Not For Everyone: Yellow Custom Audi S3 is Over the Top
Audi’s styling is generally conservative, sometimes to a fault. That’s not the case with this S3.
Over the past coupe of weeks, we’ve looked at a couple of cars that didn’t conform to the standard idea of what a custom Audi looks like. The first was this slammed Fox wagon we found on Bring a Trailer. The second was this awesome Allroad, which is probably enjoying a spectacular view somewhere in the middle of the California desert right now.
That said, even if we appreciated the Lamborghini bits on the build, we honestly thought the Fox was a little over the top. But over the top or not, it proved interesting enough to inspire a $13,000 bid. The question now? Well, that’s whether this 2002 Audi S3 listed for sale in the UK will be able to best that price, and fetch the equivalent of about $22,000.
Despite the fact that the owner says they’ve invested a staggering $65,000 in transforming the perky little three door into a showpiece, we think that might be a big lift for this baby. Because while we really want to respect all builds, the modifications here were done to fulfill an extremely specific vision. It’s such a specific vision, in fact, that finding another beholder who sees the beauty here might prove impossible.
One of the first things which might turn folks off is the color. But according to the ad, that’s the original Imola Yellow the hot hatch left the factory wearing. There’s no such caveat available for the Lamborghini-style doors, though.
In regard to the points of entry, we think it’s suffice to say that they look about as good here as they do on any car that doesn’t hail from Sant’Agata — which means they look terrible.
While the presence of the air suspension is evident in the cargo area, there’s surprisingly no subwoofer present. We’d have bet that a ride that looks like this would have some block-rocker of a sound system, and be wired to blast Romanian hard house from the moment a door went skyward. But we’d have lost that bet, as it looks like the factory setup is still seeing service.
There’s a double-decker wing though, and since it’s made out of carbon fiber, you know if wasn’t cheap. While looking at this strange appendage, try not to think about the fact that carbon fiber bits for some proper performance cars are scarce right now. Because that’s seriously not going to help anything. It really won’t.
In stock trim, the 1.8-liter turbo engine would have pumped out a respectable 222 horsepower and 210 lb-ft of torque. While no horsepower figures are given, the ad says the ECU gotten a remap from Sportec, and that an upgraded TTS turbo has been fitted. So there’s a little more poke on tap, to help outrun the haters.
In case you’re wondering, there are pillar-mounted gauges to keep an eye on things, because of course there are. But in a surprising move, there are clocks on both the driver and passenger side. That’s something you don’t see every day. Sure, there’s a reason you don’t see it. But still.
Overall, we think that if you lost the Red Baron-style rear wing, removed all the garish black accents on the paint, and gave this car different wheels, it could actually look pretty cool, as far as the exterior goes.
You’d have to like yellow, obviously, but that’s more common than you’d think. Because for the record, we happen to like yellow just fine. Unfortunately, even with all that costly restoration work, the interior would still be an eye-searing affair.
So what do you think? We already know that the owner is going to take a serious bath on this creation. But do you think they’ll be able to recoup the relatively paltry asking price listed in the ad? We honestly don’t think so, but we’ll be keeping our eyes on the listing!
Photos: AutoTrader UK
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