I've been an A3 2.0 tdi owner for about three weeks. Today I returned the vehicle to the dealer for a refund as it was faulty. I've definitely caught the Audi bug and am currently looking at 2011 2.0tdi black edition and would like to ask what issues if any I should be looking out for before parting with my pounds.

Pleasure to meet you guys, looking forward to your input and buying my first proper Audi within the next few months, just means I'm going to be cycling to work, brrrrr. 

 

Hi David...welcome to the Club

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with the A3....what was wrong with it?

I think the only thing to really focus on with an A3 or any other car for that case is the service history and maintenance that has been carried out over the years.....if its been looked after then it should be fine. Dealer history would then suggest that it has had recalls and service modifications when it was in for maintenance work.

What do you mean 'brrrr' you live in sunny Bournemouth and the weather is lovely here today 🙂

Good to have you onboard
Cheers .    Trevor

Thanks Trevor, the dealer told me the actuator was stickin and that they would replace it. I'm no mechanic, so I've posted the report which drew my attention to the faults.

Sunny today yes 😂 The next A3 I buy I'll make sure to get a diagnostic done before I spend £120 on new discs and pads all round! 

Hello David,

Sorry to hear you were dissatisfied with the the A3 you bought. 

Interesting comment about spending £120 on discs and pads all round. Not sure about how  this fits in to your recent experience - did you spend that on the car you just returned? If so, that again is interesting - can we take it that that was just the cost of the replaced parts? 

Diagnostics and next purchase? If you mean accessing codes which will show you problems, then beware that it can simply be a case of clearing all previous faults and presenting you with a print out confirming no faults found. 

If it were me, and I didn’t have much mechanical experience, then I would be aiming to get some knowledgeable and experienced opinion on any car I was intending to buy. 

While appreciating Trevor’s very good advice regarding ensuring the car has service history, the reality is that it may be a fairly rare find to come across a 14 year old car ( if it was a 2005 A3 you bought) which is likely to have covered around 170,000 miles on an average basis, and find it had a fairly comprehensive service history. I would anticipate that even if it does, it will probably still require replacing some wearing components. 

Well worth considering getting second opinion on your proposed n cut purchase David. Not sure what the terms of your initial purchase were, and despite good justification, rejecting a 14 year old car and returning it, may not always be that easy.

Good luck with your next purchase. 

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

The noise from the flywheel is the fault that would have worried me most.....Dual Mass Flywheel 😞