The one I’m test driving is (I think!) a CR model with the Diesel Particulate Filter. Slightly worried now by this “around 50000 miles, the oil pump can go kaput and cost £9k. I also test drove a new 1.6 A3 Splashback. Talk about gutless.

I have my Audi serviced at a main dealer in Surrey. These days with fixed price servicing and variable intervals it is not expensive and far cheaper than my previous Golf and my Honda before that.

I struggle to see the point in going to a local independent garage to service my car. In the long run it looks like a false economy.

Re cost of servicing – mine went to VW and Seat dealers for servicing when it was still under warranty both of which were considerably cheaper (and less ****) than the Audi dealership. Later found a VW/Audi/Porsche “under the arches” specialist and the last 100k have cost buttons in maintenance costs.

I believe that the multitronic you had is a CVT which will feel like crap compared to a manual, if you are not in tune with how it behaves

Yep, it was a CVT. Like the old DAF Variomatic, except uses a chain instead of a belt and of course, the Multitronic is a sophisticated computer managed affair. It came with flappy paddles and a “S” mode. The electronics overides the manual controls, so they seemed pretty pointless. I tried this for a bit, but just stuck the shifter in “D” and carried on pressing the gas pedal – boring! The only time an auto gets my vote is when I have to sit in Central London jams, or similar trafiic on the motorway.

The CVT made the drive feel very detached and wallowy. Acceleration was unimpressive, despite the official figures, but the engine would seem to lock at 1600rpm whatever the speed of the car when wanting to make progress, then drop back to around 1100rpm. The CR certainly was quieter, so much so that you could barely hear it in the cabin, especially with the radio on low. I prefer to get a bit more aural feedback. Multitronic in this car was a big fail! S-Line sports with an auto?? Why??

I’ve had a regular auto that’s been way better than this. It was in a 1997 Vectra 1.8 petrol – that was sweet. Other auto’s have been absolute dogs.

my hovercraft is full of eels…

my hovercraft is full of eels…

The mountains in June are alive with guinea pigs.

The briefcase is under the workstand.

I’ve got that 2.0 170 engine in a Seat, and as much as I like driving it I would try and avoid another DPF equipped car in the future. The 3000revs, 10 minutes thing varies according to who you speak to, I think the handbook says to do this at 50mph, the Seat dealer gave me instructions for doing at 35mph and 2000revs for 20 minutes. The reason I know this? The car flashed up the DPF warning light, so I did my best to drive as it said in the handbook (not easy when coming over the Strines road), until the light went off. The following day the light returned and within 2 minutes a whole host of other warning lights as the engine started to shut down. It ended up with about 15% of the power it should have and even getting to the garage was an effort in route planning ‘cos it couldn’t get up hills!
The Seat dealer did a “force reset” on it which they tell me they can only do once, before it would need replacing at a cost of many hundreds of pounds. This is when I got given the instructions on how to regenerate it, but with the advice that outside temperature/rain etc can affect whether it will work or not as too hot, or too cold (engine spinning too fast, too slow, too much/not enough cooling air passing the DPF) can all mean it won’t go through the cycle and you’ve no way of knowing if you’ve hit the sweet spot until after 10 minutes the light may go off.
The annoying thing is that the DPF is there to reduce emissions yes? yet my boss has a BMW520d, so same size engine, pulling a heavier car around, putting out less pollutants, using less fuel and is quicker!
Having been told by someone with the same engine in a Golf to rev the trolleys of it to clear the DPF, I’ve been doing that for a few months now and (tempting fate here) that seems to work – though it really does need to be revved hard and not just for a few seconds at a time.

Some modern BMs do get DPF failure but it’s very rare.

Serious post- doesn’t the 2.0 version on the TDI in high-tune tend to suffer a problem at circa 60k?

I’d drive/own one but I feel there are better cars out there for the money.

DeadlyDarcy, apart from gutless how did you find the A3? I like the A4 my gf has for it’s build, I’d buy it off her but insurance is too high, the 1.6 A3 looks well made, I know it won’t have much poke but that’s not an issue for me tbh. I’m looking for reliability. Let us know how you liked/disliked your test drive today.

The whole image thing is b0ll0cks IMO – there are c0cks aplenty in every type of car. I’ve stuck with Germanic brands for the last 9 years and swear by them regardless of what all those (often envious) pr1cks think.

Certain executive Germanic cars just seem to have more than their fair share. 😉

DeadlyDarcy, apart from gutless how did you find the A3?

The model I was riving was the new 1.6 Teknik. All dealers are pushing them big style (and doing good deals). It’s an Audi so it’ll always feel refined inside. Having come from a circa 140 Ps 2.0 diesel car, a 105 Ps petrol was always going to feel slow. Steering felt a bit lighter than present car too – but I’m noticing that about Audis.

I’m but a shortarse and the cockpit felt very cramped to me. Kit levels were fairly low – Bose Sound System, Air Con (not climate) and Sporty wheels (not really my priority) came as standard.

Overall, it felt like a high quality car. But nothing about the drive inspired me. Pulling off, it felt like a heavy car being pulled by a light engine.

Serious post- doesn’t the 2.0 version on the TDI in high-tune tend to suffer a problem at circa 60k?

What do you mean hozza?

Slightly worried now by this “around 50000 miles, the oil pump can go kaput and cost £9k

There’s a known fault with certain cars manufactured in certain places at certain times – a particular design of oil pump drive. If you google around it you’ll find a list of the engine numbers that are affected. I think if you have a CR engine you’ll be ok but I am not sure – I was only looking at the PD ones since that’s what I have.

