Ari Posted August 9, 2003 Report Share Posted August 9, 2003 Well as you know I've got a 3.0 Sport Cabrio whilst my 1.8T is in being fettled by the garage, so good opportunity to make a comparison between the two cars. It was a beautiful warm summers night last night so a mate and I took it out for a good long run. Heres my thoughts. The main differences between my car and this one fall under two distinct categories, the engine (3.0 vs 1.8T) and the sport set up and 18 inch wheels (vs my standard set up and 16 inch wheels). So, engine first. The immediate thing that hits you on firing it up is the noise, not the level (which is very muted) but the quality of the noise, a lovely smooth deep V6 burble. Blipping the throttle shows a sharper throttle response and an eager sound. Pulling away and driving up the road the next thing that is obvious is that the car doesn't feel as "gutsy" as I'd expected it to. In fact at certain (low) revs I think my 1.8T (boosted from quite low revs by the turbocharger) feels like it has more pull. Get it on the open road however and extend it round the rev range and the difference becomes much more noticeable. The engine revs much more keenly at high revs, accompanied by a wonderful silky snarl as it homes in on the red line. Driven like this the performance difference becomes much more noticeable, the 3.0 litre is a quick car, although the weight of the car stops it from quite giving the full "performance car" feel. It's more "powerful grand tourer" then sports car, but great fun non the less. The only other big difference was that driven on a route that I'd have expected to yield 30mpg with my car this one managed just over 20mpg... Yes I might have been using the performance a bit in places, but in general I wasn't driving very much differently. Final point on the engine, this car has manual transmission, same as mine. Given a free reign I'd have gone for the auto as I'd have thought it would suit the lazy nature of the car. However the manual transmission with this engine is just fantastic, allowing quick positive changes and really allowing you to enjoy driving the car, wringing it round to the red line and blipping the throttle on the downshifts savouring the snarl from the twin exhausts. Having experienced it now I'd go manual every time with this engine which surprised me. Now the sports pack and 18 inch alloys. Well, I got to say it I'm afraid, sport pack is the way to go. The sports seats are superb, bigger bolsters holding you in better and a much greater range of adjustment and electric lumber support allowing you to get them "just so". It's not that the standard seats are bad, far from it, but the sports seats are excellent. The difference in suspension interested me too. I expected it to be harder, and it was, but not in a noticeable way. If you thought about it you could feel the difference, but it didn't shout "hard sport suspension" at you, providing a still cosseting ride but firmer flatter cornering. The real difference though was in the damping. Undulations that will set up a bounce in my car were dealt with far better with the sport set up, the cars movements kept in check more firmly reducing the pitching that a big dip in the road can induce. A big improvement. I'd definitely go sports suspension next time if I could, and not just for the better cornering but for the better damping. Only downside was a degree of tugging on the wheel as those big tyres tramline more than mine, meaning a little more concentration required whilst cruising. A small price to pay. I'd expect more tyre noise at speed too, although we had the hood down all the time last night so it wasn't noticeable at higher speeds in that mode. Finally this car came with leather/alacantra upholstery, Symphony hi-fi, Bose, and a few other nice toys to up the ante and make for a very well appointed and expensive feeling car. So to sum up. In my opinion the 3.0 sport with this spec really put the final 10% of polish or enjoyment to the cabrio. Mine is a fine car and an excellent cruiser but the 3.0 engine and sport pack gives the car another dimension, allowing you to give the car some stick and really enjoy punting it along. Not quite a sports car in the Porsche Boxster vein, but none the less a fun and enthusiastic drive. The flip side to this of course is that I'd guess the price of this car to be approaching £35,000. A big premium over the £26,000 (£24,000 basic) that my car cost. And therefore whilst it is an improvement over my car, for £10K it damn well ought to be. You could argue that for what is essentially the same car but with less frills and thrills, a 1.8T at roughly two thirds the cost is an absolute bargain in comparison, doing 85% of what this car will do for 2/3 the cost. So is the 3.0 Sport worth the difference? Well that my friend depends on your finances. For me £35K is out of my league, and I'm happy that I've got the same car if to a lower spec at a price I can afford. But there is no doubt that if you can comfortably stretch to the 3.0 Sport with all the toys (and are happy with circa 20mpg fuel consumption figures) then it is one magnificent motor car and yes, I'd say worth every penny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riz Posted August 9, 2003 Report Share Posted August 9, 2003 Wonderful review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CARACTERE 007 Posted August 23, 2003 Report Share Posted August 23, 2003 yeah yeah...but is there enough space for the hat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quattroboy Posted August 11, 2004 Report Share Posted August 11, 2004 Thanks for that Ari. I was only thinking this morning about searching for a review of the 3.0 Sport Cabrio and I think you've answered most of my questions. I was on the configurator this morning and without going silly with satnav etc. I got it up to about £36k with the 18" wheels which then got me thinking about an S4 'only' being another £6k but then I think I am really dreaming then. An A4 3.0 cab would appear to meet all my desires in terms of space, pace etc. