Audi S3 or VW Golf V6 4motion

I am in the market for a new car. Torn between and Audi S3 and a VW Golf V6
4motion.

Any Audi S3 owners comments would be appreciated.

Thanks

"who-knows" > wrote in message
...
>I am in the market for a new car. Torn between and Audi S3 and a VW Golf
>V6 4motion.
>
> Any Audi S3 owners comments would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>

There is quite a difference between a 4 cyl turbo and a 6 cyl engine.
The latter is smoother, the first is more nervous.
Personally, I am in my late fifties, I'd go for a 6 cyl.

Ron

who-knows wrote:
> I am in the market for a new car. Torn between and Audi S3 and a VW Golf V6
> 4motion.
>
> Any Audi S3 owners comments would be appreciated.

Consider yourself lucky you can *get* a Golf V6 4Mo. We don't get' em
here in the States (grumble mumble). Unless you count the R32, which
you can't get anymore.

--
Mike Smith

This from an earlier post on S3 reliability.

The engine management system would drop into safe mode at motorway
speeds and only allow 20mph - very scary. Happened 3 times in less
than 10 months. It would then run really rough until Audi reset the
engine management system so I had to wait up to three hours each time
for Audi Recovery to collect the car. Every time they could find no
fault, even though they kept the car for over 6 weeks in total. Audi
UK were no help either. Also had the usual coil pack failure (3 out of
4 in one go). The car also had trim problems, clips breaking,
windscreen washer hoses coming off (2 hours to fix because it was
buried so deep in the engine bay!!) etc. etc.

On top of all that it was not a particulalry good drive - poor
steering feedback. Always felt slighty remote from what the car was
doing and the performance for a 225BHP engine was not particulalry
startling even running it on the recommended Super unleaded. My wifes
10 year AR Spider 3.0L with less power and more weight could leave it
standing at any speed. I covered 25,000 miles in thirteen months so it
was well run in, (this would have been closer to 36,000 if it had been
on the road long enough).

The A/C is not up to spec either as it struggles to cool the car on
hot days even though I had it checked three times.

There were some good points. The Recaro seats were great for my back
(though the back seats were diabolically uncomfortable, being only
very thin pads over the bodywork and there is virtually no legroom).
The brakes worked well and the grip off the line was excellent.

At over £600 a month lease charges I decided this was very poor value
for money and threw the car back at the leasing company as it was not
fit for purpose. When they read the list of problems thay did not
argue and sold it immediatley. Methinks they had experienced problems
with these before. Over £600 a month and I ended up driving Vectras as
the Audi supplied replacement car - a great Audi experience.

I would caution anybody about the S3 as it is a very complicated car
and you are totally reliant on Audi garages to fix it and I found they
new little about the real workings of the car. They were very
expensive to buy and are very expensive to run - you have been warned.

Buy the Golf - I would have but it was not available at the time and
Alfa Romeo were late with the GTA.

On Wed, 1 Mar 2006 10:24:48 -0000, "who-knows" > wrote:

>I am in the market for a new car. Torn between and Audi S3 and a VW Golf V6
>4motion.
>
>Any Audi S3 owners comments would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks
>

