S3 peeves
10-15-2015, 04:01 PM
#1
AudiWorld Senior Member
Thread Starter
S3 peeves
1. The only way you can open the trunk with the car running (and stationary) is with the door switch. Remote doesn't work, neither does the switch on the trunk. I can’t tell you the amount of times I started the car up, went inside to get something to put in the trunk, Got to the trunk to try and open it and nothing (even with the keys in my pocket). Switch doesn’t work, nothing. Ended up having to put down what I had in my hand, go to the driver’s door, open it and then pull that dumb switch. The remote and trunk switch works fine when the car is off.
Why did they do this? To prevent someone from opening the trunk when the car is running? Doesn’t make sense. It works fine with the car off. Why couldn’t the key remote work with the car on, in the same manner that it does when the car is off? The car should recognize that you are near the trunk (with the key) and allow you to open it (even when the car is running and stationary). I do not see the benefit other than annoying the hell out of me. The car knows when it’s not moving, why not allow you to open the trunk from the rear when you have the key in your pocket? What’s funny is that the door switch will only open when the car is stationary. So it knows when the car is stationary. Why not allow remote functionality to open the trunk when the car is parked and running?
2. My center vents will only blow out cool air when set to “Auto”. Its 55 degrees outside, I set the climate control to 72 and “auto”. The car blows cool uncomfortable air out of the center vents. WTF? The rest of the car is fine temperature wise, but for some reason Audi thinks you need cool air blasting in your face in the dead of winter. If I turn it up to 75 the center vents don’t blow any air at all. The only way I can get the system to blow any warm air out of the center dash vents in auto is to set it at 78 degrees. But then the car gets too hot inside. If I switch it off of auto, and choose the center vents from the climate control, it blows warm air out of the vents. But in that mode it’s all manual, fan speed everything. In that mode, I’ve yet to find a setting that I didn’t have to turn down (or up) every few minutes to feel comfortable.
Auto mode was set it and forget it. Maintained temp without adjustments, only issue was the cool air out the center vents. What I do is put it on auto, and close the dash vents. This upsets the hell out of me.
3. The “recirc” on the climate control is a summer sport. In the winter the recirc fogs up the inside of your windows even with the A/C on. I used to use recirc all the time to prevent from smelling car exhaust fumes in the cabin in prior vehicles. Can’t do that with my Audi S3 in the winter. It’s either recirc (clean smell) with the windows fogged to crap to where I can’t even see out of them, or turn off recirc and smell the exhaust from other vehicles.
4. You can only open the hood when the driver’s side door is open. Even with the car off. So if your parked, car turned off, when you pull the hood release nothing happens. You have to open the driver’s door and then the hood release will work. WTF? The car is off
5. Console Gear shifter upshift and downshift are backwards. Thought I would get used to it but nope.
6. There no way to give the horn a light tap. It’s always at full blast. With other cars I was able to give the horn a light tap that would result in a light horn sound. This was good for waking people up at stoplights without being rude. Someone did it to me when I was being inattentive once at a stop light (low beep). I heard a very light “beep” from the car behind me. I thought that the driver was super considerate and nice. I cannot do a light beep with the Audi’s horn. It’s either all or nothing. When I’m reminding folks in front of me that the light is green, my Audi doesn’t allow me to be considerate. It’s a loud rude beep. Also beeping at people I know to say hi. Why does the horn always have to be at full blast? I hate the way my S3’s horn operates.
7. Headlight washers. They have a mind of their own. If you use the windshield washers with the headlights on, the headlight washers will go on spraying washer fluid all over the hood of your car (spot city). The only way I can prevent the headlight washers from coming on with the headlights on is to give the stalk slight jabs. Half second pulls that don’t even put enough washer fluid on the windshield. I have to give it four or five half second pulls to get the job done. It’s a pain. The second I forget about being gentle with the stalk and use the windshield washer stalk normally, fluid get sprayed all over the front of my car leaving spots all over and ruining my wash. What’s strange is that there are times when I give the stalk a long pull and the headlight washers don’t come on. Guess I need to read the manual?
