Long time no see! 7 years in fact! So, why not make amends with a mega post about my latest A3 8P?!
For the last few years, I've been running a family van "Bus Blue" as our main wheels - a 2013 T5.1 Danbury camper conversion:
But how did I end up in a 12-year-old Audi that smells of granny? Pull up a chair and find out more about my "no expense spared" approach to running an old car!
The short answer is that the van isn't that handy around town, meaning that a car is run alongside it - the latest of which was a 2013 Mini Cooper S. This was sold last year due to it being too small and being offered a great price for it at the time.
The plan was actually to be car-less for 4 months, while waiting for a new car on lease arriving around March 2019. Unfortunately however, my Dad became unwell and I found myself needing to do the 100-mile round trip to see him for the foreseeable future. Oh - and the van will not fit into the hospital multi-storey car park!
After a weekend visit involving disappearing buses, sideways rain and very expensive taxis - I realised that, basically, I needed a car *now*! There wasn't a lot of time to research what this next car should be. However, I didn't want to make an expensive mistake in the fog of a family health situation. So, I decided to cancel the lease and then fall back on familiar cars in looking for some quickly available wheels.
The shortlist list therefore became a back-catalogue of my old cars and I was fairly set on a Mk6 Golf GTI or 8P S3 Sportback, of which I found two locally in the £11-13k range. I then also - as somewhat of an afterthought - looked up 8P A3 2.0T's to see what was available.
To cut a long story short, I ended up buying this car for £3,995. It's a 2007 A3 2.0T Sportback in SE trim: finished in Liquid Blue with an extensive set of options and 88k on the clock at the time of purchase:
I should add at this point that I used to have a Garnet Red 2006 2.0T quattro Sportback in S-Line trim, about ten years ago:
...and then a Brilliant Red 2010 S3 Sportback (which I wasn't so fond of the colour):
This new A3 is the both cheapest and oldest car I've ever bought in 20 years of driving!
The "old man" SE spec makes for a fairly modest looker, considering what's under the bonnet. I was also pleased to find that it's had only 2 female keepers, with a complete service record.
Spec highlights include the optional Open Sky panoramic double sunroof, Xenon Plus headlights, rear parking sensors, front fog lights, electric folding mirrors and mudflaps. This is on top of the reasonably generous SE spec, which adds climate control, cruise, auto lights / wipers and various other comforts.
I don't mind not having the S-Line bodykit and seats; in fact, it's arguably an assurance of a more genteel life for this 200hp car, capable of 0-60 in around 7s and close to 150mph. We'll see whether I miss the quattro's Haldex 4WD or not, though.
Considering it's almost 12 years old, it seemed to be a very clean motor with few notable exterior blemishes notable on collection:
The interior was a little dusty and the driver's alloy door trim is a bit scratched (presumably ladies' fingernails), but its "Metric" cloth upholstery is almost unworn and it was good to find original mats and a boot liner:
The interior highlight is, of course, that roof. It actually works, too, which is a bonus:
The wheels are kerbed in places, but wearing four matching Kumho Ecsta tyres with 5-6mm tread depth. These were rated 3rd in Auto Express' 2017 test, despite their humble-ish provenance.
Having properly digested the history and driven around in it a bit during December, the list of things to attend to grew a little - but I thought (and still do think) that it drives beautifully and looks like good value overall.
The first job I did was to repair the two dashboard central air vents, which had become a bit of a mess, as the small metal aligning rod of the air vent fins was unhooked and now bent - resulting in the fins themselves floating about all over the place.
A quick scour of eBay netted me two complete new units for £19.98. Unfortunately, the "new" units were cosmetically worse than the old ones.
