Rule 1; A Trilogy of RSs

[MikeFish]

Ditch the 3 and keep the 4 ,jobs a carrot then !

Looks great

The 3 belongs to the wife. She doesnt want to drive my 8 year old "jalopy".

[HYFR]

RS 6, oh wow !!

[RichieRS]

Awesome group photo Mike

They all look great but the 4 and 6 look mean and moody

[Shinobi675]

Why are you parading them in a field! They're not cows!

[MikeFish]

Why are you parading them in a field! They're not cows!

Its quicker than cutting the grass. The cows live next door on one side and the horses on the other side.

[marc1]

Great line up Mike. Love the fact the '6 has already received its first mods. Like the titanium trim too. Wasn't a fan of the wheels in other pictures, but they look good there. Maybe due to the titanium element.

How are you finding the '6? Happy you're finally in the proper RS shape?

[MikeFish]

Lol, not happy about driving a bread van; takes me ages to get to work with all these deliveries! To be fair I was quite excited to do a couple of runs to the trip to start clearing out and the crap in the garage that wouldn't fit in the boot of the 4 or 3. No point having an estate and not using it.

Just done a little over 400 miles as I haven't really had the chance to drive it much today or yesterday and I've resisted temptation so far, sticking to the manuals recommendations of taking it easy for the 1st 600 miles, then build up over the next 300. I dare say as I approach 600 I will just open it up and forget about the next 300.
But aside from not being able to boot it, I'm absolutely loving it. I'm slowly building up the speeds round the roundabouts to find it's limits of grip and traction bearing in mind it is wearing Dunlops and not Goodyears or Michelins. So far so good, the rear hasn't stepped out and the front hasn't given way which is not bad considering the tyres & sub zero tempratures.

It is almost ready to be lowered too. I just want to drive it properly once run in to see how it feels before getting it dropped.

Love:
Powered tailgate; no more dirty hands closing boot lids or moaning at the missus for using the ring fingers to close it.
All the lighting; door sills (both front and rear are illumited, the RS3 doesn't even have any rear sills and the front are not lit; you can buy quattro ones that asre lit for nearly £300 though), LEDs in door trims, external door handles and the Matrix LED is amazing, brilliant idea and it works soo well.

Annoyances:
That bloody centre channel speaker! it sounds terrible and it's all I can hear when listening to music. I like the idea of focusing the sound forward and central as any good stereo shouldd but it's cheating by using a centre speaker and not by good balance and speaker placement. Also stumps me as for it's replacement as I will most likely need another pair of speakers to only use one. Or what is most likely going to happen, I'll just disconnect it.
Can't quite get the MMI to see all my tracks on the hard drive. I've tried various configurations / folder / files and got it better but still missing some tracks. Bare in mind I'm talking about over 250GB of music (about 25,000 tracks) so a fairly big collection. Need to read the manual again for any limitations on the system (other than no more than 4000 tracks per folder and I don't use playlists).
When I try to get my online Google destinations that I've sent to the car from my PC it keeps asking for my MyAudi PIN. Must be a setting somewhere to stop asking everytime but I haven't found it yet.

[Mr V10]

I could listen to the noise of that RS 3 all day.

Agree, the B7 is my pick of the three, too.

Great collection, Mike. Maybe one day I can supply you with one.

[MikeFish]

Actually Amar, the best price i had on carwow was from Coventry (and it's my 2nd closest dealer). But I stuck with the dealer that gave my wife such good deals on her S3 and RS3 even though it was a little bit more.

Oh, and you nearly sold me the RS3 in the summer when you had a cancelled order but someone else beat me to it.

[Mr V10]

As long as you're looked after, it's always better to deal locally IMO.

How does the RS3 handling compare with the B7? I've ran the RS 3, but never had a proper drive in a B7, I am determined to own one in the future.

[MikeFish]

I don't drive the RS3 too hard as it is not mine and she has only just done 1000 miles in it and it is going back to audi for the knocking mag ride this week so early days yet.
The front end did go on me on a roundabout in the wet though. I didn't think I was going fast at all but she said she thought I went in too quick. I must have been going round it at the sort of speed I take it in the 4 without thinking but this must have been too much, but I put that down to the Pirellis.
In the dry i've chucked it around and it's lapped it all up in it's stride so nowhere near the limit yet. The ride is very firm, I only ever drive it in dynamic. By comparison, the B7 feels a lot softer but I think may corner flatter and maybe seems better balanced but this may be becuase I know the feel of the car so much better. The steering in the B7 is just fantastic! When I get an empty road and the air is damp there is nothing better, the engine loves the cold air and the quattro and tyres just keep gripping with just enough 'wahay' to keep you on the edge. I'm sure the 3 will do this too given the right conditions but she won't be happy if I put it in a ditch trying to find out. You can tell it Haldex and not Torsen though; it seems to pull you out of the bends rather than drive from behind like the 4 does.
The 3 is certainly quicker off the mark and when approaching uk speed limits. I think the sheer brute force of the 4.2 kicks in though and will have the edge at the upper end of the spectrum. Oddly my wife thinks the 3 is not very fast at low speed and is faster accelerating at high motorway speeds (maybe she is comparing this to her old S3).

But they are both exciting cars to drive, and on drive and sounds I'd be happy to swap the 4 for the 3, but for me it needs to be a saloon and have more aggressive arches to replace it looks wise (and also would be too small).

[Ian_C]

RS3...... The ride is very firm, I only ever drive it in dynamic.

Wow, I found Dynamic unbearable during a dealer-invite test drive. You'll probably find there is more grip with the dampers soft?

[MikeFish]

Its a bit too soft for me in comfort though.

[Anglia67105e]

Hi Mike
It'll be interesting to see what Audi make of your mag ride knocking,mine knocks mainly near side front & rear bit like when DRC failed on rs4 .I also seem to have a clunk on full right hand lock & back 1/2 turn another clunk.
I've found the biggest problem is I'm turning into a bit of hooligan in the RS3 it just asks to be driven quicker than the old B7 RS4 ( I'm 66 going on 30 now) nice stable of motors

[MikeFish]

Its a known fault. They have an updated rear shock Mount. Just need to take it to Audi and show them it makes a noise over a bump it pot hole and they should change them for the later part.