2018 Audi S3 Beauty Shots and Random Thoughts

As I'm coming up on a year with the S3, I thought I'd better take some pics with the summer wheels before I have to change back to the winter setup. I really like the stock 19"x8" double 5-spoke Audi wheels. I'll add some thoughts about the first year with the car near the end of this post.

Still on the stock Pirelli tires that really aren't showing much sign of wear.

Love the stubby styling of this car, the overhangs are so short.

Nice little decklid lip spoiler. I can see the appeal of a larger carbon version.

FFS - nice shot but some numpty left the filler lid open!

I attached the dealer plate frame with zipties - I think it looks pretty good, and beats the $400+ factory plateholder I priced out at the dealership.

Thoughts after a year with the car? Well, while I can tolerate the Audi dual-clutch transmission, I'd still rather have a six-speed manual. Not sure why this isn't possible - Audi offer a third pedal option in the Golf R, this car's fraternal twin. In any case I don't use the flappy paddles much at all, and the Sport mode is OK but not super-engaging. Fortunately the car is so quick you don't notice the gearbox much, except when just cruising along sedately. Unfortunately in those cases the gearbox seems to want to shift up ASAP and if you ask for power there's a delay as the gearbox shifts down. Sport mode cures this somewhat but keeps the revs high at cruise - perhaps this is the only alternative.

The only other minor niggle I have has to do with the ICE system. My old 2015 Volkswagen GTI had a touchscreen interface which was great - but for whatever reason Audi went for a scrollwheel-controlled system in the S3. This is quite a bit less intuitive. I do quite like the Virtual Cockpit but haven't reconfigured it much at all - I keep the speedo and tach in the middle and real-time fuel economy on the left. I should really play with that a bit more. Maybe if I ever take a road trip I'll try out the mapscreen. Apple CarPlay has been a bit troublesome as well, it just kinda stopped working one day. After a fashion I had to fiddle with the phone and the MMI and it seems to be on track now.

Other than those small things I still love the car. The styling really appeals to me and the colour still gets lots of compliments from random passersby. Maybe a tune is in the future - I like the idea of ~350hp and a sharpened DSG experience for about a grand. We'll see. 

Yamaha R1 with Micron Slip-On Exhaust Sound Clip

So when I bought my R1 many years ago, it came with both the stock exhaust and a Micron carbon slip-on . I immediately removed the Micron and stuck the stock pipe back on, and have ridden the bike for years like that. However, I recently took a notion to re-fit the Micron for some more funky sound. It only took a few minutes and I didn't even have to remove the fairing lowers, although I did order a couple of springs for the muffler. 

The sound isn't obnoxious at all and I don't mind the look - although I prefer a round can to the oval one, the carbon fiber is nice and certainly waaaay more tasteful than the multi-coloured tat that people used to fit to their sportbikes in the late '90s. It's also a "period-correct" modification, unlike the stubby cans and bottom-exit exhausts that currently seem in vogue. An Akrapovic would be better but they're NLA now and to find a second-hand one in good shape is practically impossible, so I'll stick with this one. 

It's much lighter than the stock exhaust as well!