eric strauss

… My wife and I had the opportunity to take a new S3 out for an extended drive. Our dealership is Audi Pacific and we have purchased/leased five cars from them in the past four years. When we asked to drive an S3, they tossed us the key and said to go and enjoy the drive. We are both passionate canyon carvers on the weekend. My wife currently drives a 2014 S4 and I have a 2015 RS5, but we have had two S5's as well - plus a TT225 and a VW-R32.

Having had the above experience, we were expecting to like the car, but we both left very enthusiastic. The light weight made the car more nimble than our S4 and the interior is a slight step up from the VW-R. The shifts, both up and down were crisp in Sport mode and in manual mode the response was pretty good. We did not get up into the canyons, but both feel the car would do fine.

This is a great car and bodes well for Audi's future. Our S4 is nearing the end of the lease and an S3 might be the fix. Of course, the tease of an RS3 is tempting, but then the cost just escalates. Our experience with the two S5's and the RS5 is that the S5 is a better balanced car and it typically more nimble in the canyons that the RS5, which is a fast brute of a GT more than it is a sports car.

You folks with an S3 sure have a special car - it was a delight to drive.

Happy Motoring

Eric

DennisMitchell

Thanks for sharing. The S3 is certainly unique.

markN1689

i was bored today and went to check out the m2 for kicks.

they were trying to sell it for 15,000$ OVER sticker... so thats 58k (sticker) +15k....

the m2 weighs the exact same as an s3. and has 70 more hp.. yet the 0-60 times are almost identical... bmw styling is over the top and they try so hard to look cool... not for me. the side vents are fake plastic inserts- lame...

i am super happy with the s3. i wouldn't even trade it for the m2 as an even trade. let alone 30k + my s3 (which i purchased loaded for 44-45k...

ayn

The M2 is sweet though, and it's available with a manual, which is a huge plus to me. But I also want AWD for Tahoe, so I'm happy with the S3. If the S3 came with MT in the US that would literally be the perfect car for me. I was gonna get a Golf R, but ended up getting the S3 because leasing the R doesn't make sense at all with the super high money factor. I'm pretty excited to get the S3 tomorrow, signed paper today, they will PDI it and I'll pick it up whenever it's ready.

eric strauss

WHen we were at Audi Pacific, they had a dozen in all colors… what a sweet parade!

superswiss

I've been wanting to take an S3 to the canyon. Hoping for a loaner one of these days, but the A3 Quattro with sport suspension, left me underwhelmed and the S3 would have to be significantly better to change my opinion. The platform is lighter and nimbler and the car rotates nicely under trail braking just like a good balanced FWD platform, however, cornering under power is a different story.

Audi Marketing has done a good job at playing loosey goosey with their wording to convince everybody that the Haldex system all of a sudden can magically overcome its mechanical limitations and send more than 50% of the torque to the rear. However, the real world is a different story and that lack of rear bias under power is what severely limits the canyon fun factor coming from the rear-biased self-locking Quattro system with sport differential in the RS5 and the S4/5 with S-tronic.

Diztek

i hear they made some haldex improvements on the 2017 s3.

superswiss

Unless they gave it a center differential or reversed the whole setup like in the R8 with the engine primarily driving the rear axle and the Haldex clutch on the front axle, it ain't gonna be rear biased.

Diztek

ya no, its not that big of an update, but from what i read the 2017 will shift more power to the rear and more often.

salvadorik

I totally hear you. The interesting thing is sometimes when I take a corner aggressively the my S3 surprisingly rotates well under throttle application. And unfortunately there instances where under same conditions it exhibits more understeer. I honestly did not figure out what the reason is. My only guess is what happens there is torque vectoring system might not be working consistently same under similar situations. But overall I believe with easy mods (such as rear sway bar) it is a very capable automobile and for front wheel drive platform it offers very competitive package.