To ​​​​​​​ buy or not to buy?? Your advice please.

[Jedi Black]

Hello all,

New member here!

I’ve been looking for a while and found a 2010 Audi A5 2.0 TFSI Q in my budget with the exact specifications I want. 1 owner, excellent milage and great condition. Full Audi SH apart from the last service done by the dealer. 

 

I paid for an AA inspection which found an oil leak in the front engine (he said maybe it’s the front cam shaft sensor?). The dealer agreed to get this fixed before I buy the car. Looking at the service history, 30,000 miles ago it seems like Audi did a consumption test as a leak was cleaned and the owner was asked to return after 1000 miles. No other related issues or mentions appear in the history after that, it looks like the owner didn’t go back. So one assumes all was ok and there was no consumption problem? 

 

I’m just a little torn as to whether to purchase this car. I really don’t want to find that there is a consumption problem or other issues down the line. The only other things are: There’s only one key so I’d need to buy another.
A few diagnostic fault codes came up, though I dont know what they mean. I’ve attached photos of them.

 

All else is perfect and the dealer said he’d give me a year warranty rather than 3 months. 

 

Sorry for the long message. I’d really appreciate your opinions and advice please. 

 

Thanks in advance. 

[Magnet]

Hello Richard,

The ‘proper’ history of this car and potential faults lies with the previous keeper, and does not lie with the pages of a stamped service book. 

I don’t want to appear pessimistic, but simply to open the ‘in-love’ eyes, before committing. If I were in your situation, I would be attempting to contact the previous owner, and if the seller won’t help then it’s worth asking yourself why. Even the location of the last MOT can sometimes lead you to the owner. 

If you have a ( understandable?) concern regarding this car using oil, then I would question why the seller? has serviced this car before finding a buyer. The don’t normally, and simply await a buyer, and then service it. Was it very low on oil before coming in to them, for example? 

Doing homework is the key here. 

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Jedi Black]

Hello Gareth,

Thank you for your reply and for your very sensible view. You make perfect sense and I agree. I have actually found out who the previous owner was and I have attempted to contact them online as I don’t have their telephone number or email. I am still waiting (hoping) for a response. Bar turning up to their address I’m not sure how else I can get ahold of them. 

I’m beginning to think I should just should avoid any 2.0 TFSI engines until after 2012. 

[Anton8]

Hi Richard.

I am new to Audi, but not new to cars. I waited and waited for the right Audi to come along.  The ones I looked at always seemed to have compromises, and then bingo!  It depends on the price, and how soon you need the new car. I waited as in lock down I had the time. If it were me I would give this one a miss, and keep looking.

 

[Jedi Black]

Hi Tony,

Thank you for replying and for the reassurance. You’re right, everything I’ve seen has compromises and this one seemed to have the least. I would prefer to wait and find the right one rather than rush into problems, definitely. 

[Magnet]

Hello Richard,

The often quoted advice is that if you want to tick all the boxes, then you write out a cheque out for a new one! Every car you view will be imperfect in some respect. 

To be fair, this 1 owner car would seem worth following up on to me, and yes, if you have to turn up at a front door, then that might be what you will have to do. Question? Is it worth dismissing, in comparison to doing some homework? Only you will know that. Are you likely to find one which appears to be better, and will the ‘homework digging’ be any more straightforward with that? 

Just some thoughts.

Kind regards, 

Gareth. 

[Jedi Black]

Hi All, 

Thanks for your thoughts. Just an update. The previous owner kindly responded to me reaching out and called me. We had a good chat in which he said, he’d never heard of the consumption issue or ever had any problems with the car. He loved it and kept it longer than expected because it was so good to drive. 
 

He admitted losing one of the key fobs and also said that he needed to keep oil in the boot of the car as he would often have to top it up. I think the Audi garage suspected it was an issue but the owner didn’t question using a lot of oil and so didn’t address it. 
 

I have decided not to go for it and now am having the dealer disputing returning the deposit I paid to reserve it for me. 

[Magnet]

Many thanks for coming back with the very useful update Richard. 

The lesson here is that you can have a service book stamped to the hilt, and assume that this is the be all and end all of a ‘good vehicle’, whereas in reality, it can just equate to an odd morning out on a ramp. 

You just cannot beat a discussion with the previous owner. 

Back to this car. Would I automatically discount it? Not before getting an estimate of how much oil this car is consuming in say 1,000 miles (I’m sure the previous owner will advise). If not frightening, then I would be asking myself how inconvenient and expensive this is going to be over say a year’s use. 

The car is 11 years old, and if all good in other respects, then what difference is adding some oil going to make to its overall enjoyment? At least you know the issue with this one.

Refunding deposit:- I think you may well find that technically deposits are non refundable, so you could have an argument on your hands. Probably well worthwhile taking advice from CAB. 

Kind regards, 

Gareth. 

[Jedi Black]

Hi Gareth,

All things considered, I just didn’t get a good feeling from this dealer as things progressed and he started to get quite pushy for the sale. 
 

I quite possibly missed out on a good deal but there’ll be more. 
 

The deposit, it was established before paying was refundable. I went the legal route to getting my money back. 
 

Thank you so much for your input. The search continues.