Help choosing my A3....

[jb0o]

Hi all,

I'm looking at buying an A3, budget is around £8-9k.

I know that I want an A3 with:
Diesel Engine (pref 2.0TDI)
3 Door
Sport Model

But I also want a model preferably after Sept 05, with the new style steering wheel. I'm also craving some sort of leather in the seats.

Looking on Autotrader, in my budget I can get:

2004 2.0TDI, 40k miles, leather seats - £8.5k
or
2006 2.0TDI, cloth trim, new style steering wheel, 75k miles - £8.5k

After all of that my question winds down to this:
What would you prefer, the older more up to date model with higher milage, or the older, more spec'd model with lower milage.

I've never had a diesel before, but I've heard that they are a lot more reliable than petrol engines and can easily be seen past 100k. I've ever heard that they're ran in until 60k miles?

Thanks for any input,
Jonny.

 

[Tommy]

i know its a newer car, but for the sake of a "newer plate" and a steerin wheel, your missin out on leather seats, lower milage

 

[jb0o]

Yeah, and thats whats dragging me to the 2004 model, as I think I would appreciate leather seats more than a >2005 steering wheel.

 

[chill14]

If you after the leather, and lower mileage then I would go with the 2004 model.

I'm pretty sure the steering wheel could be changed and have a later version one retrofitted if you really wanted it.

I have seen enough threads about changing steering wheels on here.

Diesels are pretty reliable. No spark plugs or leads etc to fail while running. Plus you will get a better fuel economy. You will probably get mid to high 40's to the gallon easy, depending on your driving style. I get 45- 48 mpg, doing 3 miles stuck in traffic, 19 miles on motorway each day, to and from work. Mines done 43,500 miles.

 

[Ash B]

I'd go for the lower miles to be honest mate the 2004. You can always upgrade the steering wheel from any thing from £150-£500 depending on what style steering wheel you want.
I know its a new plate but for me i'd want the one with lower miles. When i got my new car was either black 2007 57 plate 28,000 was extra £2k so £15k or akoya silver56 plate 21,500 just under £13k And when my cars get around 53,000 miles i want to change which i've down three times since passing last january and its starting to take the p*ss about lol. But really if you like the newer one more go for it just try and get the price down a bit

Ashley

 

[jb0o]

If you after the leather, and lower mileage then I would go with the 2004 model.

I'm pretty sure the steering wheel could be changed and have a later version one retrofitted if you really wanted it.

I have seen enough threads about changing steering wheels on here.

Diesels are pretty reliable. No spark plugs or leads etc to fail while running. Plus you will get a better fuel economy. You will probably get mid to high 40's to the gallon easy, depending on your driving style. I get 45- 48 mpg, doing 3 miles stuck in traffic, 19 miles on motorway each day, to and from work. Mines done 43,500 miles.

Yeah, I think that will be the best option. I'd also feel more comfortable getting the car with less milage.

It would also be a lot cheaper and easy to retrofit a steering wheel than leather seats, lol.

 

[jb0o]

Yeah, thanks everyone. I think I will go for the model with the lesser milage. Less to worry about I hope.

Would it be a big problem if I didn't buy from Audi direct? I want to buy from a dealer, but Audi have nothing at all in for my budget.

 

[Ash B]

No probably be no problem. Have you tried getting audi down at all my first a3 they wanted £11k for it in the end i got it for £8,750 with four new tyres all around and other stuff.

Yeah, thanks everyone. I think I will go for the model with the lesser milage. Less to worry about I hope.

Would it be a big problem if I didn't buy from Audi direct? I want to buy from a dealer, but Audi have nothing at all in for my budget.

 

[jb0o]

No probably be no problem. Have you tried getting audi down at all my first a3 they wanted £11k for it in the end i got it for £8,750 with four new tyres all around and other stuff.

Wow, not bad lol. I'm also feeling that being in recession, they'll be begging me to take one.

I'll take a look on Audi now and see what there is thanks for the info.

 

[jb0o]

Not much on there at the minute, only a 2004 in Silver with Red leather interior, £10,500.