Info on Black Edition?

[henners]

Hi guys,

I used to be an avid reader of this forum a few years back when I owned (and loved) an 8L S3. A mate of mine is currently in the market for an 8P A3 and asked me for some advice...not knowing much about them I wondered if some of the friendly folk on here might be able to help offer some guidance (apologies in advance if I've posted in the wrong section).

He's currently looking at a late 2010 1.8 TFSI S-Line Black Edition, 3 door, 27,000 miles and 3 previous owners.

It's at a car supermarket where they want £14.5k for it.

Spec looks impressive - including flat bottom MFSW, parking sensors, part leather, CC, 18" old RS4 style alloys.

Questions...
- Is there somewhere I can find a list of what kit was included on a Black edition? Am I correct in thinking they're an upgrade on the S-Line?
- There don't appear to be too many around with similar spec - any ideas as to how to work out if the price is reasonable?
- 3 owners in less than 2 1/2 years sounds odd, is there anything specific to be checking for on these that would make you walk away? Obviously going to try to have a look at the service history to see if there are any clues as to how and why it's changed hands so much in such a short spell. But mileage suggests that it's probably spent most of it's time on motorways?
- How is the 1.8 petrol, in particular how does it compare to any of the other engines in the range and where could I get hold of some bhp/0-60 specs?

Any advice available much appreciated - many thanks

 

[lgooch]

BE spec was

Xenons
Half Leather - Non Heated
Bose Concert Single Shot CD
Titanium Sline Alloys - Later updated to Rotors
Black Head lining
FBMFSW
Later models had Bluetooth thrown in

That was about it over and above the Sline with which you got the nice bumpers etc

Mate of mine has a 10 plate 1.8t. 160 BHP and a really nice car. No issues with it at present but not that economical. 0-60 in about high 7 low eights I think. Not too sure

 

[TommyMac]

Bearing in mind we are now in 2013 the miles aren't much above the 12000 miles a year which is classed as average.
black editions are a step up from sline but I'm not fully sure what extra kit was on this model. (Others will be along soon)
i brought my last s3 from a car supermarket which was part of a finance company. It was listed as two previous owners 1st being a directors car of Lombard finance and second owner Lombard finance.

 

[lgooch]

Parking Sensors and Cruise were not standard. These would be factory extras. If your lucky it may have had the auto lights and wipers as well as dimming mirror as a comfort pack. You don't mention these in your description

 

[SPARTAN91]

Just to note as it's a 2010 model check when MOT is due as you don't want to buy it just before it,s due it's first one.

 

[A3Kent]

I'd certainly be concerned that its had 3 owners in less than 30k. Would want to go over it with a fine tooth comb.

 

[henners]

Thanks guys, no obvious sign of auto lights or wipers but will check it out.

In terms of things to check for - what are the most expensive things to fix on these? It's a manual so clutch? Turbo?

 

[lgooch]

I would just make sure it's had good oil.

Not much on the forums of people reporting on things going wrong with these as not many about. Most go for the S3 or tdis.

I would get it scanned and see if anything flags up. Other than this there will not be much to tell other than the usual checks with any car I.e mayo on oil filler etc

 

[shady-ninja]

ive got an MY09 1.8T FSI.
its a slightly descaled version of the 2.0t fsi.
you can easily get over 400 miles on a full tank.
0-60 is 7.5 secs and top speed is 139mph.
when remapped, it can keep up with an s3 tfsi for
a few seconds till the s3 pulls away gradually.
its chain driven so no timing belt to change.
make sure the oil has been changed on a regular basis.
plus 46mpg is possible at 70mph. i have had 51.9mph at 65mph.

 

[henners]

Thanks for the help guys - my mate bought the car yesterday, lovely motor, very nice condition bar a couple of stone chips and kerbed alloys - hopefully it'll give him a fair few years enjoyable motoring now.

One thing though - huge warning about ever buying a car from Cargiant in London - absoltuely horrible experience.

Customer service was appalling, huge volume of sales every day means that they don't care about any particular sale so completely disinterested most of the time. Turns out they're recording conversations so now realise why they kept leaving us to have a couple of minutes to discuss it without them there.

They flat refused to let us look at the physical service history until money had been paid (had to make do with a small and very grainy scan of a page on a tiny 20 year old monitor).

They had absolutely no idea about the cars they're selling even though we were meant to be talking to the Audi specialists there - at one point a bloke was absolutely adamant that a haldex oil change had been carried out on a FWD car.

Also absolutely no scope for negotiation on price and no warranty included - personally I'd much rather buy privately in future from someone who actually knows what they're selling.

 

[lgooch]

I would have run a mile. There are 3 black editions for sale near me in Huddersfield

If treated like a idiot (haldex on FWD) I would have told him he didn't have an igloo what he was on about and you knew he was lying as his lips moved. I hope your mate got it cheap !

 

[SPARTAN91]

No warranty and not allowed to look at the paper work before handing over the money BIG ALARM bell should
have been ringing like Igooch said run away plenty of A3 out there and from far better sellers

 

[henners]

The price was good and I managed to agree that anything we paid would be fully refundable if the paperwork wasn't right, but just way too much hassle.

The place is absolutely huge (they claim the site to be the world's largest dealership), so no concerns about the car being anything other than legit - it just wouldn't be worth it for them.

Reality is that they intentionally don't deal in anything 'interesting' - thousands of cars, but barely a single car one above a 2 litre engine. They just work on a volume basis and clearly aren't used to dealing with enthusiasts or people who might actually have done some research.

Not the place to buy an S3 (literally they won't stock them), but I'm sure if you're looking for a Citroen Picasso then it's perfect...

 

[shady-ninja]

car giant are pr!cks.
some years back they sold my cousin a car as a one owner car but when the log book landed it came as two previous ownwers.
we told them about this then they started spinning a yarns and didnt want to know.
they treated us like something they stepped on.

 

[The Governor]

Don't forget, even though they say no warranty, under the Sale of Goods Act any fault apparent in the first six months is assumed to have been there at the point of sale and therefore the sellers responsibility.