New to the A4 - questions

Hi Everyone,

I was looking at possibly changing my 2018 Polo GTI+for an A4 Avant, due to wanting more legroom for the kids in the back (I have my seat quite far back in any car i'm in) and we're getting a Labrador pup soon that will grow into quite a big beast in its first year.

Anyway, being familiar with VAGs (4 Polos, 4 Golfs, 2 Sciroccos and an A1 bought new previously), the tech is mostly what i've encountered before. Most of my previous cars listed above were performance diesels.

I looked nationally for a nearly new A4 Avant, had to be 190TDI, wasn't bothered whether it had quattro or not, but it seemed to be fitted for 3/4 of the cars I saw. I was hoping to avoid going into the Luxury car tax, but it seemed almost unavoidable, unless you were going for a Sport spec with metallic paint, no Quattro and nothing else.

I gauged all the prices, and it seemed that £24k was the going rate nationally for a year old Sport, and £25-26k for an S-line, with an addition of about £700 with Quattro.

My Local dealership (Newcastle Audi) had one that seemed to fit the bill, a decent colour (thought black might look a bit like a hearse) and was competitively priced :-

Jul 2019 registered A4 Avant S-Line Quattro "40" 190TDI in Manhattan Grey, serviced in March when it reached 9k miles. They had it up for £25,789. I had already negotiated £15k for my Polo GTI+ with a specialist buyer (verbal non-committing agreement) that I sold my Golf R to previously.

They offered me £15k for the Polo in p/x (to make things less hassle), but nothing for the car. I managed to beat them down to £25200, citing the Luxury tax as a reason I was put off. I feel I could have maybe got more if I was prepared be in the showroom an extra hour, but considering the national prices seen, and how much cheaper it was than RRP (£41.3k), it seemed like a decent deal. It's a cash buy, so i've go to put in £10.2k.

The car is immaculate, doesn't appear to have been uncared for - 19" wheels are unscuffed, no bonnet chips, no sags in the leather/alcantara seats, no other scrapes or scuffs.

The only thing was the front tyres had been replaced with Falkens, the rears were Conti 5 (presume these were the original fit). I queried the Falkens, wondering if the wheels had hit potholes. He explained that as an approved Audi, if even one of the tyres on an axle has less than 3mm tread, they replace both.

Questions-

1. Front tyres wearing down beyond 3mm after 10k miles on a Quattro car seems a bit harsh. On a 2WD car as heavy as the A4, I could see that happening, but when I had my Golf R, the haldex system seemed to promote even tyre wear front to back, even though the 4WD system is heavily front wheel biased, with the fronts after 20k miles on my R wearing to 4mm and the rears being 4.5mm.

Does the Quattro on the A4 (I presume Haldex rather than Torsen?) promote fairly even tyre wear front to back? If so, i'm thinking that the Conti 5s are a pretty soft tyre. I usually put Michelin PS4 on mine at replacement time.

2. There was an offer taking up finance at 6.9% to give 2 free services. In the past, I have taken up finance and then withdrawn from the agreement within the 14 day cooling off period to grab the deposit contribution on other cars (including the A1 bought previously). I know it works for money balance, but is anyone aware of them being able to withdraw the services or will it be in my contract of sale and only money changes hands for withdrawal?

3. If I don't go through finance, how much is a minor and major service on an A4 2.0TDI usually and are dealerships generally receptive to haggling the price down or price matching elsewhere?

4. The salesman mentioned 9k miles interval. Seems a bit odd, all the previous VWs I have had are 10k mile intervals.. Has the salesman got it wrong or is it 9k miles? The car (all my previous VWs) usually notifies me early because the true interval is 15000km (about 9400 miles), but the official UK interval was always 10k miles.

Thanks,

Matt

Thanks for the response jds_sg.

The engine did look in-line/longitudinal when the bonnet was popped. I only really mentioned the tyre wear because I was expecting more even wear front to back, considering my old 300ps Golf R wore quite evenly with 4WD. Maybe it's the extra weight of the TDI unit over the 2.0TSI unit and differences in the 2 types of 4WD systems making wear on the fronts a little worse than I was expecting, or maybe those Conti 5 are quick wearing.

