Hi All,

We we are thinking about changing our A1 for a Q5. We have seen a nice example, but I thought I’d look for a little help from everyone here.

There is a particular car, that I think looks great. It’s a 2012 Q5 2.0 TDI S-Line Special Edition, with all the tricks that we are looking for.

It is based around 5 hours from me, so not wanting to make any rash decisions. It has a full service history, not Audi to my understanding though. It has just 38,000 miles, which is currently the only concern that I have. I have checked the MOT history checker, which all looks good with the exception of a blip with it MOT in January 2017 which doesn’t appear to have been logged on the system? 

Is is there anything I should be looking at in particular. DPF worries with the low mileage etc.

Many thanks in advance

Gregor 

Hi Gregor,

 Welcome.

 The DPF is an issue I have with my diesels over the years. The filter sensor comes on through a build up of particles that can not be cleared through light use of the engine. This isn't a problem as long as you run the engine at the recommended revs for the recommended period of time that the handbook details. Should this fail and the car goes into recovery/limp mode then a recovery service like the AA can help. It can run the engine through a set program via a laptop to discharge the built up particles. So the car kind of stops any damage being done itself. For more piece of mind you should look for full Audi service history on newer cars. this will indecate how it's previous owner/s cared. Ive had 3 Audi diesels over the past 12 years and done 5-6k a year in them with no problem all with FASH. 

 Not too sure on the MOT issue here. 

 Hope this helps

Hello Gregor,

Private or dealer sale? Apologies for painting the black picture, but if a dealer sale then I guess you  will be forgoing any warranty, based on the impractical 10 hour round trip to get anything fixed. But Ok, if it is with a deale have you checked how long the ore ours owner has owned it, and have you actually talked with them. If it's a private sale then obviuosly the warranty will not apply, but again I would be concerned about the any short term ownership. 

Seeing your location, I would guess the car is for sale in the south of the countr, and I  wonder if someone down here may be near enough to have a look at it for you, since photos always paint a rosy picture. Is it possible that you are going to spend in excess  of £120 on there and back fuel? If so, I think I would be investing in an AA/RAC type inspection before gambling this money, but still having done the previous ownership research first. 

Car buying should be pleasurable, and as a local RR enthusiast says, nice cars should always be bought from nice people, and over a nice cup of tea! It might be worth giving all of this a good coat of thinking about Gregor since as you say ..."I think the car looks great" ... and it's all too easy to fall in love with something and think a 12 hour road trip is worthwhile. 

Possible MOT issue? If you would like to share the registration number (or pm me if you prefer) then perhaps someone might give a second opinion. 

DPF? Might be worth not getting too hung up about that and keep in mind other things which might be worth thinking about on a 6 year old car. 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Kind regards,

Gareth.