[galpinos]

I don't know if it's a consideration but my mother in law had an automatic A3 of that vintage and as a passenger in the back it felt tiny and was quite uncomfortable, it was nicer to sit in the back of my mum's auto fiesta and my mother in law's new golf.

[cowboyhat]

Always something of the hairdresser about the 1-series isn't there?

OOF!

Little chuckle to yourself writing that I bet. Just leaving it out there.


BTW Fiend I think the red car looks good. But then apparently my opinion is of dubious value...

[Fiend]

I've put the deposit down for the red one, subject to the dealer MOT and anything their vehicle check throws up. Hopefully the right decision even if PB tuts at me on FB (I know he's being helpful too!). I sacked off trying a lower bhp model as the only one within 150 miles wasn't available yet. Also the threat draconian zero-tolerance speeding laws in Scotland means that I might as well get some pleasure out of the acceleration as I won't be able to get it hurtling at an outrageous 65mph on an A-road...

I went for this decision based on the various things I liked about the A3 above, plus all the searching for other A3s tended to result in stuff outside my price range or requiring a 600+mile round trip to test and maybe collect it. It's been getting to a stage where I had to make some sort of decision or my brain would explode from refreshing Autotrader. I am aware the S Tronic gearbox could be a problem (this one has had the gearbox oil changed on time at 40k), I also know I will be dropping £400 or so on a timing belt within the year, sobeit.

I also checked on Parkers on Mrs Rob Smith's advice and the recommended price came in at £7600 with the spec on it, the dealer originally had it on for £8k (i.e. quite normally over the list price) but reduced to £7k as they couldn't shift it. H reckoned that could well be partly due to the chodely colour...I can live with that.

Thanks for everyone's advice.

[Johnny Brown]

Have you had a test drive? Probably worth being warned that that engine is fairly unrefined - fairly loud and chuggy unlike some modern diesels. Also get through a fair bit of oil, you need to keep a litre in the boot and top up once or twice a year. On the plus side they're pretty reliable, powerful and economical.

[lagerstarfish]

Glass valued it at "Dealer retail price from £7,050.00 to £9,060.00"

 

[Paul B]

I've put the deposit down for the red one, subject to the dealer MOT and anything their vehicle check throws up. Hopefully the right decision even if PB tuts at me on FB (I know he's being helpful too!). I sacked off trying a lower bhp model as the only one within 150 miles wasn't available yet. Also the threat draconian zero-tolerance speeding laws in Scotland means that I might as well get some pleasure out of the acceleration as I won't be able to get it hurtling at an outrageous 65mph on an A-road...

I went for this decision based on the various things I liked about the A3 above, plus all the searching for other A3s tended to result in stuff outside my price range or requiring a 600+mile round trip to test and maybe collect it. It's been getting to a stage where I had to make some sort of decision or my brain would explode from refreshing Autotrader. I am aware the S Tronic gearbox could be a problem (this one has had the gearbox oil changed on time at 40k), I also know I will be dropping £400 or so on a timing belt within the year, sobeit.

I also checked on Parkers on Mrs Rob Smith's advice and the recommended price came in at £7600 with the spec on it, the dealer originally had it on for £8k (i.e. quite normally over the list price) but reduced to £7k as they couldn't shift it. H reckoned that could well be partly due to the chodely colour...I can live with that.

Thanks for everyone's advice.

The 56 plate? If it hasn't had the timing belt done I'd imagine its past the age at which that overrides mileage. If so, just get it done.

Personally, I think you're buying at a troublesome mileage with the big service and the age at which you might start to see turbo issues arising from non-regular oil servicing / short journeys (I'd add other issues if it was a manual).

Test drive?
Cold start? Coming up to temp?
Engine cover off?

Regardless it's always a lottery. At least in red the choad that crashes into you can't say he didn't see you. I'm going for Alien Green as a method of self preservation on the A59.

I'm bemused at why you need a litre of oil in your boot to top up once or twice a year. Do you carry a few litres of coolant too? Is snooker ball blue the same as "not quite RS blue"?

