Well... I went and did it.

I drove to Bedford with my wife in her Fiat 500 this morning.

(Surprisingly good on the open road, first time it's been for a gallop)

After then spending every single spare penny I have and a further £54 on as

much BP Ultimate unleaded as I could carry. She drove the Fiat

back and I drove home 150miles cross country in my new (used) car.

After literally months of searching...

I just bought a 2009 Audi S3 3 door in Phantom black metallic.

FASH, 45k, just serviced by Audi Bedford inc Haldex.

Standard engine spec and unmapped.For now... Shark S3 FTW LOLOL

Standard kit, Dual climate, ESP, Bi Xenons and DRLs, Heated seats,

Alarm/immobiliser, Bose, maxidot thingy, and some other stuff...

Options specced when new

Black leather and White (Yes... I know... :moon: ) alcantra.

Flat bottomed multifunction wheel, RNSE, 6 disc changer, piano black inlays,

factory privacy glass, auto wipers and lights, dimming mirrors,

Bluetooth phone prep.

I paid full asking as it was fairly priced, a little warranty left on it,

Audi MOT protection thingy as well (apparently transferrable)

Previous owner bought it approved used, all the paperwork checks out.

Future plans? No doubt It'll be mapped eventually but I've got a few other

considerations first. LED swapout in all the interior lights, probably later on today.

It's got a pretty interior so why not and I'll de S3 badge the rear too as it's free :p

First on the shopping list, OE Black badgeless optic grille for a start, then I need the

front bumper respraying as it's stone chipped badly and some wally has gone at

it with a high powered lance and made them 10x worse.

I'll get the centre section at the bottom painted in a much darker grey while I'm at it,

maybe black too, don't know yet. Other than that there are a few tiny little dings and scrapes

here and there but it's good, straight and not too swirly paintwise, I'll get a body shop to quote

me happy, I want to get this done ASAP so I must order the grille immediately. I may well also

order a pair of black edition fog grilles too while I'm at it. If I'm honest, I actually prefer

the look of the pre facelift 8P S3. More sporty IMO.

I'll keep the front rings in chrome for now but may go titanium badges front and rear instead.

Only if I can get OE ones though.

There's too much bling on the grille on the newer ones. It has to go!!

It just made more sense to buy a later one with regards to resale, so I did.

The fubar front bumper gives me all the excuse I need to give the front a makeunder

and quieten it out a bit. Although they work superbly :yes: I don't like the look of the newer

headlights so much if I'm 100% honest. They remind me of Dame Ednas glasses.

If I can lose some of the other guff they may not annoy me so much.

(I very very nearly bought an approved prefacelift one a week ago but it went a bit wrong...)

The interior is very, very clean. No mean feat when you consider the seat backs and bases are

a kind of off white alcantra, all the door cards are the same.

This interior was on my must have list. I think the pale door insets really lift the interior,

they can look very dull inside if you are not careful. Made it bloody hard to find the

right used car though, I've been looking since February.

The car was specced with piano black trim as well so there are lots of glossy shiny bits all over.

Suffice to say I'm very happy with the cabin. I'd like to add an ambient light panel with the two

extra map lights, if this just a plug and play item? I have no idea but I'd kind of like one anyway.

and if I could retro fit some other elements of the ambient lighting pack then I'd quite like to.

May get a tracker installed, don't know yet. Haven't researched that at all.

Cruise retro fit is an absolute must as well, I've been making enquiries and under £250

will get that done. I'll have it done by Audi as I want the work guaranteed.

OEM only mods to this car. Don't quote me on that...

New private plate when I find the right thing I suppose, You can take the boy out of Essex

But you can't take the Essex out of the boy... LOL

Mechanically the car is sound as a pound. It didn't put a foot wrong all the way home, brakes well,

and goes very well indeed when provoked. :p Loved the Bi Xenons driving home through the lanes

Bedford to Bristol a and b roads. They are PUKKA!!! Brakes ain't bad either.

Exhaust sounds better than I thought it would in the 4-7000rpm range.

That's where I used to change up a gear in the Fabia, 4-4500rpm...

This thing is just getting going at 4k, it's quite a weapon even in standard tune.

The Fabia definitely felt quicker but this thing really can fly along.

The ride is firm-ish but damping is quite good and soaks up all but the very worst,

For day to day driving, its perfectly satisfactory. Handling wise, on a smooth twisty

roads it feels soooo grippy it's hard to respect the speed limit.

Pretty much squeak and rattle free, on all but really crappy road surfaces.

Despite it being only 1.5 degrees and wet out there the grip and traction

were superb. I had to really really push it to give the ESP light a little flash

and feel a little correction. I can also confirm the rev limiter works perfectly :evil:

It's also happy to plod along at a steady 30-40mph in either 5th or 6th

gears. Helps to get the mpg back up from those moments of weakness.

Just got to get used to having less torque than my last motor had and remember to

change down if I want accelerate very quickly. Didn't really push it but had a little play to test

the esp, abs and quattro and I think it will be a little while before I can get the best out of the drive.

It's very different to my Fabia. I'll have it out on track at Castle Combe in April and by then I'll

be familiar enough to have a proper blast in it.

