A3/S3/RS3 [Official] 2014 Audi A3/S3 Sedan
- Thread starter JHF
- Start date
The Audi A3 is a small family car (C-segment) manufactured and marketed by Audi AG since September 1996. The first two generations of the Audi A3 were based on the Volkswagen Group A platform, while the third and fourth generations use the Volkswagen Group MQB platform.
gun16
Tarmac Traveler
Cheers!
Rainer271
Kraftwagen König
2015 Audi A3 Sedan Selling Well in America, Stealing Toyota and Honda Customers
It seems German luxury in very small packages is exactly what America wants right now. Not only is Mercedes’s baby four-door coupe, the CLA-Class, selling like hotcakes, so is its rival from Audi.
Recently released data from Audi USA shows 2,452 A3 sedans were sold in June and 7,735 units for the whole year (as a 2015MY, it's only been available for a few months).
Just as interesting as the quantity is the kind of people who are buying them. Audi sales executives told Edmundsthat many of the new buyers are trading in Hondas and Toyota. Since the A3 can cost as much as $40,000 with options, we’re guessing that means Camry and Accord owners, not Corolla and Civic ones.
If you do have a mid-size Japanese sedan and want to go German, know that there could be a waiting list. 2,452 vehicles in a month is just a drop in the ocean right now, but once supply picks up and Audi
One thing Audi seems to have that Mercedes doesn’t is diversity. While the CLA is available in just one flavor, CLA 250 with a a 2-liter turbo, the A3 already has two engine choices, 1.8 TSI and 2.0 TSI with quattro, with more to come. A 150 hp TDI clean diesel will be available as a hatch, joined by the A3 e-tron plug-in hybrid with 200 hp, which is expected to arrive next year.
Also poised to hit American dealerships are the A3 Cabriolet, which can’t be rivaled by any Mercedes model, and the S3 performance sedan.
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/2...tealing-toyota-and-honda-customers-83501.html
It seems German luxury in very small packages is exactly what America wants right now. Not only is Mercedes’s baby four-door coupe, the CLA-Class, selling like hotcakes, so is its rival from Audi.
Recently released data from Audi USA shows 2,452 A3 sedans were sold in June and 7,735 units for the whole year (as a 2015MY, it's only been available for a few months).
Just as interesting as the quantity is the kind of people who are buying them. Audi sales executives told Edmundsthat many of the new buyers are trading in Hondas and Toyota. Since the A3 can cost as much as $40,000 with options, we’re guessing that means Camry and Accord owners, not Corolla and Civic ones.
If you do have a mid-size Japanese sedan and want to go German, know that there could be a waiting list. 2,452 vehicles in a month is just a drop in the ocean right now, but once supply picks up and Audi
One thing Audi seems to have that Mercedes doesn’t is diversity. While the CLA is available in just one flavor, CLA 250 with a a 2-liter turbo, the A3 already has two engine choices, 1.8 TSI and 2.0 TSI with quattro, with more to come. A 150 hp TDI clean diesel will be available as a hatch, joined by the A3 e-tron plug-in hybrid with 200 hp, which is expected to arrive next year.
Also poised to hit American dealerships are the A3 Cabriolet, which can’t be rivaled by any Mercedes model, and the S3 performance sedan.
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/2...tealing-toyota-and-honda-customers-83501.html
The reason is because the cars fitted with 19's ONLY come in S-Line with Sport Pack so they have lower suspension. When going +2" on the wheel size you are GOING to have to modify the suspension as well. Just go pick up some H&R Sport Springs and you will be fine.
http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-A3_8V-Quattro-2.0T/Suspension/Springs/ES2749159/
And just to correct your statement, when someone asks the 'aspect ratio' of the tires they are talking about the side-wall height. In your case this is the 35 series tires you have. None of the other specs you listed (19x8, ET45, 5x112) have anything to do with the tires and/or aspect ratio of them.
I would have gone with a 40 series tire to compensate for the wheel gap with non-sport suspension AND shitty Michigan roads (I live in Michgain too...)
Otherwise good looking ride. Congrats and enjoy it.
ZicZachZo
Meister Mechaniker
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/10/audi-a3-outselling-mercedes-cla/
Pretty impressive for Audi. We'll see if the sales continue. One thing I find interesting is that Audi has the most conservative looking lineup but continues to appeal to younger people compared to BMW or MB.
Pretty impressive for Audi. We'll see if the sales continue. One thing I find interesting is that Audi has the most conservative looking lineup but continues to appeal to younger people compared to BMW or MB.
