Hi there i'm recently in the market for a car around 30,000 and i test drove an A3 2.0T and i loved it, the dsg transmission was a blast and it handled great. I also test drove a used g35 coupe and that was also very nice, but there was something about the audi that got me. My question is, 1 is the open sky system system really worth it? it is a pretty interesting feature but the glass gets extremely hot and it only opens part of the way. 2 i'd like to add some aftermarket parts, if some of you could show me your A3s that look pretty cool, that would give me some ideas or if some of you have some ideas about what would be cool. Thanks for help guys.

 

Hey Dan........ i have the open sky........ i love it, just cause i like to drive with my windows up, so the open sky let's me get in some air without much drag on the fwy and doesn't get as loud has driving with my windows open. two, i like having light in my car, i never close theshield inside. also, you have to remember that the open sky is just another movable part on our car that might cause some problems way down the line.

as for aftermarket mods, i suggest you go on the "newbies click here" thread underthe A3 Sect ion,and if you're not doing anything on July 15, come out to our Audiforums gtg and meet most of us socalers and see the mods in person and talk to the drivers. here's the link to the thread. https://www.audiforums.com/m_556587/tm.htm

hope this helps
hope you can make it out,

 

Open Sky in SoCal is SOOOOO worth it! I suggest tinting the glass some if it gets too hot, but otherwise, I don't ever use the shield either. I love the effect and it was a huge selling point for me in the car. Tons of mods for this car, so read on!

Cheers!

 

HoboDan - you should be careful stating you are looking at adding some mods with people like Nam and Chef, they will drain your life savings in mods in no time! It will be fast and fun though!

The biggest regret that I had with the A3 is probably not getting the roof. I have got the car in March and by May the high temperature came back and I found the AC to be a little weak. My dealer told me to basically run the AC at full with the boost button on all the time. Sounds to me like it is a little flawed for the weather. My point is that although you can assume thata glass roof will undoubtedly increase the temperature inside while under the sun, yet I have heard a few Sky owners say that the extra air movement made a big difference.

Everything else can be made better or get used to.

Cheers.

 

I'll be the lone dissenter here. I recently put down a deposit on an '08 A3 with no sunroof. A dealer was desperate to get rid of an '07 on the lot, with the sunroof, and he offered it to me for under invoice. I declined, because I really, really don't want that thing.

You can't close it, so the sun is always beating down on you. It also has fragile moving parts and therefore is a hazard for rattling.

No thanks.


(I should point out that I'm very different from most of the good folks who post here. I'm not really a car enthusiast, and I think basically all factory-installed options on the A3 are over-priced, except maybe the rear side airbags, if you frequently have rear passengers. I ordered mine with no options at all--stripped down--which apparently is incredibly rare.)

 

Depending on where you live, depends on how much you are going to enjoy that open sky feature.
Here in sunny, hot miami i hate the feature of glass up there but i did not have time on my side when i bought this car to get a different feature.

Now that is the only thing i dont like about the car, oh i dont like the fact that it doesn't come with 330 horses direct from factory, i'm still working on that.
Good luck good choice.

 

I'm with zlguocius here - I specifically spec'ed an A3 w/o the Open Sky feature:

1. It only looks good on a black or white A3. Lava Grey was my first choice.
2. There are minor problems associated with that feature, rattling, screen latch breaking, etc.
3. Less weight at top of car = better handling
4. Even with screen drawn, doesn't keep out sunlight. Wife would go nuts.

 

I personally hated the open sky feature when i was shopping for my A3.

I had a hard time finding an S-Line with no OS but I eventually found it.

Never been a big fan of sunroofs anyways; i don't like the sun burning my scalp, extra noise, etc. And on the A3 apparently you can'tblock the sun light completely.

As for the A/C, I gotta disagree withOliver sayingthat it isn't powerful enough. I always run it on Auto (not in full boost mode) and it keeps me nice and cool all the time (but then oliver lives is FL I thinkwhere it must be a lot hotter and more humid than San Jose, CA)

 

I chose OS because I love the two-tone look (Mine is Misano Red so it really shows). It sort of reminds me of a M3 CSL with a carbon fibre roof.