Considering an Audi A3 ... wise purchase?

Associate
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Hey folks, I'm starting a new job soon so I want to pick up a new car, previously I'd been driving a MK4 Golf, but that was sold a while back.

I'm thinking of getting an A3, something along the lines of the 06 2.0 SE model, depending on what becomes available.

In terms of reliability, can anyone give me an idea of whether these are expensive to maintain? I'm sure parts might be a little more expensive than say a Ford, but if they break less then it's not so much of an issue.

If this is an unwise purchase, can anyone recommend anything better? I'm looking to spend no more than £5k.

Cheers :)

Dave.
 
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Going for Diesel rather than petrol engine. I've seen that wood trim on a couple that I've found...though zoomed quite far out so couldn't see what it looked like properly.

It's not necessarily that exact model anyway, as I've seen a few A3s around, just one of the many I was looking at last night.
 
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Not massive mileage, 20 mins ish to and from work, and the areas of interest that I tend to haunt. The odd trip to Devon from Loughborough a few times a year.

Looking around at the prices, about 5k throws up cars with anything between 90k and 120k on the clock, which again to me doesn't sound too bad, but I don't know a great deal, hence why I thought I'd ask here.

If you think that a 5K Audi might be expensive to run, any other recommendations in terms of a similar car?
 
Man of Honour
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You'll be doing way less than 10,000 miles per year at 20 miles per day, so a Diesel wouldn't really be much use to you, and the initial premium you'll pay for the car, you'll generally get the equivalent car cheaper in the petrol variant.

You'll get a well specced Focus for 5k, or sticking with VAG you'll get a nicer Octavia (same platform as the A3).
 
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What kinda mileage would you expect on a Petrol equivalent? Only reason I ask is that I've been told that Petrol engines are good for 75k, and Diesel's are good for 150k, and looking around, most petrol cars at this kinda price have done way more than 75k, but the diesel's are around 100k. Is this something worth noting or does it tend to be way off the mark these days?
 
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No engine has a set lifetime. It's all down to how well it has been maintained and used. A well maintained petrol will run for hundreds of thousands of miles. An abused diesel which is taken on short journeys for it's life can start having issues well below 100k.

As with anything, buy on condition - there are no hard and fast rules.
 
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No engine has a set lifetime. It's all down to how well it has been maintained and used. A well maintained petrol will run for hundreds of thousands of miles. An abused diesel which is taken on short journeys for it's life can start having issues well below 100k.

As with anything, buy on condition - there are no hard and fast rules.



Absolutely. It wasn't a set in stone thing, it was what I was told was sort of typical in terms of where to start looking, at least to begin with.
 
Soldato
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It was pretty much rubbish though tbh. Generally speaking cam belt driven petrol engines will want to have had at least 1 belt change by 75k but that's it really - most modern engines, even from the historically less reliable manufacturers will happily run and run.

Generally speaking cars only start getting prohibitively expensive to keep running on at least double that mileage.....but that's a massive generalisation and it's more the age of the car that does it in reality! (i.e when the thing is worth a grand who is going to put £1500 into it for a major rebuild or recon'd engine?)
 
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It's almost harder being in a position with this budget, not enough to get a new car, and not in a place to get a crappy old banger for a first car!

Am I allowed to link to cars I find on here? Not sure if that's allowed, it's not like they sell computer parts... technically anyway :)
 
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Cool :)

Did a little search in the local area and found some options, include an A3, and a couple of alternatives.

For anyone that could be bothered to look, are the Focus and Astra a better buy?

A3

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...t/page/2/advert-type/dealer-stock?logcode=dsp

Focus

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...t/page/2/advert-type/dealer-stock?logcode=dsp

Astra

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...t/page/2/advert-type/dealer-stock?logcode=dsp

I've done insurance checks on them and with my details they are all about the same price, so that isn't anything to consider.
 
Soldato
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I'd have the focus out of those, slightly slower than the Astra, but is nailed together better IMO, plus it has factory satnav, and the tyres are probabley cheaper to replace on the focus.
 
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