My Mrs wants a new car and shes set her heart on an A3. Being a typical girl important factors are nice colour, nice alloys etc etc. Not bothered about speed so tomorrow we are going to look at an 09 1.6 S-line. Not a bad spec - heated leather/Bose/MFSW but no nav, xenons or any of the packs Audi offer. The 1.6 is good on insurance and no doubt will get 35mpg+ around town. She currently drives an Aygo.

We have a budget of around 15k, now ive been looking around and found a few S3's around this price. One ive seen is a 08 plate with all the toys and only 34k on the clock for 15.5k which i think is a v good price

So the dilemma - by a cheap to run slow one which does look nice or get the faster more expensive to run, tax and insure but is obviously a better car all round

It will be my Mrs car and i probably wont drive it that much, also i have my scoob for thrils

I like the idea of having 2 performance cars on the drive as it were, but unsure i would like the extra cost that comes with it, especially as the Mrs' Aygo over the past year has cost on average £120 per month to run everything included!

As said although the wife isnt bothered about performance shes said she loves the S3 but is abit worried she would find it to powerful for her. She wont take one out for a test drive becasue shes afraid of making a tit of herself infront of the salesman

Help me out sccobynet!

 

I'd take the sensible option. Like you say you have the scoob for thrills and will push your buttons more when you do drive the scoob if you have a slow 2nd car.

I'm a petrol head, but there are always times when I like to just get from point A to point B in relative comfort without knowing its costing me the earth.

 

Go with what she wants, don't foist a performance car on her for no benefit to either of you.

If she would like an S3 then encourage her further to try one, she doesn't have to floor the throttle. My wife doesn't in her 2.0T GTI, just enjoys the part throttle torque and the ease of driving.

 

S3 if you can afford to run it with the scoob.

 

A3 1.2 TFSI sline
That's what my misses got...

 

Shame you don't live a little closer as I'm probably going to chuck in my A3 Sportback Black Edition for a crew van as soon as I can find what I'm looking for - might have fitted the bill.

It's the 1.8 TFSi engine - I can easliy get 40+ mpg out of it. Spec isn't bad with Bose and Xeon's and I had the latest SatNav system fitted - media button and HD screen I think. No heated seats though. It's not a bad bus, but it's no S3.

 

Go sensible and buy the audi A3 1.6, sounds like the S3 would be lost on your wife and it seems a huge waste of money having it if it's not going to be used, fuel bills, insurance, road tax etc will all mount up over an A3 1.6.

I'm all for performance cars, I own a Stage 1 Focus ST but the wife owns a focus 1.6 lx as she doesn't need or want a fast car.

 

My mum just got a TTRS because she liked the colour, spec, way it looks and how solid it feels on the road... she has absolutely no idea of how capable it is if you take it by the scruff of it's neck.

However, for a daily drive in our area, the 4WD is a big selling point... and since she didn't want another diesel after her 320d, the only other option for 'newer' MK2 TT that was 4WD is the TTS/TTRS and the deal on the RS was fantastic. Plus it's quite docile plodding around, so she shouldn't get in any trouble or get caught out.


Cheers,
Grant

 

viewed the 1.6 - not a bad car but overpriced IMO and the dealer said it didnt need a service when the DIS clearly said it did! Walked away as the Mrs car is mint and will only trade it for something equally as good

 

Wouldnt the S3 suffer much less depreciation? Making up for the extra petrol and insurance costs.

As for being able to cope with the power, you dont have to floor it everywhere you go. My wife drives our B200 Turbo (which is her first car as she only passed 8 months ago), circa 200bhp and she loves the torque and effortless midrange.

 

Something i have thought about actually, there seems to be less profit for the dealers in an S3 when you punch the details into WBAC. Perhaps its the higher runnings costs but for us the insurance is only £200 more per year

I reckon she would double her petrol costs so another mayber £70 per month and of course RFL woud be an extra £240ish per year

After reading about the 1.6 being pretty gutless, it'll spend 90% of its life under 50mph i guess as it'll only be a town car, it seemed Ok

Shame there are so many diesels around but with the DPF issues it has to be petrol for us

 

Does it have better reliability than VW? If not then all else can be thought of as small change compared to fixing it.

 

The 1.2 TFSI is quicker and more economical than the old 1.6 that it replaced! Ideal for town driving