space in between pulling a paddle and the engine (and rev counter) moving into another gear. Shift is supposed to take around 0.08 seconds? But in reality takes about 1-2 seconds, certainly enough to be noticed. No idea if it speeds up in Sport mode? as I do not use S, ever. It tends to hang on to gears and change up at the rev limiter, pointless in a diesel, its almost as if they use the generic DSG software in all models of the car... a diesel specific software release would be great.
I graduated from uni last year, am self employed at the moment and the car is ideal for me, can run it on a shoe string budget when needed, has the right image, had lots of thumbs up from women (something I dont get, its not an R8 ffs), a few people have said "nice car, mate" etc. No one believes it cost £5k. lol.
The only other car I was looking at was a 330ci, but I would rather wait for the E92 version, or maybe a 335i if I can run one by then.
I dont think I would go back to a manual car.
Now for the downside...this car has no soul. Theres no going out for random spirited drives, which is good in a way as it saves me money... but for example downshifting to third using the paddles and overtaking a string of traffic, in the S3 I drove this was grin inducing, doing the same in this car.... whilst much slower but able...it just seems like a waste of fuel. And whilst all my cash goes into my business, maybe a boring car is just what I need!?
Do forgive the pics, im a s
t photographer and I am only using a Galaxy Ace.
Great in bad weather, for a fwd Automatic
Ok, so I have owned this for a few months now and thought I would do a little review of it for those who are considering one. I have waited 'till now so that my views are somewhat unbiased and inpartial, I am actually bored of the car but keeping it for practicality reasons (and slight image factor, will come to that).
Audi make good cars, and thanks to depreciation it allows people to enjoy a car thats more comfortable and built better than the competition. The only other car in the same price league as this is a low ish mileage Ep3, which has much better performance however most of them do not even have AC!
I had a budget of £15k originally and was looking at S3's, I then drove one and found I cant fit my leg in between the silly dash support strut and the steering wheel to operate the clutch. Bummer I thought! I test drove a DSG model and loved it, however I couldnt find one below £19k so that was out of the equation. I then test drove both 2.0 TFSI's and 2.0 TDI's and, although no doubt this will create arguements, as far as ride quality and driving normally went, I couldnt find a difference. The new 2.0 tdi seemed much smoother than the 1.9 PD130 I had had in a passat before, and actually was more refined than the 1.8t passat I was driving at the time. Fuel economy is awesome, I drove from Plymouth to Newquay last night doing around 70mph in 6th and it was doing 52.1mpg average according to the computer. The 2.0 TFSI is not even that bad, Dad has the manual version and gets high 30's to low 40's, and petrol is cheaper to purchase.
Anyway I ended up going home to do research etc and a few days later happened to spot this car, an 03 140 3 door DSG in Lava Grey. It was a Sport (I had wanted an S-Line) but it had a wierd spec from factory, where options seemed to have been selected out of a lottery, so it had the full expensive better quality extended leather, Bose system, heated seats, but no cruise control and things like that. Wierd. Anyway it was only 20 miles away, so I went to see it, drove it, etc and ended up buying it for sub £5k.
For the driving I do its great, I didnt really see the point in spending 3x its worth, in my head it makes sense, a car that does better MPG for 3x less cash... but in my heart I do miss a petrol engine. But its quite quiet at idle and compared to my fathers 1.8 TFSI Sportback its like for like on the move. I dont drive agressivly so the narrow power band and big sludge of torque right down low suits it fine for me. I liked driving my passat post-remap, and always thought it needed a good auto, and the DSG is amazing in this A3. Leave it in drive, driving round town is great, driving with my right arm on the window sill is great, driving more enthusiastically is great for saftey too, as at "10 to 2" your fingers are just infront of the paddles.
Which leads me to the paddles..which are tiny... why they put them on the steering wheels and not larger ones on the column I dont know...you can only change gear when the wheel is straight! Also, I dont know if its just because the car is the Tdi version, and not an instant-response N/a petrol like the 3.2, but when you change gear, its not instant. Theres a bit of a dead space in between pulling a paddle and the engine (and rev counter) moving into another gear. Shift is supposed to take around 0.08 seconds? But in reality takes about 1-2 seconds, certainly enough to be noticed. No idea if it speeds up in Sport mode? as I do not use S, ever. It tends to hang on to gears and change up at the rev limiter, pointless in a diesel, its almost as if they use the generic DSG software in all models of the car... a diesel specific software release would be great.
I graduated from uni last year, am self employed at the moment and the car is ideal for me, can run it on a shoe string budget when needed, has the right image, had lots of thumbs up from women (something I dont get, its not an R8 ffs), a few people have said "nice car, mate" etc. No one believes it cost £5k. lol.
The only other car I was looking at was a 330ci, but I would rather wait for the E92 version, or maybe a 335i if I can run one by then.
I dont think I would go back to a manual car.
Now for the downside...this car has no soul. Theres no going out for random spirited drives, which is good in a way as it saves me money... but for example downshifting to third using the paddles and overtaking a string of traffic, in the S3 I drove this was grin inducing, doing the same in this car.... whilst much slower but able...it just seems like a waste of fuel. And whilst all my cash goes into my business, maybe a boring car is just what I need!?
Do forgive the pics, im a s
t photographer and I am only using a Galaxy Ace.Great in bad weather, for a fwd Automatic
Coming to an L3 bumper near you soon!
Sorry, couldn't help it
I'm sure it will be a nice place to spend some time while you save up for something a little bit friskier.
Slightly surprised you couldn't find a Civic with A/C (if memory serves most had it, although it is a bit cackle). Also, 'never again a manual'
Did you test drive the CTR? Outside of big money, perhaps the best gearbox you can get (DSG included).
Otherwise, a generally sensible, considered review
.
Sorry, couldn't help it
I'm sure it will be a nice place to spend some time while you save up for something a little bit friskier.Slightly surprised you couldn't find a Civic with A/C (if memory serves most had it, although it is a bit cackle). Also, 'never again a manual'
Did you test drive the CTR? Outside of big money, perhaps the best gearbox you can get (DSG included).Otherwise, a generally sensible, considered review
.twoblacklines said:
Which leads me to the paddles..which are tiny... why they put them on the steering wheels and not larger ones on the column I dont know...you can only change gear when the wheel is straight!
Wait, what?Do you shuffle when you steer? I though conventional wisdom was that wheel mounted paddles were better because if you were driving 'properly' the paddles would always be at your fingertips no matter how much lock you have on?
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