Headlight washers suck. I’ve had two cars with them (1998 1.8t, 2001 BMW 330i) Both started to leak after about 3 years. Which meant filling up the car with windshield washing fluid every few days. $300 to fix (cars were out of warranty). In the end it was cheaper to just keep buying washer fluid.
8. There are other things that upset me about the drive. Like you can’t take a turn at high speeds (even a very wide sweeper). I thought I was going to die coming off this off-ramp one day. Very wide bend but the car completely lost composure, soft and wallowy. I’m not going to say the speed… Yes I am.. I was doing 85mph and the car couldn’t handle a wide turn. It wasn’t even to the point where the tires was squealing. Car lost composure way before that. To be honest all cars are like that but I thought that the S3 would be more sure footed in the high-speed stuff. The S3 is a dangerous vehicle if driven at high-speeds (85+) on anything other than a straight. I’d like to know how they fare on the autobahn. Not good at high speeds I bet. When I saw that S3 wrecked with the engine out of it, I wasn’t surprised at all. The person probably tried to drive the S3 at 100 MPH+ on anything other than a perfectly straight road.
These items might seem minor, but all of them together in one car is too much for me. Too frustrating. There are things I like about my car (like being able to be modded), but there are far too many annoyances that I have to deal with daily. I’m going to check to see if I’m upside down with my loan. I’m looking at a C400, C63, or I’ll wait to see if BMW does a 2-series sedan. Either way, I will not be keeping the S3 for another year. I didn’t pay $47k to get frustrated. Not satisfied with the car.
Why did they do this? To prevent someone from opening the trunk when the car is running? Doesn’t make sense. It works fine with the car off. Why couldn’t the key remote work with the car on, in the same manner that it does when the car is off? The car should recognize that you are near the trunk (with the key) and allow you to open it (even when the car is running and stationary). I do not see the benefit other than annoying the hell out of me. The car knows when it’s not moving, why not allow you to open the trunk from the rear when you have the key in your pocket? What’s funny is that the door switch will only open when the car is stationary. So it knows when the car is stationary. Why not allow remote functionality to open the trunk when the car is parked and running?
2. My center vents will only blow out cool air when set to “Auto”. Its 55 degrees outside, I set the climate control to 72 and “auto”. The car blows cool uncomfortable air out of the center vents. WTF? The rest of the car is fine temperature wise, but for some reason Audi thinks you need cool air blasting in your face in the dead of winter. If I turn it up to 75 the center vents don’t blow any air at all. The only way I can get the system to blow any warm air out of the center dash vents in auto is to set it at 78 degrees. But then the car gets too hot inside. If I switch it off of auto, and choose the center vents from the climate control, it blows warm air out of the vents. But in that mode it’s all manual, fan speed everything. In that mode, I’ve yet to find a setting that I didn’t have to turn down (or up) every few minutes to feel comfortable.
Auto mode was set it and forget it. Maintained temp without adjustments, only issue was the cool air out the center vents. What I do is put it on auto, and close the dash vents. This upsets the hell out of me.
3. The “recirc” on the climate control is a summer sport. In the winter the recirc fogs up the inside of your windows even with the A/C on. I used to use recirc all the time to prevent from smelling car exhaust fumes in the cabin in prior vehicles. Can’t do that with my Audi S3 in the winter. It’s either recirc (clean smell) with the windows fogged to crap to where I can’t even see out of them, or turn off recirc and smell the exhaust from other vehicles.
4. You can only open the hood when the driver’s side door is open. Even with the car off. So if your parked, car turned off, when you pull the hood release nothing happens. You have to open the driver’s door and then the hood release will work. WTF? The car is off
5. Console Gear shifter upshift and downshift are backwards. Thought I would get used to it but nope.
6. There no way to give the horn a light tap. It’s always at full blast. With other cars I was able to give the horn a light tap that would result in a light horn sound. This was good for waking people up at stoplights without being rude. Someone did it to me when I was being inattentive once at a stop light (low beep). I heard a very light “beep” from the car behind me. I thought that the driver was super considerate and nice. I cannot do a light beep with the Audi’s horn. It’s either all or nothing. When I’m reminding folks in front of me that the light is green, my Audi doesn’t allow me to be considerate. It’s a loud rude beep. Also beeping at people I know to say hi. Why does the horn always have to be at full blast? I hate the way my S3’s horn operates.
