Hi ! Soon I intend to buy my first car (as a beginner).       

I got a maximum budget of 2500-3500 euro. Is it enough to get an A3 with 4 doors ? (chosen engine : patrol 1.6 MPI)

Is this car reliable and cheap to run? (I need to not spend more than 400-500 euro per year, from which 200 are for taxes). As I read, this car is built on the platform called PQ35 so I guess it should have very similar running costs with Golf V.      

Would the Audi A3 8L be cheaper to run and find in my budget?

I am totally not interested in high tech features. All I need is comfortable chairs and air conditioning. My wish is to have a cheap to run car while keeping some whims (like the good quality interior, sportive ride and... owning an Audi, especially an pre-2008 model because these are the ones I love the most).

Can you tell me what are some common problems of this car?

 

 

This video might help 🙂

 

I would suggest getting the A3 "8P1 [2003-2012] Hatchback·1.9 TDI Hatchback·1896ccm 105HP 77KW"

They are a sought after vehicle, I think that it is something to do with the £30.00 per year road tax but I maybe wrong  😂

Mine is a 2009 plate 97,000 miles £2,100 purchased in January 2020 and tested till mid November

Hi all, I am thinking about buying a 2008 A3 1.8 tfsi I recently saw in a dealership, having done a test drive I got them to put it up on the lift and was a little concerned to see a fair amount of oil over the back of the engine which looked quite old and some more that looked very recent. I did check where the car had been parked in the dealers however and there was nothing on the floor. any ideas where this may be coming from, if it is a major problem etc. 

 

Any advice welcome, thanks for your time. 

 

Laurie

Hi there Laurie

If you have not yet purchased the petrol version I would respectfully suggest NO.

Please see my post above yours ;

I would suggest getting the A3 "8P1 [2003-2012] Hatchback·1.9 TDI Hatchback·1896ccm 105HP 77KW"

Audi A3 Tfsi vs Audi A3 1.9Tdi

BUT the most important thing is what you feel when you take it for a test drive the same goes for the 1.9Tdi

Please don't let the salesman bamboozle you with all sorts of numbers.

Do your research first 

Reference the oil leak you might be interested in this thread

Audi A3 Tfsi oil leak

Good luck please post a photo of your purchase as and when.

Tony

Thanks for your reply Tony, I have looked at a 1.9 TDI and understand them to be very good, proven and reliable engines, I just found it to be a little underpowered, also looked at quite a few 2.0 TDI's, which I did prefer, but I hear about a lot of potential problems with the oil pump on these engines... of course, with a car of this kind of age there is always going g to be a degree of risk. 

 

Cheers

 

Laurie

On 1/3/2021 at 5:30 PM, Laurie said:

Thanks for your reply Tony, I have looked at a 1.9 TDI and understand them to be very good, proven and reliable engines, I just found it to be a little underpowered, also looked at quite a few 2.0 TDI's, which I did prefer, but I hear about a lot of potential problems with the oil pump on these engines... of course, with a car of this kind of age there is always going g to be a degree of risk. 

 

Cheers

 

Laurie

Hi Laurie

Well there you have it with regards to the 2.0Tdi oil leak.

Please see the video posted by "Steve Q"  with reference to 2.0Tdi 

Regards

Tony