Audi S3 arriving shortly...

Manic Moran

junkyard wrote:

You won't be burning me at the lights.;)

01 M5? Nice car.

He might beat you yet, though. In Ireland, how often will you be at the lights when the road is wet? That's where the extra weight thrown into 4-wheel-drive makes it up. Not much point in having the power if you don't have the traction to put it on the tarmac.

NTM

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Kaia Narrow Paperback wrote:

S3 wow....one hell of a car.....dont let BMW fanboys get you down...soon you will be burning them all at the lights............

Love the way the fanboys immediatly set about me...:rolleyes:

Good point about the four wheel drive....the e46 is a much more expensive car....so is a 335i remember this is a new car he is buying and its a real pleasure to get a new car....so lets not rain on his parade.

JHMEG

For that money I would've bought a nearly new NSX-R. There's a supercar.

Or a Skyline GTR R34. The Japs don't call it Godzilla for nothing...

DJ Hafez

junkyard wrote:

You won't be burning me at the lights.;)

Nor me :eek:

kdevitt

Kaia Narrow Paperback wrote:

Love the way the fanboys immediatly set about me...:rolleyes:

Good point about the four wheel drive....the e46 is a much more expensive car....so is a 335i remember this is a new car he is buying and its a real pleasure to get a new car....so lets not rain on his parade.

A decent E46 M3 is sub 40k now... :eek:

Anyhoo, agreed on the whole pissing on ones parade thing, if someone wants to buy a new car let them. I've always sworn I'd never buy a brand new car, but am currently trying to resist the urge to buy a 335i or Z4 coupe brand new.

Personally preferred the older S3 - think the huge grille on the front does the car a disservice, but its undoubtedly a great car.

Let us know what you think of it once its delivered.

HashSlinging

Yeah im a big fan of the new A3, let me have first option when you go to sell it in five years! ta

bennyx_o

Lovely car, OP. Nothing beats the feeling of collecting your brand new car.

Plug

Could you not have waited a for the 30th aniversery GTI? 30HP more than the MK5 GTI and alot cheaper;)

HashSlinging

ouch!! just seen 60k! you could have got this. the ultimate audi for that money.


http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=530820

MarkN

An S3 a womans car..

I'm on dial up today lads so I'll keep it short!

I could've had a 04 E46 M3, a new R32 (test drove one, apart from engine it just felt like sitting in my GTI), a 335ci with cloth seats, or a Jap rocket (never been into them at all though, sorry!), the A8 posted up from Carzone (although at 24 I dunno what I'd want a car with a load of wood inside!)...

The car I WANTED was an Audi S3.

To those of you who love cars and can see over the cost of cars (ye sound like a bunch of old lads at a bar sippin a pint of Guinness for 5 hours BTW:rolleyes: ), you know why I chose that car.

I'll do a review once I have it...

ciarsd

Good for you Mark, be interested to hear your comments on it when you take delivery.

Out of interest, what put you off the E46 M3?

If you don't mind me asking, how was insurance on the cars you were choosing between?

JoeA3

Fair play Mark, its a gorgeous car. I'm another one who spends obscene cash on cars, but what the hell, its horses for courses! I've just today traded in my '05 A3 1.6 FSI for a new GTI... can't wait!! Should have it in 8 weeks or so.

Having come from an A3 to a GTI, back to an Audi now, how do you think the GTI measures up? I know it will be like chalk and cheese from a performance point of view, but in terms of quality, reliability?

optiplexgx270

What a crap thread i want my 70kbytes back Reason the damn thing is so rare is on account of it being 10k overpriced and all but 10-50 of the population having sense.

Thumper Long

Just wondering if you went with the comfort seats in front or the racing seat, i've had my eye on one of these for a while and will probably go for one closer to the summer, like yourself moving on from a GTI and dont see all that much difference with the 30th anni model, did the jap thing previously with an impreza STI, sorry to all the jap lovers but there is just no refinement all the reliability in the world cant account for passion, what extras are you getting on the car to bring it to €58K, and hey post some pics if you can when you get it, it might quieten a few of teh naysayers and i'd love to see them, and you will have all the time in the world to drive a cruise liner like the A8 when you are old and grey, heres to the ultimate hot hatch the S3 definitely a mans CAR.

Manic Moran

For people wondering why I, for example, was willing to pay $60K (US) for an S-Car which doesn't go any faster than a much cheaper Evo or Impreza which also has four wheel drive, this is the answer:

I submit that it is an argument in favour of picking an S3 over a Focus SVT or other such similarly fast car. I defy you to find me a Focus or Subie that has anything even close to the quality of interior of an Audi, from quality of materials through how well it's put together. It's a better interior than my dad's Merc, or the M3 I sampled as well (Plus, in my case, the V8 vs the BMW's V6 was a clincher), and Audi is pretty much the acknowledged class leader in interior fitting until you get to the super-luxury market.

NTM

unkel

Lovely car, Manic Moran. Wish we had a climate like in California over here!

