FW: FW: Audi sighting????(x posted) ALREADY ANSWERED

[Phil Rose]

At 5:25 PM -0400 4/24/06, Taka Mizutani wrote:
>
>If the cover and the vinyl were intact, there is no way that you 
>would have a long scratch in the car.
>No way would they allow that to leave the factory. That's damage 
>done at the dealership.

I  really have no idea whether or not the cover was intact in this 
particular spot. Also I don't consider  one inch to be a "long 
scratch". I'm sure it did not leave the factory that way, and though 
it looks as though it could have been caused during transport--it 
possibly was done at/by the dealer. I don't know--or care. The dealer 
apologized and of course accepted full responsibility for the repair 
(to my full satisfaction), whoever may caused it.


>  Personally,
>I would not have taken delivery of the car, esp. a brand new $40k A3.

Honestly, I can't imagine why I should (or could) care what anyone 
else would have done "personally" in the situation I encountered.

To put things in proper perspective, the little scratch was hardly a 
show-stopping issue after waiting 2 months for production and 
delivery of the car. As of last month, Audi had stopped taking A3 
orders for the 2006 model year, and the dealer stock of 2006 S-line 
(3.2 L) A3 cars is extremely thin--as far as I could determine back 
in February, the car was not available in stock with the color and 
options we ordered--at least not east of the Mississippi. I believe 
our A3 3.2 is one of fewer than 400  (i.e., A3 with 3.2L V6) exported 
to US for '06 model year. The '07 models can be ordered (as of this 
week), but without the 4 years of Audi Advantage free maintenance.

>How is the A3 3.2? I've only had a very short exposure to the TT 3.2 
>DSG so I'm curious to know how
>it drives.....

The 3.2 L engine seems very refined and well-matched to the car, even 
for the considerable load that it's pulling in this beast (3600+ lbs 
with DSG and Haldex differential).  There's a nice rasp/growl from 
the exhaust as the revs climb under full throttle. The DSG tranny is 
really quite a wonder when manually shifted via the steering-wheel 
paddles--smooth and quick shifts beyond what words can easily convey. 
You can of course also get DSG with the 2 liter turbo engine, but not 
with quattro; and then you'd still need to "chip" the 2.0T to bring 
acceleration close to the heavier V6. As to "handling"--so far I've 
only had about 400 miles of "break-in" seat time, so I can only say 
that it seems to be a very tossable car, coming standard with a sport 
suspension that's taut and well-controlled. Putting on some good 
high-performance tires is the main upgrade item  needed. That's 
something I'll be doing this summer as I ordered the car with 
standard 17" all-season rubber (yuck) and wanted to have my own 
choice of upgraded wheels/tires for summer use.

Both the V6 and 2.0T versions are deemed (by many) to suffer from the 
absence of Launch Control (absent in in US A3 models). But at least 
the 3.2 version has 4wd to minimize wheel spin from standing starts. 
Launch control might make the 3.2's 0-60 times even quicker than the 
stock 5.9 or 6.0 seconds, but such numbers are already more than good 
enough for me.

Considering the A3 3.2's weight and power, Audi once again stands 
accused of slacking off on brake hardware (at least where the US 
market is concerned). It's not that the stock brakes seem obviously 
inadequate (although I've not tracked this car yet), but many think 
that the A3 3.2  ought to have had the same larger (345 mm?) rotors 
as present in the TT 3.2, rather than the 314 mm rotors it was given. 
Of course I'm more than satisfied  with the 312 mm (BIRA Sys 3) brake 
upgrade on my '91 200q, which is even heavier than the A3 and about 
as fast. So complaints about the A3's stock brakes might be 
unjustified in the long run. The right pads are probably the main 
factor for getting good performance here.

Perhaps I'lll be able to put enough miles on the odo to feel 
comfortable about driving it at a track event this summer (also need 
to get permission of my wife who is the car's official owner).  Then 
I'll have a better idea about handling.

Phil
-- 

Phil Rose
Rochester, NY
mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net