John's GW 200
- Thread starter Johnny 99
- Start date
WOW ! Didn’t see this coming...
The end of an era.
Wishing you and Glenda the very best.
Well the deal has been done. For some time Glenda (my wife) & I have been struggling to justify having 3 cars. We both agreed that we were keeping our E Class Cabriolet as it's just the perfect "holiday" car & we plan some more European tours. Glenda didn't really like the Clio. The Recaros she found uncomfortable after an hour or so & she (wrongly!!!) thought the sports exhaust sounded tinny. So the Clio was going to go. However she knows I need something I can enjoy the Highland roads with & that'll be capable of the odd track day so she said if I found a car I wanted that I knew she would drive to go ahead. I made a shortlist. Subaru BRZ, a bit of nat asp rwd fun, maybe reminiscent of the MGB GT I ran in the '80s. Hmm, maybe not. Hyundai i30N Performance, honestly I think Hyundai have out Golfed the Golf with this one. A cracking car, but perhaps a wee bit bigger than Glenda would be happy driving. Then I started to think about how much Glenda loves her A1, which I also enjoyed driving & the answer became obvious, we were looking for an S1. Meanwhile I was still contemplating booking the Clio on a couple of track days at Blyton & Mallory thinking that the change would be made at some point in the future. However I was browsing the Audi Approved Used website the other day & stumbled upon what appears to have been the last pre-reg S1 in the UK, the model now being out of production. It was even in a decent colour. I knew I had to act fast so spent Wednesday and Thursday de-vinyling the Clio & called the dealer yesterday. The car's mileage had gone up a bit from the advertised 25 miles due to some test drives having been taken, but it was still effectively a new car at 92 miles. The dealer agreed to take it off sale until I could get down the road this morning & my neighbour offered to drive Glenda's A1 down whilst I drove the Clio. I'd discussed figures with the salesman on the phone & was happy with the offer for the Clio, but he was £900 light on what I wanted for the A1.After I drove the S1 today I said let's talk & he immediately offered me another £500. I told him to split the difference between that offer & what I was asking & he agreed. I'm very happy with the deal. I just need to wait for the Clio V5 to come from DVLA after removal of my private plate, so hopefully I will collect the S1 on Thursday. I left the Clio with him and went home in the A1. I think the S1 will be ideal for my needs & should be fun on the Highland roads with terrific all weather capability. Whilst the Haldex Quattro system on the S1 is less sophisticated than the system on bigger Quattros it's an effective system & on the S1 is the "mk4" Haldex system that uses electric motors to keep the hydraulics primed & has a predictive element to it rather than waiting for wheel slip. There's always a little drive going to the rear, but it will go up to 50:50. I will miss the Clio as what I consider one of the all time great hot hatches, but this is the right decision for us in our circumstances.
Lewis Watson
Platinum Member
Glenda would've said it was too big. I did think about a 265/275, but not the latest one.
peter
POTM Winner - February 2017
confess john, you wanted four exhaust tips instead of two. 
the S1 will be brilliant on a wet day at spa.
the S1 will be brilliant on a wet day at spa.
You know me better than I know myself Peter!confess john, you wanted four exhaust tips instead of two.
the S1 will be brilliant on a wet day at spa.
@nick's the S1 is great as a daily driver & excellent for cross country pace. It's very fast. Overtaking slower traffic is easy. However it's not grabbing me in the way the Clio did. Somehow it's just not as much fun to drive despite being a lot quicker. I'm really missing the naturally aspirated engine & the way the Clio chassis engaged me in the driving process. From what I've read the S1 has one of the more engaging chassis in the Audi range which makes me think S/RS3s must be a bit boring. It shows that power isn't everything.
The S1 was still the right decision for our needs at this time though. Maybe it'll grow on me over time - I've only driven 1200 miles in it so far. Currently I think it's a very good car whilst the Clio was a great car. I'm still hoping to see the Clio appear on here sometime with it's new owner.
The S1 was still the right decision for our needs at this time though. Maybe it'll grow on me over time - I've only driven 1200 miles in it so far. Currently I think it's a very good car whilst the Clio was a great car. I'm still hoping to see the Clio appear on here sometime with it's new owner.
Same can be set for a lot of the new hot hatches like the golf R, focus RS and A45 AMG etc. They’re fast and so capable but they lack feel and driver input making them boring in comparison. It’s nice to have something you’ve got to drive and drive hard to make it work well.
Nick
Platinum Member
That may be why I’ve had 3 mk 3’s
Funny you say that about the S1 chassis, on my last 2 ring trips I saw hardly any Audi’s apart from S1’s, they were plentiful
Following the sheep? I've only seen 3 other S1s since I bought mine!Clio gone... mmm, always not a wifey car, you are not the first or the last. GL following the sheep.
..what I meant was.... LOL, once you've had french, most go german. Nobody buys a jag or an A.M.
Beyond my budget bud!..what I meant was.... LOL, once you've had french, most go german. Nobody buys a jag or an A.M.
