[Joker]

I need your help people. My girlfriend is getting a new car and she wants an Audi A3 Sportback. Since I'll be driving the car aswell and I have no previous experience of Audis, I'm asking you former / current Audi drivers is the Sportback worth the money? How is the ride and comfort in comparison to the E90? I tested the car with my GF and the main complaint was the tyre noise. Quality seems to be ok. The problem is that we tested the car with winter tyres and they don't give a good impression about the handling, etc. That's why I need your help.

[ChineseGuy]

i prefer GTI over A3

[BuckJon]

I had both GTI and A3 but haven't driven my 335 yet. The A3 has awesome interior styling in my opinion, it's very comfortable and the drive is nice. Although fun the GTI was just too small. I had the 2.0T Audi and I enjoyed it very much and had no problems with it at all after 22K miles. As far as it being worth the money? I think that car is overpriced but I bought it anyway.

[Chris.G]

If you wait a bit longer, id get AUDI S3 (sexy car). If its out of budget test driving the 2.0t would be recommended.

[Joker]

Sounds like a good car then. The cabin does have a very good quality feel to it. We just have to wait a while for the spring (and summer tyres) to come. Then we can test the handling and hear the tyre noise with regular tyres.

Thanks guys!

[Lucid4000]

A3 is a great car. I was actually considering that and the A4 before I bought my e90. Audi makes an excellent car and I have always been a big fan.

[enwhykiid]

audis are good cars, i also drive a tt, but if u are considering the resale value and the servicing, they arent very good investments

[boyce'06 330i]

I have had two VWs and one Audi and had bad experiences with all three. My first VW had such bad factory alignment settings for the rear tires that I had to replace them every 12k due to outside edge wear.

My 2nd VW wouldn't pass emissions after 3 years (well maintained) and, as a seperate issue, VW service diagnosed a failing water pump as a bad power steering pump and told me it was okay to drive it until it failed. Had I not gone in to have it replaced 4 months later before a holiday trip I could have had a MUCH bigger problem!

My Audi also had numerous problems, the biggest was a catastrophic tranny failure at 57k. The repair bill would have been $7k had I not reminded Audi that I had been complaining about the tranny since 27k (as noted in the records for 3 seperate service visits) and threatened legal action. Even then I was on the hook for 1/2 the labor ($1200). To make matters worse, one of 4 O2 sensors failed two weeks after the tranny repair... another $1k.

I actually picked the Audi up from the dealer after the O2 repair and drove it to BMW and traded it the same day!

The other thing I hate about Audi is their lack of loaner cars. They won't even give you an option to get one unless your car has to stay overnight, and even then, they won't offer the loaner until late in the day requiring another trip to the dealership to pick up the loaner. Audi have forgotten who their customer used to be. They're choosing not to compete with BMW, Lexus, Mercedes or even Acura when it comes to customer service.

Oh, and almost forgot. My trade-in on my '02 A6 was $12,500... it was a $44k car new 4 years ago... Audi resale is no better than a VW of the same year (same year Passat trade-in was $11,200 at the time I traded)!

[DFW_M]

A3 (2.0T) is the GTI with the Audi badge. I'd go for the GTi since it is also made in Germany and costs less than A3. Rabbit (Golf) is usually put together in Brazil or who knows where. I had the 2001 1.8T Golf and started falling apart at 20k miles.
I test drove the A3 (2.0T) before I got the e90 and was very impressed...

[ChineseGuy]

Originally Posted by boyce'06 330i

I have had two VWs and one Audi and had bad experiences with all three. My first VW had such bad factory alignment settings for the rear tires that I had to replace them every 12k due to outside edge wear.

My 2nd VW wouldn't pass emissions after 3 years (well maintained) and, as a seperate issue, VW service diagnosed a failing water pump as a bad power steering pump and told me it was okay to drive it until it failed. Had I not gone in to have it replaced 4 months later before a holiday trip I could have had a MUCH bigger problem!

My Audi also had numerous problems, the biggest was a catastrophic tranny failure at 57k. The repair bill would have been $7k had I not reminded Audi that I had been complaining about the tranny since 27k (as noted in the records for 3 seperate service visits) and threatened legal action. Even then I was on the hook for 1/2 the labor ($1200). To make matters worse, one of 4 O2 sensors failed two weeks after the tranny repair... another $1k.

I actually picked the Audi up from the dealer after the O2 repair and drove it to BMW and traded it the same day!

