Just taken delivery of a new A3 Sport 2.0TDi DSG. I've read a few comments of late on here that would suggest it is overrated, overpriced, a "secretary's car" etc. etc.
Yet, I love it. I've driven Golfs, Octavias and all of those, and just changed a Fabia vRS for the A3: the A3 just feels "right". The DSG is great on twisty roads (I did a Chesire/Shropshire/West Mids thrash last night, the worst part being torrential rain on the M54) and the auto is great in traffic. Reverse is a bit jerky, and I am still not used to the lag when you press the throttle in "D", but the whole car just makes me smile.
Is there something wrong with me? Am I getting old, or am I just a pretentious "secretary wannabe"? : )
Discuss!
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Who cares what others think? Your money, your car.
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Im a wannabe secretary also then as i like them.
The only way to keep people off your back on here, is to have a Mundeo or something that at least has some association with the land of the rising sun.
Everything else gets slaughtered( god help you if its german).
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No you don't. I like mine too... same car just without DSG. Like you say it just feels 'right' which is something the Skoda and the Seat didn't. At the time I bought the new Golf wasn't out.
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cjehuk, I am glad you know what I mean. It feels like a bespoke suit. Or rather, how I imagine a bespoke suit would feel, seeing as I don't have one!!!
Xileno, I completely agree.... my post is, as ever, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I am glad to see some support for my lovely little motor!
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Over 29000 miles I've averaged 47mpg with a best of 66mpg and a worst of 38mpg. I have just two complaints about the car... it is possible to get caught 'off turbo' but only when driving rapidly after a long period of being used to lazy early changes, this is negated by the DSG. The only real issue is the engine is very noisy on a cold start in winter. Oh and depending how you drive my P6000s are only lasting about 14k on average.
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Michelins on the fronts lasted 23,000 on mine and still had some life left - rears have about 5mm left. The SE has 16 inch rims - 17 inch rims as fitted to Sport version may chew tryes quicker - or you like to plant the right foot!
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No, you don't need help at all. You like the car because of what it can do, not for an image.
"Everything else gets slaughtered( god help you if its german)." - sadly, very true
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I am considering trading the wife's car in for 2001 -2003 A3 1.9 TDI (130). Seems to me that these are nice cars with the added fuel ecomomy.
Anyone have experience of owning driving this particular model? Seen lots with over 100,000 on them. Are they still good after that sort of mileage?
Also is the quattro woth getting on thw 1.9 tdi?
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In my role as A3 enthusiast, I can tell you I also had the old-shape one that A2B is looking at, I had an '03 1.9 Tdi 130 Sport. Half-leather seats (very nice), lovely interior, more than adequately fast and mine had the multispoke alloys with the lowered Sport suspension and looked lovely in Denim Blue.
My first trip in it was to Le Mans, and it proved a worthy ally. Don't know about high-mileage ones.
I drive fairly rapidly and got 47-49 mpg out of it.
I didn't have a Quattro, but a friend of mine did, then had a 2WD one after. He said he wouldn't have another Quattro, less mpg and he didn't "feel" the 4wd as much as he thought he would.
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Good on you matey - these pages seem filled with people who do nowt but moan about there cars.
It's nice to hear from someone else who enjoys their car and their motoring.
What the "secret ingredient" is that makes you like a car and gives someone else the opinion to slate it has never been found, but to hell with them.
way back when I drove a signal orange Mk2 Escort that everyone took the mickey out of. I kept the car for three years spent nothing on repairs / breakdowns (& serviced the easy stuff myself). I racked up 60000 miles and sold the car for £750 less that I paid for it. But people still felt the need to tell me that Mk2 Escorts were pants, I would be better off with x, y, or z and that it was not a car for a young bloke.
When I then went onto another non - young bloke car (V6 Mk 2 Granada) they thought that I'd lost my marbles again.
But guess which car we all went on a 200 mile trip in ? The Capri, the TR7, the jazzed up Mini, the Polo or the Granny ?
MTC
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I would kill for a Mk 2 Escort and/or a Mk 2 Granada now! It'd be like that recent TV series about the policeman going back in time....
As for a Granada Coupé..... I'd love one.
Your point about "secret ingredient" is a very interesting one, and the funny thing is I was the same with my old A3 as well. Audi obviously has a stevied special ingredient in it's A3. I had a TT before the A3 and never really enjoyed it... my friends think I am mad when I say how much I prefer my A3(s)!
Maybe I should try your Chrysler to see if it has the stevied ingredient? : )
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Maybe I should try your Chrysler to see if it has the stevied ingredient? : )
I think that Chrysler must put something into the climate control on my 300C - at least that would explain why I have a fixed grim when I drive around in Arnie.
MTC
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I have a fixed grim when I drive around in Arnie.
Best typo ever.
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have a fixed grim when I drive around in Arnie.
That'll be a fixed grin.:)
MTC
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Top motor the MK 2 Granada! I bought one 2 years ago (a 1982 Champagne metallic 2.8 Ghia saloon) when I was 25 and love driving it. One of the most comfortable cars ever, a lovely V6 engine and looks cools in my opinion. It has the metric TRX wheels and original Ford fogs and driving lamps. Some thought it was an odd car to buy for a 25 year old, but they've since changed their minds!! It's only done 70K miles and there isn't a rattle or squeak from the interior unlike my other newer car...
