Audi owners in here!

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My old S3, would love to get another next year.
 
[TW]Fox;22246223 said:
Sounds like the previous owner was a cheapskate :p
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People are bizarre...has full Audi service history yet stick cheapo tyres on! Will do for time being I guess!!
 
[TW]Fox;22247746 said:
Tell us more, for many people an A3 diesel is very sought after.
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Argh! Just typed a huge reply, accidentally clicked "Back" and lost the lot.

Right, we look after our lease cars. They are serviced every 10,000 miles and all faults are to be reported and remedied without exception. They are generally repaired by our own vehicle maintenence units. For this reason, I'm going to rule out serious neglect.

Car is an 08 plate and has 78,000 miles.

Inside first:
I find the headroom is relatively poor in the front, worse in the back, for a car of this size.
Interior plastics look cheap but have proved far more robust than they appear. There is little wear to the interior plastics, the dashboard is unmarked, the door cards are immaculate, the centre console looks new - but it's all very basic and cheap looking. The only damage is the material (some sort of mesh fabric) on the inside of the A pillar, and the handbrake, which seems to mark easily.
I used a 58 plate Corsa recently which had a worse condition interior than my 1988 Peugeot 205 so obviously Audi spend some of your money here.

Kit:
Equipment levels are seriously poor. No cruise, no proper climate (aircon only), no auto lights, no auto wipers, no bluetooth, no fuel computer (mileage trip only) - you get the picture. The radio doesn't even re-tune when it loses signal, though that may be something in the settings, I've not played about with it really. Aircon is not very effective but may be in need of a regas?

Driving environment:
Visibility out of the front is good. Visibility out of the back is awful thanks to the tiny rear window and the rear headrests.
Seat is uncomfortable on anything over 2 or 3 hours, and I have tried multiple positions with no discernable improvement.
Footrest is awkward to use thanks to the solid plastic bars that brace the centre console to the dashboard - they dig right into my knee and have absolutely no padding. I cannot overstate how infuriating I find this.
Side visibility is poor. The slanting doorline means it's difficult to line the car up in a parking slot without using your mirrors - the doorline gives a false impression of how straight the car is (or isn't) against cars alongside you.
Rear 3/4 visibility is very poor, if I didn't perform lifesavers (and a lot of people don't) I'd have wiped out hundreds of innocent continental motorists over the last fortnight.
Boot space looks poor but is actually very good. Thanks to that sloping doorline you get a very deep boot that takes far more stuff than you would think, but this is only useful if you are literally cramming it with gear.

Body:
It's fine. It could use a machine polish to get rid of the swirls, but otherwise I suppose it's pretty good looking for a modern 5 door hatch. LED drls etc like the newer A3s would freshen it up a bit.

Drive:
The 1.9 TDi is sluggish and unrefined. Sure, you get a bit of a wallop when it comes on boost but once you are used to this you realise it really isn't that quick, and certainly isn't as quick as you thought it might be the first time you drove it out of the car park.
Dakadaka diesel knock at idle is prominent, particularly through the pedals and the steering wheel. Less prominent at speed, where tyre noise takes over instead. How anyone can claim these are even slightly refined is beyond me, it's like a van.
Surprisingly recalcitrant off the line - the period just before it comes on boost can leave you flailing at a busy roundabout - a colleague used one (not mine) for a driving assessment recently and got got caught out badly trying to barge out onto a roundabout at rush hour due to the sluggishness off the line.
Steering - dull and lifeless.
Suspension - dull and lifeless. Firmer than I expected but not as firm as I would like. Gives a false sense of confidence and then lets you down when you push it, it feels very "high sided" taking corners at speed.
Brakes - dull and lifeless. Stops well but utterly devoid of feel.

tl;dr?

Feels like a £1000 car not a £10,000 car. Driven others and they felt the same. Would not buy, do not want.
 
Lopéz, one of our staff just bought (today) a 2008 A3 TDI. Luckily he doesn't read OcUK :D. Also his is a 2.0 TDI and an S Line so hopefully a bit better than yours.

I can't really refrain from posting mine again. I absolutely love this thing. I tested the 155mph limiter last night - the speed at which we reached it and the stability it had at that speed was unlike anything I've driven before.

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Ex- Audi owner here (A3 1.6) loved the car, bought it for a bargain on ebay, and in the 30,000 miles i did in it, the only thing it needed was a new radiator, which never got fitted, as the car got written off on my way to the garage. absolutely gutted. 3 years later, i would like to think i may of still owned the car. hoping to get another one someday, but my current budget wouldnt buy me a good one
 
Just bought for myself a 12 plate black, 3 door A3 black edition 2.0TDi Quattro S line still running it in. Absolutely love it. Can't wait to get onshore to start driving it again!! It has a comfort pack and the entertainment pack :) Really wanted an S5 ........maybe next time.

For the Mrs a 12 plate white A3 2.0TDi sport sportback, lovely car as well!!

Will get the pics up when I get back home next week......

Slipperz :)
 
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