hello and welcome to episode two of my Audi S3 long term video diary series and today I'm going
to tell you about four things I like about the car so far and four things I don't like so much
nice and simple now I haven't had the car for that long but it has been enough time to form
some clear First Impressions they might change over the next few months but here's what I think
of the S3 right now starting with the good stuff so first thing I really like and it's
the powertrain for those that don't know this car has a two liter four-cylinder turbocharged
petrol engine it makes 310 horsepower 400 newton meters of torque it accelerates from not to 62
miles an hour in 4.8 seconds and it has a top speed that's limited to 155 miles an hour it's
also got a seven speed s-tronic gearbox that's a dual clutch automatic gearbox and that feeds
the Quattro all-wheel drive system but all of these ingredients together and the result is an
awesome powertrain the S3 is quick on paper but more importantly it feels fast a strong
surge at low revs is followed by an explosive turn of pace above 4000 RPM with that extra
burst of speed lending the engine more character than many give it credit for it's not just about
outright Pace either it's also so how easy it is to achieve set speeds and use the available
power for example the gearbox is always primed to let you quickly maneuver out of the junction or
kick down for an overtake it does an extremely good job at reading what you wanted to do next
and because you've got the Flawless Quattro all-wheel drive system it doesn't
matter you just put your foot down and you get the absolute maximum
available power it just goes I mean you can see why they use these cars
as police pursuit Vehicles it feels like you're using a cheat code in real life
on to the second good point and it's also got an element of cheating about it you see the engine
noise you hear from inside the cabin isn't the same as the sound from the outside because like
many cars now it's got an artificial engine noise piped in through the speakers now some
people hate this idea but I'm really not against it because in this they've given it a low rumbling
five-cylinder soundtrack so it actually sounds a little bit like the Audi RS3 is it authentic no do
I care no not really because if it was covering up something like a glorious V6 soundtrack then
yeah it would be a total waste but the sound of a two liter four-cylinder turbocharged petrol
it's not going to go down as one of the all-time grapes this engine in terms of how it sounds so
to give it an extra bit of character with what is a really well integrated augmented sound system
I've got no issues oh and it does sound good even if it isn't entirely real
next up is the infotainment system and Audi pretty much always do a good job with this and
it's no different in the S3 you've got a 10.1 inch touchscreen and it comes as standard with
things like Wireless Apple carplay and Android auto and you've also got 3D mapping and live
traffic information and three years worth of subscription to Audi's connect Services which
includes weather and news apps which are actually pretty handy but most importantly
for me is that it looks very premium with nice graphics on the menu systems but also the layout
is super simple so it looks and it behaves like a really polished expensive infotainment system
also unlike some other Audis you've also got physical buttons for the
climate control and the heated seats which I reckon is super super useful I just wish
that there was still some Shortcut buttons for the multimedia system so you can skip to for
example your favorite radio station without having to go into the infotainment system
final good S I want to highlight are the small details on this car that make a big difference
for example the armrest is a thing of beauty soft and padded yet sturdy and adjustable the VW group
has always made an excellent armrest and this is no different you position the height where you
want it and then slide it forward or back simple easy and effective the same can be said for the
luggage net in the boots part of the standard fit storage pack it's a must-have for those who
are partial to an enthusiastic drive and don't want their luggage and shopping going absolutely
everywhere while zipping down a fun bit of Road trust me I've been there now onto the bits that
I'm not so keen on and the first is the lack of keyless entry and I know it's the first world
problem it is but when you've got a brand new Audi and it costs around 40 000 pounds then surely
surely it should be standard and not a 425 quid option the only thing I can say in its defense is
that the BMW m135i which is around the same price again it also has it as an optional extra it's
not standard and actually as an option on that it's part of a pack and it's even more expensive
than this but I don't know come on guys surely surely this sort of thing should be standard
something else that the S3 doesn't come as standard with is adaptive dampers and that's fine
I'm not saying it should but I would be interested to know what effect they have on the next two
issues I've found the first of which is the ride I know that this is a performance car it's a hot
hatch so Comfort isn't as high a priority as it would be on for example a regular A3 but even so
I expected the low speed ride quality on this car to be a bit more polished now I would be intrigued
to find out if that changes with the Adaptive dampers I expect it would because of course this
is on the passive dampers and I've also noticed that actually the tire pressures feel to me pretty
high it's 41 at the front and 38 at the back on this car which is what Audi recommends and from
what I can see they've recommended it on Audi S3s for years now but to me that feels quite high so
I'm wondering if it's worth taking a couple of PSI out just to see how that might affect the ride so
I'll do that and I'll let you know what happens but also keep an eye out for a video when I do
test an Audi S3 with the Adaptive dampers to see if the ride quality improves a little bit I have
to caveat this by saying that at higher speeds and at Mid speeds even there's no issues at all with
the ride it's as I'd expect it to be it's actually pretty good it's just at low speeds where it feels
a bit jigglier and it transmits the bumps the sharper bumps into the cabin more than I'd expect
you would however hope that a firmer ride quality would in general terms equal better body control
so it stays flatter in the corners and as I'll get on to in a later episode this car handles
extremely well it's actually the best handling S3 I think they've ever made but I've got to say
that coming into medium and high speed Corners there's more role than I thought they would be
I mean you can feel it you can appreciate it you've got the car pushing away and the car
rolling away from the Apex it's not a disaster by any stretch and it's not over the top but
to me this rolls more than the A35 and also the m135i I do think it takes a bit of getting used
to because usually it associate role with a car that isn't perhaps focused at going
around corners quickly but of course this is and once you see past that body roll it's excellent
but I have noticed it and I wonder if anyone else has or is it just me being overly fussy
which it could be and again I'd be really interested to see how having adaptive
dampers fitted affects the body roll on this car so as I said before definitely keep an
eye out for a future video on that subject because I reckon it'll be quite intriguing
final thing I want to talk about and I am scraping the barrel I know that but it's the brake dust
this car generates for some reason it creates more brake dust than any other car I've ever driven and
it's probably just down to the pads that they're using but even so it looks so shiny and nice now
because we've done it for the cameras when I drive this car home about an hour it'll be covered in
brake dust again and that means that these nice silver Wheels get a kind of a gray tinge to them
which is a shame considering how good they look when they're clean so small issue but I'd love
to know if anyone else is experiencing the same thing so there we go those are my initial likes
and dislikes on the Audi S3 sportback I hope you enjoyed it and if you've got an S3 and
you want to add to this discussion then please use the comments box below because I'd love to
hear from you also make sure you subscribe and turn your notifications on for the next video
where I will be comparing the S3 with its bigger brother the RS3 and you do not want to miss that
thank you