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I've had my 2017 A3 Cabrio 1.4 TFSi serviced from new by my local Audi dealership. Last year, they suggested I needed a brake fluid change, new plugs, and a new cam belt. The total quote was a bit alarming, so I declined the cam belt change. I probably should have declined the plugs and brake fluid! Anyway, having researched the cam belt issue, I decided to go for it this year. The car has done 16,700 miles, mostly in long journeys around Europe, and it sits around doing nothing for most of the year. The tyres dried out and cracked because of this inactivity, so I fitted a new set last summer. Audi charged me £599 for the cam belt work, on top of the standard cost for the annual service. I was disappointed to find that they hadn't replaced the water pump, but they were adamant it wasn't necessary, because the pump was in A1 condition. So the bill for the cam belt change was £599 without a change of water pump, but with a free MOT thrown in. Just for information - I'm not recommending anything! Steve

Tyre noise isn't normally a reason to change tyres - different makes of tyres on different road surfaces will produce different noise levels. My car is a convertible, so I can hear external noises all the time - maybe yours is missing some soundproofing in the cabin? If your tyres have decent tread depth across their whole width, and there's no damage to the sidewalls, they should be OK. Sounds like your fuel consumption is pretty similar to mine, so maybe you don't have a problem there...

If it helps, my 2017 A3 is similar to yours, except it's an automatic cabriolet, and I've had it from new. It's rarely used for long journeys, it's set to Comfort mode, and it's used on mainly rural roads. Overall fuel consumption shows up as 47.2 mpg, which I believe equates to just below 6 litres per 100km. I'm not suggesting that you should be expecting identical consumption figures, but I thought the comparison might be useful.

Sounds like the turbo...

Probably not relevant to your S3, but the headlights on my 2017 A3 can be adjusted for driving on the right via MMI. The dipped beam doesn't convert totally to LHD mode, but just flattens the left edge of the beam, but I've always found it adequate. http://www.instruccionesaudi.com/A3/en_GB/onboard/o_m00200.htm Apologies if you've already been through this, and found it doesn't apply to your car!

Thanks Mike. I'll have a look when it stops raining...

Interesting that you say it's a simple upgrade to the "curtain wash" nozzle. I asked Audi Yeovil if it could be done, and they said it couldn't. Seems they might have been fobbing me off! Mind you, I couldn't even figure out how to access the nozzles to clear them. Could you describe how to flip the holder out?

The key bit in my case wasn't so much the 6 months wait, more the fact that the 6 months eliminated the entire summer. Had it not been a convertible, I might have made a different decision, but we had plans for that summer that involved topless motoring!

Just checked my owner's manual, and automatic dipping came with the folding mirrors feature, which was an extra cost option. Because I didn't actually order that feature in the first place, I'd forgotten that it was, in fact, an optional extra. When I bought the car in March 2017 they quoted me a 6 month lead time, which wasn't particularly attractive to someone buying a convertible! But they could get me a new one within a few weeks if I was prepared to compromise a bit, so I ended up with a white car with folding mirrors and heated seats.

Sorry Wesley. Looks like I misunderstood. The mirrors dipped on all the three A3s I've driven (two were courtesy cars), so I assumed it was the same for all recent A3s. It seems I was wrong in thinking it was a standard feature. Apologies for the confusion. Steve

Perhaps I wasn't clear. In order for either the nearside or offside mirror to dip automatically when you select reverse, the appropriate mirror has to be selected on the rotary control. Select the nearside mirror, as if you were about to adjust it, then select reverse, and it should dip. If you want it to dip every time you select reverse, you must leave the rotary control pointing to it.

Presumably, you've checked that the nearside mirror is selected on the rotary control on the door? And I'm surprised you find the steering heavy, but maybe that's down to personal preference...

Hi Wilf I didn't respond earlier, because my feeble 1.4 (150 hp) doesn't really relate to what you're looking for! However, I can state that even my feeble 150 hp, through a DSG box, can often embarrass the ESP, resulting in much scrabbling for grip. But what prompted me to contribute was a recent loan of a 190 hp 2 litre 2wd A3, which was considerably worse when attempting enthusiastic acceleration, and I suspect that Audi's recent decision to offer that engine with 4wd only was in response to this problem. So it struck me that 220 hp might well benefit from having all four wheels driven... Sorry if I'm a bit late, and you've already committed to a car! Steve

Yes, the handbook isn't exactly brilliant. I remember when I first got the car, my daughter sitting and ploughing through the MMI menus, to see what everything did. The clock feature automatically updates for BST, and adjusts when you cross borders (e.g. Spain to Portugal), as well as keeping the correct time. Happy to help!

If you mean the little satellite image, it enables you to select automatic updating using GPS. You can access the settings in the MMI menu.