Looking in to purchasing

[dannyboy1]

Hi,ive been looking in to a new car,have to admit to looking at the e46 first,but wasnt entirely happy with what i found.My budget could take me to possibly an 2.0tdi 140 hopefully a 53 reg 40-50k.I am a bit worried after looking on this site and various others as they seem a bit hit and miss i.e owners either cant praise them enough or cant stand the site of theirs due to many problems theyve had.Would it be possible to look at the history of vehicles as in wheather theyve been problem motors in the past and always in and out getting fixed?
Another silly question, is the 170hp model, the same lump but with an uprated fuel system etc.....in simple terms,do audi themselves trust the internals of the 140, to go up to 170hp ?
Thanks for reading through the same old newby questions.
Cheers Dan

 

[Boydie]

I have hadmy 04 140PD now for 7months and not a single problem with 55k on the clock except and broken slider on the passenger seat and my dad owned it before me with no problems

my car is now been remapped from 140bhp to around (i hope) 180bhp again, with no problems thus far

there are plenty of members on here with remapped cars who have had it done a long time so wait until they reply

I love my car, best i have owned so far (which isnt hard since i have only had clio's lol)

what e46's were you considering? the 2.0TD has issues with the oil breather before the turbo - it can get clogged easily and cause the turbo to crap itself which you really do not want. only e46 derv i would consider would be the 330D especially the coupe!

 

[dannyboy1]

The bmw`s i was looking at were the petrol models, and yes defently the coupe body. I had my eye on a 325i!!! but IF they go wrong i read that they were an expensive fix, and not much chance of sorting it myself. Im so undecisive, im now looking at the s3`s too (i thought my renault 5 turbo days were over,but looking at a few vids of the s3`s ripping past some exotic cars, i feel the schoolboy racer making a comeback in me!!!)
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if the 140 and the 170 does have the same engine?
Cheers Dan

 

[Vertigo1]

The 140 and 170 are fundamentally the same engine. The main difference is the use of piezo injectors on the 170 although I suspect there are other little differences scattered around the engine. Not sure if the turbo itself is bigger.

As for character, the 170 is very different to the 140. It's far smoother and more refined and revs far more easily and eagerly, pulling hard through 4000rpm when the 140 is running out of puff at 3500. On the flipside, the 170 has noticably worse fuel economy and some have said that the torque comes in far more abruptly at around 2000rpm than in the 140, although I can't say I've noticed much difference myself.

HTH