Arron

Anybody had experience of an S3 Audi and could compare to an STI 7 for performance ie brakes/ suspension 0-60 0-100 and so on, they both have a 6 speed box, the build quality of the Audi is far superior to that of the scoob. The STI has more BHP but how does that compare on the road.
Is the Audi quicker with better build quality or is the Subaru the faster with not so high build quality.

Thanks.

Arron.

Flat 4x4

In a nutshell ?

Audi quality of materials still better. Subaru quicker in both measures. Brakes - a lot of people uprate the S3's. Not as easy to get the S3 moving around on the round but it's no mug.

Loads of tuning potential on the S3 - I'd say more than the Subaru. (Flame suit zipped up)

elondan

STI7 and S3????
I thought the S3 was rivaling the WRX and before that the GT,
and both in Autocar and Top gear it lost!


and the test here:
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~sco...rex/index.html

chuckster

The STI will be quicker point to point. I've a new S3, it's about par with a standard MY01 WRX performance wise. Suspension is a little harsh, but involving. Brake feel alot better than earlier Audi's, but they do fade cross country if really pushing on.
The gearing is really short on the S3, 3rd gear for 60mph. Car feels fast though - because you are always stirring the 'box
Build quality kicks the Scoobs **** though.
If I wanted the fastest point to point car of the 2 I'd have the STI7.
Chuck

Arron

Thanks guys for the replies.

Arron.

NM

12 months ago my m8 has an S3 and let me have ago as long as he could drive my UK MY98.

Drove the S3 first, 6 months old, nice and refined, felt like my old Pug GTi 6 for speed, seemed slower than the Scoob and less involving.

Let him have ago in the scoob, afterwards he realised he had spent £23K on the wrong car
Cheers

Neal

wilf

Hmmm build quality on VW group cars. Of the 3 VW group cars I have experience of at the moment yup the materials are all better than my scoob but they are all less reliable and prone to minor faults and breakages.

No ones mentioned chipping the S3 yet

Chins

Think I'm pretty well qualified on this thread . Two S3's and Two new shapes inc STI 7.

Chuckster is pretty spot on.

I always remember taking a trip to drive the UK300 with PPP in my S3. As a real drivers car the Impreza is a better bet.

One thing that is very frustrating with the STI 7 is the lag, and worse still the pull at 60mph in 6th. It does seem to lose out a bit in the driveability stakes. Hopefully the PPP will sort that out. The S3 is a lot more driveable on a day to day basis.

Quality wise, I had as many creaks in the S3 as any Scooby, and as many dealer visits. Brakes wise there is no contest. Brembos vs very poor std brakes on the Audi. The Audi also loses out on the gearchange. The suspension in isolation is ok, but as a package the S3 just struggles to come together, and doesnt encourage a Sunday blast.

However. Give it a chip, upgrade the brakes and combined with the interior it a very hard package to beat. It responds better to ECU mods than most other cars.

The S3 is still one of my top cars.

Jonathan

Caronte

steering?

bluto22b

One of my neighbours wife has an S3. She has had to take the car back to the dealers for several annoying faults:
1/ Rattle from behind instrument binnacle: found to be a loose screw
2/ Passenger door window jammed half way down: replaced winder mechanism.
3/ Popping noise from rear lefthand (or right, can't remember) speaker. Replaced.
4/ Sticky gearbox. Difficulty engaging 1st and reverse. Still pending.
5/ Clicking drivers seat mount. Still pending

All the faults have been looked at, some cured some not. Other than these niggles the S3 is a nice motor car. I prefer my neighbours TVR Tuscan though, and remarkably that hasn't gone wrong for them yet.......Blutes

davyboy

I think sometimes we use the word "build quality" when we should use "better materials".

bluto22b

Correct Davyboy. In my opinion it is hype that German cars are better built. They are NOT better built, they just use a better grade of plastic for the trim etc. This doesn't mean that things won't drop off in your hand, rattle or fall apart. The Germans are human too and not some super human space age force that can build cars without fault. I think (generally) most modern cars are reasonably well screwed together these days. My ex wife had a Golf and a Peugeot 306 and I think the 306 was just as well built as the Golf. In fact we had more problems with it than the Peugeot, though when the Peugeot did go wrong it was usually serious. My Austin Maxi which I have renovated from the bodyshell up for the last 9 years has been handcrafted and assembled with pride and as such I refer to it as my hand built masterpiece. I must post a picture of it for all you car enthusiasts to drool over....Blutes

foxyange

Well I'd rather have an Audi than an STI, last time I had to go to the clinic it was a nightmare...



You boys

bluto22b

Are you sure they weren't admiring YOUR bodywork luv ?....Blutes

foxyange

Yes, I got a free service, all was in good working order...



Ange

www.helvin.com

bluto22b

As I can see from the photo on your site
Blutes

Bruiser.STi

Bloke down the road has an S3 with MTM power upgrade and it looks the ducks nuts standard, and has around 170-180 kw.....
Not a bad daily driver.

bluto22b

I didn't know ducks had nuts ?....Night all Blutes

chuckster

Re build quality...I've had 4 scoobs, Catalunya (slightly second hand), MY99(new), 22B(had 2k miles on it) and a MY01WRX(new) and they've all rattled and squeaked from the first 1k miles. I've had an engine let go, I've had trim fall off, electric windows go, scratched windows from mis-alignment, wind noise from window mis alignment, gappy panels, a bunch more and I've never had a scoob whose door shut with a 'clunk'
I'll stand by 'build quality' and add quality of materials.
Still love my creaky old 22B though, and use that most of the time - so much for having a decent second car to keep the miles off it LOL
C

RichieB

Tried an S3 ahortly after buying the 01 Wagon as I was told by a learned colleague I'd made a mistake. A 10 mile drive was enough to tell me I had not Latest scoob handling is in a different league to S3, and whilst the motor is laggier, it's much more fun in the Subaru above 3K rpm. Also the S3 is cramped inside (for me anyway)....My boss races his S3 and has had to chip up because he can't beat the standard scoobs he's racing in the same class as. Would imagine an STI7 would absolutely annihilate it.

Cheers, Rich

iain atkins

Come on Arron,

Who has bought a S3 then? Or did you get challenged and it was quicker than you thought. I reckon it would whip yo ****!!

I know AMD get silly power from S3's on standard internals.......

Downpipe.......Downpipe.......

AudiMan

I own an A3 (just a modest 1.8 - company car) and have to say the quality of materials used is very high, particularly the paint finish (pearlesent black), it washes up like new and slap a bit of autoglym on and it's like glass !, but I've had some really annoying little problems with it, probably the most was the rear washer pipe kept comming off in one of three places, under the bonnet, inside the rear wing and inside the hatch, and because the last two required 80% of the interior to be removed to get to it then it had to go to the dealer... I had an S3 for about a week on test, and was not over impressed, grip was a bit poor, and brakes certainly needed an upgrade.
I'm currently counting the days till the A3 goes back, and I can get my first Scoob, after test driving an X-reg about 2 months ago, I was hooked !!! I gotta have one !! even if the interior is inferior to the Audi and the paint is rubbish..