Audi S3 or VW Golf V6 4motion

There is quite a difference between a 4 cyl turbo and a 6 cyl engine. The latter is smoother, the first is more nervous. Personally, I am in my late fifties, I'd go for a 6 cyl.

Ron

Consider yourself lucky you can *get* a Golf V6 4Mo. We don't get' em here in the States (grumble mumble). Unless you count the R32, which you can't get anymore.

-- Mike Smith

This from an earlier post on S3 reliability.

The engine management system would drop into safe mode at motorway speeds and only allow 20mph - very scary. Happened 3 times in less than 10 months. It would then run really rough until Audi reset the engine management system so I had to wait up to three hours each time for Audi Recovery to collect the car. Every time they could find no fault, even though they kept the car for over 6 weeks in total. Audi UK were no help either. Also had the usual coil pack failure (3 out of

4 in one go). The car also had trim problems, clips breaking, windscreen washer hoses coming off (2 hours to fix because it was buried so deep in the engine bay!!) etc. etc.

On top of all that it was not a particulalry good drive - poor steering feedback. Always felt slighty remote from what the car was doing and the performance for a 225BHP engine was not particulalry startling even running it on the recommended Super unleaded. My wifes

10 year AR Spider 3.0L with less power and more weight could leave it standing at any speed. I covered 25,000 miles in thirteen months so it was well run in, (this would have been closer to 36,000 if it had been on the road long enough).

The A/C is not up to spec either as it struggles to cool the car on hot days even though I had it checked three times.

There were some good points. The Recaro seats were great for my back (though the back seats were diabolically uncomfortable, being only very thin pads over the bodywork and there is virtually no legroom). The brakes worked well and the grip off the line was excellent.

At over £600 a month lease charges I decided this was very poor value for money and threw the car back at the leasing company as it was not fit for purpose. When they read the list of problems thay did not argue and sold it immediatley. Methinks they had experienced problems with these before. Over £600 a month and I ended up driving Vectras as the Audi supplied replacement car - a great Audi experience.

I would caution anybody about the S3 as it is a very complicated car and you are totally reliant on Audi garages to fix it and I found they new little about the real workings of the car. They were very expensive to buy and are very expensive to run - you have been warned.

Buy the Golf - I would have but it was not available at the time and Alfa Romeo were late with the GTA.

Thanks for the comments. I have heard before that the S3 is a very complicated vehicle, even sometimes too complicated for Audi!!!!! The longer I look into it I am drawn to a Golf V6 4motion, cheaper to buy, would get a newer vehicle with less mileage for the same money as I would if purchasing an S3.

I have had a mk3 golf for the last 5 years and it has been a great car.

Don't confuse overall S3 reliability with the problems you had with your lemon. I'm sure you'll find many S3 owners who've had no problems whatsoever.

Coil-packs aside, the S3 and other 1.8T VAG cars ARE as reliable as most other European cars.

Remember that the S3 is basically the same as the TT 225. If you feel that the dealer isn't competent in fixing the car then go elsewhere.

Finally, S3 ownership is nowhere near as expensive as Alfa ownership. In depreciation alone the Alfa is laughable and their reliability is still worse than VAG.

Two years ago Which voted the TT (all models) the most un-reliable vehicle they had ever tested with a 1 in 4 chance of a breakdown in a year. I did try more than one dealer and still no fault found.

I raised the issues with Audi UK management and they were absolutely useless, the only thing they did in the end was give me £500 for the loss of use of the car whilst they were unable to repair it.

I have owned a 156 2.0 and did 90,000 trouble free miles in 3 years and my wifes Spider has proved very reliable only requiring routine servicing, a couple of light bulbs and a bonnet strut.

I now own an A6 2.4SE and I am finding the repair bills for that quite spiteful especially for replacing worn suspension parts. Now I know why I was able to get it at such a low price for a second hand car.

So my experince over 2 Audis compared to 2 Alfas is that the Alfas are far more reliable and definitely more rewarding to own and drive. I don't understand how you can say Audis are very reliable but describe my car as a lemon. Surely if they can produce one lemon they are equally able to produce more for the suckers out there. I go back to what Which said about the TT.

I own 600k miles worth of Audis right now, and have had at least another 400k worth in the past. Owned nothing but Audi for the last ten years.

I haven't had any problems with my Audis, other than a fuel pump that had intermittant failure on my oldest (200k+) quattro. That was frustrating to find and fix, but with a car that age, you have to expect those sorts of things.

Maybe you did get a lemon - all car makers turn them out, even FIAT. But if Alfa works for you, great. Here in the U.S., we don't get Alfa any more. And haven't since the mid-'90s. They may return someday, but until then, we have to make do with our Audis. And I have never looked back from my choice.

E.P. '95 UrS6 (whips every Alfa to come to our shores, except the Calloway GTV6)