A3 value for money ?

[paddy]

I paid £20,000 for my A3, 3.5 years ago. so far it has cost me £6300 in service and maintenance to give it a FSH ( not tyres/exhaust etc) so I have shelled out £26,300. I have covered 30k miles and the car has been valued at £8k now. So basically it has cost me £5k a year to run if i sold it today. Thats a £100 a week before you even start it up...
The latest health check says the discs are shot and the Rad is leaking now at a total of 45k miles.
And its been in the workshop for a month now so i can expect another bill to add to these totals'

The advice from my Audi main dealer was, buy new keep for 3 years or get an extended warranty and then sell ! Never keep it out of guarantee unless you have very deep pockets.

If your out of guarantee then you are living on luck IMHO...be warned.

 

[Lee_R]

I think you have just been unlucky, I've had mine 2 years and it's cost me nothing apart from a 200 quid service and some brake pads.

 

[Brett Butler]

tbh that I think is really poor, and I agree you have been unlucky, if everyone was in your boat, no one would buy them

 

[a3_dan]

Hmm this worries me. I have had my car about a year now. It's a 55 plate, with 24k on clock, it has cost me a 200quid service and new tyres and a new brake switch in that year. So not a bad year, I just hope nothing goes wrong in the next year...I'm debating at the moment whether to part ex it soonish for a new S3, I've never owned a brand new car...

 

[biggiep]

£6300 seems an extraordinary figure, the last A3 I had which was a 2005 2.0TDI only cost me one service at £149 at Audi Blackburn on their deal for cars over 3 years old, and one tyre which had a puncture. And that was over 2 years! What has cost so much? Were there faults out of warranty? Also I bought mine and sold it only losing 2k over 2 years so I think you have been mucho unlucky. My mum and dad both have audis too and they have only cost servicing to keep going which is for an A3 and a mk2 TT.
£8k sounds low too but all depends on spec/miles of the car.

 

[Lee_R]

Hmm this worries me. I have had my car about a year now. It's a 55 plate, with 24k on clock, it has cost me a 200quid service and new tyres and a new brake switch in that year. So not a bad year, I just hope nothing goes wrong in the next year...I'm debating at the moment whether to part ex it soonish for a new S3, I've never owned a brand new car...

No need to worry, the 2.0T is a good engine. Paddys problems have mainly been engine related even though the 3.2 is pretty reliable, its just when they do go wrong, they are always hugely expenisve problems!

My bro has had an R32 for 4 years now and hasnt had a problem with it at all. Paddys problems are just unlucky.

 

[paddy]

All the same when the quote you £7.5-£8k px for a brand new S3 on a 3.2 S-Line with just 45k miles...DSG/RNSE/Cruise/Leather/Ambient/FBMFSW/ and totally loved and spotless in a popular colour with FULL ASH....

A couple of service bills.
Short service with MOT/split boot rubber and aircon re charge £750
Long service with Hadex oil £700
Aircon fault £400
Cam sprockets and tensioner £4300
Gearbox fault, re program gearbox ECU £375
Fit new Lambda sensors £230

And so on...

 

[Brett Butler]

All the same when the quote you £7.5-£8k px for a brand new S3 on a car with 3.2 S-Line with just 45k miles...DSG/RNSE/Cruise/Leather/Ambient/FBMFSW/ and totally loved and spotless in a popular colour with FULL ASH....

A couple of service bills.
Short service with MOT/split boot rubber and aircon re charge £750
Long service with Hadex oil £700
Aircon fault £400
Cam sprockets and tensioner £4300
Gearbox fault, re program gearbox ECU £375

And so on...

I take it this was all at an Audi Dealer Garage?

I would never use an Audi Garage for that sort of work, for me my plan is warranty/repair service only, after that there are some good VAG who specialize in Audi, VW, Seat, Skoda etc, costing a hell of a lot less.

 

[V6Pete]

I think you've been unlucky on 2 points:

1) Paying £5K+ for 3.2 engine related problems. I had issues with mine, but managed to get a £5K bill down to under £1500. Still unpleasant, but easier to swallow.
2) Buying yours 3.5 years ago. Unfortunately large petrol engined cars have never been less popular than they are now, so you've taken a massive hit on depreciation. I paid under £9K for mine 18 months ago, so shouldn't have lost a great deal.

Buying new might save big repair bills, but it'll cost you a load in depreciation. Take a look at the Z4M - £50K new, and 3-4 year old cars with very low mileage are barely fetching over £20K.

Unless you're very unlucky, buying a car at 1-2 years old when the initial depreciation has hit will usually be a good option, and as for whether to keep an extended warranty, after the experience you've had with this car, it certainly gives piece of mind, but statistically (as it will have to) the warranty will usually cost more than the repairs you would have needed...

 

[N8]

Just unlucky man, had my A3 TDI since new, its pretty much ran itself since then!

 

[PaulAr]

Paddy must have had a big slice of negative cake today.......

He is probably walking up and down his road wearing an "End is Nigh" sandwich boards we speak,
Chin up son.

Paul

 

[MR ANGRY]

I also bought a brand new a3 2.0 tdi s line 3.5 years ago.
Did not cost me one penny other than two fornt tyres.
One service which was about £90 labour ( i supplied parts).
Car cost me £20,000, just sold it for fourteen.
Should of bought an s line TDI paddy.
Doesn`t matter what gas guzzler you buy, they always lose a fortune.