Mr. Mercedes
Premium
How have the sales dropped year over year when the car has only been on sale since September 2013? Maybe they mean month on month?
The CLAs lower sales is undoubtedly a result of supply issues, as they are few and far between on dealer lots.
That said I agree the A3 is the better product.
The CLAs lower sales is undoubtedly a result of supply issues, as they are few and far between on dealer lots.
That said I agree the A3 is the better product.
JHF
Driving Dynamics Pro
Audi Exclusive Nardo Grey A3 S line Sedan. Be Jealous. Be Very Very Jealous.
http://fourtitude.com/news/audi_exc...e-nardo-grey-a3-s-line-sedan-jealous-jealous/
http://fourtitude.com/news/audi_exc...e-nardo-grey-a3-s-line-sedan-jealous-jealous/
Gianclaudio
Aerodynamic Artisan
It looks like the primer used as base coat, before the colour coats 
Mr. Mercedes
Premium
Given the similarity with Lotus Grey, which is a standard colour, I don't see the point in paying an exclusive charge for Nardo Grey.
The sales should actually pick up in fact. Only the 1.8T FWD and 2.0T Quattro are for sale in the US so far. Of course they will be adding the S3, e-tron, TDI, and all the convertible variants as well.
The CLA is fully rolled out for now and has seen sales decline each and every month since it's first month. They will have to fix that one quick, both the product and the sales initiatives...
And I am not surprised that the Audi's appeal more to younger people, they are better designed, not just more conservative. BMW/Merc look like they are trying too hard and it shows. Audi is just Audi. Modesty sells to wealthy buyers. Sex sells better in the mainstream market (see Hyundai/Kia)...
Yes, those are the 20" wheels from an A6. Frankly I think they look too large on the A3 but I do like the design.
Mr. Mercedes
Premium
ThroughandThrough
Kraftkurve King
mini_cooper4
Autotechnik Ace
WOOOOW! Brilliant little car! My favorite car rims on one of my favorite cars! The color is both special and beautiful!Audi Exclusive Nardo Grey A3 S line Sedan. Be Jealous. Be Very Very Jealous.
http://fourtitude.com/news/audi_exc...e-nardo-grey-a3-s-line-sedan-jealous-jealous/
The car looks so classy and expensive yet it's not even an S3. Based on looks alone that's the Nr.1 Sedan in my book
JHF
Driving Dynamics Pro
2015 Audi S3 Sedan
Li'l bro: The Audi S3 sedan has its big brother's good looks. But it's a faster runner.
So here’s a question for Audi’s marketing department: Why should anybody buy an S4 sedan? The new S3 is cheaper, quicker (4.4 seconds to 60!), and, although this won’t trigger a buying impulse in everybody, considerably cuter. Sure, it’s down a couple of cylinders compared with its bigger brother, and it has to make do with a less sophisticated four-wheel-drive system. But this is 2014 and the world is downsizing; even theBMW M3 has given up two pots.
Let’s start with the obvious point that the S3 you’re looking at here has its steering wheel on the wrong side and wears a license plate that looks like an eye chart for myopic pensioners. That’s because, although the S3 doesn’t touch down stateside until September, it’s already on sale in England. So we sourced one in the U.K. and arranged to infiltrate a former U.S. airbase to record performance numbers, then did a whistle-stop tour of ridiculously quaint Shakespearean burgs with names like Kibworth Harcourt and Husbands Bosworth to see which one offers the best black pudding. If you don’t know what that is, don’t ask.
You already know the basics: The S3 is the beefy version of the transverse-engined A3 sedan, sharing the Golf’s MQB platform and packing the most powerful current iteration of Volkswagen’s familiar EA888 2.0-liter four. That means 292 horsepower, basically the same spec as the forthcoming Golf R. Although Europe also gets both three- and five-door-hatchback versions of the S3, only the sedan will cross the Atlantic. And although Europeans are helping to save the manuals with a standard six-speed stick, all U.S. versions will have the six-speed S tronic dual-clutch automatic that’s fitted to our test car.
The looks are Audi-familiar. Despite carrying its engine sideways and being almost 10 inches shorter than an S4, the S3 looks close enough to its sibling that it could probably use its driver’s license as a fake ID. The baby sedan’s hatchback origins are only obvious in the relative shortness of its trunklid. With a chunky body kit, quad exhaust outlets, and the silver mirror surrounds that Audi reserves for S and RS models, it’s a handsome little thing—and a measure more subtle than the Mercedes CLA45 AMG. Whether or not you think that’s a plus probably depends on how high you wear your pants. Inside, the cabin is well finished and well equipped, although apart from a flat-bottomed steering wheel and gray instruments (with an ’80s-style digital boost gauge), it feels very similar to the standard A3 sedan.
