Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon.....

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Thu 6 Dec 2012 19:42
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - TriciaA

Here we go again.... This is similar to a post I made in July last year!

My daughter decided to bite the bullet and buy another car, given the audi a3 she purchased last year has had problem after problem, to the point of costing her a fortune in repaires.

We saw a lovely Audi A3 advertised by a dealer last week (A3 hatchback, 2004, 1.6 , 65.000 miles, I owner from new and looks spanking new, service history etc.

We drove up to London to view it last Saturday (1st Dec') checked it over, did a test drive, drove real smooth. A dream compared to her other Audi. The price £3995.00.

Prior to viewing the car, the dealer said they could get my daughter finance, we had £2.000 to put towards it, the balance would be done by a loan company. She decided to purchase it and drove home.

Three days later that dreaded engine management light came on!! We had a test run on it today and 2 faults came up twice and there was also one other fault.

-Crank shaft sensor

-Purge Valve (Possibly 2 may be needed)

_Purge canister.

We contacted the dealer in hopes that he would do/pay for the repairs, he said he wouldn't pay for the repairs, out of the question but if we wanted to drive it back he would do a refund.

My daughter would prefer to have the repairs done, she is not in a position to purchase yet another car.

Is it right that a dealer can refuse to carry out repairs? To be honest, if a refund was given, I can see the car being put right back on the forecourt again, awaiting the next customer and no doubt none of the repairs will have be done.

Thanks

Tricia

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 6 Dec 2012 19:52
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - Collos25

He has no choice but to pay for the repairs but I would take his offer of your money back and put it down to experience.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 6 Dec 2012 19:56
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - galileo

My daughter decided to bite the bullet and buy another car, given the audi a3 she purchased last year has had problem after problem, to the point of costing her a fortune in repaires.

Why buy another Audi A3? What is so special that after the bad experience she chose to risk the same problems?

Audi/VW dealers are not often helpful, the cars/spares/repairs are expensive and not especially reliable, according to many posts on this forum.

If the dealer will do a refund, take it and buy something else (preferably Toyota/Honda if she wants reliability)


Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 6 Dec 2012 20:50
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - gordonbennet
If the dealer will do a refund, take it and buy something else (preferably Toyota/Honda if she wants reliability)

Couldn't agree more, Honda Civic 2.0S 01 to 05/6 is the one to get (chain cam), they hold their value for good reason, my daughters is thrashed mercilessly though well serviced and at some 130k miles is running as good as new.

Corolla equivalent will be every bit as good.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 6 Dec 2012 22:50
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - Avant

"My daughter would prefer to have the repairs done, she is not in a position to purchase yet another car."

If you do as suggested and get a refund, she'll be in the same position as before, and she shoulkd be able to get finance from another dealer in the same way. A Toyota Corolla of the same vintage will almost certainly be reliable, as will a Honda Civic. There should be plenty of 1.6s around, but as GB says the 2.0 S-type is even better if you can find one.

SWMBO had one new in 2004: she liked it but found it a bit too big and wanted a Mini, which she PXed it for after two years. I greatly regret not taking it on myself instead of getting a Mercedes B-class.

(Thread moved - it's of more general interest rather than asking a technical question.)

Edited by Avant on 06/12/2012 at 22:51

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 7 Dec 2012 06:13
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - Happy Blue!
Why do people get so excited about an Audi? Especially an A3? Especially one that is eight years old?

All the advice above is spot on. Get a refund and buy a more reliable car she can afford to buy and run and don't waste money on an overblown image car that is far less reliable than the competition.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 7 Dec 2012 07:20
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - bazza

Refund is shouting at you! Audis are nice looking cars to have on your drive and to sit in, but according to most surveys their reliability is only average to poor. Is it the FSi engine? That comes with its own set of unique problems. I would absolutely recommend the advice above, my son is driving an 8 year old Corolla which feels like a much younger car and the build quality in all the places you don't normally see is way above anything I've ever seen before. You can pick one up for around 2 to 3K, thousands available! Please let us know what you do!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 7 Dec 2012 13:13
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - 72 dudes

Agree with all of the above:

In addition, if she does get the repairs done, by the supplying dealer or elsewhere, then she will in effect have accepted the car with its faults.

When the next set of problems occur, she will have no comeback.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 7 Dec 2012 14:10
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - SteveLee

If she had to take out finance to buy a £4K car then she cannot afford to run it.

Why the Audi worshipping? So many of them are money pits.

She would have been much better off buying £2K worth of small Japanese hatchback cash rather than trying to impress the neighbours on the never-never. Will people ever learn?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 7 Dec 2012 15:35
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - johncyprus
Grab the refund before the dealer changes her mind a) because she can't afford it and b) because it may well be a lemon. If your daughter needs to borrow money to finance it's purchase how will she finance expensive repairs?

Then a sensible solution would be a nice sensible Honda Civic preferably one with FSH and hopefully low running costs, easily achievable for £2k. Not flash but quite appropriate to your daughter's apparent status and nobody would be impressed by an elderly A3 anyway.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 7 Dec 2012 16:01
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - pd

Dealer is quite within their rights to offer a refund rather than a repair.

Apart from that the other posts are probably good advice. VAG stuff is no where near as well made as their expensively acquired reputation suggests and if you are running on a budget buy something Japanese.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 7 Dec 2012 17:18
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - Collos25

I suggest you read and digest F40 48b of the sale of goods act.

The seller is quite within his rights to offer a refund but it is also the buyers right to have the item repaired to their satisfaction this the second part overrules the first.

Having said that I refer to original post I would take the money and run an old A3 is like a millstone round ones kneck.

Edited by Collos25 on 07/12/2012 at 17:20

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 7 Dec 2012 18:29
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - TriciaA

The finance company will be sending an engineer down on Monday to run tests on the car, any faults found will be repaired free of charge. Apparently it's the finance company who deals with complaints.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 7 Dec 2012 20:02
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - galileo

The finance company will be sending an engineer down on Monday to run tests on the car, any faults found will be repaired free of charge. Apparently it's the finance company who deals with complaints.

There have been 12 responses advising her to return the car and take the offered refund.

No responses advising she has the thing repaired.

Why ask for guidance from the forum and then ignore it?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 7 Dec 2012 20:06
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - Collos25

People are very fickle thats why con men get away with so much given the OP has had a get out of jail card put on his plate and he turns it away and takes the worst scenario just proves my point.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 7 Dec 2012 20:10
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - jamie745

Why ask for guidance from the forum and then ignore it?

Ignoring the internet usually makes for good policy.

Edited by jamie745 on 07/12/2012 at 20:10

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 8 Dec 2012 21:21
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - galileo

Why ask for guidance from the forum and then ignore it?

Ignoring the internet usually makes for good policy.

Jamie, does this also apply to the advice you give?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 9 Dec 2012 10:28
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - Collos25

Why ask for guidance from the forum and then ignore it?

Ignoring the internet usually makes for good policy.

Jamie, does this also apply to the advice you give?

Some of it is very good some very bad but in this case he is 100% correct.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 9 Dec 2012 17:38
Audi a3 2004 - Not another Lemon..... - Avant

Tricia might well have taken our advice - but her daughter wants to be seen in an Audi.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link