Went to see an S3 today...

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JoeD

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For sale locally, 2000 (Y/W?) 97k, FASH, Dark blue, cream recaro's etc, nice looking car. Its up for sale for £3995, but theres a few things wrong with it and wanted to get some advice on before I commit to buying it.

The drivers centre digial display between the speedo and tach had alot of missing pixels on the display. Is a new cluster expensive?

Glove box was broken, the hatch was attached to the dash but if you tried to open it, it just fell away from the dash. Are these expensive to replace?

Is also due a service.


I know the car is relativly cheap for S3 money but is the car worth 4k in its condition?

Cheers Joe.
 
There is a guide on how to do a quick fix on the missing pixels where you heat the ribbon attached to the screen and apply more pressure but it's hit n miss whether it works or not.
It worked a bit for me but still have a lot of missing pixels so what I'm going to do is buy a new LCD screen off ebay for about £80 and replace it.

Regarding the glove box issue, you could buy one off someone on ebay thats breaking a car.
 
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Seems a bit on the cheap side to me, has it had the cambelt done? Any link to it?
 
2000 AUDI S3 Quattro

Had a cambelt and water pump change at 80k, its due another service now though. When i go back down sunday I'll ask for the MOT # and run that through the vosa site.
 
Lol you already know my thoughts joe.


Wibble Belt and water pump has been changed.
Seemed quite an tidy example when we saw it today.
Gonna have a better look with my mate S3 Nattie on Sunday and run some scans with vagcom. Joe will take it for a test drive hopefully.
 
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Just had a look at the link, looks a nice tidy example, hope it all pans out ok. :icon_thumright:
 
Rare colour that. Azure blue...the problems you mention are superficial and can be sorted, it's a good price, as long as its a sound car and receipts can be seen for the Cambelt I'd say go for it.

G
 
Alright Joe, does look like a tidy motor, bit cheap though especially for a trader, will have a nose with you and ash sunday.

If you find that guide to try and fix the DIS, dont bother because it will make it worse. I done it to mine and it messed mine up completely.

Heres a link for a DIS. Dont worry to much about small problems because most S3 have loads of little niggles lol. Il help you sort them out alright buddy.

LCD CLUSTER DISPLAY AUDI VW SEAT-VDO on eBay (end time 16-Apr-11 22:07:11 BST)
 
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Chip him you will get that for about 3600 quid the plates worth a few hundred quid as well.... Looks a tidy car, you don't actually start spending until you have bought it anyway.... Welcome to the money pit club:yes:
 
cecilthesausage said:
Chip him you will get that for about 3600 quid the plates worth a few hundred quid as well.... Looks a tidy car, you don't actually start spending until you have bought it anyway.... Welcome to the money pit club:yes:
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I'll second that, bought my 2001 51plate standard AMK with 128k in January for £4k, have so far spent another £2k on it just putting bits right, and I still have lots I want to do before I even start to get mod it. Think I should have paid a few hundred less given the condition of it, but I wanted a facelift AMK, didn't have any more money to spend and got a bit excited! I think if I had been sensible I should have waited, paid more and found one that had been owned by an proper enthusiast with ocd....never mind half the fun is fixing them up...wonder if I'll ever have any savings ever again!!
 
Cheers guys!! Thanks for your advice, It sounds like a good deal, especially from a dealer. Hoping theres no hidden surprises or anything when I have a closer look. Will let you know how it goes.
 
Doesn't look silly cheap to me really, seems about right! DIS issues effect almost all pre facelift cars sadly.
Looks tidy, knock him down a bit and go for it!
 
Cheers guys! Going to look today, hopfully all goes well. Nath, I didnt realise a DIS replacment was so cheap. I was expecting £££!!!
 
Went down for a test drive today and between that and jizzing my pants, ended up putting a deposit down. :D!!! Big thanks to Ashley and Nathan for today, nice one guys.. legends!!
 
Before you take it off his hands check out the FASH, just go into your local dealership with the reg or vin number and they will confirm all the work done on that car and where. It wont cost you anything as its free. You could be really cheeky and book it in for a free health check too, take the car for one more extended test drive and let Audi look at it.
 
mk1chopper said:
Before you take it off his hands check out the FASH, just go into your local dealership with the reg or vin number and they will confirm all the work done on that car and where. It wont cost you anything as its free.
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An absolute, 100% , definite must do.

I'm hoping I shouted loud enough so everyone does the same.
 
This remindes me of when i was looking for S3's, saw a lovely blue one, but noticed it was missing the rear head rests. anyway, the owner claimed it had part audi service history. He even gave me the service dates and mileage online in an e-mail, so i called up two different audi dealerships and audi UK, and they had NO record of the car ever being serviced with them, i then did a hpi check and found the car had been with 13 people!...he claimed 3 lol it pays to do the leg work, also get the MOT certifacte number from the most recent mot and look online. You can find out what advisories the car has had and check the mileage.
 
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Nice one welcome on board the S3 club, hope it doesn't disappoint. I'm loving the handling and quattro grip just need a remap to bring mine to life.
 
Cheers mate, nice one for posting up pics Ash!!
Car isnt running perfect at the moment, needs a new MAF and a few little jobs done to it but everything seems solid. Can't wait to get the insurance sorted and start driving it:racer:
 
JoeD said:
Cheers mate, nice one for posting up pics Ash!!
Car isnt running perfect at the moment, needs a new MAF and a few little jobs done to it but everything seems solid. Can't wait to get the insurance sorted and start driving it:racer:
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No problem fella. As Nath said he will sort the bits out for you if you like.
And dont worry your car safe outside. Drop me a text tomorrow
 
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