End of an era - I sold the A3 today :-(

Welly

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Thought I would share the passing of the A3 from my hands.

Sold today for £3000. Good money actually considering that it needs an MOT next week. Not that it won't pass mind, it should fly through!!

Will be sadly missed, she was a good motor! :(
 
That was my old car matey, that was what I had before I had the S3. Still got the S3, going to be hanging on to her for a while!!
 
oh my good god!!!

sorry Welly you must be gutted doood, lthough be worse if you didnt have the S3 there ;)

anyway sorry mate but 'Good god!!' 10 frickin 'K'....thats awesome
 
oh my good god!!!

sorry Welly you must be gutted doood, lthough be worse if you didnt have the S3 there ;)

anyway sorry mate but 'Good god!!' 10 frickin 'K'....thats awesome

LOL, I'll live mate, she's gone to a good home.

I know, thats a LOT of car for not a lot of money.

Although Mr Natwest would kick my ****!!
 
yup me too doood, plus bet a broken gearbox on that would cost more than mine :)

i looked into the running costs a while back and they literally cost a fortune to buy, maintain and run.....
 
well yeah haha..... whats your thoughts on the A3 vs S3 debate..... hers is alright to drive but i really miss the poke of mine, i know it will be loads better once mapped but im really bnot feeling the love at the minute :)
 
Sorry to hear mate.. But you do know what this means now.... BT BT BT BT BT BT BT BT BT BT BT :)
 
yup me too doood, plus bet a broken gearbox on that would cost more than mine :)

i looked into the running costs a while back and they literally cost a fortune to buy, maintain and run.....


lol sounds like an S3

As Westle says;

"Changing Parts Weekly"
 
lol sounds like an S3

As Westle says;

"Changing Parts Weekly"

The joys of S3 ownership..... well, VAG ownership in general!

Tim, not sure what my thoughts are on the A3 S3 debate.

Mapped A3 150 T Sport front wheel drive won't be far behind a standard S3 (210 or 225 really) in terms of straight line speed. I personally think the standard 1.8 TQ 180 is pants. The 4WD system is sooooo heavy that it slows it down tons. I heard once that the 150 is quicker to 60 than the 180 (traction dependent).

Anyway, I think it comes down to personal choice. Having had a high power 150 T Sport at about 215 BHP ish, the thing was un-driveable - especially in the wet. Map a 180 TQ to the same on a K03S, you've got a standard S3 210 really, except the torque will be less because the K03 will run out of puff.

If you're going to do BT conversions etc, then this conversation is academic.

Keeping them standard however, the S3 is more comfy, tunable to a higher power as standard, better looking, have got an 'S3' badge on the back which looks pretty, handle beautifully, and people like them....'Ooooooh, it's an S3'.

S3 gets my vote personally. Worth the extra money every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
 
yeah i think i agree with all of that mate...... curious as to how this A3 is going to go once all the bits are on against my S3 (assuming shes road worthy again :) )...think we're looking around the 220-230bhp mark so god knows - cheers for the heads up though
 
That A3 of mine used to run about that, but I had to turn the boost down. Honestly mate, I shredded a new pair of tires in a week the thing used to spin all the way through second in the dry!! Bye bye tires.

2WD and high power is never good. In my younger days I had a 205 BHP Vauxhall Corsa with a C20XE in all tuned up with cams, you name it, it had it. Courtenay Sport did it all for me. Now that used to spin all the way through 3rd. Tires lasted 5 mins!!

But good god it was fun!!
 
chars dooood, i am quite looking forward to it..... nice stealthy A3 to play with :)

did you do much to yours?
 
It was an AGU engine, so had a large port engine, Stage 1 REVO map, but running a MBC to up the boost as far as it would go (15.5 PSI before engine management went mad!!), 3" downpipe, Decat, K03S, 007P, Forge TIP, FMIC, Polished throttle body, full exhaust system.

Probably forgotten something too!!

She had a few of my pounds. Used to make really good air flow for the mods. I forget exactly what though. Used to make around the 180 G/s mark with the boost on full chat.
 
Personally not a fan of big mods, why not get something more powerful initially (since you have money for mods)

Swings and roundabouts
 
I hear your point, but there is something nice about extracting as much power as humanly possible from something which isn't initially that fast.

