Monkeyhanger's RS3

[monkeyhanger]

I made a trip out to Liverpool today to collect my new RS3 and then drive it 180 miles home.

The collection was well executed, brought my little girl on the train and the car was shrouded when we got there for the little'un to do the reveal by whipping the cloth covering off.

All thoughts of whether it was a crazy buy not worth the extra completely evaporated not far into the journey home. It feels special in a way I've not felt about a car since my 2015 Golf R, sounds amazing with the exhaust flaps open - rumbly and popping on the gear changes, looks mean yet understated and drives great. I was even surprised my it's motorway efficiency.















Stabbed the throttle probably 20 times during the journey to go 40 - 80mph and tried to maintain 75mph by ACC most of the time. There were very few 50mph zones Vs my occasional commute down the A1/M18/M1 to Milton Keynes where about a quarter of the 240 mile journey is sat at 50. My S3 generally got 38 -40mpg on the motorway, without standing the throttle. The tight as a drum RS3 managed 36.4mpg, I'm convinced I'd have been pushing 38-39mpg without those bouts of hard acceleration. Sat on the motorway, the car seems able to push along at very low revs like my old 190TDI A4 did - happy to sit in the 50 zones in 7th gear at 1400rpm. Looks like it'll be thirsty around the doors though.

Tried to do some OBD11 work to ditch lane assist and alas, my old version is not recognised by the car to connect properly. The oil temp, 3 hours after I got home was still reading 51C - that's some amazing heat retention.

It's very well equipped as the base model plus "Tech Pro pack" - fully electric seats with 2 driver setting presets for electric adjustments, HUD, Matrix lights, auto parking (novelty) and pretty much everything you might normally expect from a recent VAG hot hatch.

I was worried how hard the ride might be, given it's 10mm lower than the S3 and the S3 ride is harsh/brittle Vs the Golf R. It's hard yet very compliant, in the same kind of way my old 2015 R on Pretoria's had an unexpectedly much better ride than a GTI on 18s.

Very pleased with it, will be looking to reinstall my dashcams into it tomorrow.

[Paul70]

I made a trip out to Liverpool today to collect my new RS3 and then drive it 180 miles home.

The collection was well executed, brought my little girl on the train and the car was shrouded when we got there for the little'un to do the reveal by whipping the cloth covering off.

All thoughts of whether it was a crazy buy not worth the extra completely evaporated not far into the journey home. It feels special in a way I've not felt about a car since my 2015 Golf R, sounds amazing with the exhaust flaps open - rumbly and popping on the gear changes, looks mean yet understated and drives great. I was even surprised my it's motorway efficiency.















Stabbed the throttle probably 20 times during the journey to go 40 - 80mph and tried to maintain 75mph by ACC most of the time. There were very few 50mph zones Vs my occasional commute down the A1/M18/M1 to Milton Keynes where about a quarter of the 240 mile journey is sat at 50. My S3 generally got 38 -40mpg on the motorway, without standing the throttle. The tight as a drum RS3 managed 36.4mpg, I'm convinced I'd have been pushing 38-39mpg without those bouts of hard acceleration. Sat on the motorway, the car seems able to push along at very low revs like my old 190TDI A4 did - happy to sit in the 50 zones in 7th gear at 1400rpm. Looks like it'll be thirsty around the doors though.

Tried to do some OBD11 work to ditch lane assist and alas, my old version is not recognised by the car to connect properly. The oil temp, 3 hours after I got home was still reading 51C - that's some amazing heat retention.

It's very well equipped as the base model plus "Tech Pro pack" - fully electric seats with 2 driver setting presets for electric adjustments, HUD, Matrix lights, auto parking (novelty) and pretty much everything you might normally expect from a recent VAG hot hatch.

I was worried how hard the ride might be, given it's 10mm lower than the S3 and the S3 ride is harsh/brittle Vs the Golf R. It's hard yet very compliant, in the same kind of way my old 2015 R on Pretoria's had an unexpectedly much better ride than a GTI on 18s.

Very pleased with it, will be looking to reinstall my dashcams into it tomorrow.

Looks great MH. How are you finding the Bridgestones?

The engine does take a good few miles to loosen up and I found mine to be more responsive in comfort mode and part throttle than full throttle in dynamic mode even after 750 or so miles, it almost seem to restrict the car, even after the typic run in mileage. The car now done just over 3000 miles and it’s loosened up nicely and has not used a drop of oil.

None of my Gols ever felt that tight during run in.

[monkeyhanger]

Paul70: There's been a program in place on all the VAGs I've had since 2013 that limits output significantly until the cars hit 620 miles/1000km, then a bit of natural loosening up after that. It's already a beast, hard to imagine what it will be like when it fully opens up. Just installed my dashcams back in - hope they still work, I lost a few fuses for the tapper circuits, so am about to buy some more and then hopefully everything will work.

So far so good with the Bridgestones, haven't had them in the wet or cold, but hopefully Bridgestone Potenzas Sports are better than Potenzas S001/S005/RE050A than I've had previously.

[Dav3smith]

That's a great car MH, probably the last real fast (non EV) hot hatch. Enjoy it.

[joe6]

Looks great and a bit of a mean machine in black. Sat in one at the dealers the other day but that is as far as I will get to ownership!  Great driver position and cabin ergonomics look fantastic. Enjoy.

[fredgroves]

The A3 marked rubber mats would have to go if it was mine!

Nice car though!

[DSGboy]

Wow MH, what a Beaut. Perfect imho.  Just what I’d choose (admire the top line Vorsprung but a wee bit overdone for me)  Hope you Enjoy each mile in it.

[monkeyhanger]

The A3 marked rubber mats would have to go if it was mine.

Nice car though!

I'll have to try and get customs as there's no S3 or RS3 variants available, but I've had them in the S3, they're old. The cloth mats that came with it are just bog standard too.

[monkeyhanger]

Wow MH, what a Beaut. Perfect imho.  Just what I’d choose (admire the top line Vorsprung but a wee bit overdone for me)  Hope you Enjoy each mile in it.

Some crazy prices for the Carbon spec (£4450 for literally 10 bits of substitute/stick on carbon trim and a £650 upgrade to fussy wheels, standard plus Tech pro pack is well specced. I wasn't going to go black as I thought it wouldn't feel like a change, but the facelift interior is fairly different.

[P6GTD]

Can I just say how welcoming the members are to guys like MH who remain interested and engaged to stay in touch.

Maybe we should re-titled this as “the friends of Mk 7s GTI forum”.

Many good people on here.

Really enjoy the posts from many whom won’t name.