3B or ABY?

[madwolf_Uk]

Morning all, simple question, as im gonna be in the market soon, poss sooner than i thought .

3B or ABY, whats the major difference, whats better?

[S2central.net]

Gary - do a search on the forum - this has been discussed before at some length.

Also S2central.net gives you the rundown on main changes between them.

I would personally go ABY everytime. The 3B owners will say 'booh - what about coilpacks' but the original items last about 120k miles so thats hardly an issue.

ABY is more technically advanced, has much more torque with factory s/w, has better engine diagnostics/logging if needed. There is no silly old dissy to worry about. The 6-speed box is stronger. It has a superior airbox and intercooler to the 3B and better headlights. The ABY is also much easier to upgrade on the RS2 route if you so wish... But of course those kind or power/torque levels are available on 3B with similar mods and a custom ECU.

Two advantages the 3B has are the lighter flywheel (which can be retrofitted to ABY if you want to give that additional free-revving character of the 3B though you lose some of the silky smooth power delivery on the ABY) and that some are old enough to be legally deCATTed.

Paul

[madwolf_Uk]

Cheers Paul, doing a search for the technical, but was wondering peoples personal preferences as well.

[Greg_S]

Personally I prefer the ABY for many of the reasons paul has listed above, that isnt to say dont consider the 3B since both are good purchases.

One big advantage for ABY is not having the battery under the bonnet which gets in the way alot when you are working on the car.

[Acidburn]

The battery is one of the problems with 3b's but tbh s2dude got round this with his battery mod which imo helped out loads when I changed the gear on the dizzy.

I also prefer the 3b over an aby as most i've seen seem to suffer from boost leaks more than the 3b plus the gearbox imo is better as you can get more in 3rd gear whilst iirc aby's have to change around the 93 mph mark whilst 3b's is 100+.

One bonus a aby has over a 3b IIRC is you don't have the two bulges either side of the transmission tunnel from the gearbox.

[Fat Audi 80]

ABY all day everyday, you can't beat the smooth power delivery of the ABY or the lovely 6 ratios to play with, or the projector lights that upgrade to HID, or the Overboost, or the diagnostics....

Seriously, unless you are severly restricted on budget get an ABY, they ARE better.

[terrybullwon]

3B with coils :mischeif:

There lighter and dont have a panzy dualmass flywheel

[Azman]

3B all the way baby, less to go wrong (with regards to coil packs) and how often does the halls ender go on a 3b eh boys???

[4WheelDrifter]

3B. Obviously.

IMHO, I didn't like the dual mass flywheel, 6 speed box and extra weight of the ABY. The 3B feels a much livelier car to drive.
Also I had a cq20v before my S2, so most things on the car seemed familiar. The 3B is basically a 7A with a turbo.

[S2_Dave]

3B with coils :mischeif:

There lighter and dont have a panzy dualmass flywheel

Are you planning to keep using the ARV 'box?

[andyg plym]

having owned both i can see pro's and cons. 3b is raw and aby smooth. you cant beat the 3b first gear on the 5 speed box....neck breaking. aby unchipped is the most juicyest car ive had. helped when i got it homefried. engine note on aby nicer. got 168 mph from my 3b !!

[ericd]

Gary, why don't you let us know when you're actually going to look at either model as a prospective purchase and I'm sure we'll be able to supply a few local experts with biased opinions on either variant. Good luck with your impending purchase, be really interested to see what you end up with...

[madwolf_Uk]

Thansk for all ya thoughts guys, didnt realise it would be allmost as hot a topic as coupe verse slipper wagon! lol

Money permiting, and availability, think it will be the ABY i go for by the sounds of it, as long as a red one comes along at the time

[S2central.net]

Ahhh you know it makes sense

But - nuthin wrong with a good 3B - they do have a more raw edge to them, but with a flywheel change on the ABY that same character can be obtained if desired.

Paul

[s2driveruk]

have to say i have never really craved a 6 speed box which i think is the only reason i would have tried to go down the aby route. I love my 3b, warts and all especially now it has a remap, different suspension setup, homefry, s/s exhaust, projectors etc etc....good job i kept it standard

Lets face it you won't be disappointed with either and go for as much as you can already done with documentation to support either who did it or the parts they used to do it