A very good point. Yup, I was curious and a friend posted a link to this; so now I know why, in rowing, a silver medalist is created who finished 0.0000075 of the course “behind” a gold medalist. Fascinating article. My wife, an architect, confirms that the tolerances for concrete are not fine enough.

I actually rather like (that’s an understatement: It’s one of the reasons I chose this car) the quasi-stealth character of the S3. It doesn’t scream “PERFORMANCE!” but I can cruise around (still in break-in period, alas) knowing that it can deal with more or less anything I encounter on the road. Not that that’s my…

Also: I just relinquished a MINI Cooper S, traded in for an S3. I know this about the MINI: its four, reputedly a cut-down BMW six, has a nasty habit of causing its timing chain tensioner — and, later, the chain itself — to break, causing the engine to grenade. I had two occasions when I thought that a heat shield had…

I today drove both cars; it happens a friend of mine just bought a white Golf R, and I just acquired a red S3. So, Polish/Austrian flag deal. Anyway: It was a suburban setting, and my car is still in its breaking-in phase, so this was by no means a real road test of any kind. I can, however, comment on the feel of the…