Buying my first Audi

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imamutant

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Hi all

New to this forum and about to buy my first Audi. I have always had a love for them. i cant afford much so im buying a used one and was hoping to get some advice on what to look out for when buying one. Im looking for an A3 s-line. My mechanic friend said to avoid 2.0 TDI's, and try to get a 1.9, because the 2.0's engines are built differently and have alot of problems with them? i wont be able to afford one with low miles either, will prob have about 90k! Any advice will be great as i dont want to make any mistakes :) cheers
 
Hi, welcome to audi-sport.net. So your after an a3? What sort of budget do you have? I will move this post into the a3 sectiion. I will put you in the 8l section to start off with. At the top of the section, there is a FAQs thread. Have a read through that as lots of good info in there. The boys will advise you on what is best engine. If the car you looking to buy is late 2003 onwards it be on the 8p model that takes you up to 2012/2013 anything after that is to 8v chassis.
 
Sandra said:
Hi, welcome to audi-sport.net. So your after an a3? What sort of budget do you have? I will move this post into the a3 sectiion. I will put you in the 8l section to start off with. At the top of the section, there is a FAQs thread. Have a read through that as lots of good info in there. The boys will advise you on what is best engine. If the car you looking to buy is late 2003 onwards it be on the 8p model that takes you up to 2012/2013 anything after that is to 8v chassis.
Click to expand...
Sandra said:
Hi, welcome to audi-sport.net. So your after an a3? What sort of budget do you have? I will move this post into the a3 sectiion. I will put you in the 8l section to start off with. At the top of the section, there is a FAQs thread. Have a read through that as lots of good info in there. The boys will advise you on what is best engine. If the car you looking to buy is late 2003 onwards it be on the 8p model that takes you up to 2012/2013 anything after that is to 8v chassis.
Click to expand...


Thankyou very much. my budget is about £6000. Currently looking at one online which is an S-line 2.0 TDI 2007, 90k miles. After talking to my mechanic friend he says try to avoid the 2.0's, which has now made me nervous :(
 
Your talking an 8p chassis then. I will move you down in there.
 
I own a 1.9 TDIe A3 and love it, being the e model it means my tax is £30 a year...big bonus! The 1.9 isn't quite as refined as the 2.0 diesels but I find it more than OK for everyday driving, it has plenty of power up hills and for overtaking. I had the 2.0 diesel in my old 2007 A4, it has some bad press regarding oil pump drive shafts but mine was trouble free, the new owner lives near to me and its now on 140,000 and still going strong.

The A3 had a facelift around 2008/9 which gives you a slightly different front end, LED rear lights, LED wing mirrors and a few other options.

I'm sure others will have better advice but that's my experience so far. Good luck, they're fantastic cars!
 
I was in the same boat as you a few months ago, having had my 1.9tdi A4 for over 10 years and 180k miles (an absolutely fantastic car) but needing something newer for my daily commute.
My worries exactly mirrored yours, I was scared to buy a 2.0!
However I then learned the 2.0 tdi in the A3 doesn't have the oil pump issues that plagues the A4 as it's a slightly different design (no balancer shafts in the A3 so no problems associated with loss of oil-pump drive) ,so don't worry about that.
Whilst the earlier 1.9's were absolutely bulletproof (my 1994 Audi 80 tdi did 213k miles prior to selling) and my 1999 A4 has done 288k now , the later 1.9's don't have quite the same reliability record.
The later 1.9 BXE-code engine I believe has quite a bad reputation for throwing con-rods through the side of the engine block, although I'm not sure if these ever found their way into the A3, I know Golfs and Tourans had them.
I eventually bought a late 2006 BKD-code 2.0 with 140bhp and must say I love it, it has the later revision 'C' cylinder head (so no head porosity issues) and so far, touch wood no problems after 5 months ownership.
There's tons more power compared to the old A4 ,I'd certainly recommend the 2.0 litre.
As with all cars, there are known issues eg 2.0 TDIs with Siemens injectors have a high failure rate (with many being replaced under warranty) but chose carefully and you should be OK, I think the later the better!
One thing to bear in mind is the later you go eg 2008 onwards (?) the greater the chance the car will have a DPF fitted, cars without DPFs generally have exhaust pipes turned down at the end so all the soot gets blasted on to the road, cars with DPFs have straight-cut end-pipes similar to those found on petrol cars.
DPFs aren't cheap to replace, I made sure the car I bought didn't have one!
Take your time , look for a well maintained example and I reckon you will be OK.
 
