Hi Guys,
I just thought I'd give you my life story since buying my first new A3 in 2004.
I bought an A3 sport 2.0 FSI in September 2004. It was my first new car and my dream car. Unfortunately some idiot in a company car piled into the front of it after on only 13 days (unlucky for some!) causing £4000 worth of damage. Lets just say I was a little upset. Anyway, after getting it repaired I had another 13 months of trouble free motoring until one day on the M4 during rush hour all the lights on the dash suddenly lit up an the engine revs dropped. The engine shut down into some kind of safety mode and I was just cruising with no power in the outside lane. It was a very frightening experience. I pulled over to the hard shoulder, switched the engine off and then on again and the car responded. I just carried on nervously with my journey. The next day I went to the Exeter dealer. They said that there was nothing they could do unless they see the car in the particular 'state' and that I would have to ring Audi roadside assistance. I didn't realise at the time that all the faults get logged on the onboard computer! Over the course of the next few months, the problem would happen sporadically, but only on dual carriage ways or motor ways (constant revs seems to cause the problem). I didn't have time to wait for assistance and knowing that restarting the car would solve the problem I soldiered on. Last summer I was on my way to London when the car cut out 5 times. At that point I couldnt take it any longer and rang roadside. The RAC engineer classed the car as un-driveable an extremely dangerous. While waiting for the recovery lorry the car got completely covered in bird mess. It was horrible and you could see it a mile off on a black car. Anyway, I picked the car up 5 days later to find that the lacquer had been destroyed as the dealer didn't clean the car until just before I picked it up. I was horrified. Over the course of the next 8 months, the same part (Throttle control Unit) failed another 2 times causing me to lose all power while at motorway speeds. As a result of them obviously not knowing what the problem was I decided that I had lost all faith in the car and the ability of the dealer to fix it. I therefore changed it for a A3 2.0T S Line on an 07 plate last month. While driving it home, an engine management light came on and so I had to book it straight back into the garage again. The car was gone for another 10 days while the ECU and lander probe where being replaced. As I took the car into the dealer, I noticed there was some fresh bird mess on the front wing. I asked them a number of times to remove it. 10 Later when I went to pick my car up, they handed me the keys and said the car is all ready and has been washed. I went out onto the forecourt and the first thing I notice was that the car wasn't washed and the bird mess was still there. Luckily, I washed it off and the lacquer was O.K. but another close call nonetheless. Why can't these idiots who charge the £100 an hour get anything right. It makes me very nervous to keep an Audi that is out of warranty. I think I'll sell it when it gets to 3 years!!
I ask myself, why do I keep going back.............Its just the shape and image of the A3 that I love and in my opinion nothing comes close even if it means putting up with the idiots at the dealership.
Sorry for boring you, I just had to get it off my chest.
I just thought I'd give you my life story since buying my first new A3 in 2004.
I bought an A3 sport 2.0 FSI in September 2004. It was my first new car and my dream car. Unfortunately some idiot in a company car piled into the front of it after on only 13 days (unlucky for some!) causing £4000 worth of damage. Lets just say I was a little upset. Anyway, after getting it repaired I had another 13 months of trouble free motoring until one day on the M4 during rush hour all the lights on the dash suddenly lit up an the engine revs dropped. The engine shut down into some kind of safety mode and I was just cruising with no power in the outside lane. It was a very frightening experience. I pulled over to the hard shoulder, switched the engine off and then on again and the car responded. I just carried on nervously with my journey. The next day I went to the Exeter dealer. They said that there was nothing they could do unless they see the car in the particular 'state' and that I would have to ring Audi roadside assistance. I didn't realise at the time that all the faults get logged on the onboard computer! Over the course of the next few months, the problem would happen sporadically, but only on dual carriage ways or motor ways (constant revs seems to cause the problem). I didn't have time to wait for assistance and knowing that restarting the car would solve the problem I soldiered on. Last summer I was on my way to London when the car cut out 5 times. At that point I couldnt take it any longer and rang roadside. The RAC engineer classed the car as un-driveable an extremely dangerous. While waiting for the recovery lorry the car got completely covered in bird mess. It was horrible and you could see it a mile off on a black car. Anyway, I picked the car up 5 days later to find that the lacquer had been destroyed as the dealer didn't clean the car until just before I picked it up. I was horrified. Over the course of the next 8 months, the same part (Throttle control Unit) failed another 2 times causing me to lose all power while at motorway speeds. As a result of them obviously not knowing what the problem was I decided that I had lost all faith in the car and the ability of the dealer to fix it. I therefore changed it for a A3 2.0T S Line on an 07 plate last month. While driving it home, an engine management light came on and so I had to book it straight back into the garage again. The car was gone for another 10 days while the ECU and lander probe where being replaced. As I took the car into the dealer, I noticed there was some fresh bird mess on the front wing. I asked them a number of times to remove it. 10 Later when I went to pick my car up, they handed me the keys and said the car is all ready and has been washed. I went out onto the forecourt and the first thing I notice was that the car wasn't washed and the bird mess was still there. Luckily, I washed it off and the lacquer was O.K. but another close call nonetheless. Why can't these idiots who charge the £100 an hour get anything right. It makes me very nervous to keep an Audi that is out of warranty. I think I'll sell it when it gets to 3 years!!
I ask myself, why do I keep going back.............Its just the shape and image of the A3 that I love and in my opinion nothing comes close even if it means putting up with the idiots at the dealership.
Sorry for boring you, I just had to get it off my chest.
