Steve Q

Welcome to the forum :) 

nice looking a3 by the way! 

you'll find the members on here are a friendly bunch and will be very helpful :)

cheers

steve 

4 hours ago, Trevor said:

Thanks for the comprehensive information Steve...it seems like the French love their regulations but in reality, it will hit all major European cities in the near future and not a bad thing as well.

Your welcome! :) will deffo hit other cities and even counties. Il be doing a similar article on the Low Emissions Zones for other eu countries such as Belgium and Germany in the near future. 

4 hours ago, rbdazza said:

good info that. this will be coming to a city near you soon, guaranteed! 

i am seriously considering buying an old petrol merc and sticking an old indirect injection 3l diesel in it good for 600bhp and plumbs of black smoke just to stick a middle finger up at these jokers. 

Yep it will be! 

London, Birmingham and Nottingham are some of the first. 

Lol, well the Range Rover evogue, mini, Jeep Wrangler and others have all been copied! 

We might be able to get cheap a8's, r8's and rs6's lol

Well said Dan. As Dan says the 1.6tdi engine holds 4.3 litres. 

Be careful with over filling the engine. Your clearly not stupid as you've changed the oil so you don't need me to tell you, you can do damage by over filling it. (Not meaning to tell you how to suck eggs!) 

cheers

Steve

1 hour ago, Hazbo1993 said:

Googling the car scared me anyway! 😂

This has kind of just mirrored the views I've already found, it's 2011, and it's been serviced every year but there's no receipts or info on what's done, is have to ring each garage to find out what's been done!

if I'm honest I drove it today and it seems to drive lovely but I'm frightened of it being a money pit! 

No receipts is the biggest issue! 

Glad I've been of some help :) 

With no proven work carried out I would personally avoid. I'd go for one with proven service history. 

Put it this way my a6 has been owned by my family from new and we have ebery

invoice, receipt and bill. Even for tyres! 

This is the type of history you want but hard to find! But these are the best cars. 

Cheers

steve

Hello Harry, welcome to the forum :) 

youll find the members on here are a friendly bunch :) 

what age of a3 are you looking at purchasing?

As always, check the service history and see if and when the cambelt/water pump was changed as this can cost you anywhere from £400-£600 to have done. 

Again check to make sure all electrical items work such as windows as the motors will not be cheap. This includes the aircon, as as aircon pumps/condensers can be expensive to fix. 

Also check to make sure the Quattro system is working. That may sound daft but if it's not working properly it will be expensive to put right. 

Is it manual or auto your looking at? 

If manual, make sure the clutch feels ok and it's not heavy or slipping. Check to see if this has been done in the service history. I would doubt it due to the miles. But again it won't be the cheapest job to sort. 

If your looking at an auto make sure the gear changes are smooth both in auto mode and manual mode. Also check the service history to see when the gearbox fluid was last changed as neglect in this area can be costly. A gearbox oil change will probably cost around £200 at a guess. Also with autos,

if it has paddles on the steering wheel make sure they are changing the gears smoothly. 

Then lastly check and listen out for any whines from the turbo as again this will be costly to fix. Appprox £1000. 

I would advise you try and have an inspection carried out on the vehicle. Companies such as the AA and RAC offer this service. It's also worth doing this because if the seller refuses or tries to make it awkward then just walk away! 

Remember there are plenty of a3's on the market! ;) 

i hope iv not scared you! 

Just don't want you to be stung! 

An a3 s line Quattro that has been well looked after and maintained is a cracking car and you won't be disappointed! :) 

cheers 

steve 

Welcome to the forum :) 

nice looking a3 you have there! What mileage is on it? 

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

I would say: 

stainless sports exhaust, lowered and 17 or 18" rims :) 

oh and a remap! ;) 

cheers steve 

your welcome :) glad I could help :) 

cheers

steve

Thought I'd show you all this. 

This is a copycat of the Audi A6 made by the chinese firm Jac and is named the Refine a60! 

It is designed and sold for the Chinese market. 

I can't imagine audi bosses loosing sleep at night over this! 

Heres the link for the full article from the motoring press

https://www.carnewschina.com/2016/01/27/this-is-the-jac-refine-a60-sedan-for-china/

cheers

Steve

As i Say, we all lives Audis here and we are all passionate about the brand! 

The a6 is a cracker by car and so glad your pleased with it :) 

If the weather here in Leicester is anything to go by then it will be rain, rain, rain in Portsmouth! 

Cheers

steve 

Welcome to the forum :) 

there is no snobbery here! 

All the members are a friendly bunch and will help you with any questions you have :) 

i have a 2002 Audi A6 which my dad bought new and I love it! Doesn't matter about the age of the Audi as all the members in here love Audis!! 

Cheers

steve 

Hope this info is useful :)

As of March 31st 2017 France has introduced 'clean air' windscreen stickers, as a legal requirement in some of its major cities such as Paris, Lyon and Grenoble. The sticker is designed to allow the authorities to know the emission levels of the vehicle displaying the sticker based on the euro Emissions Standards. As you can imagine the initiative is designed to low the pollution levels within French major cities. It should also be noted that cars registered before 1997 are already banned from Paris on Weekdays as of 2020 cars registered on or before 2011 will also be banned.

The stickers cost as little as £3.20 and vehicles travelling into the above cities without a sticker can be fined up to £117! 

When ordering your sticker you have to upload a copy of your V5 (log book) document to the database. This must be uploaded in JPEG, PNG or PDF format and the file size must be under 400KB.

