tjacoby

From my test drive, the car has more of a split personality, than the S3; in Dynamic/Sport - it's a crackling snarling beast. otherwise it's quiet and subdued. The exhaust will not scare your wife, nor will the sport seats unless she's allergic to manually adjusted seats. I didn't try 'Comfort' mode, what's that?

Audifourme

Thanks for that. I had the car on both manual and automatic sport modes and there was always a delay. I have had 3 previous A4's with 1.8T, and 2.0T engines before my S4, so I'm used to turbo lag. However the S3 felt like it had a disconnect with the throttle. All of my cars have been manual, so I'm used to taking the foot off the clutch and the car just going, turbo lag or not. On the S3, I pressed the pedal, and wait for it, wait for it...then goes. So I'm guessing it has to do with the transmission. I'm hoping the RS3 is not like that.

Timmay

Hmm strange. I haven't had that experience with my S3 so not sure what that's about. It almost seems like the transmission was in 2nd or maybe even 3rd gear when you tried to punch it from a dead stop. If that's the case, you will definitely experience disconnect with the throttle.

As for the RS3 there seems to be some suggesting there's a bit of turbo lag. I think that will be the case for pretty much any turbo powered engines, some just worse than others.

likerage

If you turn the wheel 90 degrees and attempt to cross lanes of traffic or merge there is a huge delay. Every time I drive my wife's s3 it scares the **** out of me.

superswiss

Sounds like ESC may be retarding the engine to avoid wheel spin. Partially a consequence of the FWD-biased Haldex system. It takes a moment for the rear wheels to get power and if you are turning, then the Haldex clutch can't fully close and lock the drivetrain so you are very FWD-biased in a situation like that. You can try putting ESC in Sport mode. The RS models generally have higher ESC thresholds, so this might be less of an issue in the RS3, however the RS3's Achilles heel is still the Haldex system.

EDIT: And I forgot, putting the Quattro system in Dynamic mode may also help as that is supposed to engage the rear wheels sooner and more proactively.

eyedoc88

I appreciate the insight. Even around town on my test drive of the S3, I did note a bit of this from a dead stop- almost felt like the hesitation you get from a CVT-equipped WRX. I recall the transmission otherwise being very smooth and eager to push. Curious if any RS3 owners could comment on this.

949

get the rs3.

Audifourme

Yeah, I'm very used to Turbo lag as I have owned them for over 20 years. This felt more like a transmission or accelerator lag. Like throttle by wire and the engine not doing what the foot is commanding it to do. Very unnerving to press the gas pedal and nothing happens for like a second.

interesting. This is exactly what I was doing, exiting the dealer parking lot onto a busy street. There was a huge delay and car was not accelerating and traffic coming to me fast. Very scary! Once it took off, it went, but it was dicey for a moment. None of my previous Turbo / Torsen / Manual cars have done this. Has to be something with the haldex and transmission programming I guess.

big residual

I can reproduce what I think is a fuel cut out on my Mk7 Golf R if I punch it going around a 90 degree right turn. Not a left. I can't re-find it, but when I first notice I went to the google and found some threads where something similar was happening and people believed it was because the fuel pump was not able to push fuel to the engine under the load of the turn. I don't know if it's low tank only, or overall; I've never controlled for that.

It's very different in feeling from normal stock EA888 throttle response lag or actual turbo lag. I save my really janky moves for turning left.

Diztek

im dsg, and when in manual mode, when i downshift from 5th to 2nd too quickly, it take a second or two for the transmission to acknowledge 2nd gear. there is a slight hesitation before 2nd engages and i have power. seems the dsg can only accommodate downshifting 2 gears, not 3.