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some good discounts to be had. are you guys still happy with your rs3's? any issues/problem areas, esp engine?
I'm an early owner, and a few weeks away from my 3rd anniversary. I do feel the TT-RS drives slightly better than the RS3, and the RS3 drives better than the RS5 for me. the steel rotors are stupid expensive from Audi and wore quickly, unclear if the carbon ceramics are a longer-term value for street driving. The replacement steel rotors seem to be much better quality. I had a front radar sensor misalignment fixed under warranty, add a litre of oil every 10-12k km's, the rear exhaust solenoid failed requiring the rear exhaust replaced under warranty. the exhaust swap was a little annoying because it seems to take about 15-20k km's for the sport exhaust to 'break in' for better sound. The sport seats don't recline and the back adjustment angle is a bit of a pain to adjust (think 1970's technology), and having heated sport seats with a mandatory sunroof is just weird. I personally prefer the Fixed Sport suspension. The bluetooth connectivity is also sometimes just weird - my dealership keeps telling me my Google Pixel does Android wrong . The B&O setup sounds pretty good but there's no subwoofer like the S3 had in mid-trim. The pop up screen is just ugly, but at least in the 2018's it can retract, and it does work well with Android Auto. The wheel choice is very limited for 18", and I'd recommend 18" for winter tires as the 19" selection is a lot more limited. I went with the staggered 255 front's and do notice a slight balance improvement over my 235 square winter setup. The Haldex setup does show it's weaknesses more than I'd like, but the fuel economy is stellar so it's a fair trade. I'm a little surprised there isn't a heated steering wheel option or a heads-up display option like the lower cost BMW's have. So far no engine issues or problems, beyond the usual of eventually wanting more power out of any car.
I'm keeping the car for another year anyways.
Last edited by tjacoby; 07-07-2020 at 05:24 PM.
Reason: add picture
so far so good, its my wifes car. Agreed that the summer only tire deal totally sucks, along with the strange 255/30-19 size, a horrid choice by audi on sizes. I hate the pop up screen, and not being able to order the car with no sunroof is also stupid, why add 50 pounds of weight in the worst possible spot ? Should have a carbon fiber roof option for sure. (we both never use the sunroofs) Other that that if a really fun, quick car with no issues at all. Also nice that it will accept FLAC files for music, sounds way better using that than the crap mp3 files.
Our 2019 RS 3 will be 6 months old July 20 and no issues at all other than the original 19" SUMMER ONLY' tires which
were useless in January 27°F weather! No dealer support at at all with this potentially very dangerous tire situation!
Their attitude and position was TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT! Having already expended significant time over the previous
two years looking for a NARDO GRAY Audi RS 3, we had certainly invested enough of our time with Audi!
Now at just over 7,000 miles now running Michelin AS3+ 245/40/18 tires, our 4,200 miles of country back road test runs
at speed have performed very well, more so than the Continental ExtremeContacts 235/35/19 tires we started with,
while researching our 18" tire/wheel options.
Thus far an exceptional performance sedan indeed, given my 62 years of normal daily and competitive driving, including
33 years with BMW.
-Rod
16 months and 18k miles, still enjoying it. Was pondering trading it in for a 992S as a dd, but I really do love this car, would be hard to get rid of it honestly. Big likes are the looks (esp in this color), exhaust note, and mid to upper range power. My really only significant dislike is the lack of low end tq and the turbo lag.
Are you taliking about your 2019 RS 3? If so I'd have it checked as our 2019 RS 3 has no such low end problems with TQ or Turbo-Lag.
You stomping on it from idle and don't like the engine response? Is that the issue?
-Rod
Are you taliking about your 2019 RS 3? If so I'd have it checked as our 2019 RS 3 has no such low end problems with TQ or Turbo-Lag.
You stomping on it from idle and don't like the engine response? Is that the issue?
-Rod
It may be exaggerated a bit due to the unitronioc flash as well, turbo spools up and when it hits it goes hard. Under 3-3.5k RPM however, there isn't much power. Again, not something unexpected for me, it's a small displacement single turbo engine, but for a dd it can feel a bit anemic stoplight to stoplight.
It may be exaggerated a bit due to the unitronioc flash as well, turbo spools up and when it hits it goes hard. Under 3-3.5k RPM however, there isn't much power. Again, not something unexpected for me, it's a small displacement single turbo engine, but for a dd it can feel a bit anemic stoplight to stoplight.
Oh, well I didn't see anything at your address about it being 'flashed'. And having played the chip game since the late 1980's and things I experienced, I'd certainly talk to your Unitronic contact about this low RPM funny business.
It may well be what your chip is now doing. My 2019 RS 3 with a bit over 7k miles now on it is a surprisingly potent engine given its small 155 cu.in, size and very rapid response from idle. It really is quiet awake and ready to dance immediately in my experience.
I push it pretty hard during our country back roads runs and even at 'walk slowly' corners with a hot engine and low revs, getting back on it from nearly idle RPM there is no indication of stumbling, as I would call it. I'd talk to the chip folks.
FWIW,
-Rod
zero issues, still don't care for the pop up screen at all, but it is what it is and the staggered wheels suck for sure, tire choice is horrible so we went to 255's on all corners, handles exactly the same if not better, zero reason it did not come this way, and we can now rotate as well
How did you accomplish this on stock wheels? Thinking about doing the same. Preciate the info!
That's my old 2015 S3 on the left beside a brand new 2019 RS3 that recently picked up on sale. Haven't pushed it much yet because the low mileage, but I definitely can see a difference in handling and power. S3>>>RS3
07-07-2020, 05:22 PM
. The B&O setup sounds pretty good but there's no subwoofer like the S3 had in mid-trim. The pop up screen is just ugly, but at least in the 2018's it can retract, and it does work well with Android Auto. The wheel choice is very limited for 18", and I'd recommend 18" for winter tires as the 19" selection is a lot more limited. I went with the staggered 255 front's and do notice a slight balance improvement over my 235 square winter setup. The Haldex setup does show it's weaknesses more than I'd like, but the fuel economy is stellar so it's a fair trade. I'm a little surprised there isn't a heated steering wheel option or a heads-up display option like the lower cost BMW's have. So far no engine issues or problems, beyond the usual of eventually wanting more power out of any car.
