To buy or not to buy?? Your advice please.

[Jedi Black]

Hello all,

New member here!

I’ve been looking for a while and found a 2010 Audi A5 2.0 TFSI Q in my budget with the exact specifications I want. 1 owner, excellent milage and great condition. Full Audi SH apart from the last service done by the dealer.

I paid for an AA inspection which found an oil leak in the front engine (he said maybe it’s the front cam shaft sensor?). The dealer agreed to get this fixed before I buy the car. Looking at the service history, 30,000 miles ago it seems like Audi did a consumption test as a leak was cleaned and the owner was asked to return after 1000 miles. No other related issues or mentions appear in the history after that, it looks like the owner didn’t go back. So one assumes all was ok and there was no consumption problem?

I’m just a little torn as to whether to purchase this car. I really don’t want to find that there is a consumption problem or other issues down the line. The only other things are: There’s only one key so I’d need to buy another.
A few diagnostic fault codes came up, though I dont know what they mean.
- 01 engine control module 1
- 19 Gateway
- 5F information control unit 1
- P150A00 Engine off timer performance
- Button control head jammed

All else is perfect and the dealer said he’d give me a year warranty rather than 3 months.

Sorry for the long message. I’d really appreciate your opinions and advice please.

Thanks in advance

 

[pelhamsdetailing]

Seeing as you're asking for opinions, I'd be inclined to steer clear of the car with those kinds of error codes - assuming they're present ones and not old stored ones. P150A00 points to a potential ECU problem, but, hey it could simply be touchy wiring. Won't know until you poke around the ECU itself, but it's a serious code none the less.

The whole picture painted is one of uncertainty and unsurity, and I couldn't put money on the table for a car with that feeling around it. I've done myself over too many times for buying stuff full of problems because I thought it would still be a good buy and could be fixed.

I wish you all the best man.

 

[Sidrick]

I agree with the above. If you're not sure then there are plenty more cars in the sea, or something like that.

The fault codes have the random pattern of a car that's maybe sat for a bit and the battery is not doing too good, really you'd want them cleared, run it for a while and see what comes back.

The oil leak offer and extended warranty also tell me it's either a car that's sat or the dealer wants it gone.

At the end of the day, the car was presented to you, presumably on a forecourt, with a noticeable oil leak and numerous fault codes. Tells me all I need to know. That said, if you can get it at good enough price....

 

[Jedi Black]

Thanks for your thoughts guys, really appreciated.

I decided not to go for it in the end. I managed to get ahold of the previous owner and had a good chat with him. He said all was fine with it but he also didn’t question that he had to keep oil in the boot to keep topping up the engine. He also said it wasn’t leaking when he part exchanged it 3 months prior.

I had paid a refundable deposit to take it off the market while I looked into buying it and the dealer then refused to give it back, trying to force me to buy the car or pay for the oil leak repair he did!

This was a very dodgy dealer and so I’m glad I didn’t proceed in the end. He was in breach of contract so I went the legal route for a refund.

The search continues.