Thinking of replacing the Yaris...

Thanks for the forum tip Dolph. Have made a new thread over there so will see what they come back with.

As an aside, does anyone know how much the private plate might be worth? The car is actually on an 01 plate and I'd rather return it that way because at the moment it looks like it's a W plate 2000 car with facelift front and rear lights!
 
[TW]Fox;11197249 said:
They didnt do an 01 plate, new style started at 51 so it will be an X or a Y plate.
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Doh stupid me! The RAC vehicle check tells me it was originally a 51 plate.
 
Well I stuck a thread up on tyresmoke and they seem like a nice bunch, but they're certainly the personification of careful car-loving owners. There seems to varying degrees of care taken though...one guy gets his S3 serviced every 9 months! I'm wondering whether soem of it is being a bit too careful to be honest!

Dolph - How are you finding tyre wear on yours, and how often are you getting it serviced? It really does scare me how often things need replacing, and just how costly they are..we're taking tyres and servicing costs of around £800/year alone. My Yaris has only cost me about £500 in the last 5 years!
 
With respect you need to take the blinkers off on the costs your going to have rather than what you were used to.

Bigger, more expensive and much higher performance car. Audi servicing prices (unless you find a good Indy), tyres bigger and not sure on this (is the S3 front biased most of the time on it's 4wd?) but when you need them figure for all 4 not just your fronts. When a part goes wrong it's obviously going to be more expensive than a mass market city car. I would also factor in that your going to be over the 100k mark - I'm not saying the car will fall apart but over certain mileages certain things have just worn or need replacing I guess.

I think from memory Dolphs S3 is the latest model so he will no doubt be getting it serviced at Audi under manufacturers guidelines.

Factor in higher insurance, mpg, consumables etc it's a big jump but to get something nice in this life generally costs in one form or another.

Good luck with the car.
 
Servicing will be done by my dad's workshop (he runs a Honda dealership) so parts will be cost price and labour will be kept to a minimum. To give you an example last August I had to have a major service, MOT and new discs and pads and it set me back £120.

I think the main thing I need to do tomorrow is go through the service history with a fine tooth comb, identify anything that needs doing in the next 18 months or so and get the guy to sort it as part of the deal. It'll be serviced upon agreeing the deal anyway but if it needs it I'll see if he will do the cambelt, water pump and Haldex oil service as well.

Insurance isn't actually too bad which was a nice surprise considering it's a grp17 car; ~£400 fully comp.
 
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Surely you want to retain Audi SH or Audi Specialist SH for your residual value?

Given that this car has a trade book price of £6800, £7000 is an exceptional deal. Frankly if anything needs doing in the next 18 months I think its your lookout not his, he's making virtually nothing from this deal and you want to squeeze him further?
 
Depends on whether I sell the Yaris privately or trade it in with him. If I part-ex it he'll be making very little money on the S3 but will be taking my Yaris off my hands and making a couple of grand on it. This tends to be the way these deals work..and he knows that the Yaris will sell a whole lot quicker and easier than a high mileage S3.

Do you really think servicing at an indy will make any difference to residuals then? I'm defo not going to be paying Audi servicing prices. Everything will be done by the book at my dad's so what's the difference between that and an Indy?
 
scratch said:
Well I stuck a thread up on tyresmoke and they seem like a nice bunch, but they're certainly the personification of careful car-loving owners. There seems to varying degrees of care taken though...one guy gets his S3 serviced every 9 months! I'm wondering whether soem of it is being a bit too careful to be honest!

Dolph - How are you finding tyre wear on yours, and how often are you getting it serviced? It really does scare me how often things need replacing, and just how costly they are..we're taking tyres and servicing costs of around £800/year alone. My Yaris has only cost me about £500 in the last 5 years!
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Mine's the new model, and is under a monthly service package so I can't really say. It's also on the variable servicing but most get them done around 10k, and tyres normally last around 15k from what I've read and from what my old boss (who has the old shape) has advised.

With regards to history, audi or audi specialist is definitely preferred for a car like this, unless you plan on keeping it until it's worthless of course, and then it's irrelevant.
 
scratch said:
Do you really think servicing at an indy will make any difference to residuals then? I'm defo not going to be paying Audi servicing prices. Everything will be done by the book at my dad's so what's the difference between that and an Indy?
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I wouldnt buy a car like this thats not been serviced by either the main dealer or a specialist in that type of car. Now, I'm probably wrong, but I am not the only one that thinks like this.

Have you got a quote from Audi for servicing prices or have you decided you wont be paying them without even knowing how much they are?

Are you sure you are prepared for the cost of keeping a prestige performance car on the road?
 
I'm certainly starting to ask myself if I want to be paying £7k for something which could be a potential money pit when I could put another grand into a private one and get something with lower mileage which has just had the major work done to it.

I'm only looking at keeping it for around 3 years, so as long as the cambelt and water pump have been done recently then things shouldn't be too expensive (fingers crossed!). The problem with buying the example I'm about to lookat is that by the time I'm done with it it'll have around 135k miles on the clock. Are people still going to be interested in paying decent money for something with that many miles on it?

