Thinking of replacing the Yaris...

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Hi!

I will have cleared a few old loans in the next few months so looking at replacing the Yaris. It's served it's purpose well but low running costs are no longer the issue they were for me when I bought it. I'm craving something a bit more "manly" and more powerful, but also refined at the same time for the motorway cruise to work and I'm looking to move towards something petrol and turbocharged. The Audi S3 has always caught my eye so that's where my search begins. Does anyone on here have one (or knows about them) and can advise what I need to be looking out for?

I can see they seem to hold their value quite well, with W plate 2000 models coming in at around £7k privately. I'm sure this will bring in the "for £7k you could be buying this..... brigade" so if there is something similar I should be considering then please let me know. Not looking to go bigger size-wise than the S3 so no Mondeos or the like. I just don't need a large car.

Thanks,
Andy

 

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Thanks for the replies so far people. I'd just typed out a big reply but my IE crashed and I can't be arsed to retype it all so here's a summary!

3 series Compact - too girly! Don't think I've ever seen a man driving one.

Regular 3 series is a very nice car but a bit too big for my liking.

Leon Cupra R - another possible but not sure on the build quality (interior plastics etc). What's it like inside compared to a new Golf? Have driven the new Golf's quite a bit and that's the minimum sort of build quality I'm looking for.

Dolph - The main thing that worries me is the age of the S3, although the reviews I've read around the 'net suggest the S3 is a solid reliable car and parts aren't actually too expensive. The Yaris hasn't had a thing go wrong in the 5 years I've had it so I'm not used to high running costs. It costs me £35/year tax, £40/year service, £30 MOT and £200/year insurance! It's still on it's original tyres after 45k mile as well! In a way I don't want to get rid because it's so cheap to run but I've done the sensible car thing for 6 years now and it's about time to bring the fun back into driving. When I had my 106 I'd go out for 200 mile drives just for the hell of it but the Yaris isn't inspiring enough!

 

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Remind us again what you are replacing, for a bit of context

Hehe..it's a turbo diesel...grrrrrr The Yaris was only ever bought to be a cheap car. I paid £6500 for it (with a list price of £10500) and 5 years later it's still worth £4500, which is pretty good going methinks

I've been looking at pics of the Leon and just can't bring myself to appreciate the rear end..it just looks wrong!

 

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I do hope the rest of the forum doesn't spot me saying this but have you considered a Fiat Panda 1.1? No, really, you can get them brand new for £4995 and unlike traditional £5k new cars, they are actually not that bad..

Methinks this man's been on the pop

 

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It's amazing how two cars that share the same dashboard can have such a different interior feel..

I know exactly what you mean by this comment. Toyota built the Yaris in both France and Japan. I've been in some of the French ones and although they look identical inside, the quality of the plastics and the general way they were screwed together was worlds apart. The glovebox on the french one felt like it could fall off in your hand at any minute.

Imagine how pleased I was when ordering mine that Toyota were building Silver diesels in Japan at the time!

pitchfork: The 3 series is a little too big for my liking. Parking is always a problem on my street so the smaller the car the better really.

 

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Ford Sport Ka, I know it isn't really pokey, but it is such fun to drive! I had one for a bit, and aside from midrange acceleration they are brilliant, they sit happily at a good speed on the motorway, and the handling is excellent, as in better that most premium makes. The design is excellent, literally a wheel in each corner! If I could get away with a 2 door car, I'd happily buy another one! Best car I have ever owned for driver fun!

I'm looking to replace my girly car with something manly, fast, and with good build quality. How does the Sport Ka fit into any of those requirements?!

Sorry for shooting down your sugestion like that, but the Ka would be a downgrade from what I have already.

 

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There aint a lot to choose from with that criteria tbh. Fast manly cars are normally larger cars.

Stop being a girl and learn to park a bigger car. You will get a lot more for your money

lol It's not my parking that sucks..it's all theneighbours! I drive works Galaxy quite frequently and can park that fine. At home we have to park on the street (terraced houses with no front gardens) and the neighbours tend to fill 2 spaces with one car. It's at times like that where a smaller car comes into it's own. I don't want to be parking my new car half a mile down the road in this area!

 

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I wouldn't let that dictate my purchase. If that's the only reason you're buying small then start asserting some authority. You're just as entitled to park as anyone.

It's not the only reason for a smaller car, no. I just don't see the point in driving around a large barge when I can have something smaller.

