Will never buy an Audi again... Advice on new car?

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9 Sep 2008
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I bought an Audi A3 2.0 FSI Sport (2004) around 15 months ago with 40,000 miles on the clock. Got it for £9,200.

Over the past 15 months it was back to the original dealer in the first three months (during the 3 month warranty I was given) several times due to an ongoing coolant leak. This was never properly resolved and cropped up again (after the warranty expired 5 months later) resulting in a new coolant pipe having to be fitted. I also needed to replace the cam belt and some other fixes which meant I had spent ~£1000 on the car in the first 12 months. I only do around 10,000 miles a year so I have not really been pushing it too hard.

However, that is nothing compared to what I have been hit with today. I have been experiencing problems with the car dashboard resetting recently and booked it in to get it looked at. On the journey to the garage this morning I also noticed a warning light on my dashboard and the engine started juddering. The car was barely accelerating and refused to exceed 60mph.

Audi have now come back today and told me I need to replace my dashboard ~£560 to fix the first problem. With regards to the second problem with the engine, they have said I will need to replace numerous cylinders, gaskets, catalytic converter and one or two other parts. They have quoted £1750 for this. So overall I am looking at a £2310 repair job.

This is an absolute nightmare scenario for me as I do not have huge sums of cash right now so I am potentially going to have to go into some debt to pay for this. I can only see a viable solution of paying for this (so that the car will be functional and I retain full equity) and then trading it in as I can no longer deal with this. The customer service I have received from Audi has been exceptionally poor given the money I have had to spend with them over the past 15 months also (no courtesy cars and no callbacks from staff despite continued calls from myself being the main gripes)

Apologies for a bit of a rant but I am incredibly frustrated with Audi and will never buy one ever again. The car is probably worth around £6000 at the moment. I am hoping to trade this in as soon as the work is completed so that I can buy another car which is much cheaper to maintain and more reliable. I am thinking at this stage of a Ford Focus (stretching to around £7k). Is this the best I should be shooting for - or are there any others people can suggest?

Cheers
 
Associate
OP
Joined
9 Sep 2008
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20
Is this an Audi dealer?

I bought it from a licensed Audi dealer - not from Audi directly. They provided a 3 month warranty when I first purchased the car. I believe it was a company car prior to me purchasing and had 1 owner.

For all of the fixes I have taken it to my local Audi official dealership. I actually had it serviced and MOT'ed 2 weeks ago and it passed with flying colours.

I really want to hold someone accountable for this but ultimately I don't think there is anything I can do. I think I've just had exceptionally bad luck with Audi; which is a shame because I love the cars to drive but the poor customer service and enormous repair bills means I will never use them again.

I'm 25 so don't have wads of cash behind me so this is going to take some time for me to pay back.
 

Sam

Sam

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I bought an Audi A3 2.0 FSI Sport (2004) around 15 months ago with 40,000 miles on the clock. Got it for £9,200.

Over the past 15 months it was back to the original dealer in the first three months (during the 3 month warranty I was given) several times due to an ongoing coolant leak. This was never properly resolved and cropped up again (after the warranty expired 5 months later) resulting in a new coolant pipe having to be fitted. I also needed to replace the cam belt and some other fixes which meant I had spent ~£1000 on the car in the first 12 months. I only do around 10,000 miles a year so I have not really been pushing it too hard.

However, that is nothing compared to what I have been hit with today. I have been experiencing problems with the car dashboard resetting recently and booked it in to get it looked at. On the journey to the garage this morning I also noticed a warning light on my dashboard and the engine started juddering. The car was barely accelerating and refused to exceed 60mph.

Audi have now come back today and told me I need to replace my dashboard ~£560 to fix the first problem. With regards to the second problem with the engine, they have said I will need to replace numerous cylinders, gaskets, catalytic converter and one or two other parts. They have quoted £1750 for this. So overall I am looking at a £2310 repair job.

This is an absolute nightmare scenario for me as I do not have huge sums of cash right now so I am potentially going to have to go into some debt to pay for this. I can only see a viable solution of paying for this (so that the car will be functional and I retain full equity) and then trading it in as I can no longer deal with this. The customer service I have received from Audi has been exceptionally poor given the money I have had to spend with them over the past 15 months also (no courtesy cars and no callbacks from staff despite continued calls from myself being the main gripes)

Apologies for a bit of a rant but I am incredibly frustrated with Audi and will never buy one ever again. The car is probably worth around £6000 at the moment. I am hoping to trade this in as soon as the work is completed so that I can buy another car which is much cheaper to maintain and more reliable. I am thinking at this stage of a Ford Focus (stretching to around £7k). Is this the best I should be shooting for - or are there any others people can suggest?

Cheers

Get it checked out at a specialist, Dealers are utterly useless they really are. Often replacing bits of kit like it costs nothing to "eventually" find the issue ...
 
Soldato
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4,503
Location
Ashford
I moved away from Audi because they just dont build cars like they used to anymore. Seems they are going through what Mercs went through 10 years ago when the accountants ruled. The cars aren't the quality people think and the Audi network/Audi UK have terrible customer service. My BMW has had its fair share of niggles but the customer service is leagues ahead of Audis and they cant do enough for you.
 
Man of Honour
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21 Feb 2006
Posts
29,295
I bought it from a licensed Audi dealer - not from Audi directly. They provided a 3 month warranty when I first purchased the car. I believe it was a company car prior to me purchasing and had 1 owner.

For all of the fixes I have taken it to my local Audi official dealership. I actually had it serviced and MOT'ed 2 weeks ago and it passed with flying colours.

I really want to hold someone accountable for this but ultimately I don't think there is anything I can do. I think I've just had exceptionally bad luck with Audi; which is a shame because I love the cars to drive but the poor customer service and enormous repair bills means I will never use them again.

I'm 25 so don't have wads of cash behind me so this is going to take some time for me to pay back.

Well first avenue must be a 2nd opinion from an independent. My experience of Audi dealers though slick in their coffee and receptionists their ability to diagnose issues is not strong. I asked the question about was it an Audi dealer as I was not aware Audi sold cars with less than 12 month warranty, I may be wrong but I believe that is their pledge and I am not sure what a licensed Audi dealer is, but not that this matters now. Get it to an independent and I would expect a bill of substantially less, maybe even a few pence when they change a fuse or sensor and solve your problems.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
9 Sep 2008
Posts
20
Cheers for the responses. I'm going to take the advice given here and try an independent specialist tomorrow for their assessment. I'm just hoping there won't be any significant problems driving it...

Does anyone know a reputable independent Audi specialist in the North Hampshire / Reading area? A quick google shows a company called Autotechnic who look promising.

Thanks.
 

Kae

Kae

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Joined
26 Dec 2009
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Location
Cheshire, UK.
The car isn't fit for purpose, you could take them to the small claims court and win easily I would have thought. You shouldn't be landed with a bill like this and have to pay it.
 
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