**Audi S3 Sportback Review: A Practical and Powerful Daily Driver**

The Audi S3 Sportback is a superb recipe that combines the best of both worlds - practicality and performance. With its spacious interior, quattro all-wheel drive system, and dual-clutch gearbox, this car is perfect for families or individuals who want a fast and reliable daily driver.

**Upgrades and Modifications**

Our test car had undergone various upgrades and modifications to enhance its performance. The Miltek downpipe with a 200C cat, high-pressure fuel rail valve from an R8, and high-pressure fuel pump were just a few of the enhancements that made this car sit on the wrong side of the tracks. With software tweaks, the engine now produces a whopping 376 horsepower, compared to the stock 265 horsepower.

One of the notable upgrades was the floor mats, which, although not entirely OEM, still looked great. The interior itself, however, was where the real magic happened. The Elanur leather seats were a treat to sit in, and the chrome accents added a touch of elegance to the already well-appointed cabin. The MMI system was intuitive and responsive, with beautiful analog dials that evoked a sense of classic Audi heritage.

**Driving Experience**

When it came to driving the S3 Sportback, we found that its practicality made it a joy to drive on a daily basis. The car had a very nice flat-bottom steering wheel, which provided ample legroom and a comfortable driving position. We did have to adjust our expectations slightly, however, as this was not a hot hatch in the classical sense. It didn't feel particularly engaging to drive, with limited feedback from the steering.

That said, when we put it into manual mode and pushed it to its limits, the car came alive. The dual-clutch gearbox performed admirably, shifting gears crisply and smoothly, even in Sport mode. We were able to shave off a whopping 1.4 seconds from our initial time of 20.0s to 5.6 seconds, thanks to some clever tuning by David.

One minor quibble was the lack of traction control in manual mode. However, with the clutch held down firmly and the gearbox shifted into S mode, we found that it didn't hinder our progress too much. The car felt very stable and secure, even on twisty roads or during spirited driving.

**Tuning and Performance**

David had also fitted a coilover kit to improve the suspension's handling. While we couldn't verify the brand, the results were certainly noticeable - this was one of the most stable cars we'd driven in a long time. The steering felt very responsive, with barely any body roll or dip, even during aggressive cornering.

When it came to acceleration, the S3 Sportback more than held its own. From 0-100km/h, it took just 4.2 seconds, which is impressive for a car of this size and class. The exhaust note was also perfectly suited to the car's character - subtle, yet musical.

**Conclusion**

All in all, we were thoroughly impressed with the Audi S3 Sportback. It may not be a hot hatch, but it's certainly no slouch when it comes to performance. With its practicality, space, and comfortable driving experience, this car is perfect for those who want a fast and reliable daily driver.

We also appreciated the thoughtful touches that David had added to his car - from the floor mats to the upgraded exhaust system, every detail seemed to have been carefully considered to enhance the overall driving experience. And while it may not be the most engaging car to drive, we found that its quirks only added to its charm.

So if you're in the market for a fast and practical daily driver, the Audi S3 Sportback is certainly worth considering - especially with all the upgrades and modifications that David had installed. It's a little bit of heaven on wheels, wrapped up in an Audi badge.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat's up ladies and gentlemen and welcome to this lovely Saturday morning at the autoban it is sunny it is cold it is the perfect day for a nice turbocharged car in this case David's Audi S3 the 8p generation and it's the sportback the one I love so I don't think I've ever driven an S 38p to be honest which is kind of weird since I've been doing performance car reviews for 15 years now so yeah I love the fact that I get to drive it I did drive the RS3 many times but I think this is a first but I'm not sure I'm getting old um it does have a stage 2 tune on it and it is quite an experienced car it's a 2010 model and it has done nearly 200,000 km so normally that's a recipe for disaster especially with sort of these kinds of performance cars that were very expensive but now 15 years later are getting you know a new audience let's call it that and I don't want to be disrespectful of current S3 owners especially not David because this one is a in a perfect shape so I really have to compliment him for that I love the fact that it's sort of still stock we do have some black accents going on I would have loved the Chrome bits back like the the the mirror caps that are still on here these are the RS3 Wheels if I'm not mistaken we have new front brakes uh David did everything to make it as nice as possible we have Michelin Pilot Forest tires which I do really appreciate the biggest drawback of this specific specimen like okay a crap ofage exhaust uh it's just a miltech 200 cell down pipe combined with a resonated Elite and it sounds absolutely perfect in my opinion it's just a little ruined by the fake acrapovic tips I don't really get this because you know people who know acrapovic appreciate the brand recognize the brand uh they know that this is a fake and other people like my mom would think what does that say is that a wizard from Harry Potter or ah very nice looks very clean so 2 L turbocharged engine of course it is um combined with an astronic dual clutch gearbox in this case the dq250 in stock form not the nicest gearbox but this has had JD engineering tune for both the gearbox and the engine stage two pack racing line intake as I said a miltech down pipe with a 200 C cat the high press fuel rail valve from an R8 different fuel pump high pressure fuel pump and of course software has been done we no longer have 265 horsepower but 376 and no longer 350 newm with 500 so that's quite the upgrade I do feel like these floor mats aren't completely OEM I feel like the f is a bit off other than that the interior looks really really good really well maintained and I love these elanur leather seats and you know all the Chrome bits it all looks really really good little MMI system right there and we have some beautiful analog dials with the classic digital display that Audi used back in the day but this is such a practical car especially being a sportback this is sort of an Audi Avant mini and I think it's just a superb recipe just the two leads and we have quar all wheeel drive we have that dual clutch gear box all the space you need for a small family I really appreciate this car really like it doesn't have a loud exhaust which again I really really appreciate you just have a little bit of an intake sound a little bit of a turbo spoolup sound and other than that it's sort of OEM like which I think is a good thing really nice flat bottom steering wheel so you have a bit more leg room right here look at that we don't have sport mode or Comfort or individual it's just you stick the gearbox into S turn off the traction control and then you're all good to go so let's just do that right so stock 0200 with large control 5.6 seconds so let me demonstrate and there we have it but that is 4.2 seconds so we've scraped off 1.4 seconds which is a tremendous amount in manual mode very nice upshift really nice crisp upshift and that's just a nice exhaust note I think you know this with the resonator Del lead and the 200 C down pipe absolutely perfect for this car it doesn't need to be loud I mean David told me like if I having a a loud car it better be a V8 I completely agree with him it feels so fresh I mean David is a mechanic so that does explain a lot but it's so nice it's so nice after 190 3,000 km which we are going to get in this video hopefully only three remaining um but the gearbox has been tuned and I have to say it feels a lot better than the stock form dq250 which is a gearbox I just don't really like anymore and I was told it wouldn't Auto upshift but it just did and I'm in manual mode EC off can we try that again it it does Auto upshift okay I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here but let's just stick it into s and give it some I can feel it holding back like at the end of the um of the gear so I'm going back into manual mode and and I'm going to shift manually at like 6 and 1 12,000 cuz I feel like we're losing power approaching that 7,000 RPM Red Line yeah this feels nicer so 100 to 200 a little over 11 seconds which matches the latest Audi S3 which I think is a nice number um it should be a little quicker maybe but I think the gearbox in this case is the limiting factor because I do feel like we do suffer from a bit of clutch slip from time to time so slip is equal to losing power but you know given the fact that it's 15 years old and has done 193,000 it is so good suspension just lovely David did a coilover kit not sure about the brand but it is very very nice it is so stable it is so Rock Solid I wouldn't even call this a hot hatch because you know in essence it's just a fast S3 or a fast A3 the S3 is just a fast A3 um it's not a very engaging car to drive you don't get any feedback from the steering um you don't really get connected to the car it is a very nice daily though it's a very nice Audi little estate that has a very nice amount of power and I just love this car really I love it it's a fantastic little thing little tunnel run for you guys to end this video just perfect not too loud little bang on the upshift oh even though it's not the most engaging car to drive those Michelin really push the car to a whole new level loads of grip loads of traction what a nice car I