The engine is the highlight. Two decades ago, engines with the EA888’s specific output came with turbo lag you could measure in Mississippis, whereas now you have to concentrate hard to detect it. Push the throttle pedal and there’s a fractional delay as the boost works through the system, but it’s so slight that you couldn’t really describe it as lag. Beyond that, the engine delivers perfectly proportional responses. There’s lots of low-down torque, yet the engine enjoys being revved, even beyond its 6200-rpm power peak. It sounds good, too, although like the rest of its turbocharged MQB brethren, it cheats slightly with a sound-enhancing loudspeaker on the cowl that supplements the engine’s natural noise.
The transmission is so good that you don’t notice it. Seamless upshifts played a big part in delivering the very impressive acceleration runs we recorded on the two-mile runway at the former RAF Bruntingthorpe airfield in rural Leicestershire. The S3 proved to be as quick when left in its more aggressive sport automatic mode as it was when we shifted via the steering-wheel paddles. A particular highlight: a 10.8-second zero-to-100-mph. The last time we so bludgeoned an S4 (albeit with a manual ’box) it took 12.0 seconds. For any sedan, that’s pretty schnellsten.
We leave Bruntingthorpe and head out into England’s Green and Pleasant Land, otherwise known as the late 1950s. Within 10 minutes we’ve passed the villages of Peatling Parva, Ashby Magna, and Dunton Bassett, whose one pub, The Dunton Bassett Arms, advertises “excellent Chinese and English food served daily.” The S3’s transmission stays transparent in the surreal world, juggling its ratios intelligently. The manual mode works cleanly even when you request multiple downshifts.
Sadly the steering doesn’t cope as well, revealing something of a split personality. With the Drive Select system in its comfort setting, the electrically assisted feel is old-school-Cadillac light. The front end responds deftly, but almost no sensation reaches your hands through the thick-rimmed wheel. Dynamic goes too far the other way, adding enough resistance to make it feel like Mark Donohue’s Sunoco Camaro, but there’s no additional feedback.
There’s no shortage of grip, however. Even on the B581 between Broughton Astley and Stoney Stanton—a road with a surface that feels as if it’s just been strafed—the S3’s Dunlop Sport Maxx RT tires found epoxy-like levels of adhesion. Indeed, in the manner of fast Audis since time immemorial, the S3 is a sticker rather than a slider. There’s no natural movement in the chassis, and, when the limit eventually does arrive (on a particularly demanding 90-degree bend just outside Willoughby Waterleys, whose population peaked in 1851 at 361, if you must know), there’s nothing but well-contained understeer there. It’s accurate and very fast, but without the dynamic connection you’d hope for. Surgical, yet also slightly sterile.
The ride quality is surface-dependent. Most English back roads have been laid over a combination of Saxon cobbles and dead Romans, and in comfort mode the switchable dampers of our test car struggled to deal with corrugated surfaces. Counterintuitively, changing to the firmer dynamic mode actually seemed to calm things down, although the S3 then became very firm over better surfaces. Our test car rode on optional 19-inch wheels; we suspect it will cope better with the 18-inch rims that will be standard in the U.S.
The Audi S3 isn’t a straight substitute for the S4, as it lacks its bigger sibling’s torque-vectoring differential and six-cylinder soundtrack, to say nothing of the incremental smugness Audi owners must feel with each higher digit. But it may be too close for the comfort of Audi’s all-powerful marketing department. Like most small brothers, the S3 is a punchy little bastard, and that’s why we like it.
SPECIFICATIONS
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
BASE PRICE: $41,995
ENGINE TYPE: turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve inline-4, iron block and aluminum head, port and direct fuel injection
Displacement: 121 cu in, 1984 cc
Power: 292 hp @ 6200 rpm
Torque: 280 lb-ft @ 1900 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed dual-clutch automatic with manual shifting mode
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 103.6 in
Length: 175.9 in
Width: 77.2 in Height: 54.8 in
Curb weight: 3300 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 4.4 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 10.8 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 19.7 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 5.6 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.9 sec @ 108 mph
Top speed (gov ltd, mfr's est): 155 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 160 ft
PROJECTED FUEL ECONOMY (C/DEST):
EPA city/highway: 19/27 mpg
C/D observed: 23 mpg
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2015-audi-s3-sedan-instrumented-test-review
Li'l bro: The Audi S3 sedan has its big brother's good looks. But it's a faster runner.