The Yaris is perfectly big enough for me..in fact a 2-seater would do because 99% of the time I'm the only person in my car. One advantage of a smaller car is that I'm able to park in spaces which something like a Mondeo or a 3 Series would never fit in, but it certainly isn't a deciding factor in my car choice.

 

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Oh yeah I appreciate that having quite strict requirements has the effect of narrowing down my choice of cars but that's what this thread is about. If the S3 is the only sensible choice I have then so be it..I'm quite happy with that

When I say "large barge" remember that my car history consists of a Renault 5, two Mk4 Escorts, a 106, and a Yaris, so anything like a 3 series upwards is a big car to me!

 

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Not quite sure where you got the idea that I think manly=big as I've never suggested that. In fact I'm the one saying I'd like to stick with something more medium-sized.

Having a "manly" car isn't my main priority, I'd just like to get away from the shopping trolley type vehicle of which both the Yaris and Ka are good examples. They're the sort of quirky little cars that women fall in love with. I've enjoyed my time as a Yaris owner as it's been a good little car but I'm after something with a bit more grunt and finesse. Find me a small car from the last 10 years that's quick and with German build quality and I'll gladly consider it. That's half the point of this thread!

I do 20 miles to work and back each day on the motorway so don't need a diesel any more, don't need any more than 2 seats but ideally 4, not bothered about tax cost, insurance isn't too much of a worry as I'm 28 with 8 years NCB (the S3 would be £400/year fully comp!), the car shouldn't be any more than £9000, will keep it until I get bored which is usually about 3 years for me (around 30k miles), and finally I'm looking for something which is quick, could be easily modified, would be refined on the motorways but also capable of a bit of b-road twisty action...basically a car to reignite my love of driving. It would be nice to have something I can be proud of owning..something to suggest that I'm a car enthusiast.

 

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Well I think fate has shone down on me today!

Was browsing through Autotrader at S3s when I see one only 15 miles from my house in black (am after either black or silver). It was being sold by a trader and I recognised the dealership name. Looked at their website noticed they were based in the town I was born in, and then looked even closer and and it's only being sold by one of my dad's old salesmen who's a good family friend and runs his own dealership. Phoned him up and he's gonna do me a good deal on it.

It's a 2001 facelift with 106k miles on the clock, which is a bit more than I was looking for, but it's got a full Audi service history and is specced up as I want it. He's got it up for £7995 but as he's a good mate of my dad's he should be able to do it for £7k.

I'm going to take a look at it on Saturday but before I do, can any of you tell me what stereo it has? It appears to be a double DIN tape/CD deck, but can I tell from the pic if it's the BOSE upgrade unit? One thing I have noticed is that it's gota multifunction steering wheel which I've not seen on any other S3.

 

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Ah ok thanks for the info. Is there any way to identify this amp or the speakers then, or would I have to contact Audi for the original spec list? Was the multifuction wheel a factory option do you know?

It's got black leather with "silver" alcantara, although the drivers seat has a few marks on it, but the guy is gettig it retrimmed next week.

Here's the front of the car. The pic shows a few stone chips which are also being sorted, and it will havea full service before handover:

 

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Thanks for the forum tip Dolph. Have made a new thread over there so will see what they come back with.

As an aside, does anyone know how much the private plate might be worth? The car is actually on an 01 plate and I'd rather return it that way because at the moment it looks like it's a W plate 2000 car with facelift front and rear lights!

 

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They didnt do an 01 plate, new style started at 51 so it will be an X or a Y plate.

Doh stupid me! The RAC vehicle check tells me it was originally a 51 plate.

 

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Well I stuck a thread up on tyresmoke and they seem like a nice bunch, but they're certainly the personification of careful car-loving owners. There seems to varying degrees of care taken though...one guy gets his S3 serviced every 9 months! I'm wondering whether soem of it is being a bit too careful to be honest!

Dolph - How are you finding tyre wear on yours, and how often are you getting it serviced? It really does scare me how often things need replacing, and just how costly they are..we're taking tyres and servicing costs of around £800/year alone. My Yaris has only cost me about £500 in the last 5 years!

 

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Servicing will be done by my dad's workshop (he runs a Honda dealership) so parts will be cost price and labour will be kept to a minimum. To give you an example last August I had to have a major service, MOT and new discs and pads and it set me back £120.