7. Headlight washers. They have a mind of their own. If you use the windshield washers with the headlights on, the headlight washers will go on spraying washer fluid all over the hood of your car (spot city). The only way I can prevent the headlight washers from coming on with the headlights on is to give the stalk slight jabs. Half second pulls that don’t even put enough washer fluid on the windshield. I have to give it four or five half second pulls to get the job done. It’s a pain. The second I forget about being gentle with the stalk and use the windshield washer stalk normally, fluid get sprayed all over the front of my car leaving spots all over and ruining my wash. What’s strange is that there are times when I give the stalk a long pull and the headlight washers don’t come on. Guess I need to read the manual?
Headlight washers suck. I’ve had two cars with them (1998 1.8t, 2001 BMW 330i) Both started to leak after about 3 years. Which meant filling up the car with windshield washing fluid every few days. $300 to fix (cars were out of warranty). In the end it was cheaper to just keep buying washer fluid.
8. There are other things that upset me about the drive. Like you can’t take a turn at high speeds (even a very wide sweeper). I thought I was going to die coming off this off-ramp one day. Very wide bend but the car completely lost composure, soft and wallowy. I’m not going to say the speed… Yes I am.. I was doing 85mph and the car couldn’t handle a wide turn. It wasn’t even to the point where the tires was squealing. Car lost composure way before that. To be honest all cars are like that but I thought that the S3 would be more sure footed in the high-speed stuff. The S3 is a dangerous vehicle if driven at high-speeds (85+) on anything other than a straight. I’d like to know how they fare on the autobahn. Not good at high speeds I bet. When I saw that S3 wrecked with the engine out of it, I wasn’t surprised at all. The person probably tried to drive the S3 at 100 MPH+ on anything other than a perfectly straight road.
These items might seem minor, but all of them together in one car is too much for me. Too frustrating. There are things I like about my car (like being able to be modded), but there are far too many annoyances that I have to deal with daily. I’m going to check to see if I’m upside down with my loan. I’m looking at a C400, C63, or I’ll wait to see if BMW does a 2-series sedan. Either way, I will not be keeping the S3 for another year. I didn’t pay $47k to get frustrated. Not satisfied with the car.
10-15-2015, 07:21 PM
#2
AudiWorld Super User
^^^ At first when I saw the length of your post, I was thinking to myself, "Wow, what a whiny b&%^$.". (Sorry). Then I read your issues and you are totally right. Wow.
Although my HVAC is nothing like in my Q7, yours sounds like something is wrong.
Yep, the shifter is backwards, I do fine if I think about it, but as soon as Im in a sudden shifting situation, I mis-shift. Arg!
Although my HVAC is nothing like in my Q7, yours sounds like something is wrong.
Yep, the shifter is backwards, I do fine if I think about it, but as soon as Im in a sudden shifting situation, I mis-shift. Arg!
10-15-2015, 07:31 PM
#3
AudiWorld Super User
8. There are other things that upset me about the drive. Like you can’t take a turn at high speeds (even a very wide sweeper). I thought I was going to die coming off this off-ramp one day. Very wide bend but the car completely lost composure, soft and wallowy. I’m not going to say the speed… Yes I am.. I was doing 85mph and the car couldn’t handle a wide turn. It wasn’t even to the point where the tires was squealing. Car lost composure way before that. To be honest all cars are like that but I thought that the S3 would be more sure footed in the high-speed stuff. The S3 is a dangerous vehicle if driven at high-speeds (85+) on anything other than a straight. I’d like to know how they fare on the autobahn. Not good at high speeds I bet. When I saw that S3 wrecked with the engine out of it, I wasn’t surprised at all. The person probably tried to drive the S3 at 100 MPH+ on anything other than a perfectly straight road.
I'd still buy the car again, but I think they let some design or engineering problem slide thinking that it's only at higher speeds during testing.
10-15-2015, 09:39 PM
#4
I had a loaner with the auto HVAC controls and really hated it. I was constantly adjusting since it was either too hot, too cold but never in between. I have the manual controls in my A3 and its nice and simple, set and forget it.
