S3 buying advice needed......

cabby86

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Hi,

I have been lurking on here for a while now, I currently own a MK5 golf TDI, and as a result I don't really come on here that much. I have owned my golf for a couple of years now but have always fancied a S3, just feel I have got to get it out of my system lol!! I have been looking for a while, but I am still trying to get my head around the huge variation in prices and cars that are described as 'mint' when they are clearly not!!!!

I've found a car, but just wondered peoples thoughts were?? It's at Listers in Coventry (Audi main dealer), its a 2001/51 S3, kingfisher blue with half leather, blue alcantara, 3 owners, 64k miles and its up at £9,999!!!!!

Its been up for a while and I have always discarded it because it seemed so overpriced, I gave the dealer a quick ring and had a chat, the previous owner px'ed it against a new S3 and drove a pretty hard deal on his p/x price according to the dealer, personally I think it's just the dealers excuse for the high price, he even admitted it wasn't the easiest colour combination to sell, but I quite like it!!

So what do you think its worth?? I have had a quick look on a few car valuation sites and they all seem to be saying about £7000-£7500!! I have got a feeling I might be wasting my time going to have a look and a chat, but I guess you never know!!

Many thanks in advance,

Chris
 
Chris
I'll have a look at it as its not a million miles away but it is overpriced but they do offer a years warranty..well they did with me!
 
My mate looked at that car, I work just down the road from Listers.

Its nice but it was a bit rich for him I think. They have had it a while if its the same one so you might be able to give them a nice low offer and pick up a bargain.

Nice car though.

T
 
oh and also when I px'ed my VR for my S3 they gave me the lowest book price for my car so what they are saying is the stinky stuff.Had to strip the VR!!
 
Cheers for the comments so far, I have decided to go and have a look tomorrow and see what they say, I was thinking about px'ing my golf, funnily enough according to a couple of sites, my current golf and this S3 have a near identical trade and retail value, so I am keen to see what they will offer me!!

Chris
 
It does depend on what condition the car is in overall. If it's "mint" it'll be worth a bit more no? But 10k is still a little high.

G
 
Well I went to have a look at the car and was pretty impressed, full Audi history etc, new brakes all round and 4 very recent Dunlop Sp's, the colour actually looked better than I had expected, hardly has any extras, but I don't mind this. The car is a 210 not a 225 though, but this doesn't really bother me, im not sure if this will have any effect on what it is worth.

The salesman who is dealing with it was off, but his colleague was okay not pushy at all, which made a change!! I am going to have a chat when he is back tomorrow and see what can be done, still got the feeling they will kill me on my p/x and then only knock a couple of hundred off.......who knows though!! Will let you all know what happens.

Cheers

Chris
 
Paul Brad....

What a clean car. Lovely condition and while higher mileage than some i would not let that put me off at all. I think your car is really nice. If i'd not bought one myself last year yours would certainly be high up my list as it's the nicest colour imo and is in very good condition.

Cabby:

Do NOT let them push you about tomorrow or show too much interest, be reserved as this will work in your favour. They want your money, remember that. Credit crunch always makes this more apparent to dealers and given a fairly good deal i'd take it.

You could always look at Pauls ^^ as i think that his is nice and clean. Save yourself a packet and spend some money on a hoilday.

G
 
Paul brad - I saw the other thread £6200 seemed good, makes the one I am looking at seem massively overpriced at nearly £10K! Like you said you are just happy to have it gone and not pay the bill to get it sorted. I am considering selling my golf privately and then just waiting for a decent S3 to come along - it would be nice if I could get rid of it as quickly as you have got your S3 sold!

Mr.G - thanks for the advice, that is definitely going to be my game plan, not going to call them, just going to wait for them to call me as I am in no rush!! Judging by the size of the dealership and the amount of staff, I am sure they will be trying to grab every deal that they can at the moment!!

Fingers crossed, will let you know how it all goes.

Cheers

Chris
 
cabby mate i live in covenry too so if you'd like to see what a revo'd s3 does let me know, or jason (vorhees)
 
Let us know how you get on with this, want to know what dealers are willing to do to get a sale at the mo....

Personally i think the Kingfisher Blue is a cracking colour!!

Good luck, whatever you decide to do :)
 
S3 Rav- cheers for the offer, may take you up on it!!

nilz18t - Kingsfisher looks so much better than I expected, but I won't let the dealer know that! Will definitely let you know how it goes, still waiting for the dealer to ring though. I forgot to add they had already taken a deposit on it a while ago (would not say how long ago though!!) from a guy, but he is struggling to get finance on it, not surprised due to the age and current price of it! I imagine they might be working on him before they give me a call!!

Might give them a call tomorrow, if I don't hear anything today and see what there position is, do not want to seem to keen though.

Cheers again for all the input,

Chris
 
Just to keep you guys up to date, I did not go with the Kingfisher blue one in the end, the guy that had the deposit on it managed to get a bank loan instead of financing it..... I'm not really too bothered as it was far too much money!! I have decided to sell my car privately in order to get a decent price and than purchase an S3.

I have been looking around and cars seem to vary so much in price, I have got a revised budget of around £7000 and I am looking for a facelift car with less than about 70k miles, pref a low no of owners and good history, I'm not really bothered about colours (just not yellow) or spec, the condition and history is more important to me. Just wondering if you guys think this is a realistic budget or not?? The car will be kept for a minimum of 2 years, so I am looking to get it right first time.

Cheers

Chris
 
I'm glad you didn't go for that 10k car. It doesn't matter how good condition it is, that is way overpriced. It was low spec and a years warranty is only worth a few hundred quid!

You're best lokoing for cars around 7-8k, preferrably 225 models (anything newer than 2002 should be but check as they overlapped) Quickest way to check is in the boot under the floor mat next to the spare wheel. It says its power output on the sticker, 154kw is 210, 164kw is 225. Mine is a 210 even though they told me it was a 225! 225's apparently have chassis tweaks which make it abit better.

I paid £6400 for a '51 with 70k miles and a few options from a garage with 3 month warranty (it was up for 7k). Superb condition, better than i was expecting!

Good luck
 
I'm not sure if anyone ever said the 225 was any better...
It's a group cheaper on the insurance on the 210, go with that!

(And even that's forgetting the potential tax change, if it ever comes to pass)
 
Well after looking at the kingfisher blue car weeks ago and assuming it had sold, I carried on looking and put my golf up for sale a week ago, I looked at a few more S3's but was struggling to find a decent one with my £7.5k budget. I then got a call from the dealer in the middle of last week saying the car had not sold and was back available again, he knocked £2k off without me even trying, so I had a feeling a deal could be done. My car sold on Saturday, and I negotiated some more of the kingfisher blue car, unfortunately the figure didn't start with a £6, but I am happy considering it has had new brakes all round, 4x very good Dunlop tyres and 12 months Audi warranty and assitance etc. Just trying to confirm if the cambelt has been done at the last serivice, if it hasn't the dealer will be doing it for free!!

I picked the car up today, but the only issue was just before I drove off I ran my fingers down the roof rails and to my horror found some tiny bubbling that I had not seen before!! I was gutted!! Dealer was very good though, salesman and myself went straight to the body shop and it is going to be sorted out, bit annoyed but just hoping they do a proper job when it goes in.

Other than that I am so happy, it feels really tight to drive.

Will get some pictures up soon!!

Chris
 
Congrats mate, sounds excellent, see just goes to show what you can get at the mo, with things the way they are, good luck with it, im sure it will all get sorted for you...

Get some nice daylight pics up of it too, will look awesome in that colour!!!
 

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