Matthew Gaither

Thank you. This is great advice and I appreciate it and will follow it when the time comes!

russbert

Things that make you go, "Hmmm"? Well I tried holding the paddle longer for a couple of downshifts and one worked perfectly while the second one came dangerously close to an over-rev situation (made extremely obviously by the red light on the tach). So my question to y'all is .... a) do many of you use this "feature", and b) did I accidentally do something different on the second downshift? Can you hold the paddle TOO LONG?

Also, I tried going from 4th to 2nd quickly while in Sport mode and again, one time it showed no real lag and the second time there was just a little so that may have been caused by several different factors I can think of (overall speed, entry and exit speed, the type of curve you take, etc.). So I guess my answer is "IT DEPENDS".

As we are iced over here in Eastern Tennessee, I won't be taking the RS3 out for the next few days until the SUN (TN snow & ice removal) melts it so I'm anxious to hear thoughts / comments.

P.S. Using Launch Control, in 37 degree weather (roads were clean and dry), shows a full 1G acceleration, puts another HUGE smile on your face, sounds simply speculator and while I don't know the 0-60 MPH time, I know I went from 0-80+ MPH in about 6 seconds.

michael818

More a question than a comment but with my previous car and this car, I used the paddles in manual and never felt the need to do more than click as necessary to downshift, in other words, one pull on the paddle for each gear. I never thought about holding the paddle down to force multiple shifts since the car would do this in full auto mode anyway. Am i missing something? Is there some advantage to holding the paddle for multiple downshifts? I felt that downshifting one gear at a time gave me more control than letting the transmission decide.

russbert

Michael, no it was simply something I was told the Audi could do and that it wouldn't take it into a gear where it would over-rev the engine so being me, I wanted to try it. I tried it while I was in 4th and going into a pretty sharp curve and wanted to go instantly into 2nd so I held the paddle and it worked. But while it worked, I probably won't be doing it again as I don't see a huge benefit given the potential risk. Thanks for keeping me honest.

I was also hoping someone else might comment so we'll have to wait and see. I'm just anxious to drive the car tomorrow since the snow and ice have finally left the area!

michael818

Appreciate the response, I couldn't figure out the advantage but have seen it mentioned in other posts. Enjoy your drive today.

russbert

Michael, I've just got to share what happened today when driving my RS3 back from lunch. My wife, who absolutely loves fast cars as much as I do, has never experienced launch control in the car before. So today, with the road clear, engine completely warmed up, almost no traffic and near perfect temperatures outside I decided I would let her experience for herself just what it felt like. Her response immediately reminded me of those "Priceless" commercials on TV

The launch pushed her hard back into the seat and she said something like, "Oh crap, my eyes just got crossed!! I felt like I was on one of those amusement rides at Cedar Point (Cleveland, OH) that launches you at the start of the ride and then goes vertical."

I nearly died laughing; her reaction was truly priceless.

michael818

That's great. I don't care for the car myself but, if you have a Tesla dealer anywhere near you, take out one of the cars with ludicrous mode and do a launch or two with your wife. It feels like you're being launched from a catapult. The dealer here just gives you the keys and tells you to take it for a drive, encourages trying launch. The car didn't impress me, felt too sterile for my taste and the lack of sound was a turnoff but the torque is incredible and launch is like being in a hypercar. I have snow tires on the RS3 right now so launch is not quite the same. Lookingg forward to spring though.

russbert

+1 I'm looking forward to tomorrow as it's supposed to get into the low 60's and hopefully my wife and I can take the car into the Smoky Mountains and put a few smiles on our face.

How does the RS3 perform with winter tires? My 2001 S4 did quite well on them although they are never as good as the higher performance summer tires (obviously). What area of the USA do you live (since you mentioned snow tires).

michael818

Russ,

I live in northern Virginia, right outside of DC. I could probably get by on A/S tires rather than snows but figured if I was going to have to do a swap why not go all the way, probably overkill . My car is a DD but I don't commute since I don't work. The temps here get consistently below 40 or so at night so I keep the snows on from December through March. I have them mounted on 19 inch Neuspeed wheels and they look fine. The tires are Pirellis and they are adequate for my use. A little noisier than the summer tires but no discernible difference in handling in day to day driving, even out on winding roads. They bite well and are good in dry and wet. I'll note that I went with a square setup for the winter so there is a tiny bit more understeer, not enough to make a real difference for me.

Enjoy your drive.

russbert

Ok, so I just returned from a trip down to Atlanta and back to purchase a new car for my wife and I thought I would share a few quick impressions. While I'm still not a fan of Comfort mode around town, it is really nice on a long trip! I thought it interesting that at first I couldn't tell a big difference in the overall ride, probably because the most obvious thing (at least to me) is the change in the steering response. The throttle response is not as noticeable but only because I'm already on the highway when I change it to Comfort mode. I was a little disappointed (at first) that I couldn't tell a huge difference in the overall ride quality but the back road / highway were both in good shape so that hindered my perception to some degree. I continued to be pleasantly surprised by the gas mileage as it's always at least 26.5, and was usually around 27.6, with a high of 28.1. This is very impressive to me given the speeds I was traveling at in the RS3. I have also found that even in Dull mode the RS3 will accelerate well enough while at highway speeds to easily pass others. Later when I switched back to Auto on a back road (a few hours later) I found it very easy to recognize the big difference in ride quality. So again, a fantastic long distance traveler with a fabulous sound system. The only thing that should concern those with children, is the LACK of luggage space. For just the two of us, and on just a three day trip, it was perfectly fine. Had we been staying longer, the back seats were have been used heavily for "stuff" (mostly her stuff).

I continue to love the overall sleeper status of this car. I can't recall how many times I went pass police cars who paid almost no attention to me, even with the Ara Blue. Which is an awesome quality given that my right foot tends to be made of a lead like substance.

Sometimes I do wish I had opted for the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), especially when I was in heavy, heavy traffic but given this is not by daily driver I am very satisfied with the standard cruise control for now. I would love to hear from others on how they like (or don't like) their ACC systems.

I did forget to mention one thing about Comfort mode. While I find it perfectly acceptable MOST of the time, I do NOT particularly care for it in Knoxville, around Chattanooga, or other areas where highway speeds meet very curvy roads and / or lots of uneven pavement! Just makes the car feel a little out of control IMO.

My next "adventure" will be looking into using the Audi Connect feature more as this wasn't around the last time I owned an Audi.