Need Advise Off The TDi Owners

that budget will get you a nice 2004 sport with around 50k as you have said

my 04 spot has just gone past 55k - i have just got a remap as well and in my opinion it is just getting better and better to drive!

looks like new, goes like new and feels like new

there is a thread in this section with an 03 car with over 105k on the clock and it seems to be going strong!

DSG - yes you can change manually but with flappy paddles but i doubt you would get a DSG for 11k not sure though

just look for the usual signs when looking at a used car

With the new fully syntheic oils , the engines are very wear resistant, ive seen the older PD engines with 180,000 miles on the clock and still in great condition.

the 2.0 TDI engines do use a fair bit of engine oil, which can become annoying as its around £14 a litre

ive heard quite a few reports of the "intake flap motor" failing, one of our A3's has had this changed already.

look for knocking rear supension, a revised damper should solve the problem, one of our A3 s had this done under warrenty

personally if i was keeping the car for a long time, and lots of miles, I wouldnt go for the DSG even though both our cars are DSG , im still unsure how reliable these gearboxes are when you start pilling on the miles, a manual will always be more reliable.

Might be worth checking out the auctions - I'd imagine there are quite a few ex-company cars coming onto the market about now which will have high mileage but it will have been mostly easy motorway miles and they'll have been well maintained.

Quattro_Lew said:

can somebody explain the DSG to me? can you manually change gear as well as auto?

what kind of things are needed to look out for when buying?

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1/ Yes,you can change gears manually with DSG,but only within pre-defined limits.If you let the revs drop too low,it will change down for you.Sensible enough.
However,if you let the revs get too high,it will change up for you.
Intensely annoying.
DSG will only allow you to rev to about 4400 revs before taking over.
A recent thread on here has proven that the engine can rev a good bit higher than that,so DSG is robbing you of speed and the flexibility to hold the gear.

2/ If I were buying a 2.0tdi (fat chance,after my ownership experience) I'd try and contact the previous owner to see if it was an oil user.
Some don't use any/much,but some use lots.
The oil is expensive (£12-£15 per litre) and it can add to the running costs significantly if it needs a litre every 2000 miles or less.