chris walrod

Thinking of a new daily driver much like the Audi A3 -- does anyone have experience with this Golf......ahem .... Audi?

TheOtherEric

No, but I lubs my A4 avant!

I seriously dig the A3, but I'm not fond of its smaller cargo area and kinda cheaper interior. It's definitely less expensive though, which is nice.

RallyJon

For about the same $, size and weight, I'd look at the new STI 5-door. Lots more bang for the buck and you get a little reliability.

When our S4 Avant dies, both will be on our to look at list.

Bill Verburg

I love my S4 Avant, the A3 seems to have a lot of the same stuff.

TheOtherEric

Like Jon says, the '08 STI would be worth considering too. But I know I couldn't switch to subaru after owning an audi. The build quality/materials in audis is top notch, and it would be hard to settle for less now.

wombat7

I had a 2006 GTI... which is basically the same car. I loved most things about the car but did have some complaints. The traction control is absolutely terrible and even with it off I wasn't very happy with the performance. The TC completely kills driver ability to modulate throttle but with the open diff and TC off you get massive inside wheel spin.

Other than that the 2.0T engine is awesome... very torquey down low and pulls very well at the top end. The gearbox is ok, and after driving both the DSG and the 6sp,, I think it is worth the money to get the DSG.

PM me if you have any questions...

cabrio993

I love my S-line A4. This is my third now since 1996. Quattro rocks!

I dig the A3 as well.

If you buy it, budget anothe $600 to chip it. It makes an already fun car to drive a blast!

No affiliation..blah..blah...just a great product.
http://www.goapr.com/Audi/products/e...rade_8pa3.html

Dr. No

I've been amazed at some of the stuff I've read about the ability to get big HP gains from Audis with a chip. Is Audi leaving that much on the table or is there a risk of engine damage from this stuff?

Shizznik

Nice car, I love my AUDI, a 2004 S4, but I just got an '08 VW R32, alot of fun, 6 cyl power, nav and leather for substantially less than the A3 equivalent. Either way, you can't go wrong........

Jim Morton

Chris:

This December, I will have been daily driving my A3 for two years. It's a great daily driver and has met my needs quite well. I also have not broke this car, which is saying a lot as I traded in a less than 1 year old Lexus IS300 due to the dealer constantly telling me that I was driving the Lexus in abusive manner given what was stored in the OBD.

As a daily driver, I REALLY wanted a JCW Mini "S", but the spouse said, "must have 4 doors". Now that we have the A3, I have driven Mini's back to back and the A3 is a lot more car.

The real high point with the A3 is wet weather driving. It's the most solid car I have driven in the wet. My spouse has a S6 Avant and we both drive the A3 more when it's wet. in comparison, the S6 has a lot more power and top speed, but the A3 is more nimble and fun.

$0.02

cabrio993

Yes, there is that much left on the table. Audi is very conservative with the PSI that it runs on its turbos.

My first turbo was a 96 with a 1.8T engine. Chipped it with a MTM chip that pushed the turbo from 7 psi to 14psi peak. That car was a rocket. Chipped it when it had 2K miles and sold the car with almost 100K with the original turbo, and not a single issue.

My second A4 was a 2002, again with an 1.8T. Chipped it right out of the dealership with a Garret GIAC chip. The car had almost 70K miles when it got totalled due to an accident. Not a single issue with that one either.

On my 3rd A4 now, with a 2.0T engine, APR chip using 93, 91, and 89 octane programs which I can switch depending on the gas I use. This car pulls like its a train, lots of low end torque that leaves my 993 to shame. Not a single detonation or retard due to knocking. This turbo sees close to 21 PSI's during peak boost. Car has 25K hard driven miles now without any problems.

All of the above cars were lighter, had more torque and power, and were faster than their V6 versions.

It's all a matter of choosing a reputable tuning shop that has many hours of testing on these platforms and pushes the performance without sacrificing driveability and reliability. Ther are 3 main reputable ones out there. APR is one of them.

Edit: BTW, people keep talking about Audi reliability, but I have to say that I've never had a single glitch on any of my 3 Audis in the past 8 years of ownership. This is not the same that I can say with 2 of our Lexus or 3 of our Hondas that we have owned and that people rave about how reliable these cars are. So maybe I'm backwards!

CDILL

Agreed I also have an A4 Avant 2.8 with an Eaton super charger it is a blast to drive especially in the snow

Charles Navarro

My mom has an '06 GTI as her daily driver. She loves it. She won't let my dad drive it since he is very careless with his cars - he now has an A4 2.0T quattro. I will have to say, there is a huge build quality difference between the two cars- the GTI is much nicer. If it was me, I'd go for an R32 over the A3. Also, I have to say I really don't like the B6 platform (A4); my wife's '05 w8 passat is light years nice and much better built. I drive a TDI Touareg and my 911, and have an old squareback as my put around town for fun car. We are an all german car family.

lucycan

Have you SEEN the new WRX/STI??? OMG. Dont buy it. (Throws up in his mouth).

A3 is a sweet car. I have had 3 Audis in the last 4 years. Loved them all.

matt777

I checked out the A3 when I got my '06 A4 Quattro. The A3 has very limited headroom in the back seat. I thought it would be a great car if you don't ever plan on carrying teenagers or adults in the back seat.