The other thing I hate about Audi is their lack of loaner cars. They won't even give you an option to get one unless your car has to stay overnight, and even then, they won't offer the loaner until late in the day requiring another trip to the dealership to pick up the loaner. Audi have forgotten who their customer used to be. They're choosing not to compete with BMW, Lexus, Mercedes or even Acura when it comes to customer service.

Oh, and almost forgot. My trade-in on my '02 A6 was $12,500... it was a $44k car new 4 years ago... Audi resale is no better than a VW of the same year (same year Passat trade-in was $11,200 at the time I traded)!

i hear you man...

i got tons of friends with audis, and 80% of them had problem with their cars....

one of them had the engine check warning light on few days after he got his A3....

and another friend of mine had to visit the dealership about 5 times before they are willing to help my friend fix her A4....the dealership said her car is fine, while it was shaking like crazy and loss of power during uphill.....it took about a month for them to fix it.....and that was just one problem....

overall, i have bad impression of audi and would never consider one....

but that's just me......there MUST be audi owners out there that's enjoying and love their car right now and i totally respect that...

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by ChineseGuy

i hear you man...

i got tons of friends with audis, and 80% of them had problem with their cars....

one of them had the engine check warning light on few days after he got his A3....

and another friend of mine had to visit the dealership about 5 times before they are willing to help my friend fix her A4....the dealership said her car is fine, while it was shaking like crazy and loss of power during uphill.....it took about a month for them to fix it.....and that was just one problem....

overall, i have bad impression of audi and would never consider one....

but that's just me......there MUST be audi owners out there that's enjoying and love their car right now and i totally respect that...

Haven't we seen the same stories about the BMWs here on the forum???
You can get an Audi and have absolutely no issues or the other way around. Same with any other car...

[boyce'06 330i]

Originally Posted by dr325i

Haven't we seen the same stories about the BMWs here on the forum???
You can get an Audi and have absolutely no issues or the other way around. Same with any other car...

Maybe so, but their service level is not subject to the same logic. Their service sucks, period. And for a car that's supposed to compete with the other high-end German marques, that's unacceptable in my book.

The service I recieve at my BMW dealership is what brought me back to the 3 series (I also have an X5).

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by boyce'06 330i

Maybe so, but their service level is not subject to the same logic. Their service sucks, period. And for a car that's supposed to compete with the other high-end German marques, that's unacceptable in my book.

The service I recieve at my BMW dealership is what brought me back to the 3 series (I also have an X5).

I agree with your comment, but again, it all depends...
The ealership here in Dallas that I used was at first great, then they sucked and I will not return over there.
The BMW service in the city in FL where I lived was terrible, unless you had the 7er or an M purchased from them.
Audi service, on the other hand was great (from what I heard) over there...

So, I would not base my car choice on those assumptions...

[ChineseGuy]

Originally Posted by dr325i

Haven't we seen the same stories about the BMWs here on the forum???
You can get an Audi and have absolutely no issues or the other way around. Same with any other car...

i'm just saying audi gave me a bad impression

the biggest reason why i don't pick an audi is simply....BMW cars are just better IN MY PERSPECTIVE.....i just enjoy driving a BMW more than an audi...

but the fact that 80% of the audi owners i know are having problems with their cars, while my E90 is still flawless in terms of those problems....

just something i wanna share.....and again, i'm not being disrespectful to audi owners here....

[obLu]

The other thing I hate about Audi is their lack of loaner cars.

It's all down to the dealer ... in my town the two Audi dealers service depts kick the crap out of the BMW dealers. I always, always had loaners for my Audis no questions asked, no hassles ... even if it was just an oil change. My BMW dealer? No loaner. Never. If I want an appt, I'm looking at 3wks out.

Owned three bmws and two audis; I've had more mechanical problems per car with the BMWs.

But I always come back to bmws because they're so much more fun to drive than my audis were.

We're still buying the wife a Q7 though.

[boyce'06 330i]

Originally Posted by dr325i

I agree with your comment, but again, it all depends...
The ealership here in Dallas that I used was at first great, then they sucked and I will not return over there.
The BMW service in the city in FL where I lived was terrible, unless you had the 7er or an M purchased from them.
Audi service, on the other hand was great (from what I heard) over there...

So, I would not base my car choice on those assumptions...

The issues I mentioned are true for all Audi service departments now according to my dealer. Audi are cutting back big time on service perks and out of warranty "good faith" repairs.

[Hornet]

No problems with Audi's so far, service is on par with BMW at least here. Besides, Audi's are better wintercars, especially the quattro versions.