The recirc with A/C does take a long time for fogginess to dissipate. I usually have to crack a window to speed up the process.
And for #8, just think about the A3 without sport suspension. The first time I drove to work in the car, I nearly had a heart attack with the cars floaty, unnerving, unconfident nature (and this was in a straight line going over a bad section of the road) at 70mph. Back end jumped and then landed somewhat sideways! I immediately got the Bilstein coilovers and now the car is how it should be, confident and composed without scaring the crap out of me!
The biggest disappointment is not having memory seats. it takes me forever to adjust the seat to my liking, which seems to still not be always correct. I get the car washed every week and get in with the seat all disconfigured, takes awhile to find the "sweet" spot again. The lack of standard no-brainer features on this car completely blows me away. You get headlight washers but no memory seats. Memory reverse mirrors, but not the seats, auto dimming mirrors... you get my drift. At the price point this car demands, I expect this and hell I expect this from an Audi "luxury" brand.
I too am disappointed in certain things with the car, but overall am happy with it still. Would I buy it again, not really sure since the competition in this segment is highly competitive.
The recirc with A/C does take a long time for fogginess to dissipate. I usually have to crack a window to speed up the process.
And for #8, just think about the A3 without sport suspension. The first time I drove to work in the car, I nearly had a heart attack with the cars floaty, unnerving, unconfident nature (and this was in a straight line going over a bad section of the road) at 70mph. Back end jumped and then landed somewhat sideways! I immediately got the Bilstein coilovers and now the car is how it should be, confident and composed without scaring the crap out of me!
The biggest disappointment is not having memory seats. it takes me forever to adjust the seat to my liking, which seems to still not be always correct. I get the car washed every week and get in with the seat all disconfigured, takes awhile to find the "sweet" spot again. The lack of standard no-brainer features on this car completely blows me away. You get headlight washers but no memory seats. Memory reverse mirrors, but not the seats, auto dimming mirrors... you get my drift. At the price point this car demands, I expect this and hell I expect this from an Audi "luxury" brand.
I too am disappointed in certain things with the car, but overall am happy with it still. Would I buy it again, not really sure since the competition in this segment is highly competitive.
Last edited by mroberte; 10-15-2015 at 09:47 PM.
10-16-2015, 08:55 AM
#5
AudiWorld Senior Member
Thread Starter
^^^ At first when I saw the length of your post, I was thinking to myself, "Wow, what a whiny b&%^$.". (Sorry). Then I read your issues and you are totally right. Wow.
Although my HVAC is nothing like in my Q7, yours sounds like something is wrong.
Yep, the shifter is backwards, I do fine if I think about it, but as soon as Im in a sudden shifting situation, I mis-shift. Arg!
Although my HVAC is nothing like in my Q7, yours sounds like something is wrong.
Yep, the shifter is backwards, I do fine if I think about it, but as soon as Im in a sudden shifting situation, I mis-shift. Arg!
In regards to the S3? Nothing is perfect I guess. It's still a very nice car.
10-16-2015, 09:02 AM
#6
AudiWorld Senior Member
Thread Starter
I wanted to reply to this alone, I wrote about this early on, when I got my Daytona, it's almost dangerous, I wouldn't be surprised if accidents are happening when that rear-end comes around on you, and not just when braking but letting off the gas even a little hard makes my heart stop. I've gotten used to it, and think sway bars would really help, maybe dropping the car another .5 I don't know. I also think there's a little lift involved too, maybe a front skirt and bigger rear spoiler.
I'd still buy the car again, but I think they let some design or engineering problem slide thinking that it's only at higher speeds during testing.
I'd still buy the car again, but I think they let some design or engineering problem slide thinking that it's only at higher speeds during testing.
10-16-2015, 09:17 AM
#7
AudiWorld Senior Member
Thread Starter
I had a loaner with the auto HVAC controls and really hated it. I was constantly adjusting since it was either too hot, too cold but never in between. I have the manual controls in my A3 and its nice and simple, set and forget it.
The recirc with A/C does take a long time for fogginess to dissipate. I usually have to crack a window to speed up the process.
