# Price Speculation on the S3



## Cyncris (Aug 12, 2012)

Just from picking out the options and pricing on the other S cars, this should give you a rough guess of what the pricing should be.
All of this is just looking at what Audi has done today and making a guess. None of this is fact based.
This all assumes that there will me no premium plus/prestige options like the S6, S7, and S8
It also assumes that there will no sport diff and no HUD with nighttime display.
This also assumes that Nav gives you the cameras, backup sensors, and the 7" screen instead of the 5"

Base price.....................$39,000
Destination....................$__,895
Colors (not R,W or B)......$__,475
Special color..................$_1,075
Navigation.....................$_3,050
Driver Assist(incAS&SA)..$_3,250
Adaptive Suspension.......$_1,250
Side Assist.....................$__,500
B&O sound....................$__,850
Advanced Key................$__,500
Leather upgrade.............$_1,250
All LED lights..................$_1,400
Cold Weather pkg...........$__,450
Comfort seats................$_1,950
Wood or Carbon Inlays....$__,500
Rear Side airbag.............$__,350
Automatic sunshade........$__,500
Upgraded wheels............$__,900


This puts my car at an guesstimated MSRP of $50,045
R,W,orB= red, white, or black
inc SA&AS= includes Side Assist and Adaptive suspension


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## gizmopop (Feb 6, 2000)

Did you factor in what these options/features cost on the TT-S? It is the closest cousin to the S3.


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## LWNY (Jul 30, 2008)

So B&O is just a rehash of Bose instead of a upper end upgrade? I thought they got the motorized tweeter and gigawatts of power and gigaboots of storage space for your ripped 8 track tapes.


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## Cyncris (Aug 12, 2012)

gizmopop said:


> Did you factor in what these options/features cost on the TT-S? It is the closest cousin to the S3.


No, I didn't. The TTS is pretty plain and the nav and most of the other tech in there is from 2008 and prior, so it didn't seem relevant to me. I could be wrong




LWNY said:


> So B&O is just a rehash of Bose instead of a upper end upgrade? I thought they got the motorized tweeter and gigawatts of power and gigaboots of storage space for your ripped 8 track tapes.


That is my guess since I have not seen any place for motorized tweeters, or more speakers than I would expect. Plus the upper end systems in the S7 and S6 were over 5K just for the sound upgrade. I can't see where anyone that is buying a 40k-55k car would ever spend 5k on sound. Again....just my take on things.


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## Travis Grundke (May 26, 1999)

In one of the articles I read at the NY premiere event (Bloomberg or WSJ, IIRC), they mentioned that Audi may be targeting an introductory price point closer to $27k. Take that for what it is worth, but it's not outside of the realm of reason. 

Two things to remember about this car: 

1) MQB's cost structure is significantly different from the 8P A3, so direct comparisons to what exists on the market today may not be accurate;

2) Manufacturing the car in Gyor versus Ingolstadt offers another not-insignificant improvement to margins, which gives Audi a little bit more flexibility and wiggle room in packaging, content and pricing.

We likely won't know specifics on packaging until November-January between the LA and Detroit autoshows.

Sport differential definitely will NOT make it into the A3 range, nor will things like HUD.

Also keep in mind that Audi's product positioning: they're pushing technology in this car, so I would not be surprised to see things like the Audi Phonebox standard or low cost, full LEDs at a lower price point, and the full MMI Navigation system at a lower price point as well. 

Your guess work on the S3 pricing seems pretty reasonable given current assumptions. I would just caution that packaging is likely to change substantially over what we have today.


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## Travis Grundke (May 26, 1999)

LWNY said:


> So B&O is just a rehash of Bose instead of a upper end upgrade? I thought they got the motorized tweeter and gigawatts of power and gigaboots of storage space for your ripped 8 track tapes.


There are two versions of the B&O system: the one found in the A6,7, and 8 that is insanely priced, and the one that is available in the MQB A3 and A4. 