[Fiend]

Oh yeah JB, definitely had a test drive and paid pretty close attention, I was surprised it felt smoother off the mark and less of a turbo kick than the 120, despite the graphs PB was showing me (but still not as smooth as 2.5 T petrol V70). It was a bit noisier at mway speeds than V50 / 1 series but that might the s-line suspension (I've asked them to look at raising it back up the 15mm, the implication from Audi's own specs is that it's an easy? job, i.e. audi don't charge for it in a new car) and I think 18" rims with full compliment of koi carp skeletons rattling around in them (note to self: change water, steal new fish from local pond). Yes in general it was rougher / noisier than the V70 but I expected that with a diesel. The turbo lag / kick I didn't expect so much but as I say the A3 seemed fine compared to the others.

Top up oil once or twice a year? Once or twice a month in the V70 at the mo (various small seeps n leaks).

Edit: Paul B, noted about the timing belt, ta.

[Johnny Brown]

Yeah rarely notice the turbo kick in mine unless the pedal is literally floored, but if you want to keep the performance up you have to keep the revs up. At 2000 it just chugs along like any diesel. I've never looked at any graphs.

I'm no expert but I'd assume the free suspension 'raise' would mean they just put different springs in when they build it.

I'm bemused at why you need a litre of oil in your boot to top up once or twice a year.

Because sod's law is the most powerful of all natural laws, but I'm sure you (of all people) know that. Last time it came on we had just got onto the motorway and needed to get to Dover to catch our ferry to font. If truth be told I haven't got any in the car now, but thanks for the reminder. Never needed to in my 306s.

Do you carry a few litres of coolant too?

No, I've never had to top the coolant up.

Is snooker ball blue the same as "not quite RS blue"?

No, it's the same colour.

[Fiend]

Wait a minute, so I won't need to be lugging around 4 litres of oil, a litre of coolant, and various bottles of gearbox oil, brake fluid and power steering fluid? Crikey I might make a net gain in storage space??

[tomtom]

You can afford to pack a full range of camo beanies now!

[Fiend]

Well I'm going to need pure red based camo to match obviously.

Edit: just googled, it seems "bright red camo" is a bit of an oxymoron.

[kelvin]

Not on Mars it wouldn't be or attending a ManUtd/Liverpool match. Red Camo works, you just need to pick the battle carefully.

[Fiend]

Mars it is, then.

[kelvin]

Winter tyres might be a wise idea... and perhaps a blanket in the boot. Red tartan of course. Gotta keep the rad camo thing on spec.

[Fiend]

Got the car on Saturday, drove from Glasgow to New Galloway and back. Mixture of motorway, fast A road, wiggly A road and a few villages. Wasn't racing but wasn't pootling along either and was testing the acceleration in a few places.

Drives well, handles well. Overtaking was great except unusually most fuckers on the road were doing 60 so I didn't get to test it that much. Brakes are nice, soft with a light press, firm with a heavy press. The performance feels quite a bit like the V70 in sport mode, i.e. cruisy when you're cruising but pretty powerful when you put your foot down - except it didn't feel as laboured as hauling the V70's lardy arse along. Paddle-shift gears were ridiculously easy.

The ride is quite firm, then again that road is quite lumpy anyway. Going up a dirt track at the end was fine at slow speeds. It was noisy as fuck travelling at speed over rough tarmac, but also pretty smooth on the decent tarmac. I might keep an eye for 17" rims if the noise gets too much. The stereo is decent and powerful enough, except the bass is a bit too punchy in the mid-bass range compared to the deep bass range which makes it a bit tiring. I'll probably get a £110 underseat sub. Ergonomics and console layout is still nice, except the arm-rest gets in the way of bottle holder.

Got 46mpg average. The volvo would have been 30mpg on petrol....

[Bubba]

http://www.dmsautomotive.com/performance-upgrades-data.php?make=audi

 

[Fiend]

Well having driven the choadmobile for a thousand miles or so now....here any many #firstworldproblem niggles that annoy me about it:

The s-line ride on anything other than snooker-table smooth tarmac feels like someone is trying jackhammer asphalt up my arse.

