Audi TT Buying Tips

beamer-89

I'm looking at buying a MK1 TT and was wondering if anyone had any advice on what to look out for when viewing them, if there's any faults that are know and should be checked etc.

Any advice is welcome and thanks!

v240gltse

hi

get your hands on a copy of this months "car Mechanics" magazine as it has a detailed buying guide for teh TT . If you cant get it pm me and i will scan the pages and email them to you.

regards

brendan

colm_mcm

Youd want evidence that the 4wd was maintained as its often neglected

tossy

What kind of budget have you set yourself? I think there are a lot of cheap badly maintained ones for sale but very few well maintained good ones,the same was true of my own car (S3) when i went looking for one,be prepared to slightly over the odds for a well maintained example,and be prepared to go view and drive a lot of dogs.

Service history on these is a must,especially recent service history or oil changes and haldex servicing ( that's the clutch that controls the engaging of the 4wd system)

The haldex oil shoudl be changed at every 20k and the filter changed every other oil change. If there is no evidence of this ever been done then you are probably better off walking away,even with evidence of it being carried out listen for noises (clunks or whining) from the rear of the car especially when coming off throttle.

The instrument cluster on these also gave trouble,a lot of these will have been replaced by now i'd say.If not it'sa clocks out and couple of hundred to fix if i remember rightly.

lomb

Very reliable car, see if you can get a ex UK import with history. To be honest mine had its haldex oil only changed at 20k I bought at 70k, and I changed the haldex oil and filter immediately having the original filter as the manufacturing date talied with the year, it now has 85 k and it has never given trouble or made any noises. Therefore on a lower milage one dont let that stop you.

The clutch and dmf are around 1k with an indi or 1.7k with a main dealer to do. Mine was done with a main dealer a year previously and had the receipt for nearly 2k with it. Make sure it doesnt slip or make any grumbling noises that go away when you drop the clutch in neutral.

Timing belts and tensioners let go commonly around replacement time so unless evidence there do them immediately budgeting 500. The oil suction filter in the sump can clog up so if getting an oil change when you buy it consider dropping the sump and cleaning it. Occasional oil pressure light flickering is a sign the filter is clogged.
Instructions are on the TT forum.

I did test drive one that had the abs light not light on the dash on key turn so persumably the 4wd was gone on it.
Clusters can be repaired for 200 so no big deal these days. They are basically very reliable well built cars but eat tires so budget for these also.

tossy

Abs light is not necessarily a sign of problems with the 4wd. I had an ABS light a week or two ago and it was just a speed sensor.

Would be a good idea to get a VCDS (diagnostic scan) done on any potential buys.

If you can get a low mileage one fair play but most will be getting on for over 100k these days so things will go wrong. I bought an exceptioanl UK S3 with a massive UK service history yet in the 15 months i've owned it i've spent well over 1k on wear and tear parts,thankfully the clutch,flywheel and TB were done just before leaving the UK.

Buy a good one running right and map it - you won't be disappointed.

I would recommend finding a known good example of one and driving it as a bench mark.

wendell borton

I had a fault with the window sensors, check the windows go up into the seal when closing the door and down again when opening the door.