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chav Posted August 11, 2004 Report Share Posted August 11, 2004 pondered the s4 cab also. test drove one and yes its quicker, but its not as noticeable as you'd expect over the 3.0 anyway. its very easy to wheelspin a FWD 3.0 if you accelerate hard. a 3.0 quattro is lovely and smooth. the s4 manual box can be "notchy". ...and you can have multitronic on the 3.0 for the best of both worlds... smooth and quick in s-mode, or flip to manual and change gears yourself. changing gears manually with the multitronic feels more fun cos you can rev it faster etc if you want, but the multi box does a great job of keeping the engine at peak torque(3200rpm) under acceleration so its hard to improve on its 0-60 time. ...3.0 uses less juice too if its a main hig hmileage car however....the s4 cab sounds delicious. it makes you want to forget fiscal budgets, depreciation and the economy, and just listen to it purr all day long. it really does sound that good. it doesnt need OTT styling because you can hear (or feel) it coming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quattroboy Posted August 11, 2004 Report Share Posted August 11, 2004 I ought to try out the multi-tronic 'box. A chap I used to work with had an Audi 100 auto and we always used to joke that it was a bit like a Daf variomatic. I could just imagine all those belts whirring away under the bonnet! Having a quattro at the moment it would be nice to keep that particular feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chav Posted August 11, 2004 Report Share Posted August 11, 2004 its just a shame you cant have quattro and multitronic at present. i read lots of problems with people with multitronic boxes having delays setting off, whirring noises, etc... not had any problems myself (i always have it in sport mode tho)...except wheelspin cos its only FWD...arrgh. however if you ease in the accelerator until the car is moving and then floor it, the multitronic does an amazing job of keeping max torque all the way and you get zero wheelspin in the dry. i've played with it an awful lot now and its almost too good.... because the torque is kept exactly at max level you dont get thrown back and forth like with a manual box as the rate of acceleration varies... its just a constant whoosh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Posted August 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 My view is that if you like to drive, and if you don't live in a city, then manual transmission with the 3.0 is the way to go. Also, although I like quattro I didn't have wheelspin issues with the 2wd 3.0 and quattro does increase the fuel consumption of the already rather thirsty 3.0 A basic 3.0 2wd is £28.5K on the road. Add the essentials, sport pack, Metallic, Bose, heated seats, wind deflector, accoustic parking and you've got a useful spec on a very nice and pretty quick car for just over £30K. And thats reasonable value and it'll have decent residuals. Given the need for a little more financial restraint (both in terms of buying and running costs) then the same car but 1.8T will bring the price comfortably under £30K and give 30+MPG on a run. Not bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmmlmmam Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 I've been meaning to write my own mini review of 3.0 VS 1.8T cab having now done 11k miles in my previous 1.8T cab and now a couple of thousand miles in the 3 Litre. Unfortunately I never seem to find time (plus by prose is nowhere near as elegant as Ari's). So perhaps I'll just add a couple of thoughts: The 1.8T is the only sensible choice if your on a budget. Both initial cost and running costs are significantly higher on the 3 litre. The 3 litre depreciates a little quicker than the 1.8T. This can make second hand cars an appealing option. The 3 litre does bring significant benefits in terms of performance, refinement and driveability. I think the 3 is the most refined version of the cab currently available (including S4), it really is wisper quite when cruising, yet still makes a lovely noise when you start pressing on. The driveability is really sweet. The delivery is very linear and it is very nice to no longer suffer the sub 1800 rpm off boost performance on the 1.8T. I think that the smooth delivery makes traction less of a problem than I'd expected. I'm currently having less traction problems with the 3 than the 1.8T. Performance, definately stronger than the 1.8T and less depressing. The 3 is really sweet and feels unstressed and just when the 1.8T is starting to feel a little wheezy the 3 is really getting going. However I disagree with Cabrioj, the 3 is no S4 substitute the performance is very different indeed. The 3 at best feels quickish whereas the S4 (to me) felt electric. Economy, I'm blessed with wonderfully little traffic to contend with and therefore get better economy than most. Over the entire 11k of 1.8T ownership my