It's *substantially better* than the BOSE system that was formerly offered as the upgraded stereo, in both the high and low end configurations. The A4 B&O is great and at $850 a no-brainer. It really should be standard at that price point.


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## Boosted 01 R (Feb 10, 2013)

+1 .... B&O are amazing, never heard BOSE sound as good as B&O or even H&K


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## gizmopop (Feb 6, 2000)

Being pretty plain and not offering a lot of optional equipment are 2 different things. The TT-S offers only a few options (because a lot is now standard) and it is a small 2+2 coupe. Currently it only offers Nav/MMI/radio and baseball leather (with the higher trim offering one of the Nav options standard :screwy

Being the entry level car (at least in the U.S.) I don't see where the A3/S3 would(should) offer some of the options on cars further up the line, of course Audi seems to be setting a new standard with this gen A3 in respect to what features/options will be available for it.

Also I would think an S car would offer LED lighting standard. (on the A5 one of the higher trims makes LEDs standard, and every trim above it including the S5 gets them standard as well...unless you are talking about the interior lighting).


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## kevlartoronto (Jun 10, 2012)

how much is the base price of the cla i the states?? it's got almost 360hp. that's going to keep the s3 price competitive.


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## Cyncris (Aug 12, 2012)

gizmopop said:


> Being pretty plain and not offering a lot of optional equipment are 2 different things. The TT-S offers only a few options (because a lot is now standard) and it is a small 2+2 coupe. Currently it only offers Nav/MMI/radio and baseball leather (with the higher trim offering one of the Nav options standard :screwy


The TTS doesn't offer rain sensing wipers, backup camera, memory seats, lane assist, and the NAV is still the old school nav that was lacking. I am not sure what else it might not have.



gizmopop said:


> Being the entry level car (at least in the U.S.) I don't see where the A3/S3 would(should) offer some of the options on cars further up the line, of course Audi seems to be setting a new standard with this gen A3 in respect to what features/options will be available for it.


Much of the point of this new S3 is that it will offer things previously only available in their upper end cars.



gizmopop said:


> Also I would think an S car would offer LED lighting standard. (on the A5 one of the higher trims makes LEDs standard, and every trim above it including the S5 gets them standard as well...unless you are talking about the interior lighting).


I am not talking about the LED running lights. The LED lights refer to the headlights. The A5 nor S5 has ever had LED headlights. Currently those are only available in the A6/S6, A7/S7, A8/S8 models


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## ChrisFu (Jun 9, 2012)

gizmopop said:


> Also I would think an S car would offer LED lighting standard. (on the A5 one of the higher trims makes LEDs standard, and every trim above it including the S5 gets them standard as well...unless you are talking about the interior lighting).


He was referring to LED headlights, not LED DRLs. Currently only an option on A6/A7


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## kevlartoronto (Jun 10, 2012)

hey i just noticed that audi actually brought a manual S3. watch as the guy sits in the car and talks about the interior. thanks for kicking us where it counts audi!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkJRYqMji-U


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## LWNY (Jul 30, 2008)

Boosted 01 R said:


> +1 .... B&O are amazing, never heard BOSE sound as good as B&O or even H&K


At least B&O is a hifi brand and not a low-fi company like BLowse or a mid-fi pretending to be uber-fi like Lexus going to H&K and wanting their H&K stereo to have the ML name.



kevlartoronto said:


> how much is the base price of the cla i the states?? it's got almost 360hp. that's going to keep the s3 price competitive.


The CLA45 is a AMG model. It is going to be a siginificant price bump over the Standard CLA. Look at the entry level C-class, which starts at $35k. The C63 starts at $60k. The CLA starts at $30k. Unless the only thing AMG did was put in a larger turbo, it is unlikely to be in the $40k range.



Travis Grundke said:


> Sport differential definitely will NOT make it into the A3 range, nor will things like HUD.


