Changing car again back to Audi

wez130

wez130

wez130

Soldato
Joined
31 Jan 2004
Posts
11,330
Location
Matakana New Zealand
As some may know, i bought a BMW 525D in March this year, it has been a lovely car for the past 6 months and hasn't missed a beat in the 10,000 miles i've put on it, however, since i bought it, i've always had a niggle in my head about my Audi A3 and how much i missed it, and i'd have swapped back to it in a heart beat, crazy i know, but that's just me, truth be told, i rushed into buying the BMW without that much thought. I was disappointed that i had no way of connecting my iphone or a USB or anything, nor did it play MP3's, which i missed more than anything else.

Then there's the cost of maintenance, it has cost me absolutely nothing to maintain so far, still on same tyres and brakes etc, but the rears are close to legal now and rear brakes arent far off needing replacement, then the DPF will be due in another 10k miles, and with it being a 2005 car, other bits will start going wrong inevitebly.

Then finally, something else that worrys me is my drive to work in the winter ice / snow, my route has a huge bank, which even with a FWD car (Mondeo) last year, i was a bit nervous, i wasn't looking forward to it this year in the BMW.

Anyway, knowing what i really wanted, i've been keeping my eye on Audis again for the past few month, test drove a few A4's and A6's, researched what my requirements are in the car i want, looking at options, and what i can afford, i've found a new car, it's a 2007 (57) Audi A6 2.0TDi (140) S-Line, with the S-Line embossed leather electric seats (not heated). It has the MMI High, AMI (Audi musi interface) with ipod cable and USB for HDD, DAB radio, DIS, other than that, i think everything else is standard (MFSW, symphony (with the subwoofer and cd changer), 18" S-Line wheels etc. I originally wanted BOSE as a requirement but the symphony system is more than adequate IMO, (better than the BMW standard system anyway) so Bose no longer became an essential requirement in my criteria. The only other options that would have been desirable were xenons and heated seats, none of which i'm that bothered about having not had them before anyway.

Might not be to everyones taste but i really like it and as it's for me anyway, i'm very happy indeed.

I got £8k back for my BMW, which i thought was rather good having been offered £6k / £6.5k by 2 other dealers, and i got the Audi for just short of £10k including GAP and MB&G warranty, it's got full Audi service history with the last service done 2k miles ago and is in really clean condition.

I have gone with the 2.0 TDi as i drive 300 miles a week to work without my personal mileage and i drive down to Daventry once a month to take my son home which is about a 450 mile round trip. I'm easily doing 20k miles a year. Some might think it's underpowered, but it doesn't feel that slow and i found it again adequate on my test drives, it is really light to drive (typical Audi), and in some ways i'll miss how the BMW feels on the road, but not enough to warrant another BMW any time soon!

I'm ready for any stick i might get anyway :D

Anyway, i'll stick some pics up soon!
 
So cost to change was £2k? Seems like a better, more thought out purchase than your last but as has been said thousands of times on this forum, there is no substitute for winter tyres.

All that said, nearly 25% depreciation over 6 months is pretty horrific on a 6 year old car!
 
I think its because as winter gets closer people fear another few weeks of being stuck and having to park away from home / not getting to a clients. Nothing worse setting off for a long trip in a car and having the worry that it's not going to take that much to get stuck.
 
it wasn't 25%, it was under 20% (original cost was £10995), i got an inflated price for my mondeo in the first place which was knackered anyway (£2k) for the BMW. Granted, it still is a lot to lose over 6 months, but it was due to cost me even more in the next 12 months in maintenance, and i would have lost even more in depreciation too.

This, as you realised, is a much more thought out purchase, and at just under £10k, is from what i can see, a good price too for this spec level and mileage, i will admit though, it will be due a timing belt change in 10k miles or so, but i can afford the £300 that that will cost me and have budgeted for it, and negotiated it in the price of the car. It has 4 brand new Michelin pilot sport 3 tyres on it too. I knew the winter tyre argument would rear it's head though lol, i won't justify buying 4 new 18" winter tyres for the 2 weeks a year we get snow, and i haven't replaced the BMW purely for that reason either, i missed my old audi and i was never going to be happy till i had another.
 
anticonscience said:
I don't get the worry people have developed recently about using their RWD cars in the snow.
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Firestar_3x said:
I think its because as winter gets closer people fear another few weeks of being stuck and having to park away from home / not getting to a clients. Nothing worse setting off for a long trip in a car and having the worry that it's not going to take that much to get stuck.
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As i stated, this isn't the only reason, i would have kept the BMW if i hadn't found this car, it was lovely to drive and i loved th straight 6 engine, i would have tried to manage in the snow, but i can't deny, having never driven a RWD in the snow, i wasn't nervous about it, and if it wasn't for the route i have to use for work, it wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest, it's just i have a bank on the way to / from work that goes down for about 800m, a sharp bend at the bottom then another 800m incline, which in my mondeo last year, i managed, but only just, started to lose too much power towards the top of the incline and obviously couldn't put my foot down in the snow, so had to feather the throttle and ease it up.
 
wez130 said:
I was disappointed that i had no way of connecting my iphone or a USB or anything, nor did it play MP3's, which i missed more than anything else.

