Steve Q

Glad you've had a great experience from the main dealer Andrew :) the good experiences are often not mentioned compared to people's bad experiences. 

Cheers

Steve 

Welcome to the forum Cliff you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

I'd say it's the switch mechanism which is at fault here. I believe this is a common fault but don't quote me on this.

Cheers

Steve 

Welcome to the forum Tina, you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

The two options you have is either replace the front seats with ones fitted with heated seats as standard. Or the other option is to have your seats dismantled and having the heater elements installed. Once either option has been chosen then you will need the wiring loom installed and switches fitted. This may require a different facia panel on the dash. It will also then be needed to be coded into the cars computer.

Either way it will be very expensive to retro fit the heated seats but it can be done. 

Sorry I can't help more.

Cheers

Steve

Welcome to the forum Colin you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

Have you had a diagnostic check carried out at all? 

I'm wondering if it could be a camshaft or sensor? But I am really guessing here.

Sorry I can't help more.

Cheers

Steve

Welcome to the forum James :) you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch.

How odd. Have you had a diagnostic check carried out at all? 

Cheers

Steve

Welcome to the forum Gary :) 

You'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

Good choice on the a3 but in terms of gearbox it's personal preference. You will pay more for an auto box though and it's very important that you check that the gears change smoothly both in manual and auto modes and that the oil has been changed at the correct intervals. 

Quattro is another personal preference but again make sure it works as it should. Any shudders under hard acceleration could signify an issue with it. The Quattro system is also very sensitive and can be damaged by simple things like uneven Tyre wear. Ideally the tyres should match on the axel. 

As with any car make sure everything works as certain parts such as air con pumps etc can be expensive to fix. Obviously make sure the air con isn't blowing warm when on the cold setting. Also check to see when the cambelt and water pump was last changed as this will be expensive to change. 

Ideally you want a car with fsh and if you can try and get an independent inspection carried out. Companies such as the AA and RAC offer this service. If the seller is reluctant or refuses then you have to wonder what they or the car has to hide! 

Here's a YouTube video which may help you:

Hope I'v helped :) 

Cheers

Steve 

Glad you got it sorted Alan and glad it wasn't anything more serious :) 

Happy motoring :) 

Cheers

Steve 

Hi Daniel welcome to the forum :) 

You'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

You say it has fsh, has this thrown up anything which could help with diagnosing the problem? It has anything been missed during services or anything major flagged up.on the MOTs? 

The rattle could be anything from a loose heat shield through to a work engine/gearbox mount. 

As cliff as said I wouldn't buy a car if the eml light was on as clearly there is an issue the dealer isn't fixing. But I suppose this is better than him just turning the light off to pretend everything is ok. What has the dealer said about the issues?

Sorry I can't help more. 

Cheers

Steve

I always wondered why the UK comes to a stand still. The problem is we're not so used to it like the swedes who grow up with it. 

Welcome to the forum Dario :) 

You'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

I'd say it would be more likely the sensor to be honest. Please keep us posted on how you get on. 

And feel free to post a pic of your a3 in our Audi's from around the world section :) 

Cheers

Steve 

Welcome to the forum Ken ;) you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

Looks like you've had a great previous selection of Audi's :) 

Cheers

Steve 

Welcome to the forum Ryan, you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

Great to see you've done road trips already :) 

When you get time feel free to right a report of your road trip with pics under our road trips section. I'm sure other members would love to read your story and it might inspire others! :) 

Cheers

Steve 

Welcome to the forum George you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

Cheers

Steve

Welcome to the forum Andrew you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

Cheers

Steve 

Welcome to the forum Richard :) 

You'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

Very clean example of an a3 8p you have there :) 

Cheers

Steve 

Welcome to the forum Paul, you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

Cheers

Steve 

Welcome to the forum Mike :) 

You'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

Bet you can't wait to get the q5 out in all the snow we're having ;) 

Cheers

Steve

Glad it's sorted Tommie. I can confirm that there was never an engine sharing agreement between the VAG group and Saab. Saabs engines were old designs if I recall and the 1.8 petrol was loosley the same engine as was in the triumph dolomite Sprint! 

On 12/6/2017 at 7:19 PM, Southampton Graham said:

Hi All

I got my tickets online today for the Beaulieu event

Nice one Graham I'll put you down as paid :) 

Glad to hear this Rob :) sounds like you'll be collecting your Audi soon :) 

Wasp

Dust

Chocolate

2 hours ago, Diggy98 said:

It's ok Steve, you've already helped me a lot, thanks :)

You're welcome :) glad I could help :) 

Welcome to the forum Stewart :) 

You'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

Cheers

Steve