To resolve things, I gutted the inside of the new units - and replaced the fins and connecting rods on the old units. I did this by popping off the external silver rings and prising out the fins. The steel connecting rod is quite delicate, but by holding it from behind, it was possible to re-build the fin assembly in its new home with good alignment.
eBay units, gutted:
Refurbished originals units:
The fuel cap strap had also broken, which was pretty inconvenient when filling with fuel. £13.75 scored me a "new" used replacement cap, as the strap isn't available separately nor easily repaired:
I also fixed the armrest cover with a new retaining clip, at £2.37. Prior to this, the top flap was falling back into the passenger area when lifted:
Unfortunately, the driver's seat back is going to be harder to repair than I first thought. There are three retaining clips that run along the top of the seat back panel, of which two are snapped off. These in turn hold metal clips, which are easier to source and replace.
Thankfully, my initial positive impression of the bodywork stood after giving it some TLC. Really, it's in very good condition for its 12 years. The bodywork would be good for a car half its age, with almost no front end stone chips and no notable blemishes. There's just a tiny scrape to the front bumper and a slightly poor repair to a small bit of the rear bumper.
Tar spots were to be found all along the car's underside. Before:
After a first pass with tar cleaner and a little polish:
Closer inspection made me think that the wheels have seen better days and I doubt there's much I can do to improve them, short of repainting:
I was pleased, however, to be able to restore 15 of the wheel bolt caps with a little sandpaper and soapy water - reducing the need for new bolts down to 5. Before / after example below:
Given its value and our city centre location, I'm unlikely to do much more to the exterior than continue to give this little Audi a bit of elbow grease and possibly refurbish the wheels.
The cambelt and water pump were changed as part of the sale, but it was missing the invoice or a stamp in the service book on handover. I thought we'd also agreed to change the engine oil - although it looked rather dark on the dipstick to me. While I do have the service book, there are no bills at all - so it has been difficult to tell what has and hasn't been done over time.
I therefore decided to take it to the VW specialist that services our van, as I've been impressed with them. They gave it a really thorough checkover as part of the service, which unfortunately resulted in a few more jobs that were done... and some I'm not so sure about.
Done:
- Oil & filter
- Air filter
- Cabin filter
- Spark plugs
- Fuel filter
- Brake fluid
- Air con re-gas
- NSF CV boot
- NSF ARB link
- New dipstick
- Sorted loose rear arm stone shields
Items noted, but not done:
- 4-wheel alignment
- Rear lower suspension arms (seized toe adjustment bolts)
- NSR door lock
They found that the rear toe adjustment bolts were seized, resulting in not being able to do alignment (£70) - and therefore recommended replacement of the rear rear lower suspension arms (£350). I'm not sure it's worth doing these as the car will probably only do 3,000 miles a year and there's some decent life left in the tyres.
They also quoted £260 to replace the NSR rear door lock. I don't really want to do this, but suspect it could be a future MoT failure.
Anyway, after shelling out my finest £535.69 I took it up a local bypass for an Italian tune-up. Whether it was the January ambient temperatures or more mystical forces, this little 2.0T feels every one of its 200hp and possibly more. Honestly, it even feels a bit quicker than the just-as-quick-on-paper R56 Mini Cooper S it replaces and - courtesy of a 12-year-old exhaust - has a lovely deep bass exhaust note to boot.
The only thing taking the shine off the car for now is a Check Engine Light, which a generic OBD scan shows logs of codes p0171 and p0441. I'm getting this looked at later this week.
The list of things to do now stands as:
- Add my private plate (V5 delayed - new one ordered);
- Fix lifting roof trim (see below);
- Repair loose driver's seat back (ditto);
- NSR passenger door lock repair / replacement;
- Consider rear lower arm replacement (then tracking);
- Get codes looked at by garage.
The car drives brilliantly, though - pretty much the same as my old 2.0T quattro did a decade ago, albeit with slightly softer suspension. It's a dull but safe and swift drive.
Overall, I'm pretty chuffed - given the backdrop to this purchase and its age. It may be serendipity, but I do think that this may be more suitable than a lease car anyway. We do about 3k miles a year in our cars, so perhaps this is a better bet (fingers crossed).
I know I'm daft spending all this time and money on an old car... but if I get even just a year out of it and it's worth very little at the end, it will have been cheaper than a year's leasing anyway.
Of course, I'm hoping it'll be around for longer - and it's a hugely enjoyable process for me to improve this old girl...
