Potential new S3 owner with a question!

rscut · Mar 8, 2012

First of all, hello to you all,

I have been interested in buying an S3 for a while but having just bought my first house the funds were not available. Anyway, i have been looking at S3's for sale and came across this one

2009 Audi S3 Quattro 3dr Hatchback 2.0

I first saw it before Christmas but the guy was very unreasonable withL his trade price for my car. It still hasn't sold and has been yoyoing between 18 - 19k since then. I noticed today that he has posted that it has had a new clutch. This sends out all kind of warning signals to me as the car is less than 3 years old and has 25k on the clock! What do you guys think?

Cheese · Mar 9, 2012

rscut said:
First of all, hello to you all,

I have been interested in buying an S3 for a while but having just bought my first house the funds were not available. Anyway, i have been looking at S3's for sale and came across this one

2009 Audi S3 Quattro 3dr Hatchback 2.0

I first saw it before Christmas but the guy was very unreasonable withL his trade price for my car. It still hasn't sold and has been yoyoing between 18 - 19k since then. I noticed today that he has posted that it has had a new clutch. This sends out all kind of warning signals to me as the car is less than 3 years old and has 25k on the clock! What do you guys think?

The clutches are not very good in manual S3s. My own car has just had its clutch replaced at 20,000 miles. It has been driven quite hard. It is about 25% up on the torque of a standard car.

Personally, I think that is a good sign that the car has been thrashed and I would avoid it.

Sandra · Mar 9, 2012

rscut said:
First of all, hello to you all,

I have been interested in buying an S3 for a while but having just bought my first house the funds were not available. Anyway, i have been looking at S3's for sale and came across this one

2009 Audi S3 Quattro 3dr Hatchback 2.0

I first saw it before Christmas but the guy was very unreasonable withL his trade price for my car. It still hasn't sold and has been yoyoing between 18 - 19k since then. I noticed today that he has posted that it has had a new clutch. This sends out all kind of warning signals to me as the car is less than 3 years old and has 25k on the clock! What do you guys think?

Welcome to ASN. Have a read through the Faqs section at the top of the page, lots of useful info in there to help you out. Enjoy the forum.

PaulAr · Mar 9, 2012

Clutches can fail on standard S3, this is not unheard of.

Its more commonly know on remapped cars.
A remapped, but un abused S3 can still be a good car if properly looked after and serviced.

Put it this way, I would rather have a remapped car that has been cared for, warmed up sympathetically etc, than a standard car that is abused, thrashed from cold etc..

I would view it, drive it, do the usual checks and be diligent. Even get an expert or knowledgeable enthusiast to give an opinion on kit.

Also bear in mind, if you buy a car that hasnt had a clutch within its first 40K or so, you might find youself coughing up to do it yourself.

Paul

Cheese · Mar 9, 2012

PaulAr said:
Clutches can fail on standard S3, this is not unheard of.

Its more commonly know on remapped cars.
A remapped, but un abused S3 can still be a good car if properly looked after and serviced.

Put it this way, I would rather have a remapped car that has been cared for, warmed up sympathetically etc, than a standard car that is abused, thrashed from cold etc..

I would view it, drive it, do the usual checks and be diligent. Even get an expert or knowledgeable enthusiast to give an opinion on kit.

Also bear in mind, if you buy a car that hasnt had a clutch within its first 40K or so, you might find youself coughing up to do it yourself.

Paul

You make some good points, but how do you know which it is - a well looked after car or an abused one? I suppose it is difficult to make a judgement without the riht information. Be careful and good luck finding the right car.

RedDejavu · Mar 9, 2012

if it has had oil changed every 4k, FASH, every stonechip topped up and clean engine bay plus nice shiny tailtips means someone put a lot of care keeping the car in top condition. Dont know why some people when they buy a sports car think it wasnt abused. Certainly at some point every sports car has been trashed S3 is meant to be driven hard so why expect something else?:]

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Potential new S3 owner with a question!

rscut

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Cheese

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Sandra

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PaulAr

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Cheese

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RedDejavu

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