I am merely female and need some A3 help!

[""pinkgirl**]

Hi there

My boyfriend has always wanted an Audi A3 but we cannot afford one! I thought I would get the below for him and get it fixed up as a suprise...

I have found one on Gumtree that is £500 ono but it has some issues......the guy emailed me and said

"SLight didng in the back bumper but is ok for its age apart from that. Needs air intake manifold cleaning because its hunting abit but a full service will sort that out. Brakes are soft - hydrolic leak? Pads etc are perfect not eveen a warning on the MOT (August). It's the SE versiion with sports seats and is beautiful to drive. Not fixing as work funding new one"

His ad said "ll this baby needs is a service and the brakes sorted spanking new tyres lovely original alloys and a gearbox with 1000 miles on it, need I say more I WILL TAKE AN OFFER, for quick sale"

And he wrote the spec as

• Make AUDI
• Engine1595
• Model A3 1.6 SPORT
• Mileage 98,000
• Colour BLUE
• Transmission 5 Speed Manual Petrol
• Body 3 Door Hatchback
• Fuel Type Petrol
• Registered 19/11/1998

Just seems a bit too cheap...but I am merely a girl so what would I know...?!!?!?!!

HELP!!!

Thanks, Rachel

 

[Dani_B19]

Tbh, it probly about right, used car prices have seemed to drop again, your can get facelift s3's for sub 4k now.

For £500 sheets you cant really go wrong. Does it come with FSH?

 

[""pinkgirl**]

thanks for your reply....Not sure about History...didnt ask....! Rubbish at this! Anything else I need to ask?! Usually John buys the cars and I just keep out the way! Just dont want to be done over as I am sure they will try due to my sex!!

 

[mary_q]

Its a nice thought but to be honest if you don't know much about cars probably best take somebody who does to give it a check over.

If a price apepars to be too good to be true its generally for a reason. That car would sell for more then that even on ebay! So yeah might be a bargain but most people want the most they can get for any car there selling unless there looking for a cut price for a quick sale.

Either way best check it over with a mechanic or somebody who knows a fair bit about cars as no doubt it will be 'sold as seen' so if it died on your on the way home you'd have no legal protection or cover.

Good luck either way

 

[bengal]

You would want fsh ideally but for £500 you wont always get that. As for the brakes being spongy it could be a few things the master cylinder being the most expensive to replace and possibly the brake pipes leaking which can be expensive depending on who does them im not saying its either by the way. If you know anybody who knows a bit about cars take them with you if you go to look at it or you can get the RAC/AA to do a vehicle check im not sure how much this costs though.

 

[N8]

Can I see your face

 

[Fahim]

£500 is dirt cheap, but it could just be a lucky find!

I sold my Audi A3 8L 1.6 SE with 83,000 on the clock for £700!!! (to a friend) Bought it for £3,500 2 years before

The Lambda sensor was shot, cat was gone, needed a massive clean inside, glovebox broken, side panel broken (where i put the amp wiring through) ciggerate ashtray wouldn't close, the side mirror positioning switch was broken, cheap headunit in place, car would judder loads and struggle to pick up untill you put the clutch down and rev the tits of it, would get a best of 23 mpg and the poor car had such a poor life. No service history but i ragged the tits of it every day of its poor life.

I have to say, after all the abuse i gave the little car, even crashing into my own fence/neighbours fence doing a handbrake turn lol it never ACTUALLY BROKE DOWN ON ME! The gearbox was sweet as a nut, and the clutch never slipped. I always used to be proud saying ''i've ragged every inch out of her, but she's never broken down''

rear bumper had a crack on it, 2 rather large scars on the front bumper, dings in the door...the list goes on!

I don't want to know how bad of a condition this A3 of yours is in, but you might just be lucky!

Goodluck,

Fahim.

 

[s3dave]

As said surprise or no surprise take somebody with you who knows a bit about cars, or you both could get a bigger surprise than anticipated .....

 

[mk1chopper]

Before you go have a look make sure you can afford it. Its one thing to buy the car its another to run it. He's already saying that it needs work so its already going to cost you more than £500 to start with. Why has the gearbox been changed, this would concern me?

 

[Welly]

Agree with the above.... take a willing friend.... Good luck, i'd love to have a girlfriend that would buy me a car as a surprise....:thumbsup:

 

[crazychris]

the brakes may just need bleeding but like the other members said, could be a master cylinder, the bumper may be an easy fix has the cambelt and water pump been changed if not your talking £300+ there, best thing to do ask him what service history it has but it is a really nice thought though hope its a good one as im sure he'll be well over the moon about it

 

[ptr]

My A3 is in pretty bad shape, dents in boot and driver door, cracks in both bumpers and bonnet kinked. Air con rad is cracked, revs hunt at idle and it does drink a bit of oil.

But it's never let me down! I drive it pretty hard most of the time (but always let it warm up), bought it 6 months ago for £1200 and since I crashed it I doubt I'd get more than £700 in its current state, but it's a solid car! There are bargains out there, but take someone who knows about cars with you to make sure you're not getting a dud. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

i'd love to have a girlfriend that would buy me a car as a surprise....:thumbsup:

As would I

 

[quattro1]

i personally wouldnt do it, you could end up spending 2-300 quid on getting it sorted, in which case you might as well have just spent £800 on one? ive seen a fair few go for 800 and less on pistonheads and ebay that were ready to jump in and drive off!

that said, i love it when my girlfriend buys me car stuff so either way it would be a pretty awesome presant even if it takes a while to get it on the road

 

[Wheel Pimp]

Agree with the above.... take a willing friend.... Good luck, i'd love to have a girlfriend that would buy me a car as a surprise....:thumbsup:

Id just love a Girlfriend either way! ha ha..... Shut it Welly, i know what you're thinking!

Thing is you could buy it in one of two states! 1 being ok but needs some much loved TLC, or 2 being totally shafted to the point of no return. It depends if you want to spend the money on it...

As Quattro1 said, You may as well buy one for £800 and have less problems!

 

[""pinkgirl**]

ahh, thanks everyone!! I have asked a friend to come with me on Sunday to check it out. He is an MOT Specialist so should be able to check it out properly - I of cause would just see that it is blue with wheels and nothing else

I'll keep u updated......

Thanks again for all your advice

R

 

[Dani_B19]

Regarding the brakes been spongy, lets face it, alot of people complain on here about spongy brake pedals, it does seem tobe a common thing.