USED Audi A3 Hatchback (03 - )

My car

I bought a 6 year old A3 1.6 Se 3 door from a dealer nearly two months ago, as I am doing much higher mileage in my job.

The quality of the interior and exterior is still outstanding despite its age. The Alcantara seat and interior finish looks like new, apart from a little minor wear on the arm rest. The car has now done 50k ( I have done 3k so far) and the engine sounds clean and really quite powerful for a 1.6.

It is not as fast as some of the larger enginer models, but if you drop the clutch, you can get away very quickly at lights when you need to.

The handling of this car is intuitive, it really grips the road in all conditions and the sports seats are comfortable enough to drive in for hours without feeling over-tired.

I find the suspension on this model a little stiffer than others that I have driven, but it is not a bone rattler by any means and if you are having fun on the a-roads, it makes the experience more pleasurable. I like that as a driver you are not too high up in the car, though you can adjust the seating and steering column if you are a taller person to suit your needs.

I have a custom fit Kenwood CD player so cannot comment on the factory standard, but the speaker sound quality is great.

On the whole, i cannot fault this car, but have marked down running costs purely because the insurance group for this car is high for a 1.6, and I can only think this is because of the prestige associated with Audis name.

My car

Have owned an 05 1.9TDi Sport 3dr from new. Must say it's the first time I've bought a new car so didn't know what to expect. However, the sales process was easy and managed to negotiate a fair discount off list. Owning has been generally a pleasure, a good car to drive, sure if a little hard in the ride, but Audi's are known for that so if you don't like the ride don't buy one! First service was fairly painless but a second is now due, have already been told we require rear brakes after a "clunking" from the rear when reversing, and the driver's seat mechanism has broke after two years (repaired under warranty). In short extremely happy with the build of the car and so far the reliability. In hindsight would have purchased the 2.0 TDi for the extra power, and looking to buy a new A4 next year to replace my other car. Dealer service could be better and the part exchange prices are insulting. Won't be going back to the dealer that supplied the A3!

My car

got car second hand about 2 months ago, its been an awful car since had problems with cooling fans, electrics and now the car sits on my drivway with no gears at all. service from Audi is complete rubish, Audi have no intrest in car owners they only car about fleet customers. preparing to seel car now, will never look at Audi again !!!!!!

My car

I am just about to sell this car as the warranty is about to run out and I cannot risk keeping it or it's going to cost me a fortune.

I have had problems with the car from new. Within a week of delivery it was back in the workshop for over a week as the alarm kept going off. Since then it has been back for so many problems I have lost track. But they include:

4 new water pumps, Replacement EMU. All electronics and sensors associated with alarm replaced. This problem went on for nearly 3 years. A new engine at 36,000 miles due to simultaneous compression loss in two cylinders. Excessive oil consumption, roughly consuming about 1 litre/1000 miles. although since the engine has been replaced this does not seem to be a problem. New boot hydraulics New front wheel bearings New Clutch master and slave cylinder Rear seatbelt latch failing

Various other intermittent gremlins which were never resolved by Audi, including windscreen wipers not working, stereo sound failing, flicking dials, driver information system reporting faults incorrectly

The car has only 39,000 miles on the clock. The car has been in the workshop so many times I think I have driven every model Audi have as a courtesy car.

Audi customer services offered me £100 off of the price of a new car for my trouble, which is laughable.

We have only kept the car for this long as we love the interior build and the drive. Not surprisingly it is not going to be replaced with another Audi.