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The rear end of the Q5 will take less paint than the wife 😆

It's unfortunate that cars with those dreadful engines are still permitted to be sold. Even worse is that the trade knows about the fault and yet conceals it from buyers. Be aware that you might have a problem at the next MOT test. All the oil the car is burning will be measured as emissions in the exhaust.

Hi, I have just bought myself my bucket list car a 2007 Audi S8 V10 reg S8AAU. I bought it from South West Vehicle Auctions and generally I am absolutely delighted with it. It has done around 170k miles and given its age and mileage it’s in remarkable condition. There is a reasonablish history and the first thing I have done is to get a full service and have had new NGK plus fitted as I couldn’t see a record of them ever having being changed and there seems to be a hot start issue. Unfortunately the plugs in themselves have not solved this but happy to have them done anyway. The only other issue is the Adaptive Headlights with a warning lamp that flashes constantly while driving 😤. I have ordered a basic OBD reader to see if there are any other issues I need to be aware of before my next steps. Anyways, I just wanted to introduce myself and will upload some photos of the beast 😆 and report back on my basic OBD reader scan. All the best, Simon.

I bought a 2009 A3 convertible with the 1.8 tfsi engine and 125,000 miles earlier in the summer. Maybe not my wisest purchase but it's a lovely car to drive on nice days! I've since discovered this engine has a dreadful reputation! I've two comments that I hope may be useful to someone. Both door locks became intermittent with remote opening within 3 months. In both cases, I was able to solve the problem at minimal cost by removing the locks, cleaning them thoroughly with grease solvent and re-oiling them. It seems Audi door lock grease (and perhaps VW, Seat, Skoda) gets thick and sticky at this age. I inherited the high oil consumption problem which I have learnt is one of the common problems with these engines. In my case the low oil warning came on at 120 miles! I did a thorough cylinder soak for three days with Berrymans B12 followed by an engine flush and new oil and it seems to have vastly improved it. The next low oil level was 350 miles and the one after that 700 miles. It's a sunny day car so that's all I've driven since but perhaps it will continue to impove? In any case, I can live with 700 miles between topups for the mild use I have for it.

I have just made a DIY windbreak this afternoon. A piece of 6mm thick clear perspex off ebay and some velcro straps to attach it to the roll over hoops. The perspex needs a really sharp jigsaw blade to cut cleanly and then the edge needs polishing with wet and dry paper. Just taken the car out and it works well, better than the original I think. The old glass one just lifted straight out. I will probably get the the cover off and look at fixing the motor/belt at some stage but not sure if I will use the motorised one again. The car sailed through the MOT last week with only an advisory for new front discs so still feeling very happy.

Hi it might improve a little more as Audi quotes every thousand miles at least a litre is normal, not normal as the only other car I have found with this type of thirst are MINI and my niece ditched hers a while ago when she found out she was spending a minimum of £30 a month on oil, every later model Audi survives on losing about 50ml of oil between extended service intervals, also imagine what all that semi burnt oil will do for the catalyst and sensors. Steve.

Any comment on the above responses Mark? I know you have seen them.

Looks great 🙂

Thanks Kevin, really useful advice and very much appreciated. Will definitely explore the air suspension possibility. Keep well.

I was told 19 inches would fit but I never tested it. Mine was the TDI facelifted in 2020 so brakes might be bigger on yours being the tfsi. If it is a big problem the cost of upgrading to air suspension would probably be a lot less than selling the car and buying a replacement. When I looked 2 years ago there was only an air system for the previous model but that might have changed by now. I understand why you'd want to keep the V6. Don't know whether softening the springs would result in poor handling due to the power. Good luck.

Hi nothing that a new trim and a couple of new lights wont cure but I bet the insurance will be going the whole hog new bumper, support bar, and lights a good few grand off the BMW insurance, should have got his face out of his phone, this is what happened to me last year, but faced with the rear dash cam footage it was a five nil job, including the hire cab just over £17000 all in, bet the !Removed! will do it again they are all the same BMW drivers. Steve.

So, I picked up the convertible this morning — a total bill of £420. Driving very well indeed. I've asked Norwich Audi to quote for replacing the camshaft — along with a new cam belt (it had a cam belt done when the cam was fitted, but I'm not a fan of re-tensioning important belts). I'm away on holiday for the first couple of weeks of September, so I'm going to leave it with them for that time to get the job done. Running an old Audi sometimes feels like being in a bad relationship — it's cost can be staggering — but I love the car… 😆 I'll add to this thread when I get the car back in mid-September. Mike 🙂