What about VW's brake based torque vectoring that's on the current generation of Golf (and a few other hot hatches like Ford Focus ST), or the electronic operated LSD that's being planned for the newer GTI? Is the A3/S3 being left without any of these performance enhancing technologies?


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## kevlartoronto (Jun 10, 2012)

i just did some searching and this article http://www.auto123.com/en/news/mercedes-benz-launches-2014-cla-45-amg?artid=154089 says the cla will be 47k usd.


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## Travis Grundke (May 26, 1999)

kevlartoronto said:


> i just did some searching and this article http://www.auto123.com/en/news/mercedes-benz-launches-2014-cla-45-amg?artid=154089 says the cla will be 47k usd.


Yikes, that is steep for a "starting price". My guess is that either that magazine is making a WAG (wild ass guess), or Merc thinks they have some substantial pricing power for the CLA AMG. Considering Audi is on record that the S3 will start at "around $39,000", that's a pretty significant price gap.

Now, it does open an interesting thought: were Audi to then bring over an RS3 starting at around $45-$47.....


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## kevlartoronto (Jun 10, 2012)

Haha. WAG. Nice. Maybe it's one model and all options included type of deal.


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## VeeDubDriver (Oct 1, 2001)

It is confirmed that the CLA45 will be $48.5K with destination: http://www.media.mbusa.com/releases/the-all-new-2014-mercedes-benz-cla45-amg

I also took a look at the dealer order guide that lists the estimated cost of options and if you take the base price and add in things like the Premium Package ($2,200), Multimedia Package ($2,300), sunroof ($1,480), HID's ($850), leather seats ($1,200) and summer tires (no price available), you end up with nearly a $57K vehicle.


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## VWNCC (Jan 12, 2010)

VeeDubDriver said:


> It is confirmed that the CLA45 will be $48.5K with destination: http://www.media.mbusa.com/releases/the-all-new-2014-mercedes-benz-cla45-amg
> 
> I also took a look at the dealer order guide that lists the estimated cost of options and if you take the base price and add in things like the Premium Package ($2,200), Multimedia Package ($2,300), sunroof ($1,480), HID's ($850), leather seats ($1,200) and summer tires (no price available), you end up with nearly a $57K vehicle.


That's absurd, HID isn't standard for a car like CLA45?????!?! :sly:


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## LWNY (Jul 30, 2008)

VeeDubDriver said:


> It is confirmed that the CLA45 will be $48.5K with destination: http://www.media.mbusa.com/releases/the-all-new-2014-mercedes-benz-cla45-amg
> 
> I also took a look at the dealer order guide that lists the estimated cost of options and if you take the base price and add in things like the Premium Package ($2,200), Multimedia Package ($2,300), sunroof ($1,480), HID's ($850), leather seats ($1,200) and summer tires (no price available), you end up with nearly a $57K vehicle.


With the C63 costing 67% more than the base C250 model. An AMG CLA45 would probably cost around 67% more than the $30k base CLA, which pretty much makes it $50k. Given that there is no proprietary AMG engine in there (maybe just a beefed up 2.0 from the CLA250), it should have been a little cheaper. But then, it adds AWD, so that likely bumps the price up again.


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## VeeDubDriver (Oct 1, 2001)

VWNCC said:


> That's absurd, HID isn't standard for a car like CLA45?????!?! :sly:


They are even optional on the C63 AMG.


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## LWNY (Jul 30, 2008)

VWNCC said:


> That's absurd, HID isn't standard for a car like CLA45?????!?! :sly:


this isn't lexus, where they get a toyota model and cram every option into the car and put a new badge on it.


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## kevlartoronto (Jun 10, 2012)

Man I hadn't really considered the s3 but its sounding like its going to cost the same as a 328. Bloody hell I wish they would offer NA the manual transmission.


