martinbo

Oh for pete's sake. So the car has turbo lag. Big deal.

I pretty much expect turbo lag on a performance-tuned turbocharged car with a few very specific exceptions (the 911 Turbo being one of them).

Put it simply this way, a turbocharged S3 driven in the spirit it was intended (not like some brain dead doofus mentality of planting the throttle at 2000 rpm in 6th) with positively stomp all over its current opposition - R32 included. This guy's a nancy. What was he expecting? The handling and weight distribution gains in themselves are reason enough to view the package as superior to that of the V6. And what? Since driving the old 1.8T S3 of old doesn't he recall the marked turbo lag from back then? I certainly do.

Turbocharged cars are an acquired taste in themselves but spend enough quality time behind the wheel of cars of this ilk and, if you've any petrolhead in you, you'll come to appreciate and understand the appeal of boost. Some folks just won't bond with an STi or an EVO for that matter - and I can't possibly understand why they wouldn't.

I expect the S3 to be every bit the intoxicating, highly strung drive that its on paper statistics suggest.