Ex demo cars ?

[bokoboy]

hi folks I’m seriously thinking of buying an s3 sport back I noticed that a lot of ex demo cars are very well specked up with up to 4-5 k on the clock for around 35k
I thought I would just configure a brand new motor came in at 45 grand with all the gubbins second hand it is then any advice would be grateful I’m leaving behind a 2l tdi but I’m only doing 10000 miles pa so fuel cost not an issue suppose I just need bit moral support

 

[musicegbdf]

I think there is a general view they are usually fairly abused . Depends on how much you value the optional extras over what could be a thrashed motor

 

[davemk]

I've previously had 2 ex-demo cars, although neither were performance cars. I didn't have any bother from them and wouldn't hesitate in getting another. Go for it!

 

[cuke2u]

Quite, it'll have a warranty despite, if at all, it being thrashed...

 

[James.B8]

Pretty sure my car was an ex demo.
No issues what so ever. Came with exclusive paint and a load of optional extras. No signs of it being thrashed and was in very good condition.
Go for it

 

[Svenedin]

Mine was an ex-demo. 3 months old when I got it. Bonus is it had 4 year warranty so my feeling was if it has been thrashed it will probably show up in that time and it’s up to Audi to fix it. Mine was also about 10 grand cheaper than it would have been brand new and that was just too tempting especially as they knocked even more off the price as well. No problems (so far after just over a year of ownership) other than a rubber seal around a door handle (fixed and was given some toys) and a mirror that has stopped dipping (booked in at same time as oil change).

Frankly, I would have liked to have specified a car exactly as I wanted it but money is money and as I paid cash the eventual discount of about £12K vs brand new is just a no brainier as far as I’m concerned. What on earth is the point of being so set on a new car that you’d accept depreciation like that in just a few months! I’d rather someone else took that hit thanks.....

If you like the car, it drives well and the price is right go for it!

PS I see you are in the Borders. The S3 will absolutely eat those roads. You’ll love it.

 

[bokoboy]

Mine was an ex-demo. 3 months old when I got it. Bonus is it had 4 year warranty so my feeling was if it has been thrashed it will probably show up in that time and it’s up to Audi to fix it. Mine was also about 10 grand cheaper than it would have been brand new and that was just too tempting especially as they knocked even more off the price as well. No problems (so far after just over a year of ownership) other than a rubber seal around a door handle (fixed and was given some toys) and a mirror that has stopped dipping (booked in at same time as oil change).

Frankly, I would have liked to have specified a car exactly as I wanted it but money is money and as I paid cash the eventual discount of about £12K vs brand new is just a no brainier as far as I’m concerned. What on earth is the point of being so set on a new car that you’d accept depreciation like that in just a few months! I’d rather someone else took that hit thanks.....

Thats what im wanting to hear sureley you cant ragg a motor that much on a test drive

 

[jungle650]

Go in with your eyes open, give it a good visual and get a good deal. You will get good value for money for the options you want. If you dont, or your spider senses tell you somthing isnt right then walk away.

The newish approved demo cars will be under warranty so you shouldnt need to worry. These days most normal car engines are run in at the factory, certainly 2l VAG blocks. Whilst I agree to a little, a demo car might have been pushed a little harder than some, especcially when cold, It shouldn't make that much of a difference this early in its life. In fact there are plenty of threads with cars that have been driven very very hard from day 1 pushing much higher nunbers 6 months down the line on a dyno vs a cotton balled, softly driven car. ( not that I necessarily recommend this avenue by the way ! ) ... who knows how these cars will be in 150.000 miles though, but its just an illustration.

I suspect there are plenty of 1 owner cars that have been abused just as much if not more than a demo vehicle. You cant do multiple launches or a drag strip race on most test drives !

Long term, regular yearly services, or even semi annual Oil and Filter changes if you are remotely handy, will keep a car in far better mechanical condition that most think, especially if you want to keep the car long term. Regular maintanence both inside and out ( servicing / cleaning it etc ) will all help a car to look and perform at its best, and potentially prevent any issues as it ages.

