General Comments:
I'm writing this to update on the initial review. The comments were blocked when it went to a bit of a flame war.
I've had the VRS for about 3.5 years and 38k miles. Now I think it's probably time to move it on.
The car itself has been faultlessly reliable over the years, never returning to the dealership except for two scheduled services.
There are a couple of little rattles in the car now, but nothing major.
The handling of the car is on the stiff side, but when pushing on you can feel the tyres dig in, and the car will take you round corners far faster than you'd think possible. Acceleration is as stunning today as when I got the car, pulling hard well into licence threatening figures.
So if this car is so wonderful, why am I thinking of selling it on. Well I had hoped to keep this car for several years more, but we now have a little bundle of joy to tour around too. And he's doing a lot of touring. At 35mpg on a good day, it's just getting too expensive to fill the car at £60 a tank (that's $96 US), and sometimes it's needing topped up twice a week. Road tax is also getting punitive at £235.
Also there is a design flaw in this car's ABS system (common to many cars) in the Teves Mk60 brake module. This is a £1500 fix unless you want to fight the manufacturer. The flaw means there is a high probability this will fail in the next few years.
Also it's a bit stiff for the kid.
But I've loved this car, it really does everything if you've the pockets to keep it fed. I'm sure it will serve someone well. I'll miss the buzz from planting my right foot and tearing off up a quiet road.
I'm planning to move to something more sedate; probably an older A4 Avant diesel.
6th Sep 2011, 07:53
Well I've still got it. Over 50k on the car now.
Greedy dealers mean it is just too expensive to change cars right now, and apart from the cost of fuel, the Octy fills our needs.
So at 50k has anything gone wrong? Well kind of. The cruise control button is getting a bit erratic. This should be easily fixed. It's simply a matter of the contacts getting a bit dirty with age. Other than that, nothing has gone wrong.
4yr service on VAG cars is a bit of a big one. All cars with timing belts should be changed at 4yrs or earlier, depending on mileage. So bear that in mind when looking at any 2nd hand VW, Skoda, Audi or Seat. Lots will be moved on before this big bill.
The ABS fault on the cars has been made less frightening, and is now a £350 fix rather than £1500.
Still getting 35mpg.