buying from fontain

[SteveS]

anyone bought an audi from fontain.co.uk on here? im looking for a b5 rs4 and notice they have them quite often. just wondered if they were ok?

 

[Dan Gliballs]

My car came from Fontain (to the last owner a few months before I bought it).

They blatantly lied about having serviced the car (it transpired).



The rear pads were through.

The oil was black.

The brake fluid was dead.

One lambda sensor was dead.

The heat sensor was dead.

The Y-Pipe was split.

A lower boost-hose was split.

The car was making virtually no boost.


They took lots of pretty pictures of it for the advert, and charged top dollar for it (despite it needing it's expensive cambelt change imminently),.........................but were a complete shower to put it nicely

 

[SteveS]

not good,especially when its a 20-25k car that im looking at. i dont generally like dealers at all but these cars are thin on the ground.

 

[Dan Gliballs]

not good,especially when its a 20-25k car that im looking at. i dont generally like dealers at all but these cars are thin on the ground.

Sorry, this was my S4 (just under £12K from them), not an RS4.

But yeah, not good at all.

 

[SteveS]

i was unsure about either an rs4 or a porsche 996. but having tried an rs4 today my minds made up! just scared of buying a lemon!

 

[jdp1962]

I've bought two of my three Audis from them (including my current one), and they did work on the other. Every experience I've had with them was top notch.

Dan, do I gather you didn't buy direct from them, but from someone else who had done so previously?

 

[GSB1]

Do your own checks, don't assume they know the cars as well as you might hope.

They get some nice cars, go over them as you would a private buy and get a health check straight away from a real specialist after you have bought so you can go straight back if necessary.

 

[SteveS]

the money im using to buy with is a one off compensation payout so i dont want to make a mistake and resale value is important. this is why i want an rs4 as they are rare, exclusive and sort after so hopefully it will always fetch good money if i want my cash back. i could buy a b6 s4 v8 or b5 s4 but i think im right in saying the b5 rs4 is fairly stable depreciation now.

 

[Dan Gliballs]

Dan, do I gather you didn't buy direct from them, but from someone else who had done so previously?

Correct, but the owner before me had only bought the car 2-3 months before I bought it.

He'd been told it'd been serviced/seats Scotch-guarded etc, so bought it mainly for his wife (with peace of mind).

She was heavily pregnant and expecting twins and decided to stop driving it, and the double-buggy they had delivered wouldn't fit in the boot ANYway.

I went to view the car with 75.5K miles on the clock, had a shop around, then went back to this one around 5 weeks later to buy it,....and it STILL had 75.5K miles on it. They hardly used the car at all. There's no way on God's earth that they caused all the problems I inherited.

On the initial testdrive the car didn't feel too quick (due to me being used to my 300bhp per ton Astra GTE), but I just thought I needed to get it home and get used to it later.

After I got my Audi expert mate on the job, I realised the real facts about the supposed service, and it cost me a fair old wedge to get the boost back etc etc etc.

 

[SteveS]

i'd save a fortune buying private if i can find an imaculate well loved car. they seem to start about 17k private, same car at a dealer is 20- 25k thats a bigger wad of cash than a dealers warranty is worth!

 

[Dan Gliballs]

And half the warranties aren't worth the paper they're written on.

I've had 30+ cars in 15 years, yet have NEVER bought from a dealer

 

[SteveS]

just been quoted £1002 fully comp & £370 excess on a 2001' rs4 with footman james who im with now. im 33 with 3points. is that a decent quote?

its about what i expected tbh.

 

[GSB1]

Sounds expensive to me!

Have a look at the brokers that advertise on RS246.com

 

[stoakseya4]

Bought my B6 S4 from their a few weeks back, and had reasonable service. The spare keys werent available, nor was the MoT. Although they were posted/couriered to me 2 weeks later, so all ok.

Couldn't negotiate any discount on the car price, but I did take some 'comfort' the car wqas coming from an audi 'specialist'... My car was in the showroom nestled between 2 Avus Silver RS4's, and an RS6 saloon.

All in mint condition.

I think any car bought from a dealer comes with some peace of mind, over and above buying private, but you do pay for that considerably. I dont know the private price for my car, but I dont think it was excessively more? It was a 2003/53 plate Avant 37k miles, plus the options mentioned in my sig...

All in all though, I would buy from them again...

 

[SteveS]

they have 2 rs4's at the moment in avus silver and although it was not the colour i wanted its more important to get a good one with good history and condition. i drove one in imola yellow on sunday but its a very loud colour and when im doing my regular blast down the M40 @ 100mph everybody will see what im doing. i might have a ride down to fontain and see what they can do for me.

 

[Olly_K]

haven't much about fountain, that is, nothing good, but nothing bad either. I reckon their prices are a little too expensive, however.

Do you like nogaro blue ?

 

[whisky180]

anyone bought an audi from fontain.co.uk on here? im looking for a b5 rs4 and notice they have them quite often. just wondered if they were ok?

if your worried about buying from a stealers why not have a look at the classifieds on rs246.com or pistonheads.com and buy from an enthusiast instead!

 

[SteveS]

yes olly, love nogaro blue, and imola yellow but can you get away with enjoying 380bhp in a bright coloured car? ive looked on piston heads, there is some nice MTM ones on there at the moment one is 470bhp.

 

[SteveS]

should i buy a standard one or moddified? i would only buy a well modded one like mtm with proof of whats been done. modded ones are no more expensive to buy so it saves money in the long run if i end up tuning it. Main thing is, it needs to be reliable for trips abroad. many have brake upgrades, is it a weak point then? i do go to track days occasionally.

 

[easytease]

i tried to get a cambelt and waterpump done with them, but they failed to confirm my booking or even answer the phone untill the day. At which point i cancelled it and got it done cheaper at my local true independant family run jobbie.