I too have bought plenty of cars in my time, you can have a ‘friday’ troubled car if bought new or used / ex demo... it doesnt make much difference in my experience, just as much as they can all be absolute gems and perfect examples . Some of it is luck.

If you see a car you love, and can get a great deal, and your spider enses arent going wild..I would not let it hold you back!

 

[Svenedin]

Thats what im wanting to hear sureley you cant ragg a motor that much on a test drive

Not unless the salesman is an idiot. Possibly if it’s an extended test drive and the customer takes the car home or if staff use it and brutalise it. However, the car does protective itself a bit. For example you can’t launch it with a cold engine. It’s all covered by warranty if something goes wrong. If (unlikely) you bought a lemon and this showed up early in your ownership you could just reject it anyway.

My car did have a few swirls in the paint but they show badly on Navarra blue anyway (demonstrators get washed very frequently and not very carefully). There were also a couple of stone chips on the bonnet. Given the discount I can't expect absolute perfection and it drives beautifully and that is after all, the main thing.

Take it for a test drive and if the salesman knows you are serious you'll probably be able to negotiate the price down a bit. January is slow in the motor trade so you may well find the salesman is eager to sell.

 

[Pinky1959]

I would go in and get a test drive in it with the salesperson and see if they hash it , I would then be trying for a discount of the price to get the deal .
If you like it goo for it as said above .
What colour spec etc ?

 

[Daveotto]

As mentioned above its pretty hard to do multiple launches on a test drive and will have its full warranty.

Most dealerships have relatively strict rules on what staff members can take out the high performance models so the apprentice in the service department has no chance of getting an overnight extended test drive. Likewise unlikely to have had many 20 year old boy racer types getting it for 24 hours or over a weekend

Mechanically it will most likely be fine, more likely to get minor cosmetic damage, coffee stains on the seats/carpets or scratches on the interior from repeated new drivers using the car

 

[Jassyo06]

Ye pays yer money te takes yer choice....simples,l was gonna buy ex demo RS3 yonks ago.....ergo

 

[pburv]

hi folks I’m seriously thinking of buying an s3 sport back I noticed that a lot of ex demo cars are very well specked up with up to 4-5 k on the clock for around 35k
I thought I would just configure a brand new motor came in at 45 grand with all the gubbins second hand it is then any advice would be grateful I’m leaving behind a 2l tdi but I’m only doing 10000 miles pa so fuel cost not an issue suppose I just need bit moral support

Have you specced up a new car without any extras?
I did and I am having as much fun as anyone who has specced the b'jeezuz out of their car
Put a big enough deposit down on one and you will be out of negative equity within two years(that's if you are going down the pcp route)

 

[DrEskimo]

You can negotiate some pretty hefty discounts on new cars. The max is around 15% from online brokers I've used.

So if the same ex-demo car configured as new is coming in at £45k, then around £38k after discount is feasible. Based on that, you are looking at around a £3k saving still. I think you can probably haggle it down further though.

One thing to bear in mind is how you are planning on purchasing it and how long do you want to keep it? Is ownership important, etc.?

Cash is straightforward (and likely cheapest way to go), but even then I would be looking to get additional finance contributions and free servicing (most dealers are doing £750 off and 2 free services as basic offers) by setting it up on a PCP, then just settle the finance in full shortly after taking delivery.

If you are going finance, PCP will be more expensive over all, but some prefer the defined monthly outgoing (I think this can hide the true cost of ownership, but that's me...). An ex-demo on even a sensible APR (most will do ~6%) could be more per month compared to brand new, since the APR will be lower and the GFV will be higher. This is despite being a cheaper car....

Work out the numbers of each method, make some assumptions about additional costs (interest, servicing, etc.) and trade in values in X years when you want to change cars again, and see what works for you.

Personally, the real savings start to come when you look at cars 12-24 months old. Factor in extended warranties at about £500 a year and you will see that you can have pretty much the same car at a much lower cost, with still peace of mind of the warranty. That to me gives a significant saving over brand new, for essentially the same experience.

But as Jassy says...you pays yer monies!