"Paul Norris" > wrote in message
...
> This from an earlier post on S3 reliability.
>
> The engine management system would drop into safe mode at motorway
> speeds and only allow 20mph - very scary. Happened 3 times in less
> than 10 months. It would then run really rough until Audi reset the
> engine management system so I had to wait up to three hours each time
> for Audi Recovery to collect the car. Every time they could find no
> fault, even though they kept the car for over 6 weeks in total. Audi
> UK were no help either. Also had the usual coil pack failure (3 out of
> 4 in one go). The car also had trim problems, clips breaking,
> windscreen washer hoses coming off (2 hours to fix because it was
> buried so deep in the engine bay!!) etc. etc.
>
> On top of all that it was not a particulalry good drive - poor
> steering feedback. Always felt slighty remote from what the car was
> doing and the performance for a 225BHP engine was not particulalry
> startling even running it on the recommended Super unleaded. My wifes
> 10 year AR Spider 3.0L with less power and more weight could leave it
> standing at any speed. I covered 25,000 miles in thirteen months so it
> was well run in, (this would have been closer to 36,000 if it had been
> on the road long enough).
>
> The A/C is not up to spec either as it struggles to cool the car on
> hot days even though I had it checked three times.
>
> There were some good points. The Recaro seats were great for my back
> (though the back seats were diabolically uncomfortable, being only
> very thin pads over the bodywork and there is virtually no legroom).
> The brakes worked well and the grip off the line was excellent.
>
> At over £600 a month lease charges I decided this was very poor value
> for money and threw the car back at the leasing company as it was not
> fit for purpose. When they read the list of problems thay did not
> argue and sold it immediatley. Methinks they had experienced problems
> with these before. Over £600 a month and I ended up driving Vectras as
> the Audi supplied replacement car - a great Audi experience.
>
> I would caution anybody about the S3 as it is a very complicated car
> and you are totally reliant on Audi garages to fix it and I found they
> new little about the real workings of the car. They were very
> expensive to buy and are very expensive to run - you have been warned.
>
> Buy the Golf - I would have but it was not available at the time and
> Alfa Romeo were late with the GTA.
>
> On Wed, 1 Mar 2006 10:24:48 -0000, "who-knows" > wrote:
>
>>I am in the market for a new car. Torn between and Audi S3 and a VW Golf
>>V6
>>4motion.
>>
>>Any Audi S3 owners comments would be appreciated.
>>
>>Thanks
>>
>

Thanks for the comments. I have heard before that the S3 is a very
complicated vehicle, even sometimes too complicated for Audi!!!!!
The longer I look into it I am drawn to a Golf V6 4motion, cheaper to buy,
would get a newer vehicle with less mileage for the same money as I would if
purchasing an S3.

I have had a mk3 golf for the last 5 years and it has been a great car.

> The engine management system would drop into safe mode at motorway
> speeds and only allow 20mph - very scary. Happened 3 times in less
> than 10 months. It would then run really rough until Audi reset the
> engine management system so I had to wait up to three hours each time
> for Audi Recovery to collect the car. Every time they could find no
> fault, even though they kept the car for over 6 weeks in total. Audi
> UK were no help either. Also had the usual coil pack failure (3 out of
> 4 in one go). The car also had trim problems, clips breaking,
> windscreen washer hoses coming off (2 hours to fix because it was
> buried so deep in the engine bay!!) etc. etc.
>
> On top of all that it was not a particulalry good drive - poor
> steering feedback. Always felt slighty remote from what the car was
> doing and the performance for a 225BHP engine was not particulalry
> startling even running it on the recommended Super unleaded. My wifes
> 10 year AR Spider 3.0L with less power and more weight could leave it
> standing at any speed. I covered 25,000 miles in thirteen months so it
> was well run in, (this would have been closer to 36,000 if it had been
> on the road long enough).
>
> The A/C is not up to spec either as it struggles to cool the car on
> hot days even though I had it checked three times.
>
> There were some good points. The Recaro seats were great for my back
> (though the back seats were diabolically uncomfortable, being only
> very thin pads over the bodywork and there is virtually no legroom).
> The brakes worked well and the grip off the line was excellent.
>
> At over £600 a month lease charges I decided this was very poor value
> for money and threw the car back at the leasing company as it was not
> fit for purpose. When they read the list of problems thay did not
> argue and sold it immediatley. Methinks they had experienced problems
> with these before. Over £600 a month and I ended up driving Vectras as
> the Audi supplied replacement car - a great Audi experience.
>
> I would caution anybody about the S3 as it is a very complicated car
> and you are totally reliant on Audi garages to fix it and I found they
> new little about the real workings of the car. They were very
> expensive to buy and are very expensive to run - you have been warned.
>
> Buy the Golf - I would have but it was not available at the time and
> Alfa Romeo were late with the GTA.
>
> On Wed, 1 Mar 2006 10:24:48 -0000, "who-knows" > wrote:
>
>>I am in the market for a new car. Torn between and Audi S3 and a VW Golf
>>V6
>>4motion.
>>
>>Any Audi S3 owners comments would be appreciated.

Don't confuse overall S3 reliability with the problems you had with your
lemon. I'm sure you'll find many S3 owners who've had no problems
whatsoever.

Coil-packs aside, the S3 and other 1.8T VAG cars ARE as reliable as most
other European cars.

Remember that the S3 is basically the same as the TT 225. If you feel that
the dealer isn't competent in fixing the car then go elsewhere.

