jedi-knight83

get a test drive in an s3 and see if you like it. i have to admit i bought mine before ever driving one and i wasnt disappointed. if you really dont think its quite right then try mods in this order £free 32psi front and 36psi rear tyre pressures £100ish rear ARB from r32 £600ish H&R springs and bilstein shocks.

interesting. where did you find that?

the s4 is great but at 22mpg and a higher insurance group not to mention the fact servicing is a bomb and tuning is doubled due to the 2 turbos etc.... and i would go with the s3 i hear what your saying about the s2000 kev. but being 6'4" it doesnt really work. i found it EXTREMELY cramped inside! plus i got bored of the 9k rpm redline on the brief test drive so i couldnt imagine living with it. Dont do a TT unless its got the S3 or R32 suspension on it. in standard from (even the later S Line ones) its like a limp salad. I also thought about a 330ci but there also holding value alot more and the face lift one i want is still above £20k as for the vague steering of the s3..... personally... having gone from a honda crx Mk2 > Corrado Vr6 > S3.... i didnt notice or indded mind it enough for it to be a problem. the audi had other things (IE the 260bhp available) to keep you entertained so a slightly numb drive was exceptable. Numb or not... its easily the quickest things point to point that i have had so far

biggerbigneil, oh and it was 260bhp not 270. the 260 was verified on 2 different rolling road aswell which i thought was pretty impressive for just a remap. it certainly felt a whole load quicker aswell... as far as bang for buck performance upgrades go... remaping a 1.8T VAG engine is about as good as it gets. the work you described on the R32 is about £1k or more i think i remember and didnt produce the goods on a rollings road day i arranged. An AMD stage 3 R32 produced less than my Stage 1 S3. which was nice!! :D

biggerbigneil, the S3 just needs a decent remap (i used AMD) to get that power. An exhaust will help a little with the noise but theres no denying the fact its no V6! AMD charge around 3500 i think although i got it much cheaper (IE Free) for arranging a massive 25 car group buy! The S3 handling is better than a stock A31.8TQ but its still not quite as good as the R32. The R32 has bigger ARBs and different shocks and Springs. All interchangeable stuff though so its not the end of the world. I drove an S3 with a R32 rear ARB (there about £70 plus fitting from VW) and it made a huge difference! On mine i just fiddled with tyre pressure and camber angles and that too made it like a different car.

Of the 2 i would still choose the S3... even if they were priced the same on the second hand market. The R32 interior is noticably inferior to the S3 although those big seats look nicer. Speed wise. The R32 'feels' slower but its just the V6 power delivery. The S3 (especially a chipped one) feels amazing though and i got addicted to the boost surge. The R32 handles a little better out of the box but its nothing a bit of fiddling cant solve on the S3. custon tyre pressures. different rear ARB and mess with the camber a little and its amazing! and ontop of all of that... it is cheaper on the second hand market! Im looking at spending £12k this time for a 2001 or 2002 car. most people still seem to be advertising them at around £13k but there not really selling that fast so i think there will be some bargains to be struck

My vote goes to the S3. i have thought long and hard about what car to get... but i cant think of anything i want more than another S3 at the moment to be honest. It did everything. It was very well built (as i can prove!!!) It was stinking fast, practical (2 week camping holiday in wales and the lakes with 4 people and luggage!), handeled well (with the right tweeks) and IMO looked great on the 18's. wasnt too expensive to run or insure or maintain and didnt loose much money on depreciation... infact they are still holding good money now!

went and forgot my blooming camera.. so had to take this on the phone what a car!

i can certainly ask my supplier if im allowed to sell stuff on. i think i am as he said about making up little sets to give or sell to clients

it will last but will probably need a regular waxing... every 2 months with super resin should be fine. he was very pleased.. hence allowing me to borrow it for the rest of the weekend :D yeah i use the trade range which is either not available in the shops or is different to the retail products. i think the only thing that is the same is the shampoo i use. thats exactly the same as the retail stuff but everything else is stronger and more effective and cheaper in bulk!