...but the rears are close to legal now and rear brakes arent far off needing replacement, then the DPF will be due in another 10k miles, and with it being a 2005 car, other bits will start going wrong inevitebly.

Then finally, something else that worrys me is my drive to work in the winter ice / snow, my route has a huge bank, which even with a FWD car (Mondeo) last year, i was a bit nervous, i wasn't looking forward to it this year in the BMW.
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These seem like weak reasons for the change, but that's from my perspective, but these are obviously big to you. However I can't ignore the fact you seem to think with it being a 6 year old car things will start to go wrong. Why? If it has been maintained properly I can't see why things would "inevitably" go wrong.

Equally the MP3 / iPhone issue can be resolved relatively inexpensively.

With regards to the snow, there comes a point it isn't safe to drive the prevailing conditions unless your driving ability is up to it and if your car is appropriately equipped.
 
[TW]Fox;20102028 said:
Anyone got a link to the thread when it was bought? I seem to remember it being full of advice not to buy it.
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I had already bought it when i posted the thread, and as i signed it in the showroom, i couldn't go back on the purchase.
 
Welcome to the club :)

Really enjoying my A6.

Quite confused about it having USB and iPod though, assuming this is going through a genuine AMI interface, then it's one or the other surely? There is only space for once cable to plug into, unless of course you are talking about switching AMI cables over to gain one or the other depending on what you want at the time?
 
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daveydave said:
These seem like weak reasons for the change, but that's from my perspective, but these are obviously big to you. However I can't ignore the fact you seem to think with it being a 6 year old car things will start to go wrong. Why? If it has been maintained properly I can't see why things would "inevitably" go wrong.

Equally the MP3 / iPhone issue can be resolved relatively inexpensively.

With regards to the snow, there comes a point it isn't safe to drive the prevailing conditions unless your driving ability is up to it and if your car is appropriately equipped.
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Again, this isn't the only reason, the main reason is i loved my Audi so wanted another one, surely the fact that i'd still have my old audi back now, is testament to the reason i like audis, and would choose one over a BMW, my preference, not that of a lot of other people, but i'm not buying it for a lot of other people, i'm buying it for myself ;)

The cheapest way of fixing the iphone / aux issue is by retrofitting the aux plug, which at £170ish for the cable alone, isn't worth it.
 
paradigm said:
Welcome to the club :)

Really enjoying my A6.
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Thank you, i must admit, i was envious when you posted about getting yours, at the price you paid, i've always had a soft spot for A6's. I looked at one a couple of weeks ago, it had everything.....

http://www.wynyardmotorcompany.co.uk/cars/carpage.php?carId=155

It looked stunning in the flesh, but it was just too expensive when he would only offer £6k for my BMW. I loved the Valcona leather.

As for USB & Ipod, you get both cables, but can only plug one in at a time.
 
My only problem right now is wishing it was quicker. I keep having nasty thoughts about trading it against an S6 Avant :eek:

EDIT: OH, with yours only being a 140PS, definitely get it mapped, the engines are technically the same anyway, so you should get some respectable gains.
 
wez130 said:
Again, this isn't the only reason, the main reason is i loved my Audi so wanted another one, surely the fact that i'd still have my old audi back now, is testament to the reason i like audis, and would choose one over a BMW, my preference, not that of a lot of other people, but i'm not buying it for a lot of other people, i'm buying it for myself ;)

The cheapest way of fixing the iphone / aux issue is by retrofitting the aux plug, which at £170ish for the cable alone, isn't worth it.
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Fair enough, not trying to change your mind :)
 
paradigm said:
My only problem right now is wishing it was quicker. I keep having nasty thoughts about trading it against an S6 Avant :eek:

EDIT: OH, with yours only being a 140PS, definitely get it mapped, the engines are technically the same anyway, so you should get some respectable gains.
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Not that bothered about mapping it yet, especially carting 2 babies around ;) But i won't deny i was looking at tuning chips, there's one on ebay, which i'm a bit dubious about the price, but the guy has over 20k feedback and is a tuning company, it's only £19.50 and i should see 170bhp out of it. I don't buy it, seems too much for too little?
 
A chip (tuning box) would, a proper remap will be undetectable.

Definitely don't get a horrid tuning box (yes, it "might" make 170PS at some point during the rev range, but for the rest of it, the car will just be overfuelling), get a proper map. I had mine done by www.more-bhp.com, and they were fantastic (and cheap at £199).
 
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