New member looking for an Audi A3 or A4 avant

[Theador]

hello all. Newbie here. I've not had an Audi for a few years now after switching to the BMWdark side.

Anyway I'm looking to get an Audi again as our second car.
I'm currently looking at either an A3 3.2 Quattro or an A4 Avant 3.0 Quattro. I'm only looking to spend around £4k, slightly less if possible. My second car at the moment is a tuned up Volvo 850R, so I want something with a bit of spirit behind it to replace this. I'm happy to spend a little money later to coax a bit more power out of the car turns out to be a good one. So far it looks like a Miltek cat back and a remap is about as far as you can go on power before spending big bucks.

Any advice or experience with either of these cars, or others I should be looking at would be much appreciated. I need to get a dog in it now and again and a bike.

 

[Jake 61]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
I have a 3.2, but both of the cars you are looking at are good depending on what you want.
Up to now, I have never had to do anything other than change the oil, (every 6k miles), and service it two weeks ago. It's been brilliant and just what I was wanting in a car. I bought it with Weitec Coil overs, Powerflow exhaust and a K&N fitted and I find it quite quick, although, it does require some working the gears to get the best of it.
It's not an S3 and I wouldn't treat it as such. Drag starts are a no, nearly ****** my clutch trying, so no more of that.
Where I find it very good, is pulling from 50-60 mph and it will shift if you get the hang of it.
Now that I have it looking the way I want it, I find myself thinking about a remap. Best I can hope for is just under 300bhp, which for me, is plenty.
I probably will do that at some stage, as the miles are still low enough not to worry too much about the consequences of blowing it up...!
I did investigate turbo's and superchargers but, the cost is frightening and I'd be just as well buying myself an RS4.. which I might do anyway.
If you get one, I reckon you'll love it.
As for the 3.0 diesel, nothing wrong with them either and plenty scope for a bit more poke also.

Enjoy finding out more about both on the forum, there's plenty to read on both of them.

You can see pics of my one here.
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/gallery/albums/my-a3-s-line-3-2-quattro.3652/

 

[Theador]

Your car looks sweet.

Yeah I'm going to test both. Really the 3.0 a4 avant suits my needs better, but on paper, the 3.2 a3 looks a lot more fun. I wonder how the power difference translates in real world though.

 

[Jake 61]

Thank you.
I always had a fancy for the V6, so I didn't really care much about fuel consumption when I bought it. (And it is good fun).
I do have a dog as well, but she only got in the A3 once and turned the boot white with hair, so I bought an old Fabia for the dog and the MTB.
As for the Avant, I reckon you could still have a good bit of fun in that and still not break the bank with running costs.

Good luck whichever you choose, I don't think you'll be disappointed with either of them.

 

[Sandra]

@Theador welcome to Audi-sport.net. Enjoy the forum x

 

[Theador]

I'm off to test an A3 3.2 manual tonight, anything I should specifically look for? I'll check through the buying guides. It's on 103000 miles. Timing chains have been done apparently

 

[Sandra]

I'm off to test an A3 3.2 manual tonight, anything I should specifically look for? I'll check through the buying guides. It's on 103000 miles. Timing chains have been done apparently

Good luck with test drive, let us know how it goes. x

 

[Jake 61]

If the timing chain is done then that's a major heartache taken care of.
Only other problems I had were minor fixes, throttle body and MAF sensor clean. (It was dying at junctions and is a common fault with a 1 hour fix). Check that the rear diff is working and that the 4WD is engaging. (It may only need the Haldex oil topping up, but could be the controller).
Check that the coil packs have been changed under the Audi recall and finally, ask if the ECU software has been updated to the latest version. It does make it run a lot better.

 

[Theador]

tiny bit of bubbling on the front wings where they meet the bumper; I've replaced wings before, so will do that if it gets too bad:

 

[Jake 61]

The bubbling is quite common on the front arches, that's no big deal really.
Rest of it looks pretty sweet.