It's nice to have an A3 and skin other people in A3s!!
 
Personally not a fan of big mods, why not get something more powerful initially (since you have money for mods)

Swings and roundabouts

i would agree entirely, the only reason we're spending what we are on this A3 is firstly cos we know we are going to keep it a while, and secondly cos i know i got it for less than it was worth, therefore allowing us to buy some bargain items for the power increase - she wants sumat as quick as the Cooper S was and unfortunately £1k on top of the cost of the car would not have resulted in an equally quick vehicle - depends what ya spending on ya car and the mods
 
I hear your point, but there is something nice about extracting as much power as humanly possible from something which isn't initially that fast.

It's nice to have an A3 and skin other people in A3s!!


and yep for the first time ever im looking forward to turning a dog into sumat stealthy and lethal - so with ya on that Welly!!! (never thought id see myself write that haha!!)
 
just in reading this thread etc.. im just wondering.... whats the standerd boost on a 150 1.8t. is it 7psi? because, i really dont think my cars that slow at all (comming from a mental quick scooby it is obviously) but i seem to mince everything equal to my a3. mine also runs a stable 11psi boost.

[dr zoidburg voice activated]

What iiisss??

[dr zoidburg voice de-activated]
 
Aw! sad day but sheesh not like you dont have the S3 lol, bet youre still smilin....... zoom zoom zoom......
 
It was an AGU engine, so had a large port engine, Stage 1 REVO map, but running a MBC to up the boost as far as it would go (15.5 PSI before engine management went mad!!), 3" downpipe, Decat, K03S, 007P, Forge TIP, FMIC, Polished throttle body, full exhaust system.

She had a few of my pounds. Used to make really good air flow for the mods. I forget exactly what though. Used to make around the 180 G/s mark with the boost on full chat.

Similar spec to mine then Welly, but I've got CC2.

180g/s is fairly good show on a ko3S AGU, equates to about 225bhp. the highest peak I've seen from mine whilst logging is 189g/s. (odd as I've been told the MAF can only read 187) it does 187 every run, the same as my mates mapped S3.

As for the torque on the A3/S3, the mapped A3 will have much more torque than a standard S3, because the ko4 is bigger, it doesn't need to boost much to make the power figures. I think a standard S3 only has around 205lbft, compared to 230-250 from a stage 1 ko3S. boost = torque basically. Mine once ran 290lbft from the ko3S at 24psi, but if I'm honest that turbo didn't last too long!

mine now runs 18psi, and to be fair, it's an absolute weapon. but like Welly says, it's a monster on tyres would be interesting to see how the TC on the AUM copes with the power.

I think you'll like it Tim, it's a much more lairy drive than a mapped S3. In the wet yesterday I was spinning up in 3rd on a straight road!
 
Hmmm, I guess I compare it to my mapped S3 which is really torquey to be fair, the A3 didn't ever feel as torquey as the S3, but then again, traction is no issue these days with the 4WD.

It's running around about 22 psi now and is REALLY punchy low down through the rev band, but that is at as much boost as the Revo 1 map will give me. That is flowing (at last logging) 212 G/S which I was really pleased with. BUT it's running an AGU engine inside!! lol. I want stage 2!!
 
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yea, I think the turbo lasted 3 months before the thrust bearing shat itself! it was an absolute animal though, span the wheels in 3rd in the dry, and made 225bhp by just 4500rpm due to the epic torque!

if you only got the A3 up to 15.5psi it'd probably have been fairly smooth without the silly big smack of torque from the boost spike. I bet that's ultimately a nicer driver.

I'm now running a Gizzmo EBC that I've just fitted to try and get better control over my boost, peak boost at WOT seems to vary dailly on the AGU!
 
It's the size of the inlet ports which causes that, they're HUGE by comparison to the normal 1.8T small port heads.

See here:

35.jpg


That is a large port inlet mani gasket on a small port head.
 
I really can't see the point of all that power at the front wheels. I like to drive fast on country lanes and an over-powered fwd car just can't cut it! Even the M3 was a struggle to get the power down on these sorts of roads which is why i decided my next car would be 4wd! Not the best handler the S3 out of the box but a damn fine all weather cross country commuting tool!

Its great modifying cars but you have to draw a line between spending on modding or spending on a better model!