I think the main thing I need to do tomorrow is go through the service history with a fine tooth comb, identify anything that needs doing in the next 18 months or so and get the guy to sort it as part of the deal. It'll be serviced upon agreeing the deal anyway but if it needs it I'll see if he will do the cambelt, water pump and Haldex oil service as well.

Insurance isn't actually too bad which was a nice surprise considering it's a grp17 car; ~£400 fully comp.

 

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Depends on whether I sell the Yaris privately or trade it in with him. If I part-ex it he'll be making very little money on the S3 but will be taking my Yaris off my hands and making a couple of grand on it. This tends to be the way these deals work..and he knows that the Yaris will sell a whole lot quicker and easier than a high mileage S3.

Do you really think servicing at an indy will make any difference to residuals then? I'm defo not going to be paying Audi servicing prices. Everything will be done by the book at my dad's so what's the difference between that and an Indy?

 

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I'm certainly starting to ask myself if I want to be paying £7k for something which could be a potential money pit when I could put another grand into a private one and get something with lower mileage which has just had the major work done to it.

I'm only looking at keeping it for around 3 years, so as long as the cambelt and water pump have been done recently then things shouldn't be too expensive (fingers crossed!). The problem with buying the example I'm about to lookat is that by the time I'm done with it it'll have around 135k miles on the clock. Are people still going to be interested in paying decent money for something with that many miles on it?

I just didn't see the point in paying stealer prices when I could get the job done much cheaper with the same parts, but if getting the work done at an indy will help keep the value up then I guess that will be the best way to go.

 

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Right..went to see the car today. After the wet weather we had yesterday I was glad to see the sun was shining in all it's glory this morning. First impressions of the S3 is that it looks like a sleeper. Unless you know what you're looking for, most people would think this is a regular A3. That can only be a good thing in the area I live in! It still hints that it's a wolf in sheeps clothing though, and I really like that look.

The first thing I noticed was the scuff on the offside of the front bumper. It's about a foot high and on the corner of the bumper. There's also a lot of stone chips on the bonnet, including one large one right down to the metal on the very front lip. This damage will all be sorted next week though. The rest of the bodywork looks tidy though. It's covered in swirl marks so it'll need a good detailing, but I'd expect that with a black car.

Took it for a test drive and first impressions was that it was quite a bumpy ride, but I suppose I was expecting that as even the standard A3 is known to be a bit on the stiff side. Pottering around the local town it was composed and very easy to drive. Steering is certainly heavier than the Yaris bit that's to be expected as the tyres are wider. The gearchange was a bit notchy but I've read that that's quite normal.

We took it out to a nearby NSL road which is ideal for testing cars as its long and straight and interconnected by several roundabouts. We got stuck behind a car doing 30 coming off the first roundabout and there was nothing coming the other way so I stuck it in second and booted it. The turbo spooled up and before I knew it we were doing 100 and the car we'd just overtaken was a spec in the rear view mirror! We reached the first roundabout so decided to go around a couple of times. This thing just gripped like nothing I've ever driven. The Recaro seats helped greatly to keep you in your seat.

Talked figures and it's he's offering me £4300 part-ex on my Yaris which is a great price, but as he's having to do some work on the car to get it up to standard he'll not let the S3 go for less than £7500. That gives me a cost to change of £3200.

The car's had only one owner and has a fully stamped service manual, but there's zero receipts for work done which is always a bit worrying. All services were performed by Audi apart from the 80k mile, which just so happens to be when the cam belt was due so I'm going to have to contact Audi and this other garage to find out what work has been performed and when. If I can't get firm confirmation that the cambelt and water pump was done at 80k miles then the dealer will be sorting it for me.

I've told him I'm certainly interested and he's giving me a few days to decide.
I really enjoyed the car, and think it's looking like a good deal so as long as everything with the bodywork and mechanicials get sorted to my satisfaction then I could well be the owner of an S3 very soon.

Watch this space

 

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Popped down to the garage this morning so dad could have a good look around today and he was pretty impressed with what he saw. He reckons it needs a couple of new rear tyres as they are getting a bit low but the fronts are fine. With the bodywork and a good buffing it should come up pretty much perfect.

He's gonna go talk figures tomorrow to try and get a bit more thrown in like some tax and the tyres, and also get the car on a ramp to take a good look underneath. It's a bit to low to get a good look by climbing underneath

Here's a couple more pics taken with my cam this time Yes that is bird poo on the bonnet..they joys of having a dealership right on the seafront!:

I'm going down the bank tomorrow to enquire about a loan.