Changing my TDI A3, thoughts?

[Roady]

Hi guys, don't really frequent this area of the forums but maybe I should more!

I've got an '06 Audi A3 TDI Sport 2.0 Quattro 140PS that I totally LOVE! I've had it over 4 years now and she's upto 118k miles so it's time to change... Before the price drops too low and she begins costing me real money (currently have s turbo/fuel related problem)...

I really like the A3 so it's pretty decided I'll get another (although I am open to other suggestions), I've always driven diesel (the dark side!) and would prefer to continue doing so. I've previously owned pugs and a couple of foci and used to do high miles as part of work, but these days (not requiring a car for work) majority of my miles are recreational. Coming from mid-wales I've always preferred 'fun' A roads than the motorway slog, although the A3 does love motorways!

I have a '60 private plate I've owned for a few years (without having a vehicle to put it on) and this seems like the perfect opportunity to finally put it on a car... RR60 ADY!

Current Audi is a maroon 5 door and although Quattro is amazing it's not really a requirement of mine. Trade value of my A3 is approx 4-4.5k and I have upto 8k to add to that. (so max budget is £12k and trade due to the part-ex).

I've been looking for 3-door sportback's in any kind of medium-dark blue, but they are quite scarce (within my budget and relatively low-ish (<50k) miles). So I really am not too fussed about number of doors (too much) although I guess the colour is a little more important. The white ones look amazing but I'm sure I'd struggle to keep it clean enough! (Had a black car before and it was a pain!)

After opinions and thoughts on what I should do? Continue looking or broaden my search criteria?

(This might be the last chance I get to get the 'car I want' and actually have some money to do so before getting any rugrats - so I'm determined to make the right choice!)

 

[Roady]

Thanks for the advice guys, as mentioned I am currently seeing some turbo/fuel related problems which has been put down to a bad 'batch' of fuel, my garage has put additive into the fuel and I'm to use up the tank before filling with a 'premium' diesel (Shell vpower or BP Ultimate?) but as of yet I've not found a Shell garage selling diesel vpower, I've not checked the local BP's yet. Any other 'premium' diesel suggestions?

Only once this premium fuel is flowing and the turbo has a good chance to clean itself will I know for sure my A3 is ok. She has always been hungry with oil and coolant which has always made me think to change before something major goes wrong... No garages (Audi and others) have confirmed or denied why this is.

I've done around 46k miles since I got the car (4.5 years) would that still be considered low mileage? It's certainly lower than I used to do! I enjoy the economy of diesel (always have) and with the power of the A3 I really don't see why I should change to petrol... Bear in mind I've always driven diesel (17 years), the petrols I've driven (work cars/vans) are nothing in comparison (except the R8 and Gallardo's I've also driven)! It's probably worth me taking the TFSI for a test drive, I'll probably stall it!

I was mainly looking to change now as the fuel problem (which might not 'just' be fuel!) made me think to change before I end up with a bigger problem (turbo will be a £600+ fix, if it doesn't recover from this problem, what's going to go wrong next!?). Running this car into the ground I imagine is going to cost me £2-3 over the next 3-4 years, opinion is that's a better investment than a newer car which will depreciate more than that in the time (but 'in theory' not have any problems)?

I take HangTime's point about my 'not having money in the future' comment on board. I've always lived well within my budget, never bought anything on finance, only used my credit card twice and always worked hard. I've always put money to 1 side (savings) for myself and usually spent it on changing my car rather than keeping an older one on the road. I hope to never be in the situation that I need to sell my car to finance any debts.

If I *was* going to keep a 'weekend' car, I'd probably get an older shape Focus RS, but that'd go against my diesel principles!

 

[Roady]

So the '06 (8P) changed to a '60 (8V) is not a worthy upgrade? What's so special about the new A3 over the 8V?

I've never bought a 'new' car, I got really put off them after I bought a 10 month old focus for £7k less than someone paid for it new... That kind of forecourt depreciation scares me!

 

[Roady]

The only thing more ridiculous than an E46 M3 suggestion in a thread about diesel hatchbacks is the above reply.

Lol! Couldn't agree more!

Ahh, sorry about the 8P/8V! I thought the change was in 2010 for some reason!

Am I really in the minority when I feel I should seriously consider changing my A3 now its the wrong side of 100k miles, started to show some problems and rather than spending money fixing it (now, or very soon down the road) the money would be 'better' spent on a newer, low mileage one less likely to 'play up' (I've not had good experiences with cars on high mileage, but none were Audi's).

Not sure why but 'knowing' the value of the car will depreciate (and a rough idea of how much over 4-5 years) seems to be much more of a sensible option, than a high mileage car with potential to cost a substantial amount (admittedly not as much as the cost buying newer) and be much less likely to incur expensive repairs... And be pretty much worthless when 4-5 years down the line I really have no option?

I'm very close to my '06 seen as an insurance 'write-off' should I need to claim for anything, due to the age. Newer car will also be cheaper tax and cheaper insurance. Newer car will also be blue!

 

[Roady]

My car is starting to feel slow and I have only owned it for 2 weeks infact I am actually missing the tdi torque and finding having to change down from 6th to 4th and back up a real chore when overtaking :/

Want to buy an Audi A3?

 

[Roady]

Go and google bkd diesel engine and see the issue for porous head and oil pump issues which if fail will take out the turbo

Could you expand more on that please Alex? Symptoms? Do they match mine?