So here’s a question for Audi’s marketing department: Why should anybody buy an S4 sedan? The new S3 is cheaper, quicker (4.4 seconds to 60!), and, although this won’t trigger a buying impulse in everybody, considerably cuter. Sure, it’s down a couple of cylinders compared with its bigger brother, and it has to make do with a less sophisticated four-wheel-drive system. But this is 2014 and the world is downsizing; even theBMW M3 has given up two pots.
Let’s start with the obvious point that the S3 you’re looking at here has its steering wheel on the wrong side and wears a license plate that looks like an eye chart for myopic pensioners. That’s because, although the S3 doesn’t touch down stateside until September, it’s already on sale in England. So we sourced one in the U.K. and arranged to infiltrate a former U.S. airbase to record performance numbers, then did a whistle-stop tour of ridiculously quaint Shakespearean burgs with names like Kibworth Harcourt and Husbands Bosworth to see which one offers the best black pudding. If you don’t know what that is, don’t ask.
You already know the basics: The S3 is the beefy version of the transverse-engined A3 sedan, sharing the Golf’s MQB platform and packing the most powerful current iteration of Volkswagen’s familiar EA888 2.0-liter four. That means 292 horsepower, basically the same spec as the forthcoming Golf R. Although Europe also gets both three- and five-door-hatchback versions of the S3, only the sedan will cross the Atlantic. And although Europeans are helping to save the manuals with a standard six-speed stick, all U.S. versions will have the six-speed S tronic dual-clutch automatic that’s fitted to our test car.
The looks are Audi-familiar. Despite carrying its engine sideways and being almost 10 inches shorter than an S4, the S3 looks close enough to its sibling that it could probably use its driver’s license as a fake ID. The baby sedan’s hatchback origins are only obvious in the relative shortness of its trunklid. With a chunky body kit, quad exhaust outlets, and the silver mirror surrounds that Audi reserves for S and RS models, it’s a handsome little thing—and a measure more subtle than the Mercedes CLA45 AMG. Whether or not you think that’s a plus probably depends on how high you wear your pants. Inside, the cabin is well finished and well equipped, although apart from a flat-bottomed steering wheel and gray instruments (with an ’80s-style digital boost gauge), it feels very similar to the standard A3 sedan.
The engine is the highlight. Two decades ago, engines with the EA888’s specific output came with turbo lag you could measure in Mississippis, whereas now you have to concentrate hard to detect it. Push the throttle pedal and there’s a fractional delay as the boost works through the system, but it’s so slight that you couldn’t really describe it as lag. Beyond that, the engine delivers perfectly proportional responses. There’s lots of low-down torque, yet the engine enjoys being revved, even beyond its 6200-rpm power peak. It sounds good, too, although like the rest of its turbocharged MQB brethren, it cheats slightly with a sound-enhancing loudspeaker on the cowl that supplements the engine’s natural noise.
The transmission is so good that you don’t notice it. Seamless upshifts played a big part in delivering the very impressive acceleration runs we recorded on the two-mile runway at the former RAF Bruntingthorpe airfield in rural Leicestershire. The S3 proved to be as quick when left in its more aggressive sport automatic mode as it was when we shifted via the steering-wheel paddles. A particular highlight: a 10.8-second zero-to-100-mph. The last time we so bludgeoned an S4 (albeit with a manual ’box) it took 12.0 seconds. For any sedan, that’s pretty schnellsten.
We leave Bruntingthorpe and head out into England’s Green and Pleasant Land, otherwise known as the late 1950s. Within 10 minutes we’ve passed the villages of Peatling Parva, Ashby Magna, and Dunton Bassett, whose one pub, The Dunton Bassett Arms, advertises “excellent Chinese and English food served daily.” The S3’s transmission stays transparent in the surreal world, juggling its ratios intelligently. The manual mode works cleanly even when you request multiple downshifts.
Sadly the steering doesn’t cope as well, revealing something of a split personality. With the Drive Select system in its comfort setting, the electrically assisted feel is old-school-Cadillac light. The front end responds deftly, but almost no sensation reaches your hands through the thick-rimmed wheel. Dynamic goes too far the other way, adding enough resistance to make it feel like Mark Donohue’s Sunoco Camaro, but there’s no additional feedback.
