Thinking about getting an S3 again :)

[vrbob]

Hello all,

Well as the title says i am thinking of getting another 8L S3, i had a pre facelift APY engined S3 about 3 years ago which i sold to move to a diesel A4 as i was commuting quite a bit. I am now not doing as much and getting a bit bored of the A4 which is very nice to drive but not massively exciting.

So as i still have fond memories of the S3 i thought i may come back and get another but its been a while since i was looking so wondered if anyone could give me a general idea of what i should be looking to pay for a facelift S3 with a few goodies such as heated seats etc?

I was thinking somewhere around the £4-4,500 should be about right for one with a reasonable mileage and has had the bits n bobs like cambelt etc already changed but as i say i was interested in what you S3ers thought?

I would also be happy to have one that has already been modified a bit and maybe also has had a remap as this is what i had done to mine before i sold it.

any info would be appreciated

 

[sportstractor]

Yeah possibly a bit closer to 5k for a nice one. Wouldn't expect anything much lower than 100 k though. Loads of people are selling up at the moment for diesels, even considering it myself. I can see how the a4 is boring though. Nice car! But ****** boring.

 

[s3dave]

Yes there are a few who could pm you who are selling......then go through there posts and see how good shes been to them...

 

[vrbob]

cheers for the speedy responses guys

Yeah the A4 is a nice car and its got loads of grunt (its a V6 2.5tdi 180 Quattro) so going from 65mph to 90mph is a breeze but round the corners it just isnt very chuckable and to be honest i am lugging around about 40% more car than i really need these days.

Well if anyone on here is selling a facelift and wants to PM with the specs etc then i would happily concider anything the only option i am really interested in having is heated seats (as have a dodgy back and need to keep it warm in the winter) but any other extras is a bonus.

I am based in southampton so also anything kinda local would be nice too.

on a side note i may go and see one over the weekend i have seen advertised its a 2001 y plate with a massive 156K (mostly motorway) on the clock but its had a new clutch and flywheel and also a cambelt and waterpump in the last 20k but cos of the mileage the asking price is below £3800 is it worth saving some money to have such a big mileage if the rest of the car is in good condition?

 

[s3dave]

I would certainly have a look for that money, as you will know they are pretty much bullet proof if the services have been done, if it has been on the long life service and you buy it i would advise you to drop the sump straight away and clean the oil pickup filter...

 

[vrbob]

according to the advert the car has full audi service history and the current owner has had it for 4 years. yes i would come straight off longlife if its on that as i concur i much prefer to service it more reglarly and more often do it myself when possible to save a bit of money.

The car has a few other optional extras which i like like cruise control and the double din stereo with cd and tape player it also still has the 6 cd multichanger.

And as its had the clutch etc changed i would hope it should give a me a few thousand miles without having to spend much on it

It looks pretty standard other than that

also what engine codes are the 225bhp ones or was it just the BAM`s that were 225bhp as i know there are a few cars out there that are facelift but still have the 210bhp engines.

 

[vrbob]

i would also take my VCDS cable and scan the car to see if it has any errors etc if the guy selling is ok with me doing that.

also is there anyway to check if the haldex system is functioning correctly without having to do some sort of launch off the line as my last S3 the haldex box died and i had to get a replacement.

 

[S3Lol]

alarm bells would start ringing for me if they wouldnt let me scan the car

 

[vrbob]

Didnt get to see the car today as i think the guy had someone else go look at it before me so i think he must of sold it.

Yeah i too would be a tad wary if they wouldnt let me scan their car but its defo a useful buying/negotiation tool.

Had a bit of luck though as my Dad has decided he wants to buy my A4 off me and sell his current A4 instead so thst means i now have the money i need to buy the S3 and pay off some bills etc. So got upto £5000 for the right car so will just have to keep on looking as am not in a major hurry so hopefully something will come along thats just right with the heated seats that i want.

On a side note in regards to heated seats is it a case of all S3 seats having the heated elements inside them already and its just the dashboard controls and a setting via VCDS to retrofit them or are the seats actually different? as if its not too difficult to retrofit them then it opens up a few more options for me in regards to what cars i would be interested in.

 

[pompeysteve]

This thread could've been written by me 3 months ago, all apart from my A4 being the 1.9 TDI quattro!
Just to say it's the best decision I've made in years, so nice to have an S3 again after all that boring diesel driving!
Good luck finding the right car, I'm sure it's out there.

 

[day]

Take alook at this thread

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...7-selling-s3-knackered-haldex-controller.html

dont know what the spec is...

day

 

[vrbob]

This thread could've been written by me 3 months ago, all apart from my A4 being the 1.9 TDI quattro!
Just to say it's the best decision I've made in years, so nice to have an S3 again after all that boring diesel driving!
Good luck finding the right car, I'm sure it's out there.

Cheers, Defo looking forward to finding a good S3 although dont think it will be in the same league as the one you just got. Still will be nice to have a little more fun on the way to work whilst still keeping the same level of comfort etc as i have in the A4. Perhaps when i find the right car we should go for a blast as your pretty local to me (although you will probably have to give me a head start lol)

Take alook at this thread

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...7-selling-s3-knackered-haldex-controller.html

dont know what the spec is...

day

Cheers for the heads up didnt know Jojo now had 2 S3`s when did that happen? will drop him a PM to get the spec and details of the one hes selling as getting a new or replacement haldex controller isnt the end of the world.

 

[vrbob]

Quick question guys n gals,

Went to see a nice 02 platelast night but its been on long life service since new and one service was over 20,000 miles so am worried about the oil pick up/sludge issue.

So if i bought the car waht sort of cost id it to get this fixed to prevent any probs in the future as i would have to negotiate a few quid off the asking price.

 

[s3dave]

I would say £140 tops for a garage to drop the sump and clean/replace the pickup..

 

[sportstractor]

Quick question guys n gals,

Went to see a nice 02 platelast night but its been on long life service since new and one service was over 20,000 miles so am worried about the oil pick up/sludge issue.

So if i bought the car waht sort of cost id it to get this fixed to prevent any probs in the future as i would have to negotiate a few quid off the asking price.

wouldnt worry to much about longlife servicing, they pretty much were all on it. I dropped my sump down after 100k, it had 80k of initial longlife servicing to find it was immaculate. If its due a service you could use that a leverage, but i dont think they would cover the cost of a new pickup etc as its been serviced how audi recommend it.

 

[vrbob]

cheers for the replies.

will factor in the cost of getting it cleaned as defo better to be safe than sorry. yeah i know audi reccomended the longlife service so this isnt a major area for price reduction but this car in particular had a gap between services of 20k+ which defo isnt ideal. I have had a look at the thread on here on how to clean it yourself and if i have the time i may well give it a whirl as am quite happy to get my hands dirty.

Not in a major hurry to buy so will bide my time and put in an offer if nothing else comes up but if i did go for it i think its one of the jobs to get done.