The missis is after trading in her Pug 206 GTI for a 2001 Audi S3. Can anyone recommend these? Or has anyone drove one? Any comments good/bad wuld be appreciated!!

Ta,

NickF on here went from a GS300 to an S3 and hasn't looked back!

I've been in a friends S3 and it was very quick, he's got rid now though for an S4 which is in a different league (as you'd expect!)

There is also more room in them than I would have expected, all in all a great little motor, I'd kill myself though in something that quick!

Guy at work had one. Liked it (much better handling than the TT), just the normal VW/Audi unreliability. As with any of their 1.8T engines the coil packs go as well as dump valves (he had two or three in the 9 months he had the car from new). He then brought an A4 Cab and then a Seat Cupra R, which he liked better than the S3.

quite nice, 2 different power models as far as I know..

Something like 210bhp and 225bhp ..

Black or silver one

these share a similar number of parts with the golf 4motion from what i understand and i have a friend with a 4motion who has had nothing but trouble with the car from day 1, and the VW/Audi dealerships are less than helpful.

[quote name='SteveAudioX' date='Oct 10 2004, 07:19 PM']2 different power models as far as I know..

Something like 210bhp and 225bhp ..[/quote]
That's correct, depending on age. Think the more powerful engine came in 2002.

I swapped my GS for a 1999 S3 a couple of months back and I'm still loving every minute of it. It is fun and safe to drive, but it does make me drive much faster than my GS.

They're plenty fast enough as standard (there's little between the 210 and 225BHP models) but if you feel yourself needing a bit more they are really cheap to modify, with quite a few companies offering remaps to around 270BHP for around £500. I had a 5hr free demo of one such remap and it is awesome. I will be getting this done permanently quite soon. They handle well, but they do tend to understeer quite a bit when pressing on!

I went for an S3 because I wanted a change, and didn't fancy a Scooby (or at least I didn't fancy the image that goes with it). I do miss the space in the Lexus, but as I see it, I've got the rest of my life to buy a big luxury car.

As Colin says, the coil packs and diverter valves are a weak point. I replaced my diverter valve when I bought it - they're only about £15 so its not a big problem. Coil packs on the other hand are expensive. Mine are OK at the moment...

I get about the same fuel consumption out of my S3 as I did from my Lexus. I can get it as low as 20MPG, and upto about 33MPG depending on driving style. My normal mix of driving gives about 28MPG.

Thanks guys, that's most helpful. Sorry to keep this going but one last question...how do you tell if there's a problem with the coils???

The car starts jerking under acceleration, basically running on one less cylinder under load.

Does the S3 have four wheel drive as standard or is it an option? I used to have a Seat Leon Cupra for a while, a nice car but it seemed to suffer from wheel spin and understeer quite a lot.

I think the S3, A3 1.8T, one of the high end Golfs, a Skoda, and the Seat Cupra all share a lot of parts (all built by VAG).

Yes the S3 is 4WD which is why the Curpa R is quicker as there is less drivetrain power loss and less weight.

The S3 understeers quite a bit too. I have never driven a Leon Cupra so can't compare the two. I would imagine that the Leon would suffer from a fair bit of torque steer with 200BHP going through the front wheels, which the S3 doesn't have.