Cheapest way to impove looks/performance?

[A3matt]

I am a student and only 18 at the moment and just brought my first audi as a project to do up over the summer, as you can see from the picture it is going to take some work.....

What would be some resonably cheap upgrades to do will repairing it?

thnaks matt

 

[A3matt]

Oh and its an A3 1.6 petrol 2006 reg! thanks

 

[navnayyar]

theres a reason why its been written off, its not worth repairing! :icon_thumright:

 

[Lewbo]

hi there was on for sale on ebay. am sure i seen this on there has had a really whack. is it a cat C then? will need jigging on a 4 poster too. quite alot of work needed for that.

 

[A3matt]

theres a reason why its been written off, its not worth repairing! :icon_thumright:

When repaired the total cost of the car will be less than a quarter of the price of normal A3's value! Is it really not worth reapiring?

 

[A3matt]

hi there was on for sale on ebay. am sure i seen this on there has had a really whack. is it a cat C then? will need jigging on a 4 poster too. quite alot of work needed for that.

Yeah it was off ebay..............managed to get it for a good price too................it does not need jigging only new chassis legs. Yes it is a Cat C

 

[Lee_R]

I'd sill jig it for piece of mind, anything with that amount of front damage it worth doing else you ill be scratching your head as to why the panels dont fit up nicely!

best thing to do is find one thats been shunted up the *** and get as much of the front end off it as you can, theres an 09 on ebay at the moment with a full front end if you want to facelift it!

 

[Lewbo]

i would jig it too. i deal in damaged cars and had one like this before, both legs were well over so had them pulled back right again. had to remove engine and gearbox to do a proper job but worth doing. everything lined up mint and could never tell. was alot of work though and there were more damage to the car than i thought. e.g cambelt cover broke and went into cambelt and jumped the belt kncking the timing out and snapped 8 inet and outlet lifters. so make sure you check things like that if you do take engine out to jig.

 

[a3_dan]

Hmm I would never want to take a ride in a car which was ever been in that state!

Good luck, sorry but I think you will need it bud.

 

[scottie123]

If it was me, I would facelift it as you are going to have to buy new parts anyway.

Must say...........there is a LOT of work there.

As said....good luck!

 

[scottie123]

ohhh and just out of interest,how much did you pay for it?

 

[Lee_R]

Hmm I would never want to take a ride in a car which was ever been in that state!

Why? Being cat c it will need a Vic check anyway and if Vosa inspectors are happy with the repair then so would I I'd be less happy buying a car that was HPi clear but had been repaired from a worse state. Happens a lot with young kids on 3rd party who roll their cars through hedges then repair them on the cheap!

 

[a3_dan]

I didn't ever insinuate it would never be to a satisfactory repair, I personally would just never want a car that has been in such an accident. For my own peace of mind I guess.

I will still be very interested in seeing how it looks after the work has been completed!

As I said, good luck mate!

 

[A3matt]

ohhh and just out of interest,how much did you pay for it?

I paid £1500 for it, taking in to account the year and milage plus only 1 owner from new in my opinion that was a good price. Repair cost will be around £1000 in the worst case senerio ............... in total £2500.....................hard to think of another way you can get a 2006 a3 for that price. Cheapest i've seen is £7000 for a poor one of the same age.

I found a bumper for less than £10 so i'm expecting to get it back on the road for less.

 

[scottie123]

A £1000 to repair that? You're having a grin ain't you?

I'm no expert, but surely you've missed a number somewhere!

I hope for your sake you are right!

 

[A3matt]

A £1000 to repair that? You're having a grin ain't you?

I'm no expert, but surely you've missed a number somewhere!

I hope for your sake you are right!

I know where you are coming from. It does look a lot worse than it actually is................

My last car was a SEAT ibiza and i did the same too that and parts tend to be slightly more expensive just due to how rare they are. That car cost £600 to do.... in a similar (slightly better) condition!

But u never know i could run in to some major problems...........fingers crossed not!

 

[scottie123]

I know where you are coming from. It does look a lot worse than it actually is................

My last car was a SEAT ibiza and i did the same too that and parts tend to be slightly more expensive just due to how rare they are. That car cost £600 to do.... in a similar (slightly better) condition!

But u never know i could run in to some major problems...........fingers crossed not!

I know someone else on here is doing the same, but to an S3.

The car he has looks in better condition also. I'm sure he is looking at a lot more than a 1G

He will probably be along in a bit and fill you in (not in the physical sense!)

 

[A3matt]

Ahhhhh yes that would be interesting to see what he is doing to his.................do you know where there is a picture of his car?

 

[PH1L]

I paid £1500 for it, taking in to account the year and milage plus only 1 owner from new in my opinion that was a good price. Repair cost will be around £1000 in the worst case senerio ............... in total £2500.....................hard to think of another way you can get a 2006 a3 for that price. Cheapest i've seen is £7000 for a poor one of the same age.

I found a bumper for less than £10 so i'm expecting to get it back on the road for less.

mate ive done a good few write offs in my day and usually cat c aint worth touching but id say youre looking at a 5k repair bill there to get it done right, thats with 2nd hand parts and done on a casher the chassis looks twisted to me

haha im the guy with the smudged s3 payment clears monday for it so i should get a real look at it by teh end of the week

 

[scottie123]

Knew it wouldnt take you long to find this one Phil!

