It's been a long while since I've logged on to the forums but having similar decisions in my mind atm (coming from A3 8P2 1.8TFSI) let me give you another perspective on it.
My choices are also between the S3 8V or 330d/335d. The thing that really puts me off the BMW's is the tyres. I had a 330d with Adaptive suspension the other week and it was fantastic. However, it had normal pneumatic tyres. Any factory built BMW will come with the trash run flats, which you will end up paying 10x more for than any standard 18/19" S3 wheels. Another problem is, you have no spare in the boot, you just have some crap glue kit which you're expected to use at the side of the road.
Finally, in winter, without winter tyres, you are going to have problems from all the research I've done. Maybe some current BMW owners here can add to this, but even with xDrive, due to the RWD preference and torque split of around 60%, the car is still pretty much as useless as sDrive (RWD). For these reasons alone I am more swayed towards buying the S3, even though, in my opinion, the S3 is a pretty safe, boring and clinical car.
My choices are also between the S3 8V or 330d/335d. The thing that really puts me off the BMW's is the tyres. I had a 330d with Adaptive suspension the other week and it was fantastic. However, it had normal pneumatic tyres. Any factory built BMW will come with the trash run flats, which you will end up paying 10x more for than any standard 18/19" S3 wheels. Another problem is, you have no spare in the boot, you just have some crap glue kit which you're expected to use at the side of the road.
Finally, in winter, without winter tyres, you are going to have problems from all the research I've done. Maybe some current BMW owners here can add to this, but even with xDrive, due to the RWD preference and torque split of around 60%, the car is still pretty much as useless as sDrive (RWD). For these reasons alone I am more swayed towards buying the S3, even though, in my opinion, the S3 is a pretty safe, boring and clinical car.
