Good afternoon everyone

I'm a new member, joined today, as I am in the process of buying my daughter a used A1 for her first car

I've got my orders - White S-Line 3 door with black wheels!

ideally I'd prefer to get her a 1.2 for insurance purposes - I'm not interested in diesels, but I'm open to the 1.4

not many around with black wheels so will likely get the wheels refurbed & powder coated in black

anything I need to look out for when looking at cars would be nice to know

I am a mechanic by trade, but, don't really want to be doing an in depth inspection on every car we look at

as I said, any info would be appreciated

Have A Good Day

Mark

 

Hi and welcome.

If you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.

Regards,

Dan.

Welcome to the forum Mark, you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch 🙂 

This guide to the 1.2 might help: 

https://www.motorreviewer.com/engine.php?engine_id=115#:~:text=EA111 1.2 TSI%2FTFSI Engine,(60%2C000-100%2C000 km).&text=The average lifespan of the,150%2C000 miles (250%2C000 km).

Cheers

Steve

Hi Steve 

 

thanks for that ~ good read. 
Interesting about the timing chain issues as low as 40k-60k, definitely makes me err towards low mileage with full Audi main dealer service cars

thanks again

mark 

Hello Mark,

Steve manages to come up with some great links. 

One thing about your logic I would question is ‘low mileage’. Low mileage can OK, but can be very harsh on engines and drive trains, so it’s likely the low mileage has arisen from short trips, where the engine has been subjected to a far greater than average number of warm  up periods and frequent stop starts - all not good for engines. If you put a warmed up car on the motorway at the legal limit, and do high mileages under these conditions then you may well find that mechanically, that higher than normal mileage car is in better order. 

Again, ‘Full service history’ is taken as read as being the be all and end all, must have. It certainly helps, but can equate to little more than the vehicle spending half a day at the main dealer every 18 months or so, and for the rest of its time, there is no guarantee that it’s been cared for. To my mind, the overall condition of the car should speak for itself, and if full service history is to hand then that’s a bonus. 

Timing chains and issues? Are these engines truly not fitted with a replaceable chain tensioners?? With chained engines, it’s not unusual for the tensioner to become less effective, and it’s a matter of replacing them at sensible service life. 

Good luck with your quest Mark.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Hi Gareth 

 

thank you for your input

always interesting to get as many opinions as possible.

i am in fact a master mechanic by trade, so I won’t be going into buying a car totally without experience, however, having only owned BMW & Mercedes, it’s always good to have a heads up on anything specific to look for.

and whilst I agree with you in regards to FSH not being any kind of guarantee, irs better than NO/partial service history, 
at least the car has regularly visited an Audi dealer, however brief!

Wear & tear on a low mileage engine isn’t so much of a problem now with the high quality oils in use today - again, main dealers you would hope have used the correct grade! 

thanks again

Mark

 

Thanks Mark,

The joy of forums is that opinions vary, and that’s healthy. Wear and tear on low mileage engines not now an issue?? Possibly less than was with the superior lubrications. Wear and tear on clutches, drive trains, steering, suspension due to small around town mileages?

I’m certainly not saying low mileage isn’t good, but it’s certainly not necessarily king? 

It’s great that you have the necessary experience to be able to judge better cared for examples than unloved ones. I’m sure you will find the right car.

Kind regards,

Gareth.