overall actual average would have been around 31mpg. So far it appears that the 3 will give a long term average of around 27mpg. Inevitably you will have more fun in the 3 as the nature of the engine encourages you whereas the 1.8T doesn't. The 1.8T appears to give better benefits from slowing down a bit. (DIS is more accurate on the 3 than 1.8T making the economy difference less significant than it appears). One final thought is that the FWD 3 changed from 5 to 6 speed gearbox at some point. Mine is a 5 and I definately feel that the 6 speed box would be beneficial. In summary they are both great cars. I feel that the 3L does add extra gloss and help the car to feel extra special. Cheers CabMac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chav Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 i'm wondering if the 5-speed box in the 3.0 is why you think the performance difference felt so high. the s4 has over 100ps advantage on a very front heavy car...at high rpm. a standing start on a nice runway, and the s4 cab will get the hair on end...eventually..its not a biturbo or anything, so the delivery can be too relaxed. once its revving >4500-5000rpm you certainly now about it and yes its electric. keep it redlined whilst moving through the gears for a great g-force sensation. but its similar (obviously not to the same extent) for the 3.0, keep it around 5.5K revs moving thr the gears and it will really pretty nippy. its like having an M3, if you dont rev it hard , you dont see the horsepower at all. well an M3 is even worse lower torque an all... the multitronic box on a 3.0 cab can also feel too laidback, as its keeping a torque-safe rpm, and saving full revs for 90mph+. flipping to manual mode and keeping the revs ~5500 and the kick is far more obvious, and the engine is nearer to peak bhp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braytak Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 [ QUOTE ] i'm wondering if the 5-speed box in the 3.0 is why you think the performance difference felt so high. [/ QUOTE ] I would make a similar observation. The 3.0 hides it's performance behind a laid back torque laden linear delivery. I love the way you can amble along very rarely needing to change gear and pulling without fuss in fith gear at ridiculously low revs. It definitely has a double life though, when you show this motor the loud pedal and really mean business, I find the 3.0 spins up very freely and gets you going through three figures very rapidly. It does this with a great sound from an engine that never feels out of breath or thrashy. I find it's delivery seductive and creamy which ever way you want to drive. I don't think the combo suffers because of the 5 speed box, it seems very well matched to the delivery of this engine. It's a light modern well designed and superbly engineered motor that is overall still the best combination. IMO. Still in awe of the S4 Cab though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Posted August 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2004 Totally agree with everything above. From a cost point of view the 1.8T is untouchable, and is non the less an excellent car in its own right. But the 3.0 (particularly in manual form I'd guess) is the superior car. The smoother V6 engine suits the quality of the car. The noise is very finely balanced to the nature of the car, ie very muted and cultured at low revs/light throttle settings, but a wonderful and meaningful silky snarl when given plenty of boot and plenty of revs. The performance is all you really need in the real world, and the power delivery exemplery. I'm sure the S4 version is yet better still but I've not had the opportunity to try one yet (*cough* Hint Cabgirl! *cough*) and anyway its venturing into serious money (£45K?) and dare I say a market where cost, whilst still an issue, is perhaps much less so. As I said in my initial review, cost no object then (S4 aside) its the 3.0 no question. But if cost is relevent, (and it is to me the 1.8T is right on the edge (slightly over in fact) of what I can spend on a car, and indeed I'm only able to push it that little bit extra because the awesome residuals mean the money tied up in the car is safer rather than something more mainstream depreciating like a Streinway falling off of a tower block) then the 1.8T is a very fine motor car in its own right, giving 90% of the 3.0 Cabrio experience but with very real savings in the purchasing, running and resale value of the car. The two jokers in the pack of course are the 2.4 and the 2.5 diesel. It is possible to argue that if performance is not a priority then the 2.4 gives you all the cultured smoothness and engine note of a 3.0 for 1.8T money, and the diesel is an intriguing prospect for all the usual diesel strong points of massive torque and massive fuel economy. One for the higher mileage cabrio driver perhaps? And lets face it, whatever the engine the Audi Cabriolet is a massively desirable drop dead gorgeous piece of German engineering with arguably more "want one" factor than anything this side of a 911! There simply is no bad Audi Cabriolet, just different degrees of perfection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braytak Posted August 14, 2004 Report Share Posted August 14, 2004 [ QUOTE ] There simply is no bad Audi Cabriolet, just different degrees of perfection. [/ QUOTE ] Ari. As always mate, well said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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