bit of both really. have looked after my own cars for 6 years now and have learned alot that way...but then i also did an autoglym course (i was the only guy there that week so i got 1 to 1 training which really helped).

im considering buying one actually now after spending the weekend with that one. its such a hoot to drive. he's gonna let me take it to cornwall next month but i'd quite fancie getting my own before then

sure its no secret. I use all autoglym trade stuff and elbow grease! So basically in this order... Stripped off any old wax with TFR 1300rpm polished with 03B compound polish 1300rpm polished with Paint renovator polish Alloy wheel cleaner TFR tyres and arches and wheels Shampoo entire car Apply cleaner wax condition rubbers and plastics polish exterior glass dress tyres wax wheels take off cleaner wax and 1800rpm buff apply hard wax and leave for 3 hrs while carrying on other work vacuum interior shampoo interior polish interior windows and mirrors clean leather dress plastics feed leather take off hard wax and 1800rpm buff check everything looks ok and have a cup of tea.

thats mainly why i did it actually.... that and because im taking it to show another guy i know who runs a porsche specialist place as a demo for the work i can do for him.

well that would have been about £370 worth of work but i didnt charge him that as he is a friend

did the inside aswell and a couple more of the outside.

Ok sorry about the amount of pictures.... but wanted to show you all this... Took 2 days on and off. It belongs to a friend of mine and i wanted to see just how must i could restore the paintwork. He then let me borrow it for the weekend.... which was nice :)

scratches were treated with Autoglyms trade range 03B followed by No.1 paint renovator both applied with a 6 speed polishing machine and then finished with radiant wax applied by hand and buffed to glass finish with a lambs wool head on the polishing machine. 2 came up 99% better. the deep one on the drivers door wasnt as easy though.. managed to get rid of some of it but it was just too deep in places. the owner was impressed though which is what counts at the end of the day "better than when i picked it up" were his words.

Went to sort the Vanquish today.. but he had brought his other car instead.... Before. After. More After Scratches One was pretty deep but looks alot better than before. He says he wants me to look after his new Jag XK Coupe aswell. some ppl have too much money!!!

Well the sub in the boot was standard. The Bose system just added better speakers, an extra amp and a better sub. The 17s were standard on all S3's untill late 2002 maybe ever 2003. They were not even an option on early cars. I prefer the colour coded mirrors. the Alu ones are a peice of enginering brilliance... but a bit chavvy if you ask me. Also.. very few have heated seats... the the other options dont really detract from the car. Nah those tyre pressures are THE ones to use. trust me. i played with about 10 different combinations before finding the perfect one. And like i said... it didnt effect tyre wear. get him to try it and if he doesnt feel the difference... i'll eat my .... *looks round for nearest object*..... laptop! ;)

mmmm.... i miss mine. :( when you say its low spec.... ? there werent many things on the options list really. cruise, parking sensors, sunroof, bose hifi... nothing important though. the essintial stuff was all there as standard. great cars. tell him to put 32psi in the front tyres and 36psi in the rears. transforms the handling for free! :D i ran this for about 10k miles and it had no adverse effects on tyre wear either.

kevHaywire, Thanks. yeah i figured that i did such a good job cleaning my own cars that i should get paid for cleaning other peoples cars just as well. randal, the S3 died in a crash last october. there is a thread on it all somewhere on the forum. currently looking at getting a bmw 330 coupe Shaggsy, thanks.. i hate me too sometimes :D ... and thanks.. the owner was very pleased with the work. wants me back every 2 weeks.

the interior is beautiful. fits like a glove.. much nicer than the vanquish actually.

free!! ha... yeah right... dont go having any funny ideas about free valeting and then end up putting me out of business ;)

afraid not... although he is letting me use if for a photoshoot soon so i may get to drive it then. Im all insured to drive it... but when it comes to it... im not sure i would dare