stilover

No Manual Gear box, and only as a Fastback. Oh dear.

It's getting a bit of a slagging off on Pistonheads.

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/defa...?storyId=22805

Jamescsti

Coming to a local drug dealer near you!

Seriously i've no doubt it will sell just because of the RS badge but I think the lack of a manual box is a big mistake, to me it is over priced but it will still sell.

richs2891

LOl why are S3 drug dealers cars ?
Agree lack of manual is silly as is the 5 door only !

Richard

dpb

Does it share the marques craaazy headlights ?

The ones which scream ' my owner bought me because hes' no personality of his own '



, im saddened to see Citroen have adopted them for that small car theirs

Moley

iTrader: (9)

The seats are nice.

Bit bland really.

drb5

iTrader: (4)

Only the original quattro really stood out in appearance, as they wanted to keep the looks on the subtle side, but this is taking it to the extreme!

At least the RS's a few years ago, had their arches a bit larger...these made the car look awesome when you knew what it was.

Probein

If you ask me you'd have to be balmy to spend 40k on a hatch back...

Does look nice and it's quick etc - but just way too expensive. Why wouldn't you just buy a used (almost brand new) RS4/6, or M3/5?

stilover

Because some people like owning a brand new car. And without people buying new, there wouldn't be a healthy stock of second hand cars.

Why buy any car new (not just the RS3) when there is always a faster second hand car for the same price?

Probein

That's a question I ask myself all the time - I'll never understand the logic behind buying a car just because it's new, and effectively throwing away 5k the second you sit in it. I bought a new car myself when I was 19 - I still don't understand why I did it.

In this instance though, an RS4/6 is going to be a better, more luxurious, expensive (when new) car - what I'm saying is why would you settle for something technically worse, and pay the same or more money for it? There's no logic there.

MMT WRX

Wtf

Actually, its not doing too bad on PH now, averaging 7.

stilover

But that RS4 could have been thrashed every day from cold. Been tracked. Been knicked. Could be a ringer. Any number of things.

Some people like to own a car from new (me included) as it's factory fresh, comes with a warranty, and has never been thrashed, smoked in, or crashed.

If people prefer to buy second hand, then good for them. Just a shame that those that do, seem to think it's fair to have a pop at those that do buy new.

If no one bought a new RS4, you wouldn't be able to buy one second hand. And if no one bought new, every car manufacturer would go out of business. So then we'd be back to horse & carts.

Jimpreza

If that was the case I wouldn't buy a brand new cart.

mamoon2

The S3 can be chipped to 310bhp anyway so what is the point of the RS3?

Jamz3k

Great spec, boring car.

^Qwerty^

If, and it's a big IF, it delivers the driving experience of the B7 RS4, then I'd have one.

Matteeboy

Seeing as this has been "on the cards" for years and sounded like a hell of a car, I'm disappointed. Almost no "menace" to it, too much chrome, don't like that shape.

The new 1 series M car (whatever it's called) is about 2345235452 times more appealing. As is an RS4.

john banks

I've been waiting for this for years, but wanted basically a factory turbocharged R32 at a lower price than this.

SPEN555

The drivetrain is it's biggest letdown. Crappy haldex system, cheapskates.

I know someone who leases Audi's and he prefers the Audi TT FWD to the Audi TT quattro as the haldex system just seems to unsettle the car

Matteeboy

Spen - Evo mag is the same. Rate the FWD version better than the AWD version. Not ideal.

stilover

But the rate the TT-RS very highly !!

There long termer is getting some good reviews from them. And they say the engine feel more than 335BHP.

And the RS3 is basically a TT-RS. Just a few grand less.

Think out of the 2, I'd take the TT-RS over the RS3.

Matteeboy

Me too - TTRS looks much nicer too. Hasn't it got "better" AWD than the usual Haldex system?

jespin

The point is that you can map the RS3 to over 400 bhp so the S3 wouldn't see which way it went!

john banks

It should be over 400 BHP to start with at that price.

SPEN555

Just reading this. 100% of power can be put to the rear. So if it could be mapped to a RWD bias it might be fun?

http://www.audi.co.uk/new-cars/a3/rs...k/quattro.html

Mitchy260

Looks good front on but just looks like an ordinary A3 with a pokey exhaust that you would expect from a lesser A3 model at the back. It's missing the aggressive nature that the RS models have at the back with the oval exhausts left and right.

Cracking engine so it will be mightily quick especially mated to the S-tronic box, 0-100 in under 11 for sure which will set a new benchmark for fast hatches.

Practical with 5 doors, good space, good standard spec. I'm not sure about residuals though as I thought the A3 model was being superseded next year. The current A3 model has been around since 2003 so it's right at the end of its life.

The M1 comes out around the same time, I think I would opt for that instead.

Littleted

Bet its 40k + looks like an A3 with drug dealer wheels

As long as i can keep p with it i,ll be ok

Rs4 for me anyday or rs6

Mitchy260

They're old school now and no longer on sale new.

Audi only have the TTRS and RS5 at the moment, RS3 spring time next year. No mention of RS4 or RS6 models as of yet.

Probein

If I were to buy a low mileage/almost new used car I'd have it looked over by an expert before purchase along with having it fully HPI checked and so on to ensure it hadn't been poorly treated or stolen/written off previously (I'd do this with any car I bought). I had an RAC check carried out on my old scooby and was amazed by the level of detail they go into - definitely worth the money especially if you're paying a fair amount for the car.

I realise you can't ever be 100% sure of how somebody treated a car previous to you, but I'm a strong believer that if you look hard enough and look for the 'right seller', you can snag a well looked after motor with only a few thousand miles on it for thousands less than you'd pay for a new one.

I do get the attraction to buying new (as I mentioned I've done so myself) - but nowadays I personally wouldn't consider it (unless I had insane amounts of money to blow).

Each to their own.

P1 LTD

Agree if have to choose between TT-RS or RS3! TT-RS looks alot better to
When your going to spend around 40k