With your confirmation, i'll ring the salesman up and say i've changed my funding preference and go with finance to get the services and then clear the finance. Picking the car up Friday evening and he's off today - calling tomorrow morning should give time to arrange before pick-up or he can delay pickup if Audi finance need longer to arrange (doubt they do). I (just) have the funds to clear the balance if I wipe out my savings and the value of the Polo p/x (which is owned outright).

Just thought the 9k interval was odd for servicing vs previous history. I'll leave it annual/fixed servicing (probably a term of the free services to do so rather than giving you 2 long life services), I only do about 8k miles a year. No concerns with the DPF, I work from home 3 days a week and my commute on each of the other 2 days is a 62 mile round trip - plenty of scope to keep the DPF regenning passively.

Any idea the best place to buy a set of rubber mats at a reasonable price and maybe a load liner or similar with the protective overhang for the rear bumper (so dog's paws don't scratch the bumper)? If there's nowhere cheap in mind for either OEM or quality aftermarket, i'll save a small margin at my local TPS rather than the dealership.

Need to get busy with the Polo tonight - I have a 2 camera dashcam set (hardwired) to remove and swap my DSG paddles back to the OEM ones.

I read a bit about replacing the boot tool tray set-up to accommodate a space saver - is that anything you've done and could you indicate how much it is all in?

Thanks,

Matt

There was no mention of a PCP discount for me, just the "favourable" APR rate of 6.9% (admittedly that's low by VW/Audi FS standards for a used car, but still pretty high) for the car being under a year old.

2 services not to be sniffed at. Won't mention the withdrawal - they want their cut from the lender and will miffed if they know they won't get it.

When I took out finance to get the deposit contribution on the wife's £18k A1 then withdrew, daily interest was about £4 a day until the point of notification. On a £25k car, expecting in the region of £5 a day.

Will get them to put down max allowed deposit against the £15k in the Polo p/x and give me cash for the rest. I'll notify them early next week that I want to settle or withdraw (can't remember the proper terminology).

There's no need to express my intentions though, just in case they do take the hump. I'll just ask for the finance, reap the reward for doing so, then settle up.

If it was a clincher on a deal not yet done, I dare say they'd reluctantly agree to it or suggest it as the final sweetener to have the sale.

HMG1K said:

Whatever you do, do not buy a second hand / near new car on PCP - ever! Interest is at circa 10%. New is nearer half that.

Yes, jds is correct. There's that advantage of getting PCP, getting the freebies thrown in and then clear the finance and still have the services; but it's not the most cost effective way.

Have you looked at a new A4? The 2020MY facelift? See what deals are out there on CarWow. I saw, via DriveTheDeal, A4 Avant S-Line going for £29k new. Factory fresh, via a dealer.

Again, you can get the free services, dealer contributions, etc, on top with a new car. Then clear the finance. With such huge discounts (as above) you are still quids in.

Also, look at PCH. I've am A4 Avant S-Line 35 TFSI on order for £258 p/m on a 3+23 profile and 8k miles a year. Same car via a dealer is £479. There are still huge discounts at the £300 p/m level via brokers online.

Just a few alternatives to consider

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Drivethedeal was my first port of call. There are big discounts on the 1.5TFSI 150ps (badged "35"?), to the sum you're talking about - almost £12k off a £40k motor, but discount on a 190 "40" TDI was more like £8k, still a £33k car with all deposit contributions taken into account.

The 150ps 1.5, even with its cylinder on demand tech would be too slow and thirsty on a big car like an A4, for what I'm used to. I like diesel torque, and with DPF + Adblue, its cleaner than petrol. Also the newest petrols with GPF, it is a huge difference to the car. We have a 2018 Polo GTI+ without GPF and exact same model 2019, with GPF. The difference is very noticeable. The one with GPF has a lot less mid range torque and is 10% thirstier.

I have £10k cash and my £15k Polo to buy my 11.5 month old A4. Paying an additional £8k out to get a brand new one was too much for me. £8k for a year's depreciation to get me to where I am in buying the one I'm getting is too high a price for me. The £25k one should depreciate at £3-3.5k a year. If I keep this one until it's 5 years old and worth £12k, I'll be happy with that.

The wait can be huge too - my Golf R took 8.5 months to turn up from ordering.

Totally get that if you are PCPing there are far better terms to be had new from VW/Audi FS, but I will be paying this off within days to score for the services.