For the last few years, I've been running a family van "Bus Blue" as our main wheels - a 2013 T5.1 Danbury camper conversion:
But how did I end up in a 12-year-old Audi that smells of granny? Pull up a chair and find out more about my "no expense spared" approach to running an old car!
The short answer is that the van isn't that handy around town, meaning that a car is run alongside it - the latest of which was a 2013 Mini Cooper S. This was sold last year due to it being too small and being offered a great price for it at the time.
The plan was actually to be car-less for 4 months, while waiting for a new car on lease arriving around March 2019. Unfortunately however, my Dad became unwell and I found myself needing to do the 100-mile round trip to see him for the foreseeable future. Oh - and the van will not fit into the hospital multi-storey car park!
After a weekend visit involving disappearing buses, sideways rain and very expensive taxis - I realised that, basically, I needed a car *now*! There wasn't a lot of time to research what this next car should be. However, I didn't want to make an expensive mistake in the fog of a family health situation. So, I decided to cancel the lease and then fall back on familiar cars in looking for some quickly available wheels.
The shortlist list therefore became a back-catalogue of my old cars and I was fairly set on a Mk6 Golf GTI or 8P S3 Sportback, of which I found two locally in the £11-13k range. I then also - as somewhat of an afterthought - looked up 8P A3 2.0T's to see what was available.
To cut a long story short, I ended up buying this car for £3,995. It's a 2007 A3 2.0T Sportback in SE trim: finished in Liquid Blue with an extensive set of options and 88k on the clock at the time of purchase:
I should add at this point that I used to have a Garnet Red 2006 2.0T quattro Sportback in S-Line trim, about ten years ago:
...and then a Brilliant Red 2010 S3 Sportback (which I wasn't so fond of the colour):
This new A3 is the both cheapest and oldest car I've ever bought in 20 years of driving!
The "old man" SE spec makes for a fairly modest looker, considering what's under the bonnet. I was also pleased to find that it's had only 2 female keepers, with a complete service record.
Spec highlights include the optional Open Sky panoramic double sunroof, Xenon Plus headlights, rear parking sensors, front fog lights, electric folding mirrors and mudflaps. This is on top of the reasonably generous SE spec, which adds climate control, cruise, auto lights / wipers and various other comforts.
I don't mind not having the S-Line bodykit and seats; in fact, it's arguably an assurance of a more genteel life for this 200hp car, capable of 0-60 in around 7s and close to 150mph. We'll see whether I miss the quattro's Haldex 4WD or not, though.
Considering it's almost 12 years old, it seemed to be a very clean motor with few notable exterior blemishes notable on collection:
The interior was a little dusty and the driver's alloy door trim is a bit scratched (presumably ladies' fingernails), but its "Metric" cloth upholstery is almost unworn and it was good to find original mats and a boot liner:
The interior highlight is, of course, that roof. It actually works, too, which is a bonus:
The wheels are kerbed in places, but wearing four matching Kumho Ecsta tyres with 5-6mm tread depth. These were rated 3rd in Auto Express' 2017 test, despite their humble-ish provenance.
Having properly digested the history and driven around in it a bit during December, the list of things to attend to grew a little - but I thought (and still do think) that it drives beautifully and looks like good value overall.
The first job I did was to repair the two dashboard central air vents, which had become a bit of a mess, as the small metal aligning rod of the air vent fins was unhooked and now bent - resulting in the fins themselves floating about all over the place.
A quick scour of eBay netted me two complete new units for £19.98. Unfortunately, the "new" units were cosmetically worse than the old ones.
To resolve things, I gutted the inside of the new units - and replaced the fins and connecting rods on the old units. I did this by popping off the external silver rings and prising out the fins. The steel connecting rod is quite delicate, but by holding it from behind, it was possible to re-build the fin assembly in its new home with good alignment.eBay units, gutted:
Refurbished originals units:
The fuel cap strap had also broken, which was pretty inconvenient when filling with fuel. £13.75 scored me a "new" used replacement cap, as the strap isn't available separately nor easily repaired:
I also fixed the armrest cover with a new retaining clip, at £2.37. Prior to this, the top flap was falling back into the passenger area when lifted:
Unfortunately, the driver's seat back is going to be harder to repair than I first thought. There are three retaining clips that run along the top of the seat back panel, of which two are snapped off. These in turn hold metal clips, which are easier to source and replace.
