A3 1.8T Sport vs S3

[Fidgits]

A quick question, i'm looking at A3's, and considering a nice 2001 A3 1.8T Sport, however, I keep being drawn to the S3, even though its higher miles.

I was wondering how these cars compare, they have the same engine (with the S3 having more power) and 4WD, but other than that are their the significant differences to make it worthwhile?

[jonny996]

I am 6 weeks ahead of you, having to let my 996 go, my indy gave me his wifes A3 Tdi in part ex & I am well supprised.
It aint going to be a 996 but it runs on fresh air 55+mpg, plus get onto Ebay and you can chip them for £100.

I would have prefered a petrol as you seem to get a lot more car for your money, the Tdi hold there value very well. go on to one of the chip companys web site and i think you will find a 1.8t or even 130 tdi & a £100 chip offers better value than a S3

[Fidgits]

thanks Jonny,

I test drove one of each this morning (not diesel though, they seem to be pretty pricey!)

[Adam B]

I have owned both - assume you mean the 180bhp A3 1.8T quattro Sport as the normal 150bhp sport was fwd. You can easily and cheaply chip the 1.8T to 200bhp (the quattro was a chipped version of the fwd in order to make it fractioanlly faster to make up for the 4wd transmission losses and weight)

The S3 would get my vote every time, you can chip either version 210 or 225bhp up to 260bhp and 300torques (which I recommend you do along with a suspension upgrade) and they still look great whereas the standard A3 Mk1 is starting to show its age IMHO. The S3 gives you a lot of extra kit - xenons, full leather, great seats.

the old S3 is a great understated car, only downside is the understeer and vague steering

[Fidgits]

i did actually mean the FWD boggo 1.8T sport.

and i went for the S3.

Was xenons standard then? the car is a 2002 - it has the CD changer in the boot, Bose stereo, big recaros, climate..

I was curious what other things it has?

[Adam B]

Fidgits said:

i did actually mean the FWD boggo 1.8T sport.

and i went for the S3.

Was xenons standard then? the car is a 2002 - it has the CD changer in the boot, Bose stereo, big recaros, climate..

I was curious what other things it has?

Xenons, leather electric recaros, climate all std

common options:
metallic paint £400
Bose £500
CD boot changer £400
Symphony head unit (incl a 6cd changer) £400 I think
bumwarmers £350
ali mirrors (extra in UK, NCO on my Euro import) £250 ish
armrest £150
sunroof £800
rear park £350
auto dim mirrors £150
satnav - mega bucks about £2k
TV for satnav about £600

some later ones could be specced with the 18" RS4 alloys rather than 17" Avus alloys (think they were std on the last ones)

[goodlife]

Slighty similar topic - recently saw an A3 1.8T that had an Audi TT 225 engine installed, then chipped to 240bhp (apparently). It also had upgraded brakes, suspension, to cope. It was a 1998 car with well over 100k on the clock. Still unsure about it as cars with engine replacements put me off a bit. Any thoughts on what this does to a cars value?

[jonny996]

goodlife said:

Slighty similar topic - recently saw an A3 1.8T that had an Audi TT 225 engine installed, then chipped to 240bhp (apparently). It also had upgraded brakes, suspension, to cope. It was a 1998 car with well over 100k on the clock. Still unsure about it as cars with engine replacements put me off a bit. Any thoughts on what this does to a cars value?

That sounds vert fishy? the TT 225 and A3 1.8T are the same engine just diffrent mappings.

[Fidgits]

yeah, I'd walk away from that if i were you

[mat205125]

jonny996 said:

the TT 225 and A3 1.8T are the same engine just diffrent mappings.

Are they? I thought that all the 225 20v motors had better rods, pistons and other internals? Seems a con to charge a premium for a 225 TT over a 180 TT if you just get a software upgrade, and not hardware.

[Robatr0n]

It is the same engine but with different internals.

There is no way I would pay for a 225 engine when I could upgrade my existing engine to a higher spec for much less money.

Sounds dodgy to me...

[goodlife]

Thanks for the interesting feedback. I know the owner/car so know why it has the TT engine. Basically the original engine lunched itself, so being a power-mad petrolhead he got a specialist to install a low milage TT engine in it's place. The cars in overall pretty good nick, I was really just wondering how the replacement engine would affect resale values. I guess by the replies that it would certainly limit the market of potential buyers at least