 

[deanshaw24]

Check my car out for sale 67 plate
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/2017-67-audi-s3.355553/#post-3172507

 

[Timi8888]

Would stay away from demo cars. Performance cars get absolutely ragged about from cold starts and loads of short trip in its early life.

 

[bokoboy]

Thanks for your input folks ! Some good advice

 

[bokoboy]

I would go in and get a test drive in it with the salesperson and see if they hash it , I would then be trying for a discount of the price to get the deal .
If you like it goo for it as said above .
What colour spec etc ?

 

[bokoboy]

I would go in and get a test drive in it with the salesperson and see if they hash it , I would then be trying for a discount of the price to get the deal .
If you like it goo for it as said above .
What colour spec etc ?

Not wanting to go black again wife wont have vegas yellow im drawn to red but not many about looks like itll be either of the blues ! As for spec not fussy for lane assist ill have the rest seriously magride , sports seats , black edition , virtual dash folding mirrors oh and wife likes hold assist !!

 

[pburv]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the saloon has magride as standard......And 19" alloys.

 

[Beery]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the saloon has magride as standard......And 19" alloys.

That is correct...

 

[wab172uk]

hi folks I’m seriously thinking of buying an s3 sport back I noticed that a lot of ex demo cars are very well specked up with up to 4-5 k on the clock for around 35k
I thought I would just configure a brand new motor came in at 45 grand with all the gubbins second hand it is then any advice would be grateful I’m leaving behind a 2l tdi but I’m only doing 10000 miles pa so fuel cost not an issue suppose I just need bit moral support

I wouldn't be too worried about it TBH. The car is new'ish, and has a warranty. I doubt exuberant demo drives are going to suddenly make the car fall to bits over the next few years.

I've bought an ex-demo car before, and never had any doubts over it, or had anything go wrong with it.

As said above though, try speccing a brand new car, and go through a broker. If after discounts there's only a few grand in it, then buy new for personal peace of mind. You'll just have to wait for a build slot.

Also, being an ex-Demo, they'll be keen to move it on now, so you may well get another chunk off the asking price

 

[msdmjb]

Being a demo wouldn't bother me at all.
The engine is designed to be used in much harsher conditions than the UK, modern oils are amazing and from the moment a car is built the first few people to move it/park it/put it on a train/boat etc won't give a rats about oil temps etc. Don't ever forget we are talking mass produced engines/cars here with very sensible hp/cc ratios so out of the box they aren't that highly strung. So many VAG 2.0 turbo engines out there many of which have been tuned so if the deal works for you buy it.

p.s. I once had a 5mile Kawasaki 600cc sports bike as a demo which I rode like I stole it for around 100miles, 2 weeks later it had 500miles on it and i then bought it........smoothest engine I have ever owned and still went superbly well after 20k miles

 

[Lawrence Ellul]

I also bought an ex-demo car, only had 2000 miles on the clock. Nothing to complain. During inspection of the car I noticed that one of the tyres had a cut in the sidewall but this was replaced. I clocked a further 5000 miles since purchase and I have no issues. I was lucky that the car had the extras I needed and was discounted by around 2K when I was due to purchase.

 

[oli356]

Some demos will not even be driven hard.. my dad when working for Audi had an S3 for a year (2 for 6 months each). He was in his 50s and not bothered about driving "hard" or anything, likewise we went to Cardiff for the day in an RS3 and the car probably never saw over 3K RPM haha....

With the warranty I wouldn't be too concerned.

 

[Bitzieee]

I like the idea of being able to spec the car as I want it, thankfully I'm not too fussed about speccing a car highly, I would rather have a nicer car with less spec. Theirs people on here with S3's nearly into RS3 money which I just find a bit silly. Then again I buy the car for the performance, and noise not gismos and gadgets.

If I could have a ex demo at a steal of a price at the dealer I'm buying from with all the correct options I would snag it right up, they can't have driven the car harder than I will.

 

[bokoboy]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the saloon has magride as standard......And 19" alloys.

Not sure about saloon but it’s deffo an upgrade on sport back and hatch ; guy in sales reckons he couldn’t tell the difference not much of a salesman !!