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Nessy said:
I was in the same boat as you a few months ago, having had my 1.9tdi A4 for over 10 years and 180k miles (an absolutely fantastic car) but needing something newer for my daily commute.
My worries exactly mirrored yours, I was scared to buy a 2.0!
However I then learned the 2.0 tdi in the A3 doesn't have the oil pump issues that plagues the A4 as it's a slightly different design (no balancer shafts in the A3 so no problems associated with loss of oil-pump drive) ,so don't worry about that.
Whilst the earlier 1.9's were absolutely bulletproof (my 1994 Audi 80 tdi did 213k miles prior to selling) and my 1999 A4 has done 288k now , the later 1.9's don't have quite the same reliability record.
The later 1.9 BXE-code engine I believe has quite a bad reputation for throwing con-rods through the side of the engine block, although I'm not sure if these ever found their way into the A3, I know Golfs and Tourans had them.
I eventually bought a late 2006 BKD-code 2.0 with 140bhp and must say I love it, it has the later revision 'C' cylinder head (so no head porosity issues) and so far, touch wood no problems after 5 months ownership.
There's tons more power compared to the old A4 ,I'd certainly recommend the 2.0 litre.
As with all cars, there are known issues eg 2.0 TDIs with Siemens injectors have a high failure rate (with many being replaced under warranty) but chose carefully and you should be OK, I think the later the better!
One thing to bear in mind is the later you go eg 2008 onwards (?) the greater the chance the car will have a DPF fitted, cars without DPFs generally have exhaust pipes turned down at the end so all the soot gets blasted on to the road, cars with DPFs have straight-cut end-pipes similar to those found on petrol cars.
DPFs aren't cheap to replace, I made sure the car I bought didn't have one!
Take your time , look for a well maintained example and I reckon you will be OK.
Click to expand...


A massive help!! Thankyou so much!
 
Personally for £6000 you can get yourself an 8P facelift so post 2008. They have the common rail engines and I've heard nothing but good reviews about them. Of course there is always bad points on forums but that's because no one comes on here to rave about how good their car is lol I'd definitely go for a post 2008 2.0tdi over a pre 2008 any day.

As stated above about the DPF, yes the facelift A3 do have DPF but if you're planning on doing a lot of motorway miles then it shouldn't affect you.


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Howdee, What @Nessy explains above is correct, after all he bought my A3 and knows how to identify the best of the models. If you are doing mega mileage then do buy a DERV but if not, you need a petrol engine these days.
 
Your "mechanic friend" is wrong I'm afraid. The 2.0 tdi common rail engine is one of the most refind engines you can get.

I'm sure he must be talking about the engines pre-common rail.
 
Look for the 140bhp 2.0tdi, the 170bhp 2.0tdi is the problem engine due to the dpf that gets blocked and causes all sorts of problems. Lots of cars about with a gutted dpf and removed egr valve about to eradicate the problems and add a few more horses, but be careful as this is illegal, wink wink. look for the special edition model, a few extras and might hold its money a bit more, also look for extras like xenon lights sunroof, multi funct steering wheel, heated electric seats and so on.
 
I'd say your mechanic friend has an outdated opinion by saying don't get a 2.0 tdi. I've got a 57 reg 170 bhp sline 2.0 tdi which is the pd engine so the first one with a dpf filter and it's by far the best car I've ever had and I've had it for 5 1/2 year now.
I'd say get one that seems to have been looked after and make sure you look after it with regular oil changes etc and you'll not go far wrong. These people that say don't get a 170 because the dpf's are rubbish blah blah obviously don't know how to run one. If you get one just make sure you give it a good motorway drive every now and then and make sure you try and regularly drive it above 2000 rpm when you can as being below this builds the soot up in the dpf as it can't burn it off as the temperature isn't hot enough therefor creating problems with a blocked dpf etc etc.
Don't be put off by a 2.0 tdi or by dpf stories if that's what you want just try and find one that's been looked after and obviously as low mileage as possible.
 
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ab1702 said:
I'd say your mechanic friend has an outdated opinion by saying don't get a 2.0 tdi. I've got a 57 reg 170 bhp sline 2.0 tdi which is the pd engine so the first one with a dpf filter and it's by far the best car I've ever had and I've had it for 5 1/2 year now.
I'd say get one that seems to have been looked after and make sure you look after it with regular oil changes etc and you'll not go far wrong. These people that say don't get a 170 because the dpf's are rubbish blah blah obviously don't know how to run one. If you get one just make sure you give it a good motorway drive every now and then and make sure you try and regularly drive it above 2000 rpm when you can as being below this builds the soot up in the dpf as it can't burn it off as the temperature isn't hot enough therefor creating problems with a blocked dpf etc etc.
Don't be put off by a 2.0 tdi or by dpf stories if that's what you want just try and find one that's been looked after and obviously as low mileage as possible.
Click to expand...

When I was looking to buy my A3 all the research I did seemed to suggest that DPFs do have a finite life, even given proper use/driven properly etc.
When the time comes for renewal the cost appears to be around £1200-1500, regardless of car make.
Given that to remove them is an MOT failure (if detected) and the cost is very high I just chose to remove any potential future hassle and not buy a car with a DPF.
 
If you're going for PD engine, 2.0 TDI 16V 140 (BKD engine code) is a solid choice. I would take the 2.0 any day over 1.9 due to the fact that they seem to be more refined, have more power yet not using that much fuel at all (if any).

Just make sure its cylinder head revision is C (>2005), get someone with VCDS to check injectors and turbo and you're good to go.
 
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