PLEASE NOTE that on ordering your sticker it can take up to 6 weeks to arrive!

Further Info

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/law-change-for-uk-drivers-in-french-cities/

Official Crit air sticker (certificate) website

https://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr/en

(Be careful of independent companies charging up to 4x the amount for the sticker!)

Vehicle Emissions Standards

Your most welcome Chris :)

If it were me I'd go for the 3.0tdi but obviously there are varying opinions on both engines.

A vehicle check is a very good idea and the AA, RAC and independent companies offer this service. I think with some companies there are limits in terms of the age of vehicle. I.E if the vehicle is too old or has too high miles they wont come and inspect it. But its worth mentioning to any seller that you would like to have the vehicle inspected by a specialist, as the sellers reaction will give you a good idea on the vehicles condition. If they are reluctant or refuse then Id suggest to walk away. Remember there are plenty of audi a6's to choose from!

I would speak to the AA and RAC first as I don't know off hand any audi inspectors if that makes sense. I would try google or even the yellow pages for VAG specalists in your area as I'm sure they can put you in touch with someone.

I would say for a cambelt/waterpump replacement you'll be looking anywhere from £400-£600.

Oh and I would try and get a car with full service history. (Sorry if I'm telling you how to suck eggs!)

Truthfully I'm not to knowledgeable about the auto gearboxes from this era of audis but as a general rule with auto gearboxes make sure that the gear changes aren't jerky and if the car has paddles on the steering wheel make sure they change the gears smoothly. Also on test drive  flick the car to manual mode to make sure the car is changing gears properly then as well.

Glad I've been useful :)

Cheers

Steve

Welcome to the forum Christian :) 

Is it a 2005 model a6 your after? 

I would check the service history to see when the cambelt/water pump was last changed. 

Also make sure that the aircon works properly as it can be costly to fix if the pump or condenser has gone (approx £1000). 

Again make sure all electronic items work such as windows as they too can be expensive to fix. 

Make sure the car changes gear properly and there's no untoward crunching and the clutch feels fine. (not high or stiff) check service history to see if it has been changed previously. 

Listen out for any whines from the turbo as they too can be costly to fix (approx £1000).

hope iv helped :) 

cheers

steve 

Your most welcome for the advice:) we're always more than happy to help :) 

I am very surprised that they didn't tell you you could refuse. When I worked for a vw service department I always told customers they could refuse. 

Hace they said the egr needs replacing or what have they said is wrong? 

Welcome to the forum :) 

You can't go wrong with a stainless steel exhaust. This will make the car sound sporty :) 

other mods to make it look nice is lowering it on sports suspension kit which will lower the car by around 30mm or coilovers which will lower the car and give a stiffer ride. Linked with this you can't go wrong with a nice set of alloy wheels. Normally 17 or 18 inch wheels are good :) 

Oh and have a quick look on google images or our club gallery for some inspiration :) 

hope iv helped cheers

steve :) 

Looks good Gav :)

dont hesitate to ask questions:) 

cheers

steve 

Your welcome Gareth :) 

Oops! you have a very good point, I should have put it in the recall action in the first place! ;) 

i believe it is the onus on the new owner to sort it 

cheers

steve 

Hi Mick, welcome to the forum :) 

youll find the members on here are a friendly bunch :) 

dont hesitate to ask questions :) 

cheers

Steve 

Great advice Trevor. Highly informative!

Thanks :)

Hi Thibault,

I had a similar problem with my a6. I had to unlock it via the drivers door and again if I did not do it fast enough the alarm would go off. The car ended up going to an auto electrician and the drivers door lock mechanism had to be replaced. It cost me £120. 

I deffo think it has nothing to do with your key as the symptoms are the same as mine and I did not have the keys replaced or re-coded. (or they weren't re-coded to the best of my knowledge when it went in for repair).

Hope iv helped.

Cheers

Steve

1 hour ago, Thibaultplace said:

Got the manual and was very helpful managed to realign the centre console facia and all the buttons.

So glad it was useful and glad the console is realigned :) 

Those Haynes manuals are great!

Cheers

Steve

Just thought I would post some links to recent motoring press articles with regard to the emissions recall. Various issues are occurring to vehicles after the update has been completed. 

Info on the recall

https://www.whatcar.com/news/volkswagen-delays-emissions-fixes/

https://www.whatcar.com/news/volkswagen-emissions-need-know/

Recall causing breakdowns 

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/volkswagen/92893/vw-emissions-scandal-recalls-compensation-is-your-car-affected-latest-news

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/volkswagen-denies-its-dieselgate-fix-causes-breakdowns

Vw Tiguans loosing power 

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/volkswagen-emissions-scandal/8-reports-of-volkswagen-tiguans-losing-power-after-ea189-emissions-fix/

Engines loosing fuel economy 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/autocar-test-shows-worse-economy-after-volkswagen-diesel-fix

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/volkswagens-diesel-emissions-fix-lowers-fuel-economy-claims-real-world-test/

If you have an affected vehicle then in my opinion I would not have the emissions recall done. Especially if your car is remapped or modified. 

Also a lot of cars that go in for recalls are being flagged up with egr/egr cooler issues which have to be fixed before the recall can be carried out. This can cost over £1000 to fix! 

I speak from experience as I worked as a service adviser at Volkswagen. 

Also the recall/update is NOT a legal requirement and does not effect your vehicle tax. 

I hope this is useful for some of you :) 

Cheers

steve