I've bought my last 11 cars brand new (Golfs, Polos, Sciroccos and an A1) because they had a shallow depreciation profile with a 12-15% discount, still being worth at least half RRP after 3 years. That's not the case for an A4. It's predominantly a fleet car with fleet discounts available. As a result, front end depreciation is very heavy unless you can get a 30% discount. I'm avoiding that hit because I can't get 30% off a 190TDI

HMG1K said:

Yep, A4s now have a 2.0 litre 150PS engine (badged '35'), basically a detuned version of the 2.0 litre 190PS engine (badged '40').

The 2021MYs will increase the 35 powered engines to 165PS

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I stand corrected! The A1 and A3 get the 1.5 COD unit, I wonder why the A4 doesn't - unless the pan all along was to up it to 165ps, beyond the scope of the 1.5 unit. Blessing in disguise- not sure if VAG have solved the kangarooing that plagued the new 1.5 and maybe still does - the old 1.4 COD unit was much better.

I'd have to assume then that the new 2.0 "35" is an EA888 3B (as fitted to the Polo GTI in 200ps tune) rather than EA888 3 (as fitted to the outgoing Golf GTI).

The 3B unit with Budack cycle is great. Not dure what the expected economy is like on an A4, but my Polo GTI (weighing in at about 70% of the A4) can do 45mpg on my 32 mile each way commute if I stick to 75mph on the A19. I think you'd have to drive like a nun to see more than 38mpg in the A4 on a journey less than 50 miles.

Clever stuff though - on low output (<20kW) it switches to a lean mix under a higher effective compression ratio to be really frugal. The engine feels a bit stifled though - you know it's capable of so much more when it is a more advanced variant of the Golf GTI engine, with the same IS20 turbo. Put your foot fown and it's not frugal. The Budack cycle is very frugal, but you'll only be operating under those conditions a third of your time, if that.

The engine tunes nicely - someone on the Polo forum has theirs up to 270ps with no issues or further mods required. If the 165ps unit has same engine internals, injectors and turbo , could be quite easy to get it up to 250/270ps.

Picked it up tonight. Gave the Polo GTI quite the workout on the way to the Audi garage in an attempt to deliver the car on fumes. Dealership had returned the favour - 50 mile range on what was in the tank of the A4.

Pics:-







The perfume in their cleaning products used to valet the car was horrible, so I have a jellybelly cherry air freshener in to get the car smelling better.

I do prefer the solvent smell of a new car, but that smell has long gone on this one!

I didn't want to start a new thread, just give my first impressions now I've done a half decent trip rather than a few miles around the doors (only visiting work once a week, 64 mile round trip).

The car's a great place to be - huge, spacious, lovely interior, glad of the dark headlining being standard on the S-Line trim - my last 4 cars have had it. I was initially disappointed by the mpg. My Polo GTI+ would do in excess of 30mpg just on the 2 mile round trip to school (kids still going in under key worker provision), the A4 190TDI was doing 26mpg! On 19" wheel and S-line suspension, the ride is every bit as comfy as any performance VW I've had. I was worried how harsh it would be for the kids in the back.

On the 32 mile drive to work yesterday, the car did 48mpg there and 54mpg back without being careful and with the aircon working hard in the 26C heat, and this morning's school run was 35mpg - i'm assuming the car's DPF was a bit clogged and yesterday's run has gone a long way to empty it.

Just contemplating whether to get a space saver, tray and jack to replace the bottle of gunk and compressor. I've seen A4 B8 19" space savers going for 75-£90 delivered, and a second hand jack shouldn't be a lot. Anyone got any idea how much the tool tray is?

Got my eye on a few OBD11 tweaks and activations when I can get a lend of my mates' OBD lead.

Has anyone fitted mesh behind the grille to avoid the A/C compressor housing taking a direct hit from a stone and landing you with a big bill? The current A3s seem notorious for this and someone's just had it on their Polo GTI+, as reported in another forum I frequent.

Thinking about refitting my Thinkware F770 dual dashcam - the trim tucking and feding for the cables looks like it should be as straightforward as any Polo or Golf (it has been fitted into my Golf R and Polo GTI+ previously by my own hands) - anything especially odd or tricky with the A4 interior where trim meets headlining?