Re DPFs, you really have to be doing long journeys mixed in with your short ones. If you do they will be fine. As long as you do this you don’t need to rev the tits off it. If it’s already clogged up, then the tit revving will clear it out, but it’s not needed long term.

The annoying thing is that the DPF is there to reduce emissions yes?

It’s to reduce particulate emissions (ie smoke), it does nothing for CO2 and NOx. In fact it makes them slightly worse since it drops efficiency slightly.

If your bosses 520d is that much better, you might have a PD engine in your Seat which is older tech, and the BMW will be CR.

Deady, what colour is it and how does the price compare to the book’ on Parkers and whatcar???

Thanks DD,

Deady, what colour is it and how does the price compare to the book’ on Parkers and whatcar???

Hora, it’s at around a grand and a bit more than price so I’d be expecting to get a bit knocked off it. I’m pretty shit at haggling though…how much should I be asking him to come down?

Searching around, I’m seeing much better prices from independent dealers but I’ll be getting the two services I need done for “free”, and a year’s warranty.

Advice?

Advice?

Buy a Japanese car.

Buy a Japanese car.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Its over average mileage and 1.5k over book? Of course the salesman will tell you its a diesel and their average mileage is naturally higher…but when they took the car back in they’ll have stung the previous keeper/penalised them for the higher mileage.

Original Price £24,825
Franchised Dealer £12,695
Independent Dealer £12,195
Private Good £11,700
Private Poor £10,045
Part Exchange £10,825
Adjust for mileage and options for an accurate price.
Average mileage 30,000

Servicing is the killer on Audi’s. My wife came back with a 700 quid bill after a standard service. They charged her 150 quid to replace a cable in the seat.

Good car though.

And I’ve got an XL pompino in the back of an A4 no problem with the seats up. Boot was plenty big.

But then I was charged over £700 for a service on my Astra. Yes it needed a couple of bits but it was still a shocker.
The Jimny was also flipping pricey to service.

Unless the car is very specialist/exotic I honestly think servicing costs work out similar.

Here’s an example – Vauxhalls are considered cheap to run yet mine ate a set of front disks in under 30k miles – I thought that was pants. Yet our twice as powerful 335d’s disks last at least 60k miles. Yes they cost more but TWICE the life means they work out cheaper.

If parts last longer and a car is generally reliable, spending a bit more on servicing pretty much evens itself out.

What was done on that £700 service samurai? Can’t imagine they’d charge that much for labour.

£700 for an Astra?

Car is at dealers. Test driving at 1330 🙂

Hora – it did need new disks (front) and tyres but the remaining costs were still high.

When I questioned the pathetic life of the disks, they said it was normal. Being pokeyish they were big brakes so pricey.

BMW stagger their services which is actually a bit of a PITA – oil, filter, inspection, etc etc services are all separated out. As I don’t want to keep going back to have ours done all the time, I got four done at once – oil, filter, inspection, brakes – £420. Not cheap but not too awful.

Deadly just remember, when you pay a premium at a Audi dealer you wont get a premium back at resale or trade in time.

It’ll be be below book at trade in time with the higher mileage.

They’ll play on your ‘peace of mind warranty’ but stand by your guns and tell them what you’ll pay them for the car.

After all, would you work 5 days for free at work for the fun of it?

I’m a car salesmans worse nightmare, really difficult, laborious and like pulling teeth….(so just like normal then) 😀

Dealers rip you off for tyres.

Most of the money seemed to go on the replaced front brake pads and disks.
IIRC, they were about 300, the service itself was about 250, 150 quid for the seat cable, roughly.

My Honda went in for a full service to a Honda garage. It came back, fully serviced, fully valeted, fully washed, 175 quid.

Mol – they do indeed. And they fitted out-of-production (I didn’t know at the time) Conti Sport Contact 2s instead of 3s… Never ever again.

Michelin Energy savers £750 for a set from most main places, including Kwik Fit. £380 when ordered online – fitted and all.

The key with FDSH is to get the basic service work done by Audi, which means the book gets stamped and then take it to your trusted local garage for all the general works like brakes etc

The key with FDSH is to get the basic service work done by Audi, which means the book gets stamped and then take it to your trusted local garage for all the general works like brakes etc

That method means you have to be very blunt when explaining what the main dealer can and can’t do. I did this once ‘just oil and filter’ and they didn’t stamp the book…..so I kicked off and they replied ‘the stamp refers to a service carried out to a full and specific manufacturers guidelines’…

So I said ‘the car is out of your warranty period…whats your beef? (they stamped it).

Ok, so back from the test drive. I must say, it was a lovely drive, very refined cruiser but ready to rock when asked. Those extra P’s were quite a bit of fun. Looking like an average of 40mpg…according the car computer anyway.

Laid my cards on the table and haggled a grand off the asking price in the end which has made the whole package a lot more manageable.

Going to sleep on it now and see how I feel in the morning.

Bit late to the party on this one, but we had a 57-plate A4 Avant 2.0TDI 170 for a period. Can’t comment on longevity, but the engine was a bit all-or-nothing and the transition from ‘nothing’ to ‘all’ never seemed to be in the right place. Not the end of the world, but the 140PS version was a better all round balance.

For the A3 avoid the 1.6 petrol at all costs. 1.4T is perfectly usable, but tempts you to work it hard – fuel consumption ends up very similar to a larger (petrol) engined version.

DD you should get more than 40mpg easily.

For someone who doesn’t like haggling a grands good going, fair play

Anyone know which is the STW of Audi (besides STW itself…i.e. classifieds etc)?

Try vwaudiforum.co.uk