A3 is surprisingly fun.

But you guys are crazy!!

 

one for larry and one for jason

 

who gets the crazy one?

 

I would suggest JT as the last time I saw Larry he was mentioning some back problems...

Maybe they would like Mark's mini!

 

Congrats, Jason. I'm surprised you didn't get blue this time.

 

Scared me there for a moment with the thread title

You guys crack me up!

 

Uh.....did you buy the same underwear too?......ewwwww (LOL)

 

Kuzi, did you sell the CGT already???

 

Congrats You two should be neighbors or something. lol

 

Congrats. The A3 is a nice ride for a DD. I'll be curious to get your impressions of the DSG tranny. I am an old school stick guy and would always be reluctant to drive a car with a manual clutch. But I hear they are a blast to drive.

 

Love the twin Audi's! What are the license plates going to say - ???

 

I tried to get Jason to get a dual purpose DD and track car like an Evo or an STI...but he wasn't having it =P

Hey Jason, those mini horses don't need that big of a pasture, it's time for a "Shop" to store all of your toys.

 

welcome to the A3 club

 

Actually DSG was one of the key selling points for me. I've had mostly manual transmissions in my cars so the flexibility of the DSG doesn't get to far off a manual. I had SMG in my M3, which I really enjoyed, but DSG is several orders of magnitude better. The shifts both up and down are smooth and fast.

You can put it in automatic mode and it works like any other auto box, although in the A3 it seems to want to get to 6th gear quickly and runs at a fairly low RPM. Put it in "S" (Sport) mode and it still runs like an automatic, but the shift points are much higher. Move the console lever to manual mode and you then manually shift using the lever (push forward for up shift, pull back for down shift) or the steering wheel paddles (left for down shift, right for up shift). You can use the paddles in the automatic modes to override the transmission's logic. For example: say you're in 6th gear at about 1500 RPM and you encounter a hill. You could let the transmission down shift itself based on the engine load or you could double click the left paddle to select 4th gear. Once the engine load eases the transmission automatically shifts itself to the appropriate gear and returns to the automatic mode.

The only "problems" I've noticed are: sometimes there can be a fairly violent "clunk" when shifting into reverse or on start up from a dead stop the transmission sometimes seems to hunt for either 1st or 2nd leading to a slight jerkyness, which can be mitigated by a firmer foot on the gas pedal.

Seems to me this is a great compromise for the couple that shares a car where one doesn't want to drive a stick, but the other does.

The A3 is a real nice car to drive around town and on the road. I use mine mostly as a daily driver, but I have also taken it to Aspen in the dead of winter over black ice, 50 mph side winds, blizzard snow conditions, deep slush, soft snow and rutted snow floor conditions. The AWD works beautifully. It cruises comfortably and quietly at 85 mph while getting around 25 mpg. It carries 4 comfortably and has more than adequate storage space.

It has pretty much relegated the Porsche to limited duty only on sunny days.

 

Hey Larry! It's been a while. Hope all has been well with you. I need some more Beppos.