Repairs

[Gress Triple]

Really looking on buying a quattro TFSI, they're only around £3k, but I've been advised to not due to repair costs. How bad are they really, I always thought Audi's were pretty reliable, other than the Haldex system.
Thanks in advance.

 

[GGG_666]

I've had my 2006 2.0tfsi quattro since 2010 and haven't had any major issues other than the normal operating costs, oil, cam belt etc. Obviously lower miles, un-tuned or modified would probably be best but buying any used car can be a gamble.

If you do get one, just make sure you change the oil and cam follower regularly. The oil pickup can get clogged.

 

[ch1z64]

There will always be costs as you know and Audi's are not cheap to fix even at your local Indy garage , might be worth having a walk around your local area and pop into some Indy garages asking how much they charge an hour but don't mention the model off car unless asked as you could be charged more for aging a Audi .
There are things that you can do yourself if your mechanical minded ,is changing oil, brakes etc, but what I would say is see if you can get a hold off someone who has a genuine bag cable and ask the seller if they mind you plugging it in so you can see if it has any faults or if there has been faults what ones they where ,
Loads off info on Google to find out how you can tell if old faults have been cleared . Hope this helps

 

[paddy]

How longs a piece of string ? any old car is a potential money pit, you may be lucky, you may not but whether its an Audi or a ford aint going to make much difference to how long it lasts. My rear diff went at 50k miles and cost £4500.......another might last 200k miles.

 

[Daveyonthemove]

I think people forget how many of these cars are out there when it comes to spares.
Most A3 bits fit all the range, the engines are shared across Audi/VW/Skoda/Seat so they are quite cheap to source parts for, and oil and filter can be had dirt cheap online or from places like TPS.

Owning an old Audi isn't as expensive as people might think, it just depends if you can save money by doing jobs yourself or have a trusted garage available at sensible rates.

 

[samisnake]

I think people forget how many of these cars are out there when it comes to spares.
Most A3 bits fit all the range, the engines are shared across Audi/VW/Skoda/Seat so they are quite cheap to source parts for, and oil and filter can be had dirt cheap online or from places like TPS.

Owning an old Audi isn't as expensive as people might think, it just depends if you can save money by doing jobs yourself or have a trusted garage available at sensible rates.

its been relatively cheap maintaining my a3 so far, mainly as you say the bits are used across the vag brands.
my main thing atm is to look for genuine or oem (lemforder etc) parts on ebay being sold by vw/seat/skoda dealers.
one trick is to cross reference part numbers with aftermarket, which will give you the actual fitment.
eg.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-...a:g:umMAAOSw~3paeuFf:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true
rear brake pads for older vag models which also fit 1kd rear brakes on the 8p. being sold for £9.50 by camberley lookers audi

 

[Daveyonthemove]

its been relatively cheap maintaining my a3 so far, mainly as you say the bits are used across the vag brands.
my main thing atm is to look for genuine or oem (lemforder etc) parts on ebay being sold by vw/seat/skoda dealers.
one trick is to cross reference part numbers with aftermarket, which will give you the actual fitment.
eg.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-...a:g:umMAAOSw~3paeuFf:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true
rear brake pads for older vag models which also fit 1kd rear brakes on the 8p. being sold for £9.50 by camberley lookers audi

Completely agree. I always try to find the part number of the part I need and then look for it that way.
I either find the OEM part that way, or find an alternative and buy that depending on what I need and how much i'm willing to spend.

 

[samuelh_888]

I've spent more than £15k on mine in the last 2 years...

But realistically - it was my choice to do the preventative maintenance and then try to keep up with the other builds on here

If regular maintenance have been completed you should be good but make sure you get it checked out if you're unsure, preferably by a VW-Audi specialist...

 

[paddy]

About £10k for me but the point is if like me you spend £34k on a new car you are pretty much obliged to then spend whatever it takes to keep it going especially with things like a diff at 50k miles.
If however you spend £3k as suggested in the first post here you are not going to spend out £4k on a new diff, you are going to buy good used at £400, as Davey says there is whole network of used spares suppliers.