Parktown in St. Louis, Mo let me have a red one for a weekend. That pretty much sold it to me and my wife. I then had them order the exact color I wanted. I think they did that because it was August 05 and the A3was new here in the US and wanted to get some more exposure. I still have only seen 5 or so here in STL. Does 33k on a tire seem reasonable? I have always put 70k plus on other tires. They were not low profile.

Cheers

 

Rockville Porsche and Audi in Maryland just lent me one for the weekend andwe're enjoying it !

 

NICE!! I have bought 5 newvehicles and dealing with Audi was the easiest.Stick to the TMV from Edmunds. They came a couple K off on mine. Hope you have some nice weather up there. For what it is worth, I alsofailed to mention that I have two small children that I take to daycare and school everyday. Both car seats fit easily and the hatch is very handy. It is light and easy to shut and all of our bags,groceries, etc.fit fine. Good luck.

Cheers

 

Grammar,

You will NEVER get 70k miles out of the tires on the A3. Mostly because they are performance tires and not economy tires. If you get 40k miles out of a set, then consider yourself lucky. But, I never quite drive the last 10% off of my tires since I usually can't stand the performance at that point.

Cheers!

 

Thanks Chef. Just wanted to make sure the dealer was being honest. I noticed you have Toyo and assume those are the best. Which Toyo would be good for me to look for similar to the ContiProContact. I believe the Contis fall under touring all weather. I race bikes andContinentals are considered the best racing tire, but I was not overly impressed withthem on myA3.Any advice on any ther brands would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

I'm not a great person to answer tire questions. I wavered back and forth a lot on the purchase and I only really studied the high performance tires since I live in LA. I'm incredibly happy with the T1-R's, but the only downfall anyone expressed is that they wear out quickly. I expect to be replacing the tires every 20k miles.

I would personally have a set of Toyo Proxes T1-R's for the summer, and Blizzacks for the winter if I lived in a region that had seasons. Maybe someone else has a better suggestion if you are looking for an all-season tire.

Cheers!

 

Bought some Bridgestone es950s today at a local shop here in the STL. Looked at all kinds, but couldn't pass up the deal the shop gave me. Got all four installed with free rotation every 6K and flat fix for $480. I believe they are the older version of the Bridgestone 960s. I hope these will work out. I have the Bridgestones on my Outback and my brother has the the run flats on his 5 series as well. What do you all know about the 950s?

Cheers

 

How did the A3 treat you over the weekend? Are you an Audi owner?

Cheers

 

Charlie;
Which package and options did you have with the loaner? As far as the sport suspension goes - if you are going to be going into DC and those areas- you will be beaten up. I have very rarely driven mine into DC because of the roads - I prefer the wifes 'suburban assault vehicle'. If your wife is also going to be the primary driver - you may want to see exactly which suspension she likes better.
As far as the oil and tire issues you've been hearing about. I have a hair over 9K and check the oil fairly regularly and have not noticed a drop in level. The tire wear has been perfect with the Pirelli's and they've maintained pressure well. I am not a road racer and just tend to drive a little hard when opportunities arise - but, she does get her workouts at times. But, since the weather is getting nicer - I'll be getting my speed fix another way. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

L7 and Country Grammer!
The weekend loaner was utterly basic with sunroof and manual shift. We had a ball on back roads near Poolsville in northen Montgomery county, Maryland.Quick hills that normally have me nearly airborne on my motorcyle and rutts and irregular bumps were just soaked up like we were in a far larger luxury vehicle. We aren't owners yet but we will be. My wife had a leased A6 through her company that she loved, so this will be the next one. Now it'll be on to finding a good deal. I've got the consumer reports printout on the invoice cost of the car and all the additional packages and they claim I should be able to get it within 4 - 8% over invoice. We haven't found the exact car ( color,options etc) yet and I wish there was a database I could tap into, to find out where that car actually is. I guess we'll be trying some internet quotes as well but I don't hold out much hope on those. Any ideas? I've been meaning to ask, can you get away with running 91 octane in these cars?Also, on the Audiusa.com website, they have a build your own section that increases and decreases in price as you adjust what you want with the car. What is the point of this? My car came to 28,500 well optioned. I won't get a car that cheaply, so what's up?