The climate control is a dick, has a mind of it's own and keeps changing the fan all the time - WHY?? Do you not think, you obstreporous machine, that I might actually want the settings to stay where I fucking put them?? (yes this is with Auto off)

The automatic locking of all doors all the bloody time get on my tits - WHY?? Do you not think that I might actually want to access the rest of the fucking car when I stop and get out?? Apparently to stop carjacking etc, well there were some shifty sheep in Drws Y Coed the other day. I don't think I remembered to unlock it first time once.

The stereo seems to have two volume settings around the 10 mark that's my usual listening spot - inaudibly quiet or eye-ball-burstingly loud. Also the sound, while decent, is over-balanced to thumpy mid-bass. And despite 7 different functional controls on the steering wheel, none of them is just on/off.

The arm-rest, while comfy, gets completely in the way of the drinks holder below it.


BUT...

You won't regret the 170 bhp.

JB is right about that. It's great fun to drive. The Volvo was great (I'm not a boy racer so whatever), and better at cruising, but this is just enjoyable overall. Nippy, holds the road well, overtakes with confidence. On smooth motorways it wanted to do 85-90 of it's own volition and felt comfy at that (I set CC to 80 tho). So far so good.

Also, I got cruise control fitted via these guys: http://www.audiretrofit.com/www.audiretrofit.coms/info.php?p=10 , £230 with genuine Audi parts, a 30 minute job, and I snuck in a couple of little solos at Cow's Mouth Quarry afterwards (not Daytona Wall alas, that was scary just to look at). The seperate CC is nicely functional.

[Johnny Brown]

Leave the climate control on auto, and just adjust the temp. Hold the auto button for 2 secs to set driver side control for both sides. On a hot day with the windows down just press the '-' until the fan calms down. Windows up, back on auto.

Agree it could do with finer setting on the volume, but its not a biggie. I think you'll get used to the ride soon enough, it means you can go round corners faster.

[Jim]

The auto locking can be turned off via VCDS which you should of got the people who did the cruise to do while they were at it. Not sure how much someone will charge you to do this. The comfort is directly linked to the handling. More comfort = shit handling and visa versa.it'll always be a pay off. Choosing the s line you have already gone for better handling so don't wine about it

[Jim]

Like Johnny says with the climate control. Hold in the drivers side auto button to sync both sides and leave it on auto and just adjust the temperature the car will do the rest.

[Fiend]

I didn't so much choose the s-line as choose the only 170 s-tronic model that was actually within a trillion miles of Glasgow....

Yeah good tip about the CC linking.

[JamieG]

Tapping into the collective UKB hivemind.

I'm wanting to sell my VW polo 03 reg 1.4, 114000 miles.

Negatives: Some has keyed both doors on the driver's side. MOT has just expired (it should pass no problems, it was recently serviced and given the once over). The oil sensor is faulty so you need to manually check the oil regularly. Suspension rattles a bit at front.

Positives: Relatively good runner. Has a new exhaust system. Timing belt was replaced recently. Full/almost full service history. Good tyres. Interior is average condition.

I'm reluctant to go the ebay/autotrader route since I tried that before and loads of absolute knobs called me up, harassed me and one even threatened to come around the house and deck me!

However the alternative is webuyanycar and the like which seem to give very low values ~£200 and apparently they can be a pain at the inspection, taking off money for every little thing. I suspect the car is worth closer to £500, but do not how best to get that kind of price for it.

Any advice?

[tommytwotone]

Don't go to webuyancarfornothing as you'll get nothing for it.


If it'll pass MOT easy, get it MOT-ed.


If the scratches are minor, buy some T-Cut and expend some elbow grease. You'll be surprised what you can polish out.


If you can't be bothered sorting the other stuff yourself (there will be a step-by-step online somewhere no doubt but it will come down to your appetite / competence / tools whether you want to try and fix it), stick it on eBay and just be clear as to what's wrong with it. I've sold 2 cars on it and got fair if not great prices for them.

[tomtom]

Tbh I never think scrathes put people off on a £500 motor.. You know it's not going to be mint at that price. MOT is a must if you want to get anything above scrap+ for it...

[SA Chris]

MOT it, put it on ebay, as is, buyer collects, cash only, nae timewasters.