jimbo_50001
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Following on from my experiences buying, owning and selling the Nogaro Blue 8L S3 in part one of this blog (link here: http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/12-years-and-4-audi-s3s-well-almost-part-1.236088/ ), here’s part 2!
“He reached into the bag and threw £9,000 into my lap. I was back in business…..”
So the Focus ST170 had been a disappointment. I still really liked the look for the car, and its road handling was really very good. Build quality was also impressive. But the car lacked the pace I had been used to with the S3, and subsequent TT. And seriously, when I got left for dead by a golf TDi it really was the final straw. I’d added 11,000 miles in 6 months, so it was now sitting at 22,000 and the value had gone down accordingly.
I started the hunt for another 8L S3. It’s a regular pattern with me that I always find the car I want to buy before I have actually sold my current car. And this did cause some stress…..I knew what spec I wanted on the S3 this time. I wanted Dolphin Grey, it had to have the RS4 18” alloys, aluminium mirrors, full leather and ideally the Symphony stereo system as I’d been a bit disappointed with Concert (which also looked too basic set in the dash). I searched the Audi website. And found a grand total of ONE option. Bolton Audi again! (that was where the Nogaro S3 came from). “Bolton people know their S3’s I thought”. There were no pictures of the car on the website and at £17,000 and 31,000 miles on an 02 plate (MW02 AWP) it was a bit over my budget. But it was also the only option in the country. So I called them. Spoke to the same guy who I’d bought the last one off. “It’s not come in yet” he said, “but we’ve already sold it anyway”. Bummer I thought. “Yeah it was originally our demo car and the lady is part exchanging it back to us, it’s a great spec”. Talk about rub it in eh?
Back on the websites, a couple of days later…..and hey presto on Autotrader another Dolphin Grey S3 popped up, with exactly the same specification, in Bolton, and private sale. Hang on I thought. Checked the number plate, MW02 AWP. BOOOOM!!!! £15,500ono. Haha, so the same car put up for sale by the lady before part exchanging it. Rang her, it sounded perfect. Made appointment to see it at the weekend.
But what about the ST170? So I put it up for sale, I had a week at best in order to sell it. It had to go as I’d need the funds for the S3. Went to see the S3….it was SO good to be back in the luxury and pace of the S3 again. I had to have this car. Told her I definitely wanted it but could not give her a deposit because I had to sell the Focus first. Anyway, you only need one phone call, and it came 2 days later. Dude from Halifax interested in the Focus. Made appointment to see the car. I polished it to within an inch of its life – if he didn’t buy it I knew the S3 deal was dead. The guy kept me sweating and was an hour late for the viewing. But when he eventually arrived I noticed he had a little bag with him which he kept very close by. “There’s some money in there” I thought. He drove the car, and very obviously wanted it. Minimal negotiation (bag held tightly flashing “done deal” at me). He reached into the bag and threw £9,000 into my lap. I was back in business. YAHOOOO!! Phoned the lady in Bolton, told her I’d pick the S3 up at the weekend if she’d let it go for £15,000 (a steal at £2,000 less than Bolton Audi had already sold it for). Did the deal and I was on top of the world once again!
I owned the second S3 for three and a half years and did 35,000 miles in it, all of which were a pleasure. My friend who’d bought the Nogaro S3 tried to persuade me to get it chipped etc but I wasn’t that bothered really. I have to admit naivety….I don’t even know what all this stage1/stage2 stuff is about – anyone able to educate me in one paragraph?!
The door lock went after 6 months (£300), a sensor in the engine went which meant the emissions light came on (£400) but apart from that it was reliable. It looked so much meaner with those RS4 alloys instead of the standard 17” Avus’s and ride quality didn’t appear to suffer. It had much more of a premium feel with the full black heated leather, and with the Audi Symphony stereo filling up the centre of the dash. And the grey looked awesome when polished up.
3 years later and eventually the time came to let it go. I wanted a change, and a go in a BMW 330cd M Sport Convertible sealed its fate. So I put the S3 up for sale on Piston Heads. Wrote a good detailed report on the car and some great photos and posted the ad. 10 minutes later I had a call from Ireland. The guy had basically been looking for the same spec for quite some time and he wanted the car. We did the deal on the phone and he transferred £500 to my bank there and then. A week later he came to collect the car and drove off to the Ferry at Holyhead looking very happy. Apparently, even with paying the import tax to Ireland it was still cheaper than trying to buy an S3 locally.
So that was that. The day after I picked up the 330cd from Eastleigh my Wife announced she was pregnant - not exactly a perfect time to buy a convertible! But took the car anyway and really enjoyed the big Diesel lump on it for a couple of years, even though the interior was very dull compared to the design aesthetics of the S3 cabin.
Inevitably, the itch finally came back though, the 330cd was becoming difficult as no pram would fit in the boot, and by now the 8P S3 Sportback had come out and been recently facelifted to have the Daytime Running Lights which looked awesome. So I started the search for the 3rd S3…………Part 3 to follow !
The 8L S3 for me was an awesome car and one I loved owning and driving. It had quality and speed in a premium package, but with just enough attitude thrown in. I still think they look the business even 16 years after it was first released…..wow I feel old is it really that long ago?
I’m posting each part of the blog in a different S3 forum on Audi-Sport (8V, 8L, 8P) and will update this post with Part 3 - on my 8P S3 - in the next few days. In advance and as a cheeky plug you can find the sale advert for S3 number 3 in the classified section of ASN here…… http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/2010-audi-s3-quattro-sportback-one-owner-46-000-miles-%C2%A315-850.235961/
The two 8L S3's.........