There’s no shortage of grip, however. Even on the B581 between Broughton Astley and Stoney Stanton—a road with a surface that feels as if it’s just been strafed—the S3’s Dunlop Sport Maxx RT tires found epoxy-like levels of adhesion. Indeed, in the manner of fast Audis since time immemorial, the S3 is a sticker rather than a slider. There’s no natural movement in the chassis, and, when the limit eventually does arrive (on a particularly demanding 90-degree bend just outside Willoughby Waterleys, whose population peaked in 1851 at 361, if you must know), there’s nothing but well-contained understeer there. It’s accurate and very fast, but without the dynamic connection you’d hope for. Surgical, yet also slightly sterile.
The ride quality is surface-dependent. Most English back roads have been laid over a combination of Saxon cobbles and dead Romans, and in comfort mode the switchable dampers of our test car struggled to deal with corrugated surfaces. Counterintuitively, changing to the firmer dynamic mode actually seemed to calm things down, although the S3 then became very firm over better surfaces. Our test car rode on optional 19-inch wheels; we suspect it will cope better with the 18-inch rims that will be standard in the U.S.
The Audi S3 isn’t a straight substitute for the S4, as it lacks its bigger sibling’s torque-vectoring differential and six-cylinder soundtrack, to say nothing of the incremental smugness Audi owners must feel with each higher digit. But it may be too close for the comfort of Audi’s all-powerful marketing department. Like most small brothers, the S3 is a punchy little bastard, and that’s why we like it.
SPECIFICATIONS
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
BASE PRICE: $41,995
ENGINE TYPE: turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve inline-4, iron block and aluminum head, port and direct fuel injection
Displacement: 121 cu in, 1984 cc
Power: 292 hp @ 6200 rpm
Torque: 280 lb-ft @ 1900 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed dual-clutch automatic with manual shifting mode
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 103.6 in
Length: 175.9 in
Width: 77.2 in Height: 54.8 in
Curb weight: 3300 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 4.4 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 10.8 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 19.7 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 5.6 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.9 sec @ 108 mph
Top speed (gov ltd, mfr's est): 155 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 160 ft
PROJECTED FUEL ECONOMY (C/DEST):
EPA city/highway: 19/27 mpg
C/D observed: 23 mpg
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2015-audi-s3-sedan-instrumented-test-review
Rainer271
Kraftwagen König
Audi S3 Limited Edition Sedan revealed for the U.S.
Production will reportedly be limited to 350 units
Audi has reportedly announced plans to offer an S3 Limited Edition Sedan in the United States.
According to Automobile Magazine, the car will feature a Daytona Gray exterior with LED headlights and red brake calipers. The model will also be equipped with the 19" Performance package which includes a magnetic ride suspension and 19-inch alloy wheels with summer tires.
Interior changes are limited but the special edition is slated to feature two-tone leather upholstery and red contrast stitching.
Like the standard model, power is provided by a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that develops 292 bhp and 280 lb-ft of torque. It is connected to a six-speed S tronic and a quattro all-wheel drive system which enables the model to accelerate from 0-60 mph in 4.7 seconds before hitting a limited top speed of 155 mph (250 km/h).
Production will reportedly be limited to 350 units but there's no word on pricing.
Source: Automobile Magazine
Production will reportedly be limited to 350 units
Audi has reportedly announced plans to offer an S3 Limited Edition Sedan in the United States.
According to Automobile Magazine, the car will feature a Daytona Gray exterior with LED headlights and red brake calipers. The model will also be equipped with the 19" Performance package which includes a magnetic ride suspension and 19-inch alloy wheels with summer tires.
Interior changes are limited but the special edition is slated to feature two-tone leather upholstery and red contrast stitching.
Like the standard model, power is provided by a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that develops 292 bhp and 280 lb-ft of torque. It is connected to a six-speed S tronic and a quattro all-wheel drive system which enables the model to accelerate from 0-60 mph in 4.7 seconds before hitting a limited top speed of 155 mph (250 km/h).
Production will reportedly be limited to 350 units but there's no word on pricing.
Source: Automobile Magazine
Similar threads
Audi
Audi AG is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles
headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the
Volkswagen Group, the company’s origins date back to the early 20th
century and the initial enterprises (Horch and the Audiwerke) founded
by engineer August Horch (1868–1951). Two other manufacturers (DKW
and Wanderer) also contributed to the foundation of Auto Union in 1932.
The modern Audi era began in the 1960s, when Volkswagen acquired Auto
Union from Daimler-Benz, and merged it with NSU Motorenwerke in 1969.
Official website: Audi (Global), Audi (USA)
Official website: Audi (Global), Audi (USA)