There's a big Granada meet on 1st weekend in September at Billing Aquadrome (Northampton) and I'll be going down there with my caravan in tow (great tow car too).
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remind me nearer the time and i will try and go please, unless im looking round a big wigwam at the time (edam prospects) i loved the mk2 grandad especially the mk2 ghia auto unfortunately the petrol killed it for me but i would now consider a proper minter ghia x
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"I would kill for a Mk 2 Escort and/or a Mk 2 Granada now! "
- keep an eye on www.affordableclassics.co.uk/carsforsale.htm for old Fords
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Nice one! Cheers for that. I need to get rid of the Trabant I have at the mo, offers gratefullt received, and then I will get something along these lines....
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That's gratefullY not gratefullt!
PS why the (P) after your name? Adam (P) has the same...
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PS why the (P) after your name? Adam (P) has the same...
I've always wondered that too
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It means we both have profiles.
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20 miles short of covering 24,000 miles since May 05 in my A3 2.0TDi SE DSG Sportback. Still enjoying it - mid 40s mpg and no major problems - broken/dislodged circlip on gear stick (wouldn't stay in R) and replacement air quality sensor on climate system. It will be replaced next year and for the first time ever it could well be a like for like swap, although I may go for 170 PS.
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This 'secret ingredient' is the reason why I'd rather drive my 9-year old Alfa to commute 300 miles per week than my 03 Mondeo.
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The DSG is marvelous and much more fun than an autobox should be. The combination with that engine is really good and you are quite right to love it. I haven?t spent much time in A3s but there are loads of them in our fleet and as far as I can tell when they?re up for replacement most people go for another one.
As far as I can see the knocking seems to be borne out of either ignorance, envy, people who never even driven the car or people who have been genuinely unlucky and had relentless problems with their cars/or received rubbish customer service from the dealer. Unfortunately some of the latter group turn into nutters and bores, proceeding to damn every product that emanates from that auto group. Cars can go wrong and dealers can make mistakes or act unprofessionally, I used to run an Alfa 156 and had more than my fair share of both but when that car was on the road it was flipping hoot to drive and I would never knock anyone for choosing a Fiat or Alfa. Nowadays it?s largely pot luck with any cars, but meanwhile enjoy the A3 and sod the critics.
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Thank you all for your comments! I shall, with a light heart, go out and play in my A3 now!
I was interested to hear about the Granada meet!!! Is it full, I wonder, of Sweeney and Professionals types jumping on car bonnets, or is it a gentler affair?
Please take a pic of a Granada coupé and post it on here if there's one at the meet!
Stevied
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"I am still not used to the lag when you press the throttle in "D", "
That was the only criticism I had of my last car, (A4 Avant 2.5 TDI) - but diesels take a long time to run in and I founf the lag grafdually lessened over time. It casn take up to 10,000 miles to get the full performance.
Maybe you or others with the VAG 2.0 TDI with DSG would like to comment on how noisy it is. My current Mercedes B200 CVT is putting me off 4-cylinder diesel automatics with the drone, particularly under acceleration. Does anyone have a similar problem with the VAG diesel or is it more refined?
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Hi Avant. My new A3 is a lot less noisy than the old shape one I had, and a LOT less noisy than the Fabia vRS I just changed! But yes, it's not the quietest at idle. However, it cruises superbly and makes little noise at any other time.
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I know exactly what you mean about a 4 cylender drone Avant. I've got a different problem with the Accord - no drone, it's actually a kind of (quiet) whine that dominates, I believe it's belt noise. It's not annoying, although it is fairly loud at town speeds, you don't hear it at motorway speeds at all. You can hear the turbo whistle tho - very noticable spinning up as you go up hills on cruise and spinning down as you crest them.
Overall, much more refined than the 1.9 VAG units, although there is less of the satisfying growl if you bury the throttle.
As an aside, changing form the factory fit Yokohamas to Pirelli P6000 Powergys on the front has cured the torque steer and *significantly* reduced road noise, which is a result.
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Currently in Linkoping, Sweden, I took a run in a colleague's five door, tarty red, 2.0 TFSI this morning.
By far the best feature of the car was the DSG gearbox; the seemless, instantaneous, changes enabled by its twin clutch design were a joy to behold. Even shifting down to a lower gear that had the engine almost at the red line directly after the shift didn't result in the slightest of jolts. Very, very, impressive. I didn't get to experience reverse.
I also liked the "whumpf" from the tailpipe on each nanosecond upshift; no practical benefit of course but it makes you feel you're driving something that should have come from Maranello (or perhaps Bologna given the Audi connection!). The downside was a flatulent exhaust note with a boom at critical RPM that in normal driving I'd find wearing after a while.
Fit, finish, and interior design were nicely up to the mark, and looking in the back, the second sunroof was a nice touch but leg room was very cramped and not really befitting a five door car.
The only real disappointment was the performance; sure, it's not "slow" but then neither did it really get up and fly or feel like 200 ponies. I realise that my own car is no slouch and I've just come back from four days on holiday on a sports bike to mute my senses, but it felt like the extra forty or fifty horsepower offed by a number of software tuning packages would transform the car and turn this sharp handling, DSG equipped, machine in to the sharper honed blade it deserves to be.
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'but leg room was very cramped'
This depends how tall the driver is. I've not had any complaints when carrying passengers - I'm 5' 10".
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I'm about 4'2". My rear passengers are fine!
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