 

[A3matt]

mate ive done a good few write offs in my day and usually cat c aint worth touching but id say youre looking at a 5k repair bill there to get it done right, thats with 2nd hand parts and done on a casher the chassis looks twisted to me

haha im the guy with the smudged s3 payment clears monday for it so i should get a real look at it by teh end of the week

5k mate? no way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! all the work will be done by me my dad and a few others that have experties. the parts will come up to around £600 and then the jigging if needed.

no way can the bill hit 5k...........only if you took it to a garage would it so much.

what state is your S3 in?

 

[N8]

Good luck

 

[PH1L]

id love to be proven wrong but i wasnt accounting for garage labour in that as the only way you get a write back on the road cost effectively is by doing things yourself

my s3
http://vagoc.co.uk/vb/showthread.php?t=3374

also haha you know me too well scottie as for the performance side other than a stage one map which would give around + 20bhp no other mods are cost effective

 

[A3matt]

Hmmm u may be right but i still couldn't account for 5k.....i would struggle to spend that much tbh!

do u mind saying how much u paid for yours?

 

[Lee_R]

i've done a few repairs and i suggest 1k is running it a bit fine but 5k is silly! i'd say about 1.5k in parts, 500 for decent paint. free labour and jig facilites and your sorted! Especially if you can get the paint done cheap.

buying new parts would be more like 5k

 

[N8]

Expensive game Lee!

 

[robby]

I paid £1500 for it, taking in to account the year and milage plus only 1 owner from new in my opinion that was a good price. Repair cost will be around £1000 in the worst case senerio ............... in total £2500.....................hard to think of another way you can get a 2006 a3 for that price. Cheapest i've seen is £7000 for a poor one of the same age.

I found a bumper for less than £10 so i'm expecting to get it back on the road for less.

Have both airbags been deployed? they're quite expensive to replace

I had a bump in a Mini Cooper (other driver hit me head on), both airbads deployed, small dent in bonnet, grille, bumper, radiator?, + little bits - insurance paid just under £5k

 

[PH1L]

well i was more accounting for any unexpected stuff and working under the assumption that the jigwork and painting was gonna be done by someone else

as for what i paid on the s3 id rather not say though i paid more than 10k by the time it reaches my garage. i am going to have paid more than 2/3's of market value after its repaired if all my expectations for parts come through though it will still be a cheap s3 and since it will be the car for a long time id say tis worth every penny

robby insurance companies just go for pure new parts and pay all the labour thats why your cost was soo high!

 

[A3matt]

Thank you Lee. I see you attended maths class. LOL

hoping to get most parts the same colour too.............but i may be pushing my luck

 

[fforeggub]

Car repairs can be a whole lot cheaper with second hand parts, DIY and tame non-main dealer garages. Have seen some great repairs done really cheaply and without compromising safety in any way. Good LucK!

 

[PH1L]

what are you looking to fit, faclift front ends or just and sline one? did the car have xenons if not will you be fitting them

 

[tku]

Sorry mate, but I thought this was a joke hahahaha!!! Damn when I saw the picture I peed myself then realised you was serious. Anyways, good luck to you mate, I'm sure it's a big job but once its finished I'm sure it will look the biz.

 

[A3matt]

what are you looking to fit, faclift front ends or just and sline one? did the car have xenons if not will you be fitting them

I hope to use facelift parts but they are quite sort after, so i'm not going to pay over the odds when i can get the standard for dirt cheap. The same goes for the headlights.

 

[Azizur_Rahman]

i had a bump with my fiesta and the bumper bonnet etc. was dammaged. Needed to be re jigged just for 1cm. Anyway the total i payed was £900 pounds with brand new non geniune parts. It all adds up. The paint alone cost me £320 and the others i got cheap, but what you really have to keep an eye on is the small things like bumper fixings etc. The odd 10 pounds will sum up to a big number. Not only that but the engine will need to be looked at, especially if its had a bump to put it in that state. If you want it to look the part then i suggest you take it to a good body shop, when it comes to repairing cat c cars, the word costly is always around the corner.

 

[paddy]

Break it for spares and take a hit.

 

[4NT]

Just can't see £1,000 getting that car done. Hope you do and prove everyone wrong but I think it'll be a long shot....

 

[cooltempo]

Hi mate I wish you all the luck in the world. I really aint no expert but I gotta say I'm sure £1000 is waaay too low ;( I recently managed to reverse my A3 Sportback into a tree at my folks house (it jumped out at me There was abosolutly no structural damage all cosmetic. Replaced rear bumper, skirt and one rear light cluster... all second hand OEM parts, all work done myself.

And the final bill.. £275, so looking at yours I just can t see £1000 getting the job finished... if you had said £3000 then I might think it was doable. Pics of mine before and after below... and yes I have a rear view mirror etc

Before...

After...

 

[4NT]

Oh Cooltempo, gutted! I've done similar myself, ha. And I reckon for £275 you did ok...

Wheels, suspension, spoiler next???:icon_thumright:

 

[cooltempo]

I know I know... it was my birthday too ! great present, felt like a right tit but I think 275 was ok... and yep next up, springs and wheels. Although with a new baby on the way on the way in November I may just go with the springs and recon the alloys on there for now, just put 2 new PZero's on too.

Also looking to put in a centre armrest asap, my 2001 A3 Quattro had one and I miss it on long journeys.

Mo

 

[4NT]

Congrats on the baby! FCA is a muct in my opinion too, don't know what these ebay ones are like, can't imagine the material matching, could be a dimantler one.

Look out for some 'parabolcs' mo, I considered them, it's the upgrade option on A3's 17" so you use the original tyres and are a vast improvement over the standard sports, just an idea...

Catch you soon