Test drive: New Audi A3

syntax said:
you would think, but i am certain its going to sell quite well.
people seem to be very happy to be ripped off
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Exactly.
It's just disturbing to see those prices on a car that doesn't even have RWD.
South Africans are absolutely insane when it comes to spending money on cars and it's screwing us all. Had to talk a buddy of mine out of blowing R300K on a BMW 1 Series the other day, and the can currently barely keep up with the payments on his old RX-8.... sheesh, the ignorance.
 
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R13... said:
New 3 series. In my local dealership anyway.
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So R360k for the 320 Sport Line with automatic gearbox? R7k pm over 54 months without actually driving or insuring the damn thing and a R60k deposit. Crazy.
 
RaptorSA said:
on his old RX-8.... sheesh, the ignorance.
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You had me at RX-8! tell me more!

Does it get bad consumption numbers? Has he had an engine rebuild? Does he have compression issues?
Does he have cold start problems? Rotor seals issues? Does it drink oil?

Aaaaaaawh the joys of the rotory :D
 
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RaptorSA said:
Exactly.
It's just disturbing to see those prices on a car that doesn't even have RWD.
South Africans are absolutely insane when it comes to spending money on cars and it's screwing us all. Had to talk a buddy of mine out of blowing R300K on a BMW 1 Series the other day, and the can currently barely keep up with the payments on his old RX-8.... sheesh, the ignorance.
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People just have REALLY screwed up priorities hey. I know several people spending close to 50% of their salaries (after deductions) on their cars which is something I simply can't understand. The worst thing is that they're not even anything spectacular. That A3 1.2TSI is probably boring as hell to drive. The 1.8TSI is probably quite fun in that it's powerful, but it's still FWD and hardly something you can take to the track or even a quiet mountain pass at slightly enthusiastic speeds.
 
Naks said:
You think it's bad here, go to Mauritius:

brand new Kia Rio 1.1 is Rs600K/ZAR172K
brand new Mazda3 1.6 is Rs1.2m/ZAR343K
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Ouch. But to be fair, they're a tiny place in the middle of the ocean. Shipping cannot be cheap. We're a somewhat major hub, not to mention that a good chunk of cars sold here are produced locally.
 
We're actually not getting ripped off.

The new 1.8 is UK is 23k pounds, which is R316k. (11k more expensive than our 1.8 here)

It doesn't even have any major extras..
 
Messugga said:
People just have REALLY screwed up priorities hey. I know several people spending close to 50% of their salaries (after deductions) on their cars which is something I simply can't understand. The worst thing is that they're not even anything spectacular. That A3 1.2TSI is probably boring as hell to drive. The 1.8TSI is probably quite fun in that it's powerful, but it's still FWD and hardly something you can take to the track or even a quiet mountain pass at slightly enthusiastic speeds.
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And the prices quoted above all don't include leather as standard. Leather is an optional extra.
 
Are people still stuck on Capacity equalling value?

It hasn't been about the size of the motor for a great many years, the amount of power/torque you are getting out of a modern 1.4TFSI easily beats what most 2.0 NA motors could do only a few years ago AND offers brilliant fuel economy at the same time.
 
Messugga said:
People just have REALLY screwed up priorities hey. I know several people spending close to 50% of their salaries (after deductions) on their cars which is something I simply can't understand. The worst thing is that they're not even anything spectacular. That A3 1.2TSI is probably boring as hell to drive. The 1.8TSI is probably quite fun in that it's powerful, but it's still FWD and hardly something you can take to the track or even a quiet mountain pass at slightly enthusiastic speeds.
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That's the thing I don't get either. If you don't have R300K to blow in cash you're obviously not super wealthy so you should at least get something for that kind of money that's fun to drive and looks good, makes you feel good, or at least, attracts some attention. An A3, Golf, BMW etc. just doesn't do that.
Hell, with R300K you can buy an AWESOME older classic, have it restored, buy spare parts and have lots of cash left over to cover any extra expenses in fuel, tyres or whatever.