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## JOES1.8T (Sep 8, 2003)

*S3 Euro Price*

Though I know this isn't the exact U.S. Pricing for the upcoming sedan, I came across this in which Audi has just announced the S3 hatch or sportback pricing for European market (possibly Ireland). It's locked in at €45,260 for their market. 


http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/motoring/sizzling-new-audi-s3-clocks-in-at-45260-29233639.html


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## Travis Grundke (May 26, 1999)

JOES1.8T said:


> Though I know this isn't the exact U.S. Pricing for the upcoming sedan, I came across this in which Audi has just announced the S3 hatch or sportback pricing for European market (possibly Ireland). It's locked in at €45,260 for their market.
> 
> 
> http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/motoring/sizzling-new-audi-s3-clocks-in-at-45260-29233639.html


 That's an OTR (on the road) price, which, IIRC, includes VAT. I don't have the figures but it's probably around 19%, which places the car at around E36,600 sans VAT. 

It's very difficult doing direct conversions to the $USD because of conversion rates, tariffs and market differentiation. As I'v ementioned elsewhere, you can spec out a $40,000 equivalent VW Golf in Europe, but Volkswagen of America would NEVER have that kind of pricing power here, hence why we have received de-contented cars in order to retain some profitable margin on the vehicles sold. 

Audi of America has stated their intent is to bring the S3 to the US for "around $39,000". Since we still don't know what the pricing structure will look like on the sedan lineup, and likely won't until November-January, we can only guess that the lineup will start below $30,000 for the 1.8 and head slightly north of $40,000 on a loaded S3. Take this for what it is worth, but I have heard rumors that AoA is really trying to hit the $27,900-$28,900 price point on the base 1.8TFSI A3. If true, that bodes well for the affordability of the 2.0TFSI Quattro models.


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## caliatenza (Dec 10, 2006)

Travis, what kind of things would be standard on an S3? Would something like the Audi Advanced Key or the B and O system be standard? I hope they can keep a check on the pricing and it wont balloon out of control too much. Its great that Audi is look at the $39k mark.


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## Travis Grundke (May 26, 1999)

caliatenza said:


> Travis, what kind of things would be standard on an S3? Would something like the Audi Advanced Key or the B and O system be standard? I hope they can keep a check on the pricing and it wont balloon out of control too much. Its great that Audi is look at the $39k mark.


It's hard to say a year out, but Audi's marketing position for the A3/S3 seems to be that they want to bring a lot of the technologies from the upper-end of the brand down into the entry premium segment. My guess is that things like advanced key and B&O will remain standalone options, but they may make something like drive select standard. Hard to tell at this point, I'm still bemoaning the lack of a manual transmission. ;-)

The European launch of the S3 2-door just occurred and I don't have any notes offhand that list standard equipment in Germany. The car specifications still aren't available for the UK yet even.


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## caliatenza (Dec 10, 2006)

Travis Grundke said:


> It's hard to say a year out, but Audi's marketing position for the A3/S3 seems to be that they want to bring a lot of the technologies from the upper-end of the brand down into the entry premium segment. My guess is that things like advanced key and B&O will remain standalone options, but they may make something like drive select standard. Hard to tell at this point, I'm still bemoaning the lack of a manual transmission. ;-)
> 
> The European launch of the S3 2-door just occurred and I don't have any notes offhand that list standard equipment in Germany. The car specifications still aren't available for the UK yet even.


I think the Drive Select will be standard cause from what i recall, it was mentioned in the press release. 3k for the MMI system seems pretty pricey , hopefully it will be like $2500 or even lower. I guess springing for the Prestige package would be the way to go though..if one was to want a loaded car. My main thing would be to have the MMI and B&O, and on top of that, the safety features like side assist and the adaptive suspension. Looking at the S4s in stock down in Socal, none of them seem to have the adaptive suspension...


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## Rudy_H (Jul 6, 2012)

disregard

looks like it was taken down  checking cache


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## caliatenza (Dec 10, 2006)

Rudy_H said:


> http://www.audi.co.uk/content/dam/au...ides/a3-s3.pdf


its not loading Rudy .


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