S3 Interior wear and dented door - Went to view and test drive a S3 this evening

[firestorm]

Evening All,
I went to see a 2002 S3 this evening. There was a large dent in the driver's door that spanned 30cm by 5cm, with a crease above the door moulding where you could see bare metal.

Also the radio, a/c control buttons, light switch and surrounding lower dash, door pillar and door pulls were either scratched or had the soft-touch material was peeling.

Is the A3/S3 interior particularly fragile ? I would guess one or more of the previous owners wore rings and scratched the surface. The car had 107k miles on the clock.

Any one have an idea of how much it would cost to replace ? Are 2nd hand items available or practical ?

How much would a new door skin and respray in silver metallic cost ?

Cheers
fs

 

[superkarl]

unfortunately, on later cars they had a rubbery texture to the switches controls, and due to there age it rubs off quite easily, very common.
fortunately for me, an earlier car, i dont suffer from this and the switches and controls are much better quality, not a mark!

something for you to be aware of when viewing later cars.
im not certain it can be fixed as such, but replaced, and i've even seen some of the buttons vinyl wrapped.

 

[firestorm]

Yes, its the soft touch, velvety material, its trashed the looks of the interior :-(

The rest of the car is great - Did the change happen during the facelift ?

So pre-2000 cars are not afflicted ?

 

[superkarl]

well mine is a facelift and has all facelift controls just not the horrible textured stuff.
so im unsure of the transition year. i guess that if you go early facelift it may be the better controls.
just pot luck really. but at least you now know to ask before you view.

 

[firestorm]

****** annoying, the car drove really well, has the BAM engine, but it looked awful. I'll give the stealer a call to see if the bits are available and be prepared to be shocked at the prices.

Cheers

 

[Pabl0]

****** annoying, the car drove really well, has the BAM engine, but it looked awful. I'll give the stealer a call to see if the bits are available and be prepared to be shocked at the prices.Cheers

Why do you want the BAM engine? What is its appeal to you over the AMK?

 

[sportquattro]

Pre-facelift interiors much better IMHO, and the buttons and everything in my 99 APY S3 are as good as they were when new. People seem to get hung up over Post faceliift being better cars but I would always buy a car on condition rather than age everytime. so I wouldn't dismiss a good pre-facelift over a tired facelift.

 

[firestorm]

Main reason is that the engine and haldex is 27k miles old. It had a new engine put in 3 years ago by an audi dealer. I've seen the receipt for it, over £6500!

 

[JoeD]

The pre-facelift centre console looks a little dated in my opinion. The facelift one looks better with the cleaner less busy look to it, also has the cup holder in the centre, which is handy as the one in the armrest is pointless!

 

[rhubarb4]

well mine is a facelift and has all facelift controls just not the horrible textured stuff.
so im unsure of the transition year. i guess that if you go early facelift it may be the better controls.
just pot luck really. but at least you now know to ask before you view.

Same here mine is a facelift and does not have the rubbery textured stuff either

 

[firestorm]

I'm going to see a few more, so I get a better idea of what to expect.