New S3 Test Drive (LCR Comparison)

[Ben CTR]

I have it for the day tomorrow, so will report back with road test. Had a brief drive of it a couple of weeks back and liked it. But got it for the full day tomorrow, so will be giving it a good full days worth of driving as i'm working all over the place.
Anyone else had the pleasure, if so what's your thoughts?





UPDATED!!!!!

Now back from my day with the Orange (although I may have it till the morning yet, as my mum wants a butchers at one) If i'm honest I don't want to give it back.. What a lovely motor..
First of all on the looks side of it... The only thing that lets it down for me is the wheels.. Nice design but look a little small IMO (see pics). Plus the rear end could do with a few subtle changes to seperate it more from the normal 2.0T. Apart from that, I think it's looks the business.. See for yourself and give opinions..
Performance wise it's impressive.. I would put it somewhere between a standard LCR and a remapped one.. Definatly quicker than mine in standard form, but would struggle to hang on to a remapped one I think..
It has a different power delivery to mine, less aggresive and more progressive, which is nice to see on a turbo charged motor. Revs round nicely to 7,000rpm and feels like it can go more if it wasn't for the rev limiter having it's say. But the good thing is, you can drive it balls out or just as easily potter about town in it feeling more relaxed than ever. It's a very good comprimise i'd say. Especially on the motorway, as you can again be Mr outside lane man trying to break the sound barrier, or be driving Miss Daisy trundling along at 50-60 on the inside lane.. What ever suits really..
Handling wise... Again another thumbs up! Although I haven't exactly taken it on a rally stage.. lol. It seems to handle very well and not wollow as much as mine (LCR) and has awesome grip out of the bends (helped by 4WD obviously). But as I said, with me having all my work folders everywhere, I didn't throw it about to much, otherwise it would end up looking like an explosion in WH Smith's inside..
One thing I will say though, the brakes didn't have the feel of the LCR's Brembos, I know that.. But I didn't push them to much to be fair.
Fuel wise I didn't find it that bad.. I started with half a tank and have done about 150miles of reasonably aggressive driving and the fuel light has only just come on. Averaging about 25-26 last time I looked. So probably about the same as mine really...

If anyone wants to ask any other questions on it, feel free... But it's a big thumbs up from me so far!! :thumright: :thumright:
:thumright:
Some pics I took earlier ..

 

[Dodson]

Is a lovely car but i think the wheels look seriously wank!

 

[Snoopie]

I love it. I really do.....

 

[jonjay]

RS6's would sort it out bigtime

 

[Ben CTR]

Just managed to extend my test drive till the morning... So quite chuffed with that..

 

[InfernalBadger]

So how did you manage to get it for the whole day then? :O

Looks great, wish I could afford one

 

[JKM]

Interesting read, There are a lot of people waiting in anticipation of good reviews from this car.
I think that there are also a lot of people waiting to see the full extent of all of the differences from the Mk5 Golf GTi/ new Leon FR engine etc as well (myself included).

 

[BJM]

What a lovely car - seriously lovin the orange colour aswell!

 

[Ben CTR]

I really liked the power delivery to be honest.. Would love to drive a remapped one (306 bhp). Also looking forward to the new Cupra too..
Got a test drive in the new Mazda 3 MPS in a couple of weeks too. So will report back on that..

 

[Reg]

Very nice - better wheels and get rid of that vomit inducing colour and it would be a very welcome addition to the family I am sure.

 

[karlosR]

in the second picture it looks similar to a focus st, i don't think the colour helps though. i wouldn't say no to one!

 

[Rickman]

Great review Ben,

Fine looking car though why they have borrowed the wheels from a Ford Fiesta is beyond me.
What was the turn in like when going round corners? I like my Hot Hatches old fashioned style with plenty of bite through the wheel. When i purchased my LCR i chose over an Imprezza WRX because of this reason. The WRX had tremendous traction but felt a bit 'lardy' through the corners, taking corners in the LCR is a bit more of an event.

 

[Ben CTR]

Well without chucking it about to much, it felt very planted and the steering was quite responsive. On the whole it was a better handling car than the LCR. But so it should be with it being 4 years newer and £30,000.. lol

 

[warren_cox]

So how did you manage to get it for the whole day then? :O

Exactly my f'kin question - I'm buying one and I got the statutory 1hr (admittedly unassisted). Ended up going to another dealer for another go before I made up my mind.

MTM have just bought out a remap stg1 for it at 310bhp / 400Nm. (MTM)

I don't know why but I am far less excited about getting the car than I should be. It's good, but nowhere near good enough when you consider a Cupra is £20k. My Stage 2 LCR would have taken it on a straight drag. Kim Collins at QST has driven a remapped new style S3 and says the remap sorts it out, and they are not recommending any further changes (eg DV / filter). Yes the exhaust gives you a few more bhp, but supposedly its marginal. Mine goes to build on wk 4, and they are guesstimating it will arrive for 1st march (at which point I'll be hurriedly sourcing a set of new style RS4 alloys for it to replace those sh1tty standard efforts)

Can you blag another day so I can visit you and go @r$ing about in it!

Glad you enjoyed it, good to get a second opinion, and even gladder I didn't go for tango man colour!

 

[Ben CTR]

To be fair mate, Lincoln Audi are spot on and always have been. I know one of the Salesman, but they do a 5hr unaccompanied test drive anyway. So I suggest if you're in the area give them a bell mate.. Quality service!!

 

[warren_cox]

To be fair mate, Lincoln Audi are spot on and always have been. I know one of the Salesman, but they do a 5hr unaccompanied test drive anyway. So I suggest if you're in the area give them a bell mate.. Quality service!!

To be fair to Newbury Audi I had already had 1hr in an S4 estate, 10 minutes in an S4 cabriolet (both S4's were the 4.2 V8 versions, not the 2.7 biturbo's). Didn't really rate either TBH. Then tried the TT3.2 for an assisted drive and it was a decent drive but felt strangely slow. Finally they gave me an A3 2.0T FSi Quattro for 2hrs on the basis of which I placed the order. When the S3 demo arrived I then got 1hr. So they have given me some time in cars, but less than I'd like in the S3 (I suppose once the deposit is down there is no incentive to hook you up with guilt after an extended test drive to close the sale).

Shame I wont be in Lincoln before it arrives.

 

[luke]

I like them but 30K is a bit steep.

 

[Rickman]

30k...did you say 30k!!! I didn't realise s3's had got that expensive

Not bad for a German premium brand i suppose but at that price it's starting to get close to some seriosly swanky cars with a few miles on the clock. And it's vastly more expensive that a number of other cars which could be argued do the job just as well

New Cupra - The new king of the road (Surely worth some discount from Seat for that comment)
Import Imprezza STI - Looks crap, purely my opinion
And if you can bring yourself to buy somthing with a Vauxhall badge on a Monaro VXR - coffin on wheels (What's another 7k if your spending 30)

 

[RobM]

Hold on, you have that car until tomorrow, and you're sat here on the net! What's wrong with you man!

 

[MattR]

Colour looks good. Is that £30k with the options? Agree bout the wheels - are they standard or is there another choice - look bit p1ss poor.