Looking at an A3

Soldato
Joined
15 Jan 2005
Posts
4,569
Location
UK
Hello there, my Fiat Brava has done well but its going to need a new steering rack and i should probably just get rid of it as its not really worth repairing. I test drove a 51 plate A3 1.6 with 115k today, and thought it was rather nice.

The interior was a bit tatty and the outside wasn't great but it drove nicely and wasn't rusting or anything. The guy said it had a partial service history, I don't know the specifics. The brake pad light came on while driving which would give me a bit of haggle room I guess.

They want £2195 for it, I'm thinking of offering £1500 + my old car (worth about £2-300) and see what they say, after I've had another drive of it. I'm going to be asking about the service history as its clearly not been looked after too well judging from the interior (I suppose it just needs a good clean). Is there anything I should ask about or look for? Belt changes etc?

Cheers :)
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,534
The interior was a bit tatty and the outside wasn't great but it drove nicely and wasn't rusting or anything. The guy said it had a partial service history,

Why would you want a car this shabby?

The Audi badge won't cancel out the fact its a shabby nail you know.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
15 Jan 2005
Posts
4,569
Location
UK
[TW]Fox;16381235 said:
Why would you want a car this shabby?

The Audi badge won't cancel out the fact its a shabby nail you know.

I wasn't really looking for an A3 when I went out, just happened to come across it. Like I said it probably just needs a good clean, it drives well but I would like to have a go in it again. If the service history looks ok is this a good deal?
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
15 Jan 2005
Posts
4,569
Location
UK
I think you'll get a much better car than an A3 for your money. Are you specifically set on an A3?

Nah, I was looking along the lines of a Leon 1.9 and happened to see this and fancied a drive. I'm fairly open as to what I would like, insurance is a bit of a pain being 20 with 2 years NCB. I need something comfortable and reliable and versitile for the town>motorway>town commute.

Edit: Also choice is quite limited for me around where I live so its a pain to go and look at cheaper cars.
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
13 Mar 2007
Posts
1,310
Location
Cambridgeshire
The brake pad warning light isn't normally an issue if the replacement pads don't have the sensor wires, and it's a 5 minute job to short out the sensor wire. That's assuming that the brake pads aren't worn, but you'd check that wouldn't you?

You'll definitely want to avoid the 1.6 as Matt says and get one of the 5V 1.8L engines instead. Not sure if a turbo would be in your budget, but it's worth looking round.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,452
Location
Wolverhampton
Is the something wrong with the 1.6? A 1.8 would be dreadful on insurance

The 1.6 is dog slow...and I think the 1.8 would be scarcely much differerent in terms of insurance! If you have some NCB and have been driving a while then both should be pretty affordable. The 1.8 is usefully quicker.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
15 Jan 2005
Posts
4,569
Location
UK
Yeah I suppose. Hardly any Leons around though, I'll just have to look around a bit more I suppose. Is a 1.4 Leon any good? Slow I guess :)
 
Associate
Joined
11 Oct 2008
Posts
2,240
Location
Leicester
I know its not an Audi but I had a simular experience to you yesterday, I went to view an X reg VW Bora with 88K miles and the small dealers wanted £1695 for it, Needed the cambelt and waterpump doing which he is doing as part of the deal. He was up for me px'ing my Fiesta (would only offer £1200 for it though) but within 10 minutes of viewing the car I had already been put off from buying it. First walked up to the car when I got there and the lower part of the bumper had a huge crack in it, part of it had come off and the 2 black shield things were missing as well (he did seem to cover this up well on the original photos), the guy automatically came out with "oh these are really common on these & Golf's" eerr ok... one of the rear lights was cracked, Electric wing mirror was cracked as well and to my expectations it didnt work either... "oh it did work for me this morning". While still in the car the clutch bite was really high and basically the pedal was just about off the floor, he proved that the clutch had been replaced 2 years ago by a Mr Clutch branch. While looking at the digital display I noticed that the check brakes message was being displayed, and that the low brake pad light was displayed too. I took this up with him and he said "oh.. right ok... oh yeah funny enough it was mentioned on the current MOT's advisory sheet" the handbrake was stupidly high too.

even after spotting all of these things he still would only offer £1200 for my Fiesta and would not knock anything off the final price, so just walked away.

Liam
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom