We've owned the 2004 Audi A3 for 3 months now and got an idea of the strengths and weaknesses of the car. The Audi A3 V6 is massively cheaper than the VW Golf R32 that uses the same 3.2 litre engine but is it any good?
Watch my review on the AJVW channel here
Despite having the same 3.2 litre V6 engine as the VW Golf
R32 the Audi Quattro seems to be a bit of an unknown bargain in comparison. I
picked up my Audi A3 for £2000. It had some cosmetic bodywork issues and then
turned out to have a few mechanical ones too that the dealer refused to do
anything about but the purchase price was £2000. Others are available between
£2000 and £3000 but there aren’t any running Golf R32 cars available for that
sort of money. In comparison the cheapest VW Golf R32 I could find was £5000 with over
100k miles.
I don’t know why the Audi 3.2 is so much less popular but it
means if you want a performance car like an R32 then you can get one for a lot
less. The other benefit of the Audi is much lower insurance compared to the
Golf R32.
The thing that the Audi does have in common with the R32 is
the same issues with the 3.2 litre engine such as the timing chain stretching
and tensioners wearing both of which will cause engine fault lights.