 

[pburv]

Not sure about saloon but it’s deffo an upgrade on sport back and hatch ; guy in sales reckons he couldn’t tell the difference not much of a salesman !!

Only reason I mentioned it is the fact it's one less thing to pay extra for......and yes i'm aware the saloon costs more than the sportback lol

 

[Jassyo06]

I like the idea of being able to spec the car as I want it, thankfully I'm not too fussed about speccing a car highly, I would rather have a nicer car with less spec. Theirs people on here with S3's nearly into RS3 money which I just find a bit silly. Then again I buy the car for the performance, and noise not gismos and gadgets.

If I could have a ex demo at a steal of a price at the dealer I'm buying from with all the correct options I would snag it right up, they can't have driven the car harder than I will.

Nicer car for less money?
Now by that you mean for example a basic spec RS3 against a fully loaded S3, what if you don't want,need 400 bhp
Now define a nicer car? well a basic spec RS3 for example is a very dull dreary looking car inside and out, there was a £48,400 RS3 sportback in glasgow Audi showroom yesterday options where,Ara blue paint, matt aluminium pack/roof rails,titanium upgraded alloys, sport exhaust, that's it, looked very good externally but inside was basically a A3 s-line now for almost £50,000, my car was £47,900 or something, now that nicer car definition comes into play, the RS3 has the engine,but if that's not of interest to you there really is only one choice.
EDIT then add in running costs insurance petrol, servicing,
My son pays roughly £500 a month for petrol alone doing 400 miles a week,these are the factors you have to consider and does your lifestyle fit in with these

 

[Svenedin]

Nicer car for less money?
Now by that you mean for example a basic spec RS3 against a fully loaded S3, what if you don't want,need 400 bhp
Now define a nicer car? well a basic spec RS3 for example is a very dull dreary looking car inside and out, there was a £48,400 RS3 sportback in glasgow Audi showroom yesterday options where,Ara blue paint, matt aluminium pack/roof rails,titanium upgraded alloys, sport exhaust, that's it, looked very good externally but inside was basically a A3 s-line now for almost £50,000, my car was £47,900 or something, now that nicer car definition comes into play, the RS3 has the engine,but if that's not of interest to you there really is only one choice.
EDIT then add in running costs insurance petrol, servicing,
My son pays roughly £500 a month for petrol alone doing 400 miles a week,these are the factors you have to consider and does your lifestyle fit in with these

Interesting. I have actually priced up an RS3 and put my spec out to a broker. The maximum discount was only 5% whether cash or lease. It ended up being a very expensive car for what is essentially an über-hot hatch. I don’t think I can justify it unless I have a windfall of some kind. I would be paying around £20K on top of what my S3 would trade in for.

 

[Jassyo06]

Interesting. I have actually priced up an RS3 and put my spec out to a broker. The maximum discount was only 5% whether cash or lease. It ended up being a very expensive car for what is essentially an über-hot hatch. I don’t think I can justify it unless I have a windfall of some kind. I would be paying around £20K on top of what my S3 would trade in for.

5% £2500? seems the norm,my reason for not getting one was the running costs, as the car l specced was just £60 a month more so price wasn't really a deal breaker, plus my paint choice had a big influence
on my decision

 

[Svenedin]

5% £2500? seems the norm,my reason for not getting one was the running costs, as the car l specced was just £60 a month more so price wasn't really a deal breaker, plus my paint choice had a big influence
on my decision

Yes that's the discount. I have to admit that the S3 is more than capable for me. The RS3 is most certainly a "want" but very far from a "need"!

Running costs in fuel, insurance? How much more to run an RS3 vs S3?

 

[Jassyo06]

Yes that's the discount. I have to admit that the S3 is more than capable for me. The RS3 is most certainly a "want" but very far from a "need"!

Running costs in fuel, insurance? How much more to run an RS3 vs S3?

