ford focus v's audi A3

nino1

I'm buying a cheap run around car and have it narrowed down to a ford focus or an Audi A3.
I will be buying circa 2003 for around €1500-€2000.
My main concern is reliability. I hear the focus is very reliable.
How reliable are the audi A3's?

r3nu4l

Diesel or petrol? What size engine?

At that age and potential mileage the service history and recent work completed will be important to look at.

George Dalton

r3nu4l wrote: »

At that age and potential mileage the service history and recent work completed will be important to look at.

I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately the majority of cars in that age and price range will come with no evidence of any recent work.

nino1

r3nu4l wrote: »

Diesel or petrol? What size engine?

At that age and potential mileage the service history and recent work completed will be important to look at.

Thanks for the replys.

petrol, 1.6L
apart from checking if the timing belt and water pump have been changed is there anything else to look out for?
which of the two cars would you say are more reliable?

sheesh

Have the A3 1.6 of that age for the last 3 years or so. so far nothing major Timing belt done at correct time clutch is slowly getting to a stage where it is going to need to be changed but still a good runner.

Brother has a similar aged ford focus 1.6 Ghia its still going but because he got some cheap services that did not use fully synthetic oil on the Vtec engine he feels that there might be problems up ahead. Having driven both prefer the focus much noticably better driving position nicer steering etc

both nice cars though

Henry Ford III

sheesh wrote: »

Have the A3 1.6 of that age for the last 3 years or so. so far nothing major Timing belt done at correct time clutch is slowly getting to a stage where it is going to need to be changed but still a good runner.

Brother has a similar aged ford focus 1.6 Ghia its still going but because he got some cheap services that did not use fully synthetic oil on the Vtec engine he feels that there might be problems up ahead. Having driven both prefer the focus much noticably better driving position nicer steering etc

both nice cars though

That'd be a Honda.

sheesh

Henry Ford III wrote: »

That'd be a Honda.

Ah feck ! its zetec isn't it!!

George Dalton

nino1 wrote: »

Thanks for the replys.

petrol, 1.6L
apart from checking if the timing belt and water pump have been changed is there anything else to look out for?
which of the two cars would you say are more reliable?

All things being equal the Ford is probably slightly more reliable.

However with cars of that age and budget you need to judge each individual car on its merits. Both cars have their specific common issues that are more or less unavoidable so you need to buy the best car you can with the best history and in particular recent maintenance record. Old cars like this need more TLC to keep in top condition than newer cars. Unfortunately they are less likely to get the TLC since they aren't worth very much. This is the challenge you face when trying to find a good car for small money.

If you buy an example of either car that has been well maintained then you should be fine but if you buy a neglected example then you will have to play catch-up on the maintenance which will end up costing you a lot of money.

Best of luck with the search. I bought a really really good '00 1.6 Focus with full history and 95k miles on it for my brother recently for very small money so the bargains are out there if you look hard enough.

Markcheese

Check out prices for parts, both new and second hand ... ( more likely to need em on an older car ) ... I'd guess ford parts are cheaper than VAG. But I'm no expert..

mondeoman2

sheesh wrote: »

Ah feck ! its zetec isn't it!!

Ti-Vct;)