Thankfully, my initial positive impression of the bodywork stood after giving it some TLC. Really, it's in very good condition for its 12 years. The bodywork would be good for a car half its age, with almost no front end stone chips and no notable blemishes. There's just a tiny scrape to the front bumper and a slightly poor repair to a small bit of the rear bumper.
Tar spots were to be found all along the car's underside. Before:
After a first pass with tar cleaner and a little polish:
Closer inspection made me think that the wheels have seen better days and I doubt there's much I can do to improve them, short of repainting:
I was pleased, however, to be able to restore 15 of the wheel bolt caps with a little sandpaper and soapy water - reducing the need for new bolts down to 5. Before / after example below:
Given its value and our city centre location, I'm unlikely to do much more to the exterior than continue to give this little Audi a bit of elbow grease and possibly refurbish the wheels.
The cambelt and water pump were changed as part of the sale, but it was missing the invoice or a stamp in the service book on handover. I thought we'd also agreed to change the engine oil - although it looked rather dark on the dipstick to me. While I do have the service book, there are no bills at all - so it has been difficult to tell what has and hasn't been done over time.
I therefore decided to take it to the VW specialist that services our van, as I've been impressed with them. They gave it a really thorough checkover as part of the service, which unfortunately resulted in a few more jobs that were done... and some I'm not so sure about.
Done:
- Oil & filter
- Air filter
- Cabin filter
- Spark plugs
- Fuel filter
- Brake fluid
- Air con re-gas
- NSF CV boot
- NSF ARB link
- New dipstick
- Sorted loose rear arm stone shields
Items noted, but not done:
- 4-wheel alignment
- Rear lower suspension arms (seized toe adjustment bolts)
- NSR door lock
They found that the rear toe adjustment bolts were seized, resulting in not being able to do alignment (£70) - and therefore recommended replacement of the rear rear lower suspension arms (£350). I'm not sure it's worth doing these as the car will probably only do 3,000 miles a year and there's some decent life left in the tyres.
They also quoted £260 to replace the NSR rear door lock. I don't really want to do this, but suspect it could be a future MoT failure.
Anyway, after shelling out my finest £535.69 I took it up a local bypass for an Italian tune-up. Whether it was the January ambient temperatures or more mystical forces, this little 2.0T feels every one of its 200hp and possibly more. Honestly, it even feels a bit quicker than the just-as-quick-on-paper R56 Mini Cooper S it replaces and - courtesy of a 12-year-old exhaust - has a lovely deep bass exhaust note to boot.
The only thing taking the shine off the car for now is a Check Engine Light, which a generic OBD scan shows logs of codes p0171 and p0441. I'm getting this looked at later this week.
The list of things to do now stands as:
- Add my private plate (V5 delayed - new one ordered);
- Fix lifting roof trim (see below);
- Repair loose driver's seat back (ditto);
- NSR passenger door lock repair / replacement;
- Consider rear lower arm replacement (then tracking);
- Get codes looked at by garage.
The car drives brilliantly, though - pretty much the same as my old 2.0T quattro did a decade ago, albeit with slightly softer suspension. It's a dull but safe and swift drive.
Overall, I'm pretty chuffed - given the backdrop to this purchase and its age. It may be serendipity, but I do think that this may be more suitable than a lease car anyway. We do about 3k miles a year in our cars, so perhaps this is a better bet (fingers crossed).
I know I'm daft spending all this time and money on an old car... but if I get even just a year out of it and it's worth very little at the end, it will have been cheaper than a year's leasing anyway.
Of course, I'm hoping it'll be around for longer - and it's a hugely enjoyable process for me to improve this old girl...
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