Fuel costs 24 mpg easily more, servicing costs RS rates apply, l didn't really delve into them l just made a educated guess, l am going to change the front grille on the S3 to the Rs one as a wee makeover sometime in the summer,that's the only thing l dislike about the S3 Saloon l love everything else about it, it's well fast enough for me, also my car feels more powerful than Audi state and feels a lot faster than my previous S3

 

[Sparks43]

Thats what im wanting to hear sureley you cant ragg a motor that much on a test drive

To be honest it's not so much the ragg on a test drive, it's the fact that the salesman use them as their cars and I've seen a few race around but let's face it they are a high performance vehicle that's designed to be driven fast and should be up to the job.

Also like you say you'll still have the warranty, so I'm sure you'll be fine

 

[itf]

Got an S-Line A3 ex-demo her and not had any issues apart from a squeaky trim fixed under warranty locally - at £6k under list with all the toys I wanted, the only downside was having to drive 150 miles to the dealership that had the spec I wanted. Had 2k miles on it, I've done another 6k.

The Audi used search allows you to be very specific on your extras etc if you're willing to travel.

 

[Jassyo06]

Audi/employees or any sales people seem to be getting a bit of a bashing here, well there's a flip side to this coin, my son who's had numerous demo cars, he looks after them pretty well, but he's given his cars out to clients for a week for example, it's these people who **** up cars more than salesman, because if a salesman damages/scratches anything on there cars they have to pay for it, my son has had all sorts of damage on his cars from punters having them on loan, one punter actually wrote off his a A5 coupe black edition, another totally shattered the front carbon fiber splitter on his M4, the most common ones are kerbed alloys and dents on doors all done by clients

 

[T-800]

Audi/employees or any sales people seem to be getting a bit of a bashing here, well there's a flip side to this coin, my son who's had numerous demo cars, he looks after them pretty well, but he's given his cars out to clients for a week for example, it's these people who **** up cars more than salesman, because if a salesman damages/scratches anything on there cars they have to pay for it, my son has had all sorts of damage on his cars from punters having them on loan, one punter actually wrote off his a A5 coupe black edition, another totally shattered the front carbon fiber splitter on his M4, the most common ones are kerbed alloys and dents on doors all done by clients

True Jassyo06 true.

Surprising how many people treat demo cars or cars they’ve been loaned for the day like crap......

I always remember a dealership day where they let Forum members try out S & RS cars......
If you saw how some of the ‘test pilots’ treated them once out in them you’d have cringed, some people you could even smell they’d been smoking ‘something’ prior to arriving at the dealers.

 

[Sparks43]

Audi/employees or any sales people seem to be getting a bit of a bashing here, well there's a flip side to this coin, my son who's had numerous demo cars, he looks after them pretty well, but he's given his cars out to clients for a week for example, it's these people who **** up cars more than salesman, because if a salesman damages/scratches anything on there cars they have to pay for it, my son has had all sorts of damage on his cars from punters having them on loan, one punter actually wrote off his a A5 coupe black edition, another totally shattered the front carbon fiber splitter on his M4, the most common ones are kerbed alloys and dents on doors all done by clients

Actually you're right as my mate at Audi said an A1 courtesy car came back and was completely trashed, kids drinks all over the seats and even a cigarette burn and when they asked for a contribution she kicked off

 

[Timi8888]

The salesmen at Audi also have to share cars with each other. For example if Salesman A sold Salesman B’s car, Salesman A would have to lend Salesman B his demo car, and he would go home in one of the spare cars, or a courtesy car if available. It is usually the customers that give a car the hardest time. I have seen S3’s been ragged from cold out of the showroom car park. I would stay clear!

 

[msdmjb]

^^ As was his (not specifically picking on Timi8888) S3 when driven from the factory, to the train, to the boat etc
Anybody else remember the car grand prix at Calais when Euro cars were getting loaded on to the boats to come to the UK?

Modern engines, modern oil no worries. Not everybody is an enthusiast who waits until oil temps are >80% so therefore engines are designed to be run hard from cold hence multigrade oils.

Do you check the oil temp before running your lawnmower at full revs, I don't on my push nor ride on yet both are still going great after years of great service.

If the numbers work, buy it.