Anyway, most cars these days are ZZzzzzZZZzzzZZZ
I find Jap cars to be the most exciting these days, they at least still try something different now and then instead of just constantly adding upgrades and features to boring designs.
 
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RaptorSA said:
That's the thing I don't get either. If you don't have R300K to blow in cash you're obviously not super wealthy so you should at least get something for that kind of money that's fun to drive and looks good, makes you feel good, or at least, attracts some attention. An A3, Golf, BMW etc. just doesn't do that.
Hell, with R300K you can buy an AWESOME older classic, have it restored, buy spare parts and have lots of cash left over to cover any extra expenses in fuel, tyres or whatever.

Anyway, most cars these days are ZZzzzzZZZzzzZZZ
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Agreed. Though with that being said, you're not picking up anything remotely popular when it comes to American muscle cars, unless it's in dismal condition. You can get an old 911 if you're a bit lucky at significantly less than R300k if you know who to speak to though, and that with a bit of restoration and maybe some work on the engine, suspension and brakes to make them a bit more modern and you've got a car that stands out and will be a whole lot more fun to drive.
 
Messugga said:
Agreed. Though with that being said, you're not picking up anything remotely popular when it comes to American muscle cars, unless it's in dismal condition. You can get an old 911 if you're a bit lucky at significantly less than R300k if you know who to speak to though, and that with a bit of restoration and maybe some work on the engine, suspension and brakes to make them a bit more modern and you've got a car that stands out and will be a whole lot more fun to drive.
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Depends if its your daily drive. Those older cars (like the older 911's) are so brutal with petrol it will be something you might regret.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Are people still stuck on Capacity equalling value?

It hasn't been about the size of the motor for a great many years, the amount of power/torque you are getting out of a modern 1.4TFSI easily beats what most 2.0 NA motors could do only a few years ago AND offers brilliant fuel economy at the same time.
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I dont think anyone is doing that, its just that its expensive for what you get.
the 1.8T is a very nice, and if it came with some of the extras as standard, it would be something worth looking at.
I just feel that prices are extremely inflated for what you get now days.
 
Messugga said:
Agreed. Though with that being said, you're not picking up anything remotely popular when it comes to American muscle cars, unless it's in dismal condition. You can get an old 911 if you're a bit lucky at significantly less than R300k if you know who to speak to though, and that with a bit of restoration and maybe some work on the engine, suspension and brakes to make them a bit more modern and you've got a car that stands out and will be a whole lot more fun to drive.
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True. But most American muscle cars are super crap anyway. My R300K fantasy option list might look something like this:

Old restored Toyota MR2 with upgrades etc. (nothing cheesy looking though)
Lotus Elise 111s
Nissan 350Z with light body kit etc.
Lotus 8 ... whoooohooooo! Super cheap too, can add this one with one of the other options :D
Good second hand Porsche Cayman S maybe? Not sure about local pricing though.
A good old fashioned '91 MX-5/Miata like the one in the Looper movie. (they're like 70K). Add R100K and you can kit that thing out with race car upgrades to your heart's content (wide body kit, rollbars, swaybars, race suspension, 13b rotary engine.... oooh yummie)
And last but not least, a bat**** insane RX-7 :D
 
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If you buy any Audi A3 new, you are completely nuts.

Just tick all the extras, and see how much it costs then. :eek:
 
syntax said:
I dont think anyone is doing that, its just that its expensive for what you get.
the 1.8T is a very nice, and if it came with some of the extras as standard, it would be something worth looking at.
I just feel that prices are extremely inflated for what you get now days.
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If it's related to the entire package, fair enough.

I just find that people equate the engine size directly with the price and then want to complain about it.

Like people look at the VW Polo GTI and see it's a 1.4 @ R280 000 and say how crazy it is, while in fact it's a very well built very high specification car for the money.


Personally I like the idea of higher spec costing the bucks and not massive engines (which doesn't make sense in and of itself since engines share largely the same components. A 1600 doesn't cost more to make than a 1400 for instance.). Which is why I think Lexus are to some degree Audi are on to something finally figuring out that people with lots of money still want small cars.
 
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