As to everyone else regarding power... I test drove the 170 2.0 TDI A3 the same time as I tried the 140, I could tell little difference for the increased price... Reading forums and reviews at the time suggested the 140 was a better all round car.

If I'm looking at another 140 2.0 TDI why would I choose the Golf over the A3? The engines are going to be pretty much the same, so would the Leon!? The Audi looks better, has more extras as standard and is a better drive (my parents had a standard 1.8 TDI Golf mk5 and it was boat like! None of feel, or looks, of the mk4!)

The last couple of nights I've been looking at the A4, A5 & A6 Avants (as I love the audi estate shape... The A5 Saloon is the only saloon shape I like). None of them are within my budget and specs... So I'm still no closer to making a decision!

The Sirocco's are ok, but as mentioned - you're paying more, for no more car than the Golf, except the looks... The GT TDI Golfs are ok I guess, but similar price to the A3!

 

[Roady]

The point I was trying to get at earlier was that even if what you say is true and your current car does literally become worthless then the absolute worst case scenario is you will lose about £4k from its current value. So a worthless car will have cost you less (in depreciation, repairs and other running costs notwithstanding) than a £12k car losing say half of its value.

Whether or not that is offset by the benefits of a more modern car only you can decide, but I wouldn't necessarily view the fact your current car may become worthless as a problem if it wasn't worth an awful lot to start with

That's partly the point I was trying to make... Is it better to spend money on an older car that'll be worth less in the long run than investing more into a newer car which will be worth more in the same time frame!? But I guess that's a very personal decision as there are pro's and con's to each...

I would hope that my current A3 (with it's book value of £4000-4500) wouldn't lose too much more... It's got high(ish) miles (118k) but the engine should be good for 200k or more? I paid £11,000 for it back in 2010 so the actual depreciation is quite high on the A3 (at least up to now). £7000 depreciation in 4 years!

Then again I probably paid more than I should have for it in the first place as the guy valued my trade-in a good 1500 above anywhere else!

For the money I've been looking at, the BMW 320d looks very nice... I can't really find anything much else I like!

I've looked through VW's (the ones I consider 'ok' are the same price and engine as the A3), Volvo's (I must be getting old but the V70 is nice), BMW's (only like the 3 and 5 series, but hear they can be total stinkers), Masda's (6's, but only people I know with them have had major problems), Ford fiestas and focuses... Still can't find many I like enough to considering spending 5k or more (+ my 4k trade in) on!

 

[Roady]

This is key - you're looking at repeating this cycle again, and spending an additional £7k over 4 years to own effectively the same car is bonkers!

Yes but, the current A3 I bought with 80k on the clock and it is having problems. I'm doing much less miles now and I would be buying one with 50-60k on the clock, several years newer!

I actually like the newer shape Focus' and Fiestas so going for some test drives later to see what they're like. Before the A3 I had a '53 plate Focus TDCI Sport that I did 100k miles in 8 years in (and it didn't skip a beat)...

 

[Roady]

This is key - you're looking at repeating this cycle again, and spending an additional £7k over 4 years to own effectively the same car is bonkers!

The cost of the problems will be lower than the depreciation of buying exactly the same car again.

And that's exactly why I posted here, I needed some rational thinkers to keep me on track!

I'm going to get mine sorted and take my time making a choice (which won't be made anytime soon) about staying diesel or going for something a little more daring!

Thanks for everyone's input!

 

[Roady]

The cost of the problems will be lower than the depreciation of buying exactly the same car again.

And that's exactly why I posted here, I needed some rational thinkers to keep me on track!

I'm going to get mine sorted and take my time making a choice (which won't be made anytime soon) about staying diesel or going for something a little more daring!

Thanks for everyone's input!

2 trips to two more garages later (and £120)... One thinks its the Intercooler (£800 + labour) and the other thinks its the turbo (£1200 + labour). My MOT was due in a few weeks and I'd just spent £180 taxing it for a year.

Had booked it into my local Audi dealers for them to check what the fault was and give me a quote... They charge £100 per hour and imagined it would take 'less than 2 hours' to diagnose.

Rough prices from Audi were £2000 if it was the Turbo and they couldn't give me a set price for the intercooler, but suspected it would be the flywheel (£1000) and not the intercooler. Of course it could be both AND the intercooler (i'm very pessimistic when it comes to cars!)

Book price for it was £3600-£4000, so rather than spending £200 plus £1000 to £2500 pounds on it (and adding nothing to the book value) I'm trading it in.

Local second hand car dealer drove it (experienced the problems after I explained them to him) and offered me £3600 on it part-ex towards a couple of the cars he had on his forecourt. I thought that was very reasonable given the book price, the problems and high-ish mileage. So I couldn't really say no...

I'm now (or will be in a couple of days) the proud owner of am '11 plate Ford Fiesta Zetec S with 32,000 on the clock (for £8400). It an ex dealers display car with loads of extras and in very good condition.

I'm only intending on keeping the Fiesta for a year or two... Until my funds and the Audi A3's I want are around the same budget! (famous last words, I kept my last Focus for 8 years and 100k miles)

Fingers crossed I've not made the wrong choice, but £2000 on an older car (and still not adding any value to it after depreciation) to me seemed like a crazy option... Maybe if it'd had less miles on the clock I might've thought differently!