The new 8V Audi S3 Sportback is not too far away from finding its way to Australia. Officially, Audi has told us to expect a mid-60s starting price, but we’ve now heard from two different sources that the manufacturer’s list pricing for the S3 will be under $60,000 (either $59,900 or $59,990).
With stiff competition from the BMW M135i ($68,900 see below) and the Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG ($74,900) the S3 probably needs to trump them on price to compensate for its lack of power; Australian spec S3s will have 206kW/380Nm, down 29kW/70Nm against the M135i and 59kW/70Nm compared with the A45 AMG.
Both the M135i and A45 AMG are reasonably well specced so Audi can’t just start low only to leave buyers to tick so many options boxes that any savings are lost.
Let’s assume, then, that the S3 will come with a similar level of standard equipment as its German rivals, at around $9,000 $3,500 less than the Bimmer and $15,000 less than the Merc, would you be interested?
Note: BMW has dropped list pricing of the M135i to $64,900. No wonder we’re reading word of the S3 being priced from less than $60,000, Audi Australia has no choice. Mk7 Golf R pricing will be very interesting.
14 replies on “Would you buy a new S3 if it was under $60K?”
Actually Lima, with the recent price reduction, M135i is now $64,900 inclusive of auto if I’m not mistaken. So it’s only $5k more than S3…
Yes, only if the did the 3 door. What is it with all these station wagons calling themselves hatch’s?
Also, the S3, at that price will skip any LCT I think, so that will also increase the on road price gap between Audi and the other guys.
As an S3 sedan yes. I think the both the A45 and CLA look very ordinary and clumsy. Not keen on the Bimmer either from a looks point of view. If the Audi steers and handles well and is comfortable and swift then 206kw might just be enough for me!
Thanks for that WAY, had missed the M135i price drop. Hmm, competition is fierce! Great for buyers.
Well, the current S3 8PA can get 239kW out of the current 2L 4 pot engine (stock power of 188kW), and they know that the new S3 can hit the full power of 221kW without trying. So i see APR releasing a chip giving 250+, and at $59,990 – this is a winner for me.
If it is that price that will be good as it undercuts the LCT. Will that be for the 3dr version or the 5 dr version? Also you have to add on auto to make it comparable to the M135 price which is probably another 2k or so.
@Dave
Australia will only be getting the 5dr Sportback at this stage. There’s no plans to bring in the 3dr.
Bring on the S3 sedan!
Can’t wait to see how this compares to the MK7 Golf.
Price whys sounds pretty good.
Way is correct on M135i price – The price in your article is slightly below the “real” RRP because it doesn’t inlcude the LCT, which brings the total to $64,900.
Yep, I thought that might be the case. Thanks for the confirmation. I’ve updated the note above accordingly.
Drew there are plenty of decent tuners out there with the right software that can extract more power out of any of these cars with a tune. The most potential would definitely be BMW’s engine. 300Kw with a tune is pretty easy on the 3.0L Turbo.
At the end of the day most people spending this kind of money would not want to risk their warranty period. So they will keep them stock. Unless money was really tight I can’t see how anyone would not chose the AMG out of these three cars. It is just so much faster its not funny. I mean 0-100 in 4.5 seconds Merc claims and already European reviews have found this extremely conservative firing off 4.2 & 4.3secs 0-62mph (100K’s) times from a standing start. The AMG will embarrass a lot of high priced supercars off a set of lights.
Chris Harris my most favorite motoring journalist from the UK recently said in his comparison of the A45 AMG vs the M135i that over a technical piece of B-road even a good driver in the latest M3 or C63 could not stay with an A45 AMG. That’s how good he thought it was, and he has driven everything out there.
The Audi S3 or even RS3 (both understeer pigs) are no match for an A45 AMG I’m afraid. Mercedes have moved the game on. Audi need to go back to the drawing board and build a better mousetrap. The thing is though, will VW let them.
Mercedes have shown how to properly use the Haldex 4WD system so the car does not feel like an understeering pig when pushed to the limit. VW need to take note.
[…] As we predicted a bit over a week ago the all-new Audi S3 Sportback will be priced from $59,900 when it goes on sale in Australia this December. That’s more than $11,000 cheaper than the model it replaces. […]