“He reached into the bag and threw £9,000 into my lap. I was back in business…..”
So the Focus ST170 had been a disappointment. I still really liked the look for the car, and its road handling was really very good. Build quality was also impressive. But the car lacked the pace I had been used to with the S3, and subsequent TT. And seriously, when I got left for dead by a golf TDi it really was the final straw. I’d added 11,000 miles in 6 months, so it was now sitting at 22,000 and the value had gone down accordingly.
I started the hunt for another 8L S3. It’s a regular pattern with me that I always find the car I want to buy before I have actually sold my current car. And this did cause some stress…..I knew what spec I wanted on the S3 this time. I wanted Dolphin Grey, it had to have the RS4 18” alloys, aluminium mirrors, full leather and ideally the Symphony stereo system as I’d been a bit disappointed with Concert (which also looked too basic set in the dash). I searched the Audi website. And found a grand total of ONE option. Bolton Audi again! (that was where the Nogaro S3 came from). “Bolton people know their S3’s I thought”. There were no pictures of the car on the website and at £17,000 and 31,000 miles on an 02 plate (MW02 AWP) it was a bit over my budget. But it was also the only option in the country. So I called them. Spoke to the same guy who I’d bought the last one off. “It’s not come in yet” he said, “but we’ve already sold it anyway”. Bummer I thought. “Yeah it was originally our demo car and the lady is part exchanging it back to us, it’s a great spec”. Talk about rub it in eh?
Back on the websites, a couple of days later…..and hey presto on Autotrader another Dolphin Grey S3 popped up, with exactly the same specification, in Bolton, and private sale. Hang on I thought. Checked the number plate, MW02 AWP. BOOOOM!!!! £15,500ono. Haha, so the same car put up for sale by the lady before part exchanging it. Rang her, it sounded perfect. Made appointment to see it at the weekend.
But what about the ST170? So I put it up for sale, I had a week at best in order to sell it. It had to go as I’d need the funds for the S3. Went to see the S3….it was SO good to be back in the luxury and pace of the S3 again. I had to have this car. Told her I definitely wanted it but could not give her a deposit because I had to sell the Focus first. Anyway, you only need one phone call, and it came 2 days later. Dude from Halifax interested in the Focus. Made appointment to see the car. I polished it to within an inch of its life – if he didn’t buy it I knew the S3 deal was dead. The guy kept me sweating and was an hour late for the viewing. But when he eventually arrived I noticed he had a little bag with him which he kept very close by. “There’s some money in there” I thought. He drove the car, and very obviously wanted it. Minimal negotiation (bag held tightly flashing “done deal” at me). He reached into the bag and threw £9,000 into my lap. I was back in business. YAHOOOO!! Phoned the lady in Bolton, told her I’d pick the S3 up at the weekend if she’d let it go for £15,000 (a steal at £2,000 less than Bolton Audi had already sold it for). Did the deal and I was on top of the world once again!
I owned the second S3 for three and a half years and did 35,000 miles in it, all of which were a pleasure. My friend who’d bought the Nogaro S3 tried to persuade me to get it chipped etc but I wasn’t that bothered really. I have to admit naivety….I don’t even know what all this stage1/stage2 stuff is about – anyone able to educate me in one paragraph?!
The door lock went after 6 months (£300), a sensor in the engine went which meant the emissions light came on (£400) but apart from that it was reliable. It looked so much meaner with those RS4 alloys instead of the standard 17” Avus’s and ride quality didn’t appear to suffer. It had much more of a premium feel with the full black heated leather, and with the Audi Symphony stereo filling up the centre of the dash. And the grey looked awesome when polished up.
3 years later and eventually the time came to let it go. I wanted a change, and a go in a BMW 330cd M Sport Convertible sealed its fate. So I put the S3 up for sale on Piston Heads. Wrote a good detailed report on the car and some great photos and posted the ad. 10 minutes later I had a call from Ireland. The guy had basically been looking for the same spec for quite some time and he wanted the car. We did the deal on the phone and he transferred £500 to my bank there and then. A week later he came to collect the car and drove off to the Ferry at Holyhead looking very happy. Apparently, even with paying the import tax to Ireland it was still cheaper than trying to buy an S3 locally.
So that was that. The day after I picked up the 330cd from Eastleigh my Wife announced she was pregnant - not exactly a perfect time to buy a convertible! But took the car anyway and really enjoyed the big Diesel lump on it for a couple of years, even though the interior was very dull compared to the design aesthetics of the S3 cabin.
Inevitably, the itch finally came back though, the 330cd was becoming difficult as no pram would fit in the boot, and by now the 8P S3 Sportback had come out and been recently facelifted to have the Daytime Running Lights which looked awesome. So I started the search for the 3rd S3…………Part 3 to follow !
The 8L S3 for me was an awesome car and one I loved owning and driving. It had quality and speed in a premium package, but with just enough attitude thrown in. I still think they look the business even 16 years after it was first released…..wow I feel old is it really that long ago?
I’m posting each part of the blog in a different S3 forum on Audi-Sport (8V, 8L, 8P) and will update this post with Part 3 - on my 8P S3 - in the next few days. In advance and as a cheeky plug you can find the sale advert for S3 number 3 in the classified section of ASN here…… http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/2010-audi-s3-quattro-sportback-one-owner-46-000-miles-%C2%A315-850.235961/
The two 8L S3's.........