love this I love this thanks David for bringing your car over thanks to you guys for watching the video hope you liked it and I'll see you at the next one byewhat's up ladies and gentlemen and welcome to this lovely Saturday morning at the autoban it is sunny it is cold it is the perfect day for a nice turbocharged car in this case David's Audi S3 the 8p generation and it's the sportback the one I love so I don't think I've ever driven an S 38p to be honest which is kind of weird since I've been doing performance car reviews for 15 years now so yeah I love the fact that I get to drive it I did drive the RS3 many times but I think this is a first but I'm not sure I'm getting old um it does have a stage 2 tune on it and it is quite an experienced car it's a 2010 model and it has done nearly 200,000 km so normally that's a recipe for disaster especially with sort of these kinds of performance cars that were very expensive but now 15 years later are getting you know a new audience let's call it that and I don't want to be disrespectful of current S3 owners especially not David because this one is a in a perfect shape so I really have to compliment him for that I love the fact that it's sort of still stock we do have some black accents going on I would have loved the Chrome bits back like the the the mirror caps that are still on here these are the RS3 Wheels if I'm not mistaken we have new front brakes uh David did everything to make it as nice as possible we have Michelin Pilot Forest tires which I do really appreciate the biggest drawback of this specific specimen like okay a crap ofage exhaust uh it's just a miltech 200 cell down pipe combined with a resonated Elite and it sounds absolutely perfect in my opinion it's just a little ruined by the fake acrapovic tips I don't really get this because you know people who know acrapovic appreciate the brand recognize the brand uh they know that this is a fake and other people like my mom would think what does that say is that a wizard from Harry Potter or ah very nice looks very clean so 2 L turbocharged engine of course it is um combined with an astronic dual clutch gearbox in this case the dq250 in stock form not the nicest gearbox but this has had JD engineering tune for both the gearbox and the engine stage two pack racing line intake as I said a miltech down pipe with a 200 C cat the high press fuel rail valve from an R8 different fuel pump high pressure fuel pump and of course software has been done we no longer have 265 horsepower but 376 and no longer 350 newm with 500 so that's quite the upgrade I do feel like these floor mats aren't completely OEM I feel like the f is a bit off other than that the interior looks really really good really well maintained and I love these elanur leather seats and you know all the Chrome bits it all looks really really good little MMI system right there and we have some beautiful analog dials with the classic digital display that Audi used back in the day but this is such a practical car especially being a sportback this is sort of an Audi Avant mini and I think it's just a superb recipe just the two leads and we have quar all wheeel drive we have that dual clutch gear box all the space you need for a small family I really appreciate this car really like it doesn't have a loud exhaust which again I really really appreciate you just have a little bit of an intake sound a little bit of a turbo spoolup sound and other than that it's sort of OEM like which I think is a good thing really nice flat bottom steering wheel so you have a bit more leg room right here look at that we don't have sport mode or Comfort or individual it's just you stick the gearbox into S turn off the traction control and then you're all good to go so let's just do that right so stock 0200 with large control 5.6 seconds so let me demonstrate and there we have it but that is 4.2 seconds so we've scraped off 1.4 seconds which is a tremendous amount in manual mode very nice upshift really nice crisp upshift and that's just a nice exhaust note I think you know this with the resonator Del lead and the 200 C down pipe absolutely perfect for this car it doesn't need to be loud I mean David told me like if I having a a loud car it better be a V8 I completely agree with him it feels so fresh I mean David is a mechanic so that does explain a lot but it's so nice it's so nice after 190 3,000 km which we are going to get in this video hopefully only three remaining um but the gearbox has been tuned and I have to say it feels a lot better than the stock form dq250 which is a gearbox I just don't really like anymore and I was told it wouldn't Auto upshift but it just did and I'm in manual mode EC off can we try that again it it does Auto upshift okay I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here but let's just stick it into s and give it some I can feel it holding back like at the end of the um of the gear so I'm going back into manual mode and and I'm going to shift manually at like 6 and 1 12,000 cuz I feel like we're losing power approaching that 7,000 RPM Red Line yeah this feels nicer so 100 to 200 a little over 11 seconds which matches the latest Audi S3 which I think is a nice number um it should be a little quicker maybe but I think the gearbox in this case is the limiting factor because I do feel like we do suffer from a bit of clutch slip from time to time so slip is equal to losing power but you know given the fact that it's 15 years old and has done 193,000 it is so good suspension just lovely David did a coilover kit not sure about the brand but it is very very nice it is so stable it is so Rock Solid I wouldn't even call this a hot hatch because you know in essence it's just a fast S3 or a fast A3 the S3 is just a fast A3 um it's not a very engaging car to drive you don't get any feedback from the steering um you don't really get connected to the car it is a very nice daily though it's a very nice Audi little estate that has a very nice amount of power and I just love this car really I love it it's a fantastic little thing little tunnel run for you guys to end this video just perfect not too loud little bang on the upshift oh even though it's not the most engaging car to drive those Michelin really push the car to a whole new level loads of grip loads of traction what a nice car I love this I love this thanks David for bringing your car over thanks to you guys for watching the video hope you liked it and I'll see you at the next one bye\n"