The recirc with A/C does take a long time for fogginess to dissipate. I usually have to crack a window to speed up the process.
S3 does have a manual mode. I'll just have to find the right setting.And for #8, just think about the A3 without sport suspension. The first time I drove to work in the car, I nearly had a heart attack with the cars floaty, unnerving, unconfident nature (and this was in a straight line going over a bad section of the road) at 70mph. Back end jumped and then landed somewhat sideways! I immediately got the Bilstein coilovers and now the car is how it should be, confident and composed without scaring the crap out of me!
The biggest disappointment is not having memory seats. it takes me forever to adjust the seat to my liking, which seems to still not be always correct. I get the car washed every week and get in with the seat all disconfigured, takes awhile to find the "sweet" spot again. The lack of standard no-brainer features on this car completely blows me away. You get headlight washers but no memory seats. Memory reverse mirrors, but not the seats, auto dimming mirrors... you get my drift. At the price point this car demands, I expect this and hell I expect this from an Audi "luxury" brand.
I too am disappointed in certain things with the car, but overall am happy with it still. Would I buy it again, not really sure since the competition in this segment is highly competitive.
I too am disappointed in certain things with the car, but overall am happy with it still. Would I buy it again, not really sure since the competition in this segment is highly competitive.
I could have added in the lack of memory seats as well. I always used the seat memory in prior cars for getting it back into position after vacuuming, etc... Don't feel bad, the 2015 A8l only had 2 seat settings that you can save. My old BMW 330i (circa 2001) had 3 memory positions that could have been saved. I'm satisfied with the car overall. Price wise the car is a good bang-for-the-buck. I love the NAV, Love the stereo (B&O), Sunroof is great, Neat little storage compartment under the Seat, MMI interface allowed me to connect a TV to my S3, seams well built....
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10-16-2015, 05:26 PM
#8
AudiWorld Senior Member
2. I don't have this issue with the dual climate control. If you want heat to blast, what you need to do is make sure Auto is ON, and A/C is OFF. If you want cold air to blast, then turn on A/C with Auto ON.
7. I don't know why they bothered giving the S3 an automatic washer system for the headlamps. That's more of a luxury feature than a sport performance feature, should be optional. I hate Audi USA for leaving it out on the A3. I have Bi-Xenon lights on my A3 and these lights get dirty fast and just a speckle of dirt will cause these lights to dazzle and blind on-coming drivers. I know my car is currently doing this as I near blinded myself walking in front of it one night and I haven't had my car washed in nearly a month (waiting to get it Opti-coated in Nov). Full LED don't have this blinding issue.
9. Audi USA equipping the cheap Bi-Xenons on the A3/S3 as standard. The true Bi-Xenons are Adaptive. Why didn't Audi USA bundle the Adaptive cornering light feature of Bi-Xenons into the Convenience package? I hate driving at night making turns and seeing pitch blackness as I turn my head to look at the direction I'm turning toward.
7. I don't know why they bothered giving the S3 an automatic washer system for the headlamps. That's more of a luxury feature than a sport performance feature, should be optional. I hate Audi USA for leaving it out on the A3. I have Bi-Xenon lights on my A3 and these lights get dirty fast and just a speckle of dirt will cause these lights to dazzle and blind on-coming drivers. I know my car is currently doing this as I near blinded myself walking in front of it one night and I haven't had my car washed in nearly a month (waiting to get it Opti-coated in Nov). Full LED don't have this blinding issue.
9. Audi USA equipping the cheap Bi-Xenons on the A3/S3 as standard. The true Bi-Xenons are Adaptive. Why didn't Audi USA bundle the Adaptive cornering light feature of Bi-Xenons into the Convenience package? I hate driving at night making turns and seeing pitch blackness as I turn my head to look at the direction I'm turning toward.
10-17-2015, 08:20 AM
#9
AudiWorld Super User
9. Audi USA equipping the cheap Bi-Xenons on the A3/S3 as standard. The true Bi-Xenons are Adaptive. Why didn't Audi USA bundle the Adaptive cornering light feature of Bi-Xenons into the Convenience package? I hate driving at night making turns and seeing pitch blackness as I turn my head to look at the direction I'm turning toward.