 

[Sarah's A3]

Well, fraid I disagree Paddy. Not all out of warranty are bad motors! You have been unlucky!

What we do is Audi until out of warranty then Audi/VAG specialists after that! Ok, we've had turbo issues/porous head etcon an A6 but other than that we've had a few other Audis that have been brilliant. Our A6 avant has high mileage and fingers crossed has been one of the best cars we've ever had and its 8 years old now.

To be honest, Audi are going to say buy new and change before warranty expires, they want business!!! Shame for you as after yours is fixed there isnt much left to be done for many more miles of trouble free motoring! Not a bad buy for someone who knows a good specialist!!!

Sure you will decide what suits you but ok, this 3.2 has been costly but could be ok when sorted for years! And whos saying another may not be similar! Even ones in warranty, its a pain having to keep going back!

Good luck Paddy!

 

[Hunty]

This is not isolated to Audi's paddy, and to be frank, "Keep and sell after 3 years" my ****! I lost 9k on my mazda mx5 mk3 after 2 and a half years, not to mention tyres and servicing, I paid £10k for my 3.2, can't see it being worth £1k in 3 years time, Audi salesman talking rubish. Get a 3 year old S3 for £16k, in 2 years it will be worth probably £12k if you're unlucky. Totally off new cars, unless you go small that is, My Skoda fabia vrs was £11.3k when new, Sold for £9.2 2 years later, cheap motoring that was. If you are selling I'll have your back box off you Paddy!!!! Could always be worse my friend!

 

[N8]

Paddy must have had a big slice of negative cake today.......

He is probably walking up and down his road wearing an "End is Nigh" sandwich boards we speak,
Chin up son.

Paul

lmfao

 

[paddy]

Well one thing is for sure...its not worth selling now, if i can squeeze a few more miles out of it without more expence i might gain some of my loss back.

I didnt mean this as and end is nigh thread !! Frankly i couldnt care less if it comes back or not. Audi have lent me a brand new A4 for the last month and that has made me realise what a ****** good car the 3.2 is ( when it goes ) My gripe is not with the car..its just a car...not even with Audi, its with the network of totally useless franchises and tech who dont know their **** from their elbow and yet charge more per hour than my mate who works in a Ferrari/Bentley/Lambo dealership !!
I mean..4 weeks ago they changed a cam chain tensioner...this week as it still is not running they ring up and say....We just discovered it has two tensioners so we are going to try changing the other one and see if that fixes it ... I mean come on !! even i know its got 4 tensioners and they just discovered it has 2 after a month ....lol

 

[V6Pete]

Well one thing is for sure...its not worth selling now, if i can squeeze a few more miles out of it without more expence i might gain some of my loss back.

I didnt mean this as and end is nigh thread !! Frankly i couldnt care less if it comes back or not. Audi have lent me a brand new A4 for the last month and that has made me realise what a ****** good car the 3.2 is ( when it goes ) My gripe is not with the car..its just a car...not even with Audi, its with the network of totally useless franchises and tech who dont know their **** from their elbow and yet charge more per hour than my mate who works in a Ferrari/Bentley/Lambo dealership !!
I mean..4 weeks ago they changed a cam chain tensioner...this week as it still is not running they ring up and say....We just discovered it has two tensioners so we are going to try changing the other one and see if that fixes it ... I mean come on !! even i know its got 4 tensioners and they just discovered it has 2 after a month ....lol

Well you f*cked up by taking it to a main dealer. There are a number of VAG specialists I would much rather send my car to than a main dealer.

The only time I use a main dealer is for servicing to keep my FASH, or when I've already negotiated that Audi UK are paying most of the bill! Other than that, specialists all the way.

 

[Hunty]

Its got an engine??? lol

 

[unkle]

Bad luck dude, touch wood Ive had trouble free motoring so far, I bought a pup once but that was more down to the guy who sold it to me than the actual car/brand/dealership network.

To be fair though, as someone else pointed out, large petrol engined cars have depreciated quite a lot, I bought a Saab 9-3 turbo just before the credit crunch, it had FSH and was mint, I figured it would do me for 6 months till I'd sorted a proper contract with the company I was working with at the time, lost a few quid on it in the end when I sold it as the MPG on it was terrible and the price of petrol had rocketed, just one of those things...

 

[paddy]

Well you f*cked up by taking it to a main dealer. There are a number of VAG specialists I would much rather send my car to than a main dealer.

The only time I use a main dealer is for servicing to keep my FASH, or when I've already negotiated that Audi UK are paying most of the bill! Other than that, specialists all the way.

Easy mistake to make mate...taking a Audi to an Audi dealership thinking they might know about Audi's dont forget you knew you were in for a £5k bill...I only had a small misfire...
I was just interested if others here were having the same problems. I dont care about the money if they fix the car.

 

[MR ANGRY]

If you dont care about the money, why are you wowling on about how much it has cost in depreciation?

 

[N8]

lmfao

 

[paddy]

If you dont care about the money, why are you wowling on about how much it has cost in depreciation?

Wondered when you would turn up. I am not wowling about the depreciation either. I am simply pointing out the costs i have incurred running this car. I thought it might interest some others here. As has been pointed out, if it had been a 911 or a S4 things could have been a lot worse.