Just went to view a car, have a few questions...

Can i be the first to say being a mechanical engineer or having any sort of proffessional qualification related to mechanical engineering has nothing to do with your ability to maintain and service a car.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
Can i be the first to say being a mechanical engineer or having any sort of proffessional qualification related to mechanical engineering has nothing to do with your ability to maintain and service a car.
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No, but it does suggest some degree of education, which would in turn suggest that knowing how to remove an oil filter is a task within his capability perhaps :)
 
cleanbluesky said:
Explained my position and we negotiated down to £4,100 but he wont go any lower.
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If the car's in good condition, thats a good price. You'd be hard pushed to find a fairly mint condition A3 T-Sport for less than £4K. Can't remember if it was the A3s or some other car but you should check the water pump been replaced as well. From memory, it's driven by the cambelt or one of the auxillary belts running off it, and if the water pump goes (plastic impellers?), it can cause engine damage. Then again, I could be thinking of a completely different car....

As for the service history, I'm not so sure its such a big deal. Depends on how many services has been missed. If its just one or two, its isn't hugely surprising - the cambelt service alone at an Audi dealer is about £600 or £700. The money lost in resale value due to the incomplete service history isn't enough to offset the money saved by a DIY job.

Agree that it's slightly unusual that he had started the car for you, even if has been sitting idle for a couple of months. Might mean that there's a cold running problem, or it might mean nothing. What's the reason that he hasn't driven it for 2 months?
 
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MrLOL said:
walk away

and quickly

imho. Cant see any possible reason why you'd want to start a car before somebody came to view it unless there was something to hide

surely if he just wanted a one off check, he'd have done this before he made the decision to sell ...
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I'd have started the car before selling it! What if the battery was flat? What if it was musty and you wanted to clear the stale air or humidity?

A gap in the service history wouldn't worry me for a car of this age to be honest although it seems a lot of money for such an old car. I paid £5000 for a 2002 1.8T Passat with 75k miles back in January last year.

The MAF was prone to failure on the Passat, not sure if it is on the A3, cost was about 70 plus labour for fitting.
 
wonder_lander said:
I'd have started the car before selling it! What if the battery was flat? What if it was musty and you wanted to clear the stale air or humidity?
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wouldnt you have done that prior to the sale though or at least before a viewer came

you dont put a car up for sale without having any idea if its going to start when the viewer comes round to look.

just smells fishy to me. Also, to the OP, was the engine running as you arrived (even more fishy) or was the engine just warm from being started prior to your arrival ?
 
All this conjecture....you could go round in circles forever with all sorts of different explanations.

Surely the simple solution is just to go back and view the car again, this time telling the owner to leave the engine cold.
 
[TW]Fox said:
No, but it does suggest some degree of education, which would in turn suggest that knowing how to remove an oil filter is a task within his capability perhaps :)
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TBH i would hope anyone with an IQ this side of a hamster would have the capabilty to change a oil filter once shown. :p This is no more prevalent to people with Mech eng degrees than those with sport science.
 
MrLOL said:
just smells fishy to me. Also, to the OP, was the engine running as you arrived (even more fishy) or was the engine just warm from being started prior to your arrival ?
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It wasnt running when I arrived.

I think I'll go for the £4.1k on the condition that I check it will cold-start and that I have thoroughly checked the paperwork.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
TBH i would hope anyone with an IQ this side of a hamster would have the capabilty to change a oil filter once shown. :p This is no more prevalent to people with Mech eng degrees than those with sport science.
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In my experience working here at Millbrook around plenty of highly qualified automotive engineers, the amount of common sense and the amount of qualifications are nearly always in reverse proportion to each other.

I.E. the more qualified an engineer, the less common sense he/she has got.

There are plenty here who I would never let near my car to change the oil or anything else for that matter.
 
AtreuS said:
Would YOU be happy buying a car with a gap in its service history? no.. and neither would most people. If you intend to drive it into the ground then you dont have to worry so much.
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I disagree. Engines are far more resilient than people give them credit for. FSH isn't as imperative as people may think. So long as it got past the next one with no problems and the oil has been kept fresh in it, I see no problem with it missing a mid-range service.

I'm going to look at a car with 10k on the clock, 4 years old but no service history - it should have gone through it's 3000 mile and 10k one. He says he has receipts for work carried out but no stamp. This is good enough for me on a car that has barely been driven.
 
i havent read all these posts just you initial question

i have bought too many cars to remember and made many mistakes, none of them twice though.

Two words

WALK AWAY

its smells from here, their are many other TTs for sale mate, dont get let your heart make the decision, it will cost you.

75k on a TT warmed up before viewing says rear diff and thats £3000 at a dealer
 
[TW]Fox said:
No, but it does suggest some degree of education, which would in turn suggest that knowing how to remove an oil filter is a task within his capability perhaps :)
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Don't know many lawyers who can change their own oil
 
Entai said:
In my experience working here at Millbrook around plenty of highly qualified automotive engineers, the amount of common sense and the amount of qualifications are nearly always in reverse proportion to each other.

I.E. the more qualified an engineer, the less common sense he/she has got.

There are plenty here who I would never let near my car to change the oil or anything else for that matter.
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Let me guess? You have no qualifications ? ;)
 
Simon said:
Don't know many lawyers who can change their own oil
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There is a difference between not wishing to or not needing to and not being able to. I dare say that if a lawyer decided they did wish to undertake their own oil change, faliure would be unlikely.

Even I can change oil, and I'm a retard.
 
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