Audi Allroad

Satanta

Hi All

I'll be taking a look at a 2003 one of these in the next few days and wanted to ask your collective knowledge what I need to look out for. From doing some light reading, I know there can be issues with the Air suspension (leaking bladders etc). One of the suggestions was to observe the car after it has been sitting overnight and see if any one of the corners are sitting low. I dont have the luxury of this however as I will be driving a fair bit to look at it. Are there any other checks or tests I can carry out?

Also, are there any other clonkers to look out for in terms of the engine, turbo, gearbox etc?

And most importantly, do they get the Motors Forum approval?

tossy

The 2.5 TDI engine sufferes from cam wear especially the AKE engine code and ex UK cars that would have been on long life service intervals.

When the car is idling listen for any 'tick tick' noises from the top of the engine especially but not exclusively the right handside. If you can hear it that's at least one worn lobe on the camshaft on that side,there is no way of telling how bad it is without an inspection.

Tropheus

I've had a 2003 from new and it's just passed 200k miles. I haven't had any engine issues and put it down to regular servicing with good quality oil.

From my experience, the air suspension is the biggest weak point. The air springs leak over time. The fronts will last around 80k miles and the rears depend on whether you tow or carry heavy loads. I just changed the original rears at 195k miles. However, I don't do any towing. It's not that easy to check if the leak is subtle. If it's a bad leak, the car should sag after a few minutes with the engine turned off.

An Audi dealer will charge around €800 including labour to change one front air spring and around €600 for a rear. There are after market parts out there which are well rated and changing an air spring is not that difficult to do if you're handy with a spanner. www.arnottindustries.com based in the US manufacture after market air springs at about half the price of OEM.

As it's a heavy car, front control arms wear quite quickly. Don't expect more than 80-100k miles from a set. Clunking when going over bumps or when turning are tell-tale signs. Again, there are good after market options available.

As it's a heavy car, don't expect more than 26-28 mpg around town and 30-32 on motorways.

As with any other car, check the service history. Make sure the timing belt has been done etc. Other than that, I've found it to be a very reliable car and Quattro system is epic.

Anan1

I considered one a few years back, but ended up buying a Forester instead. The Allroad was much more refined, better on fuel, and had a nicer interior. On the other hand, the Forester was cheaper to buy, quicker, handled better, and I felt it would be more reliable. Maybe drive both? Or an Outback if performance isn't a priority.

Matt Simis

I liked my old 2.7T Allroad, the BiTurbo petrol is the design engine for the car. The rest.. arent.

Sounded good too, with the RS6 exhaust on it and no cats, running E85 (hence the startup):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1Xu_XIZNpY

You can also recode (with Vagcom/VCDS) the suspension height beyond the 3 levels it comes with, to lower or higher than stock. Stock already has more ground clearance than more 4x4s (yes seriously, its really good offroad).

Normal "low" suspension setting:


Extra low recoded:

Also ruggedised paint and exterior is very tough and cleans up well:

Satanta

Thanks Anan... I was looking at foresters too all right. And yeah, performance is a consideration. I would love the 2.5 XT, but I think it would be an absolute pig on petrol.

Anan1

Satanta wrote: »

Thanks Anan... I was looking at foresters too all right. And yeah, performance is a consideration. I would love the 2.5 XT, but I think it would be an absolute pig on petrol.

It kind of is. I get 350kms out of a tank (say just under 50l)around town, up to a maximum of 450 on gentle long runs.

firefly08

Tropheus wrote: »

As it's a heavy car, front control arms wear quite quickly. Don't expect more than 80-100k miles from a set. Clunking when going over bumps or when turning are tell-tale signs. Again, there are good after market options available.
.

+1...Same set up as the A6... there are 8 front control arms altogether so that's 8 ball joints and 8 bushings to wear out, not including drop links. Getting the upper ones out can be a nightmare due to the pinch bolt and it's not unheard of to have to replace the whole knuckle.

Chimaera

Regarding the engine and cam wear, there was a design change introduced from February 2003 on the V6 TDI where they switched from flat followers to roller followers on the tappets. The last of the flat tappet engines were discontinued in (IIRC) August 2003. The roller follower engines are: BDG/BCZ (120 kW/163 bhp) and BAU/BDH (132 kW/180 bhp). The roller follower design is supposed to solve the cam wear problem but there are apparently reports of wear on these engines still.

As regards buying one, I'd suggest looking in the UK. I was thinking about buying one of these this year but had to put it off for financial reasons so I did a good bit of looking. For the price of a '03 with cloth seats and a cassette player here, it's possible to get a '05 in the UK with everything and it's possible to find one with a manual gearbox there too if you're worried about fuel economy (the manual gets much better fuel economy than the auto).

Satanta

Thanks everyone. Your valuable input helped me today. I didnt buy the car in the end and I am quite disappointed in it.

The advice on the worn control arms was spot on. They were clunking as described when I had full cut on the steering.

Generally the car was rough. It was waaay slower that I would have expected from a 180 bhp. I am driving my brothers passat at the moment which is 110 bhp and it seems more powerful and more torque-y. I know there is a weight difference, but come on. My BMW was much much quicker. There was a rough grinding noise from the brakes. A general rough grinding noise when driving along. The doors and panels were out of alignment down one side. The paintwork was in fairly bad shape. Okay from a distance and in the pictures but pretty poor in the flesh.

Cheers for all the advise everyone.

Tropheus

Sounds like it was in very poor condition both physically and mechanically. They have a 0-60 time of just over 10 seconds which is no slouch for a car that weighs over 2 tonnes. That car could have also had turbo problems which are not unheard of due to poor maintenance.

Matt Simis

Satanta wrote: »

Generally the car was rough. It was waaay slower that I would have expected from a 180 bhp. I am driving my brothers passat at the moment which is 110 bhp and it seems more powerful and more torque-y. I know there is a weight difference, but come on. My BMW was much much quicker

As I said, thats the wrong engine, it was built around the 2.7TT (and petrol obviously) as it was targeted at the US market as its primary.

The thing is like death star weight.