15th Jul 2010, 11:39
Got an Audi A3 that's developed the grinding noises. Will it be expensive to fix?
2nd Nov 2010, 13:30
I love driving my 2.0 FSI A3, but it had several faults on delivery (bought new in 2004), and the (consistently) very poor dealer always failed to fix them until repeat visits, 8 separate sessions off the road during warranty, and one fog light still mists up inside. So not a patch on the Mazda I kept for 20 incredibly reliable years.
Now, it is refusing to start first to fifth time. It is not that it doesn't fire. When the key is turned to first position, all of the dash lights come on, no warnings of anything amiss, but on turning the key to start, nothing happens. It's as is the battery is flat, but it isn't as returning to "off" and trying again always works (so far!), but it may be one or more times later.
Perhaps it's an expensive engine management unit, after only 10,000 careful miles from new, in which case I will be turning Japanese again. Over-priced over-hyped "quality" cars, and an arrogant lazy Audi dealer. Any ideas?
17th Jun 2008, 19:24
My £0.5 worth: my A3 2.0TFSI DSG started making this grinding noise after a few weeks, together with other grinding and squeaking when cornering over mildly bumpy surfaces - does it left or right, at lower speeds (round car parks for example). It went back to the dealer - they couldn't replicate it. It's worse now, so time for a return trip.
Other faults on this Oct 06 car now with 16,000 miles: auto close on the windows has stopped working, the locks now make all kind of noises when locking the car, and this week, the aircon has packed up. It also chews through a litre of oil every 3000 miles, although I think this is expected - the car was delivered with spare oil, gloves and wipes in the boot! The tailpipe is covered in it.
The gearbox is downright dangerous - when pulling out at junctions, sometimes it starts moving a few feet (i.e. into the path of the oncoming juggernauts on the road you're turning onto) and then goes into limbo - no drive, and no throttle response for 1-2 seconds and then sorts itself out. They "reset" the gearbox at the last service and updated the gearbox computer but it hasn't made any difference.
Finally, the car seems to be painted with poster paint - I've never seen the paint strip off the nose of a car so quickly, and I do very little motorway driving these days. I reckon in a collision with a particularly hefty fly, the car might actually come off worse.
All in all, a cheap hatchback in a 26 grand suit (and these cars are actually a lot cheaper in the USA - figure that one out) - back to BMW for me next time.