altitude2k
26-07-2010, 08:17 AM
Hi guys,
Buying a new car in the next couple of weeks and need a bit of advice. This will be my first VAG car, so could do with the opinions of people far more in the know than I am!
Nearly bought myself an A6 2.0 TDI the other week on a whim from Northampton Audi, but I bailed out of that one! Far too big a car that was really quite thirsty, and also was a bit more money than I expected to pay at the beginning.
This will be a commuter car for me (around 80 mile round trip a day, mostly dual carriageway with a few roundabout in between). That doesn't mean that I just want a car that's "enough" - I would still like it to be fun. I've settled on an A3 2.0 TDI with no more than 30k miles on the clock and no earlier than a 57 plate. Looking for a sub-£15k pricetag, hoping to negotiate a bit closer to £14k. Probably go for the SE rather than a sport variant - don't fancy an 80-mile hard ride every day!
The question now is whether to go for the 140ps or the 170ps engine (manual gearbox). There appears to be plenty of the 140ps cars around that spec and pricerange, but there's also a couple of 170ps engines too. Not going to be racing it around flat-out all the time, but like the idea of having the power there should I feel the need to use it.
Given that this is a commuter car I need to keep my costs down. So what are people's opinion of the two engines? Does the 170 have any big issues over the 140 (or vice versa) that might cause me hassle, are the servicing costs much different, any difference in depreciation, what's the realistic MPG like for either of those cars (I think at the age I'm looking at the common rail didn't come in, so won't get the 60mpg+ combined). I know that my insurance is going to take a bit of a hit between the two (the 170 is about £120 more for the year), but I think I can live with that if there's not much else that's a problem or expensive.
And also just general opinions on driving the two would be nice to compare. If the 170 doesn't feel that much quicker than the 140 then that's good info too. As I say, I defer to your expertise given that this will be my first Audi.
Thanks in advance.
Buying a new car in the next couple of weeks and need a bit of advice. This will be my first VAG car, so could do with the opinions of people far more in the know than I am!
Nearly bought myself an A6 2.0 TDI the other week on a whim from Northampton Audi, but I bailed out of that one! Far too big a car that was really quite thirsty, and also was a bit more money than I expected to pay at the beginning.
This will be a commuter car for me (around 80 mile round trip a day, mostly dual carriageway with a few roundabout in between). That doesn't mean that I just want a car that's "enough" - I would still like it to be fun. I've settled on an A3 2.0 TDI with no more than 30k miles on the clock and no earlier than a 57 plate. Looking for a sub-£15k pricetag, hoping to negotiate a bit closer to £14k. Probably go for the SE rather than a sport variant - don't fancy an 80-mile hard ride every day!
The question now is whether to go for the 140ps or the 170ps engine (manual gearbox). There appears to be plenty of the 140ps cars around that spec and pricerange, but there's also a couple of 170ps engines too. Not going to be racing it around flat-out all the time, but like the idea of having the power there should I feel the need to use it.
Given that this is a commuter car I need to keep my costs down. So what are people's opinion of the two engines? Does the 170 have any big issues over the 140 (or vice versa) that might cause me hassle, are the servicing costs much different, any difference in depreciation, what's the realistic MPG like for either of those cars (I think at the age I'm looking at the common rail didn't come in, so won't get the 60mpg+ combined). I know that my insurance is going to take a bit of a hit between the two (the 170 is about £120 more for the year), but I think I can live with that if there's not much else that's a problem or expensive.
And also just general opinions on driving the two would be nice to compare. If the 170 doesn't feel that much quicker than the 140 then that's good info too. As I say, I defer to your expertise given that this will be my first Audi.
Thanks in advance.