No pics yet, but I'm sure it won't be long

Sounds great

And it's daylight now, so get that camera out

congrats on the new purchase.My nephew had an 02 plate s3 a few years ago and still misses it,awesome motor and great fun.Enjoy

Sounds like you've got yourself a nice car.

Now....where are the pictures!!

You've got the sunglasses and Bluetooth headset yes?

Edited 4 November, 201213 yr by cheezemonkhai

You've got the sunglasses and Bluetooth headset yes?

Yeah, can't get used to having slicked back hair though. :p

Way hey! Fairly massive step up

Manual or auto with flappy paddles? :

Love these cars not keen on the black tho, love that new pearlescent blue in them

Edited 4 November, 201213 yr by wilsy7

Remember to adopt the new following distance

Congrats on the purchase!

Wilsy, it's a manual. Don't trust these new fangled whizzy gearboxes.

Wait until I'm done with it, It will look better than it does at the moment.

Ordering brand new OE optic black (S3 badgeless) grille later today.

waiting for response from seller at the moment.

(Still has the 4 rings on it though )

Congrats on the new car Garry. Bet you're really impressed

Congrats on the new car Garry. Bet you're really impressed

Very different from the Fabia in every way.

So much quieter for a start, but out of habit found it hard to keep my

foot on the loud pedal through the bends. In the Fabia

too much throttle mid bend and you're drifting wide,

this thing just grips in comparison. I just have to get used to it that's all.

Niiiiiice! One of my favourite (realistic) cars to own. Glad you`ve found one you like (finally!) now get us some bloody pictures!!

I'm soooo glad you steered away from that green motor you showed me the other week... Reckon you would have regretted it in the end!

Great purchase dude and can't wait to be taken for a blip!

Congrats on the car Gary, I know you've wanted one for a while.

Nice upgrade, enjoy it. :-)

Cool. Pictures will be much appreciated.

Sounds very nice, glad you found one.

Congratulations Garry.

A worthy replacement for the faithful old Fabia I think

Congrats . BTW-Sniff Petrol did comment on the "Bellendtronic " package being fitted to other German marques.

Dubbed Bellendtronic, the new system is fully integrated into the car's control systems and allows a range of functions including full disablement of the indicators, perilously late activation of the brakes and an adapted radar cruise control that allows the driver to sit 4mm from your back bumper in the outside lane of the M6 :giggle:

^^^ Mines got that :p

You`ve had a whole day to take some pictures! I cant say I blame you though, I`d be out in it constantly lol

Not even sat in it yet today. :( (Been working today)

Off out firework hunting in a minute though

Picture with fireworks going off in background needed then!!

Decided it was too cold to go out in the end so I had

a hot bath and a nice chinese instead.

Oh and some interweb shopping.

OE Black optic grille ordered from Germany, No grille mounted S3 badge, rings only.

And a pair of more aggressive looking (And practical too) OE mesh S3 fog surrounds.

Maybe off the RS3? Not sure on that but know they will fit my bumper.

More cool air going in there isn't going to hurt at all, I'm sure I read somewhere

this car has two intercoolers?? Could be way off the mark there though?

Only really been under the bonnet to check oil, water etc before buying the car.

I'm back on my Darth Vader tip if I'm honest, the older style twin headlamps won't

retro fit (Or is that prefit?) as far as I know and I'm not so keen on these. They

are my least favourite thing on the car aesthetically.

Shame they work so bloody well, I do love them when I can't see them. .

But I can't do anything to calm down

the blingy Liberace/50 Cent headlights without resorting to tinting...

But I'm not tinting xenons, so everything around them has to go black.

I'll try and keep it tasteful.

Does need a bit of an engine bay clean up Glad it already has a lifter fitted though

It's a bit dusty under there. Might treat it to some R8 Oil and water caps for xmas..

Wish I'd got in on that group buy a while back on the Porsche ones.

Also ordered a new set of bosch aero OE fit wiper blades. The ones on the car are okay

but I'm aquapelling the windscreen before they go on so I want nice new ones.

Tomorrow I have been given permission by Mrs Grr to spend all day doing car stuff. :thumbup:

So until some of the new stuff starts to arrive there's a few things I can do from 'stock'

so to speak. So tomorrow I have a busy day...

Give it a quick wash/hoover. Quick wipe and shine underbonnet

(I need a whole day to do it properly but it's grubby after the

drive home. and I'm not taking pics with it dirty.)

Fit interior leds and numberplate leds. If I have any problems with the cheapo

ones I've got kicking around then I'll order the plug and play OE ones. But I'm not

parting with the money if I don't need to and the ones I have already work.

Working out a deal on an OE ambient cluster to swop this one out with at the mo

Spend some time pairing up my phone and figuring out the RNSE.

I have 2 sandisc 8gb memory cards on order so I'll load them up with music

and get them popped in if they arrive in tomorrows post.

Get on the phone and find a decent local vinyl wrapper and price up getting the mirrors

stealthed up under some satin black vinyl. And a local bodyshop to quote me up

on the bumper respray/blackline rebuild.

Mrs G has said she'll pay for the paintwork as an early xmas

pressie so I might price up a touch up, machine polish and correction on the whole car

as well as the bumper repaint.

Whop front numberplate off and affix and seal in some blunt stanley blades on

the rear so my magnetic show plates will stay on.

Take some pics, get them on photobucket (and here) and whore that mutha