Hello

 

Having been the proud owner of various Alfa-romeos,  I've just paid my last respects to my last 'lady' Alfa who fell foul to an uninsured Polish taxis driver.

 

I owned the car (2.5 24v v6)  for the last 12 years and she was fantastic - she even was my wedding car and, unlike my wife, never ever let me down in over 90k miles.

 

Another Alfa could never live up to the memory of MY Alfa (plus I didn't feel brave enough to take the risk), so I've taken the plunge and bought a '55 Audi 2.0t FSI S line.

 

It was described by the retailer as "being too good to pass through the trade but not good enough to have as retail". i.e. a bit scruffy. Not good sales-speak, but honest.

 

It's done 90k, 2 owners, a bit of corrosion around the top of the front wings, base of the rears, but it's essentially not been messed with.

 

Test driving the car went fine but lacked the smoothness of the Alfa's v6 and to be honest, sounded a bit ''tappetty'. I've been assured that this is a trait for this engine so I'll have to accept it. Anyway, I bought it.

 

I have few questions which I'll be very grateful if experienced members could help me with:

 

1. Cam-belt. This has not been changed and the service manual suggests it's done at the 120k mile mark. Seems a bit high to me since my Alfa had her's changed every 30k.

2. The corrosion around the wings. Is this the norm? It's not major, but I want it sorted asap. How does this model fair regarding rust? As a comparison, I resprayed my Alfa every 24 months.

3. Audio - this is the first car in yonks I've seen with a cassette player! How easy is it to self-fit an after-market audio replacement (DVD/Sat Nav, DAB radio, USB etc)

 

Anything else I should be looking out for? The car may well be a bit scruffy now, but it will be well looked after from now on.

 

Thanks for reading so far.

 

MM

HI and welcome to the club!  :)

 

Sounds like you got lucky with your Alfa having no problems in 90k miles. They're lovely cars it's just a shame about their reputation for reliability etc.

 

I would get the cambelt done and I wouldn't worry about Audi say. Manufacturers these days set the limit sky high to appeal to fleet buyers early on.

 

Normally Audi's are fairly good with regards to corrosion so a good quality repair should last.

 

Audio is fairly easy to change as long as you have the right leads and adaptors etc

Thanks, I intend to get the cambelt done as a priority.

 

Just more one point I'm interested in, the car is badged and was sold as S line, but it lacks a few bits and bobs normally associated with the s line, most significantly cruise control. Does anyone know if cruise control was standard on a '55 s line?

 

Thanks 

 

 

MM

Not sure if it was standard back in 2008 but I'm pretty sure it is on the newer ones