I just didn't see the point in paying stealer prices when I could get the job done much cheaper with the same parts, but if getting the work done at an indy will help keep the value up then I guess that will be the best way to go.
 
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scratch said:
I'm certainly starting to ask myself if I want to be paying £7k for something which could be a potential money pit when I could put another grand into a private one and get something with lower mileage which has just had the major work done to it.

I'm only looking at keeping it for around 3 years, so as long as the cambelt and water pump have been done recently then things shouldn't be too expensive (fingers crossed!). The problem with buying the example I'm about to lookat is that by the time I'm done with it it'll have around 135k miles on the clock. Are people still going to be interested in paying decent money for something with that many miles on it?

I just didn't see the point in paying stealer prices when I could get the job done much cheaper with the same parts, but if getting the work done at an indy will help keep the value up then I guess that will be the best way to go.
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The deal you have been offered is very good, it's worth remembering that when factoring any depreciation, even if including the mileage.

If the dealer you are buying from is happy to do all the work you have mentioned should it be needed, I'd say you're getting a very good deal, certainly as good if not better than buying a private one with less mileage on it...

If you want an S3, you're being offered one at a very good price, I certainly wouldn't go thinking about spending £1k more on a private sale as being a better idea.
 
Right..went to see the car today. After the wet weather we had yesterday I was glad to see the sun was shining in all it's glory this morning. First impressions of the S3 is that it looks like a sleeper. Unless you know what you're looking for, most people would think this is a regular A3. That can only be a good thing in the area I live in! It still hints that it's a wolf in sheeps clothing though, and I really like that look.

The first thing I noticed was the scuff on the offside of the front bumper. It's about a foot high and on the corner of the bumper. There's also a lot of stone chips on the bonnet, including one large one right down to the metal on the very front lip. This damage will all be sorted next week though. The rest of the bodywork looks tidy though. It's covered in swirl marks so it'll need a good detailing, but I'd expect that with a black car.

Took it for a test drive and first impressions was that it was quite a bumpy ride, but I suppose I was expecting that as even the standard A3 is known to be a bit on the stiff side. Pottering around the local town it was composed and very easy to drive. Steering is certainly heavier than the Yaris bit that's to be expected as the tyres are wider. The gearchange was a bit notchy but I've read that that's quite normal.

We took it out to a nearby NSL road which is ideal for testing cars as its long and straight and interconnected by several roundabouts. We got stuck behind a car doing 30 coming off the first roundabout and there was nothing coming the other way so I stuck it in second and booted it. The turbo spooled up and before I knew it we were doing 100 and the car we'd just overtaken was a spec in the rear view mirror! We reached the first roundabout so decided to go around a couple of times. This thing just gripped like nothing I've ever driven. The Recaro seats helped greatly to keep you in your seat.

Talked figures and it's he's offering me £4300 part-ex on my Yaris which is a great price, but as he's having to do some work on the car to get it up to standard he'll not let the S3 go for less than £7500. That gives me a cost to change of £3200.

The car's had only one owner and has a fully stamped service manual, but there's zero receipts for work done which is always a bit worrying. All services were performed by Audi apart from the 80k mile, which just so happens to be when the cam belt was due so I'm going to have to contact Audi and this other garage to find out what work has been performed and when. If I can't get firm confirmation that the cambelt and water pump was done at 80k miles then the dealer will be sorting it for me.

I've told him I'm certainly interested and he's giving me a few days to decide.
I really enjoyed the car, and think it's looking like a good deal so as long as everything with the bodywork and mechanicials get sorted to my satisfaction then I could well be the owner of an S3 very soon.

Watch this space :)
 
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Big saving here by going for a higher mileage car - someone else on the forum has a 2001 S3 but with 50k less miles.

It was over £3k more.

This one sounds like a good buy - £3k isnt worth it for a smaller number on the odometer.
 
[TW]Fox;11210269 said:
Big saving here by going for a higher mileage car - someone else on the forum has a 2001 S3 but with 50k less miles.

It was over £3k more.

This one sounds like a good buy - £3k isnt worth it for a smaller number on the odometer.
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Agree with the above, its looks like a good car for a good price. Personally I would get the timing belt/water pump/tensioners done anyway so that you have a clean start with it. You can also tell if the sound system is Bose as it will have a Bose badge on the speaker grills.
 
Popped down to the garage this morning so dad could have a good look around today and he was pretty impressed with what he saw. He reckons it needs a couple of new rear tyres as they are getting a bit low but the fronts are fine. With the bodywork and a good buffing it should come up pretty much perfect.

He's gonna go talk figures tomorrow to try and get a bit more thrown in like some tax and the tyres, and also get the car on a ramp to take a good look underneath. It's a bit to low to get a good look by climbing underneath :)

Here's a couple more pics taken with my cam this time Yes that is bird poo on the bonnet..they joys of having a dealership right on the seafront!:

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I'm going down the bank tomorrow to enquire about a loan.
 
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