To the driver of the Audi S3 on the A465 this morning

It favours the person who has the better driving ability.

I'll be known as Steve'McRae' H from now on, then.

Hmmm. 100bhp on me but several hundred kilos extra weight. Probably not as much in it as you'd expect.

I'd suggest that you probably aren't driving as close to the limits of your car as I do, then.

I'm by no means the fastest driver out there, but I'm _very_ rarely overtaken on twisty runs like that - a couple of weeks ago I had a really good tussle with a MkI Impreza over an unclassified twisty mountain road.

He obviously had the power and enough ability to pilot that car along at a fair old pace, but he lacked bottle on a couple of occasions where I kept it nailed and he backed off. Did _just_ enough to keep him beind me. Oil temp. rose alarmingly in the space of just 5 or 6 miles of this.

Yeah, but the RS3's coming out at some point soonish isn't it? That's going to have around 350bhp IIRC.

Peter

Hello chaps/chapesses, the *A*3 3.2 V6 gets the lovely 250bhp 3.2 V6, the S3 is supposed to be getting a turboed V6, with a bit more power I suppose.

I drove my workmate's Golf; very nice, but I prefer the looks of my A3 (3.2 V6, chipped to 275bhp, more than enough for a granny like me)

Wasted on a woman. *sigh*

Braincells wasted on a guy.

That would be you, then.

A mighty retort.

You'd know *all* about that, wouldn't you.

(Ladies and gentleman and 'others', I present you - )

LOL

Of course, and I guess the Audi Sport Quattro was wasted on Michele Mouton. Wish I could stay and continue this cretinous argument but I have to clean behind the fridge, cook dinner, get myself made up and put on a nice frock before my husband gets home from't pit.

Absolutely. As an aside; have you thought about the new Ford Ka that's almost due for production? - Would suit a lady down to a T.

No, I just don't like any of the colours. Don't let me put you off getting one though.

Do you find the power delivery peaky at all? The A6 2.8 has a nice flat curve for the type it is, I dunno what 275 bhp might need to be compromised to reach.

I'm no expert, but I'll do my best...

I guess for a modern normally aspirated engine, 86bhp/litre shouldn't demand a wildly cammed "peaky" engine. My car has the "direct shift gearbox." In "sport" mode the engine is excellent. There is strong response from low(ish) revs, it's not really peaky at all, and it keeps pulling hard up to well over the legal limit (I've had it close to the car's artificially limited speed a few times now). The sport mode does tend to keep the engine above about 3000rpm, which probably disguises any lack of low rpm response. In normal mode, the car drives much more like an auto, with a few moments' delay before it picks itself up when you put your foot down.

The engine feels even better now it has a couple of thousand miles on it. For overtaking on crappy roads like the A428 Northampton to Bedford (my regular route) it is fantastic. The quite muted engine note rapidly becomes an angry howl as the revs come up. It's a really nice sound that just cannot be got from a 4cyl - I still miss the funny "two-note" growl of the 5cyl though.

I can't directly compare with the factory engine really, as it was chipped soon after I got it home. I don't think it has lost much at all to get the extra 25bhp. I don't get much better than 21mpg, but I didn't buy it for its economy! Anyway, I'm quite pleased with it and look forward to having a go in an S3 when they come out, even though it would be even more terribly wasted on me since my "brain is too small" etc. etc......

ROFL :)

Yep - I don't drive anywhere near it's limits...

...because there's enough power that I don't need to.

In any case - driving on the limits isn't exactly viable on a public road. If you've got nothing in reserve, then what are you going to do when something unexpected happens ?

Yep. And I know which I'd rather have !