Finally, S3 ownership is nowhere near as expensive as Alfa ownership. In
depreciation alone the Alfa is laughable and their reliability is still
worse than VAG.

On Fri, 03 Mar 2006 10:09:34 GMT, "Dave" > wrote:

>> The engine management system would drop into safe mode at motorway
>> speeds and only allow 20mph - very scary. Happened 3 times in less
>> than 10 months. It would then run really rough until Audi reset the
>> engine management system so I had to wait up to three hours each time
>> for Audi Recovery to collect the car. Every time they could find no
>> fault, even though they kept the car for over 6 weeks in total. Audi
>> UK were no help either. Also had the usual coil pack failure (3 out of
>> 4 in one go). The car also had trim problems, clips breaking,
>> windscreen washer hoses coming off (2 hours to fix because it was
>> buried so deep in the engine bay!!) etc. etc.
>>
>> On top of all that it was not a particulalry good drive - poor
>> steering feedback. Always felt slighty remote from what the car was
>> doing and the performance for a 225BHP engine was not particulalry
>> startling even running it on the recommended Super unleaded. My wifes
>> 10 year AR Spider 3.0L with less power and more weight could leave it
>> standing at any speed. I covered 25,000 miles in thirteen months so it
>> was well run in, (this would have been closer to 36,000 if it had been
>> on the road long enough).
>>
>> The A/C is not up to spec either as it struggles to cool the car on
>> hot days even though I had it checked three times.
>>
>> There were some good points. The Recaro seats were great for my back
>> (though the back seats were diabolically uncomfortable, being only
>> very thin pads over the bodywork and there is virtually no legroom).
>> The brakes worked well and the grip off the line was excellent.
>>
>> At over £600 a month lease charges I decided this was very poor value
>> for money and threw the car back at the leasing company as it was not
>> fit for purpose. When they read the list of problems thay did not
>> argue and sold it immediatley. Methinks they had experienced problems
>> with these before. Over £600 a month and I ended up driving Vectras as
>> the Audi supplied replacement car - a great Audi experience.
>>
>> I would caution anybody about the S3 as it is a very complicated car
>> and you are totally reliant on Audi garages to fix it and I found they
>> new little about the real workings of the car. They were very
>> expensive to buy and are very expensive to run - you have been warned.
>>
>> Buy the Golf - I would have but it was not available at the time and
>> Alfa Romeo were late with the GTA.
>>
>> On Wed, 1 Mar 2006 10:24:48 -0000, "who-knows" > wrote:
>>
>>>I am in the market for a new car. Torn between and Audi S3 and a VW Golf
>>>V6
>>>4motion.
>>>
>>>Any Audi S3 owners comments would be appreciated.
>
>Don't confuse overall S3 reliability with the problems you had with your
>lemon. I'm sure you'll find many S3 owners who've had no problems
>whatsoever.
>
>Coil-packs aside, the S3 and other 1.8T VAG cars ARE as reliable as most
>other European cars.
>
>Remember that the S3 is basically the same as the TT 225. If you feel that
>the dealer isn't competent in fixing the car then go elsewhere.
>
>Finally, S3 ownership is nowhere near as expensive as Alfa ownership. In
>depreciation alone the Alfa is laughable and their reliability is still
>worse than VAG.
>


Two years ago Which voted the TT (all models) the most un-reliable
vehicle they had ever tested with a 1 in 4 chance of a breakdown in a
year. I did try more than one dealer and still no fault found.

I raised the issues with Audi UK management and they were absolutely
useless, the only thing they did in the end was give me £500 for the
loss of use of the car whilst they were unable to repair it.

I have owned a 156 2.0 and did 90,000 trouble free miles in 3 years
and my wifes Spider has proved very reliable only requiring routine
servicing, a couple of light bulbs and a bonnet strut.

I now own an A6 2.4SE and I am finding the repair bills for that quite
spiteful especially for replacing worn suspension parts. Now I know
why I was able to get it at such a low price for a second hand car.

So my experince over 2 Audis compared to 2 Alfas is that the Alfas are
far more reliable and definitely more rewarding to own and drive. I
don't understand how you can say Audis are very reliable but describe
my car as a lemon. Surely if they can produce one lemon they are
equally able to produce more for the suckers out there. I go back to
what Which said about the TT.