Manic Moran wrote:

I assume the S3 is of similar quality to the S4

Nice interior, but an S3 has a 4-pot 2 liter engine. An S4 has a V8 4.2. Kinda shifts the men from the boys

I could be completely wrong, but reading between the lines, I get the impression the OP could not get insurance on a proper performance car

Manic Moran wrote:

in my case, the V8 vs the BMW's V6 was a clincher

Yep a clincher indeed. I've turned out to be a big fan of V8 engines since I bought my first one nearly 6 years ago. To be a bit anal, the BMW does not have a V6 but a straight 6. You've got a good point though! The current 3-series will get an M3 with a V8 engine for the first time soon. Will be very interesting to see how the two compare then

HashSlinging

Fair play MarkN, I would love to be waiting to get one of those machines, how much are they giving you for the GTi. I hope your happy about your purchase a GTI is supposed to be a better all round car, I could never buy a car without testing it.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Have spotted that the new 2007 M3 will have a v10 400hp engine...OMG better start saving now and working on the other half. Dont know if my penilty points can take it though

unkel

Kaia Narrow Paperback wrote:

Have spotted that the new 2007 M3 will have a v10

Nah, it's a V8 as I posted there ^^

It's based on the V10 from the M5/M6 though, so you're right there

MarkN

unkel wrote:

I could be completely wrong, but reading between the lines, I get the impression the OP could not get insurance on a proper performance car

Yeh, you're wrong I'm afraid. But when you put your money where your mouth is, post up some pics of your 2007/2008 M3 Unkel..! What did you drive when you were 24 anyway..just curious?!

A quote on a 2004 BMW M3 was €2,600 fully comp, Boxster was less again, R32 about the same - a ridiculous amount of money for insurance IMO.

The reason I went against the M3 was I just wanted something brand new and not really on the road here. Trying to sell on an M3 in the future was another thing which put me off - have a look at the M3s on Carzone.. they've been there for months. There's even a mint Estoril blue one with next to nothing on the clock going for €48,000 - bargain!! I got one from a dealer for 2 days a few months ago and I had to go back to them using my head not my heart. Simple as really and the things I've listed are not even to be considered in an ideal world as M3s are not about thinking they're just about 'I have to have one'.

Focus ST? You've got to be joking.. S3 is in another league.

I don't really want to go into details of trade in allowance on a public forum like this, I lost €4,000 on the GTI in a year.

The main extras on the car which knocked up the price are nappa leather and sat nav - the car was one of 8 brought in by Audi to Ireland so I had no choice in the spec, I just wanted the sprint blue and after driving two S3s I just had to have one.

Joe - I loved the GTI over the 2.0TDI A3 I had. Power, handling, looks.. it has the lot and you will no regret the change for one minute, I can assure you. I even bought two of them! The interior lets the GTI down slightly compared to the A3 but the drive more than makes up for it. It's prob too late for you to change your order now but I specced bi-xenons on the second one and they are just brilliant.

pburns wrote:

Just an example of what can be bought for the same money:

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=533844

Can I just make a point on this as someone suggested it as an alternative.

A 2.5 BMW with cloth seats? Barge size wheel arches and around 40bhp less than the S3 which can be chipped to over 300bhp with just a remap?

You need to take your BMW blinkers off I'm afraid.

Just to sum up, this is a car forum, in theory, the people who log onto it are meant to be into cars, I felt like throwing up some details and pics for you to look over, nothing more.. if you don't like the car that's no big deal, there's cars I hate which some of you probably love and I'm more than happy with my purchase.

JHMEG

S3 or this:



No competition!

And there are even less of those on the roads in Ireland than A3s with big alloys or S3s.

unkel

MarkN wrote:

when you put your money where your mouth is, post up some pics of your 2007/2008 M3 Unkel..!

Too small for the kids I'm afraid

But if I had that kinda money, I'm sure I could fit them in somehow

MarkN wrote:

What did you drive when you were 24 anyway..just curious?!

Nothing anywhere near as pretty / fast as an S3. Anyway, best of luck with it and post some pictures when you get it!

MarkN wrote:

A quote on a 2004 BMW M3 was €2,600 fully comp

That's not the infamous insurance with the €4k excess is it? If it isn't, it's not bad from an affordability point of view considering depreciation will be several times that. A few years ago, a 24 year old male would not have gotten a quote at all. Out of interest, how much is the insurance on the S3?

MarkN

Nope.. that was with ARB IIRC.

The 4k crowd want €1,200 on anything once you're over 25 which I will be once my renewal is up.

I'm looking at about 1,800 with Hibernian on the S3, that's who I'm with now. Unforunately for me I have 4 points so it's still a bit on the high side.

MarkN

JHMEG wrote:

S3 or this:



No competition!

And there are even less of those on the roads in Ireland than A3s with big alloys or S3s.

Jesus I dunno.. mental car and all but f**k is it ugly!!! :eek:

JHMEG

Depends on your point of view! To me it screams "rare supercar", and even "exotic"!

If looks are more your thing, these are rare too. But serious drivers only need apply:

JoeA3

Mark do you ever get the wrong sort of attention with these cars? I'm thinking maybe I should have specced an alarm on mine, but these days its not easy take any car without the keys?

Cyrus

Mark do you mind me asking what do you work at!!

im just gone 26 have a good job but my car budget is half yours, im jealous

personally i love the new s3 but i would like to buy one after 2 yrs or so rather than new, i would have found it hard to ignore the m3 but thats a personal thing.

Will you go with xsdirect do you think once over 25? the s3 should only be 990 with them iirc

Manic Moran

JHMEG wrote:

S3 or this:

No competition!

And there are even less of those on the roads in Ireland than A3s with big alloys or S3s.

Not very practical for daily driving though, is it? How big is the boot? How many people will fit in it?

NTM

patsyh

Never have I seen so many jealous people in my life. So Mark gets a new car and posts a pic and most people either slate it or give an example of another car that cost the same amount.:rolleyes:


Mark, best of luck with the car hope you enjoy it.:cool:

HashSlinging

Damn right im jealous, anyway this is a discussion board not somewhere that an over inflated ego can get a massage. I think everyone’s fairly happy for the guy, us boardies are just used to pointing at better value things even when there’s no need...

I certainly wouldn’t begrudge anyone for buying a new car, the more people that go out and buy new cars, the more cars that are going to be available for me to buy when they get sick of them.

Everyone wins!