"High mileage" question + Electric Auxiliary Heater

[Wezango]

Hi everyone,
Time to swap my 1.0 3 door A3 with something bigger. I am looking for some B9 A4's, most probably 2016-17 2.0 150PS TDI manual. Car with most miles that I am considering is around 70k and others are around 40-50k. I was wondering if 70k miles is high enough to cause me some trouble? I'm gonna buy it from Audi dealership, so it's gonna be Approved Plus with 1 year warranty. I am doing around 10k miles a year, so would the car be ok after 5 years? (I know, I don't need diesel for such low mileage, but Irish insurance companies don't wanna cover me with 1.4 TFSI )

Another thing that I'd like to ask is how quick 2.0 TDI warms up the cabin in winter? My 1.0 tfsi A3 is super slow, cause it doesn't have electric auxilary heater, but it has seat heating and it's enough for my bum to feel comfy until the cabin heats. Most A4's that I am considering do not have seat heating, so I was wondering if electric auxiliary heater will blow hot air quick enough, so I won't have to travel 20 minutes to the office in a freezing car?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mkay315]

Hi everyone,
Time to swap my 1.0 3 door A3 with something bigger. I am looking for some B9 A4's, most probably 2016-17 2.0 150PS TDI manual. Car with most miles that I am considering is around 70k and others are around 40-50k. I was wondering if 70k miles is high enough to cause me some trouble? I'm gonna buy it from Audi dealership, so it's gonna be Approved Plus with 1 year warranty. I am doing around 10k miles a year, so would the car be ok after 5 years? (I know, I don't need diesel for such low mileage, but Irish insurance companies don't wanna cover me with 1.4 TFSI )

Another thing that I'd like to ask is how quick 2.0 TDI warms up the cabin in winter? My 1.0 tfsi A3 is super slow, cause it doesn't have electric auxilary heater, but it has seat heating and it's enough for my bum to feel comfy until the cabin heats. Most A4's that I am considering do not have seat heating, so I was wondering if electric auxiliary heater will blow hot air quick enough, so I won't have to travel 20 minutes to the office in a freezing car?

Thanks in advance!

Hello

If you're considering having heated seats then I'd recommend you look at cars registered from 2018 onwards as it became standard from that point.

 

[Wezango]

Hello

If you're considering having heated seats then I'd recommend you look at cars registered from 2018 onwards as it became standard from that point.

Ideally, that's what I want. Unfortunately, Audi Ireland doesn't have any 2018-19 Avant's in stock. They currently only have 12 B9 Avant's in whole Ireland and they are 2016,2017 and 2020 models. They won't do PCP on 2017 models, so only option I have is to get an HP finance for cheaper 2016 models or wait and hope they'll have some 2018 models soon.

 

[Mkay315]

Ideally, that's what I want. Unfortunately, Audi Ireland doesn't have any 2018-19 Avant's in stock. They currently only have 12 B9 Avant's in whole Ireland and they are 2016,2017 and 2020 models. They won't do PCP on 2017 models, so only option I have is to get an HP finance for cheaper 2016 models or wait and hope they'll have some 2018 models soon.

I get what you mean. I think usually cars from 2017/8 may be nearing the end of their PCP deals so you may start seeing some appear on autotrader and some audi websites over the next few months.

 

[Aldi-Sport Chap]

Hi
I had the 3 litre lump that had the suplementary heater and it would start to blow warm in about 2 miles/5 minutes. I believe it was an EU directive to start the demist or something within 5 minutes. However , the engine takes a lot longer to warm than any petrol. In summer it was <5 miles, in winter twice that for all 4 bars to illuminate. Also, oddly the supplementary heater doesn't work in efficiency mode.

Don't confuse the electric supplementary heater with the diesel driven auxilliary heater which is an option on some models, they are very different.

Pre 2017 MY the sport trim and lower had cloth seats so heating wasn't as important, even the S-Line has mainly alcantara so also prob not as cold as the twin(plastic) leather of the newer models. I like heated seats but it wasn't a deal breaker for me. Cloth trim was great apart from keeping them clean.

 

[jds_sg]

Ditto about the warm air into cabin time for the 2.0 TDI and engine warm up time.
Although it depends on what type of driving, onto a motorway warm is much much quicker than pootling around town from cold, although I guess this is true of any ICE.

 

[smog c6]

Your 1.0 petrol A3 would warm up faster than any modern diesel.

Diesels are notoriously slow to warm up, even more so for these new diesels so I guess the supplementary heater fills the gap. Having said this my experience with the A4 has been better than anticipated.

You will feel mildly warm air blow from the vents after a minute or two when the vents are on mid or low speed. So at this time of year, winter that is, if you set the vents to blow towards you and NOT on auto, you will be warm in a few minutes of driving.

The coolant will be up to temp in about 5 miles depending on driving style. Thus giving good heating by then. The engine oil will be up to temp in about 10 miles, important for MPG.

 

[smog c6]

Also I’d be more worried about buying a 2016 A4 with 40K miles than one with 70k.

40k miles would be less than 10k a year. Which would mean possible DPF exhaustion/ problems unless driven on long trips.

I can’t think of anything other than normal service items which would need addressing at 70-120k. Possibly the timing belt at 5 years old or 130K miles, whichever sooner. However in some countries Audi don’t give a time schedule for the belt, it’s solely on mileage. Take what you will from that.

 

[gregpot2000]

Normally I start getting hot air through the vents after about 5 to 6mins.
Mileage is a bit more complicated with the current situation, My 2016 has 50k on it, but I've gone from doing about 18k a year motorway miles, to only about 2000miles in the past 10months, so the age is catching up with the mileage

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

 

[cuke2u]

My car has only completed 17500 miles, I bet I could sell it far quicker and easier than any A4 with high mileage. It isn't the mileage that's the problem it is in the manner in which it is driven and maintained whilst being laid up due to shielding...

 

[Wezango]

Thanks everyone for replies. I decided to go with 2018 s-line sedan 1.4 Tfsi. It has around 15k mileage, it’s monthly payments via pcp are lower and also insurance is less costly. Thanks again!

 

[Mkay315]

Thanks everyone for replies. I decided to go with 2018 s-line sedan 1.4 Tfsi. It has around 15k mileage, it’s monthly payments via pcp are lower and also insurance is less costly. Thanks again!

Wonderful news. Well I hope you enjoy your new car.