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Calling Audi Experts

scott43

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That 2009-2010 2.0 engine is having reliability issues. Aggravated by poor maintenance, especially around oil changes and quality of oil..they get hot and proper synthetic oil changes are important. I know a few people who have walked away from their A4 2.0T engines for oil consumption and turbo issues. Like, great car..but it's getting into the maintenance years..anything over 100k miles is getting into component replacement..alternators, steering pumps etc. And they are expensive to maintain.
 

Mazama

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Make sure it has full maintenance records AND make sure an Indy Audi mechanic does a thorough inspection. Pay special attention to the transmission and all drive belts, plus coolant/heat system. No records is a huge negative on these cars.
 

Philpug

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Make sure it has full maintenance records AND make sure an Indy Audi mechanic does a thorough inspection. Pay special attention to the transmission and all drive belts, plus coolant/heat system. No records is a huge negative on these cars.
Yup, check to see if it is booked up as in all the service done. What @Mazama said, plus the DSG service. My last VW I put 150K on no issues, our Alltrack has 70 with no concerns. I would not be afraid of the car if it came from a good home.

I will add, I just walked away from a car from a smaller dealership like this because of too much gray area. I would make sure that an Audi/VW guy gave it a once over before buying.
 

doc

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One of my Audis is a 2010 A4 avant with the same 2.0L TFSI turbo, with 126k miles. @scott43's advice is spot on. Mine had the oil consumption issue and it failed the stage 1 test so Audi paid for a partial engine rebuild at 60k miles, which works very much in my favor and the car has been rock solid since. I have several higher end Audis but the A4 is my go to everyday car, and I think your niece will think the same of the A3 if she gets it. As @Mazama said, find a good independent Audi mechanic and have him give the car a thorough going-over. These are really solid cars with proper preventative maintenance.
Without knowing options and trim level (premium, premuim plus, prestige) its hard to evaluate the value, but NADA pegs the average retail for an A3 with that mileage at $7800.
 

my07mcx2

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One of my Audis is a 2010 A4 avant with the same 2.0L TFSI turbo, with 126k miles. @scott43's advice is spot on. Mine had the oil consumption issue and it failed the stage 1 test so Audi paid for a partial engine rebuild at 60k miles, which works very much in my favor and the car has been rock solid since. I have several higher end Audis but the A4 is my go to everyday car, and I think your niece will think the same of the A3 if she gets it. As @Mazama said, find a good independent Audi mechanic and have him give the car a thorough going-over. These are really solid cars with proper preventative maintenance.
Without knowing options and trim level (premium, premuim plus, prestige) its hard to evaluate the value, but NADA pegs the average retail for an A3 with that mileage at $7800.

I had a 2010 A4 also and it had massive oil consumption issues. At first at around 70K miles I took it to my Audi dealer for the stage 1 test and it was denied by Audi due to having the test done by previous owner at 55K and it passed according to them. I gripped a bit and went to Audi USA and they finally agreed to another stage 1 test at my cost. it didn't pass and they rebuilt like Doc said. I sold it shortly after.

Since then I have had 2 A6's with the 2.0 a 13 and a 18 and both are super rock solid and burn no oil. wife has a 18 Q5 and love it.
 

puptwin

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I had a 2010 VW CC with the 2.0 TSI engine. Not sure, but I think it's the same engine in the Audi. The VW 2.0 engines of this generation had issues with the cam chain tensioner. The problem became so widespread that VW eventually launched a campaign to extend the engine warranty and reimburse customers who experienced a failure and paid for it out of pocket. Tensioner failures result in the engine camshafts spinning out of time with the crankshaft, bent valves are the result. Another thing that may be a concern for you is intake carboning. These engines are direct injection rather than port injection. With port injection fuel passes over the intake valves on the way into the cylinder and washes the intake system clean; with direct injection there is no fuel in the intake. Carboning results when gases from the crankcase ventilation system are recirculated into the intake manifold. The gases contain oil vapor which collects on the valves and intake ports and cooks to form carbon deposits. It's a slow process that begins to show itself with a slight stumble at cold start. The condition eventually worsens and the carbon has to be mechanically removed. I cleaned the intake system at 50k when symptoms first began but never did anything with the tensioner.

I sold the car with just under 60k and advised the new owner to not ignore the tensioner issue. I now own a 2018 VW Golf sportwagen with the 1.8 engine, DSG and 4 Motion and love the car. Like @scott43 I think VW makes a great driving car.
 

Zrxman01

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I have had VW / Audis for over 35 years.
Logging well over a million miles.
I really love the way they handle and drive however the cold reality is they will cost you
$1500 in maintenance for every 10,000 miles.

BC46818C-DBC6-4DCF-8203-E29D90B8E7A6.jpeg
 

scott43

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Kind of a nutshell for me on VW family products. I had a 2003 Passat Wagon 1.8T that was making some odd noises. I took it back to the dealer (keep in mind I'm mechanically inclined fairly substantially..) and told them there was an exhaust leak somewhere. They "checked" it and couldn't find anything. I got it back and it was obviously not right. Took it back and pushed some buttons. Sure enough, it was missing 2 bolts on the turbo exhaust flange. Like...this car was less than a year old. Scared the crap out of me. Great to drive though. Then my friends with the 2009/2010 A4's with engine issues. And my brother with the A3 with the DSG that locked in 4th gear after 10k kms. Just....makes you wonder. Another buddy bought a 2018 Golf GTI and the sunroof exploded after 1.5 years..they blamed a rock chip but this is not uncommon. I love driving them, had a Skoda Karoq in Ireland, turbo with DSG, loved it. But yeah...
 

oldschoolskier

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If you are going the Audi/VW route get a Rosstech VagCom to get your diagnostic codes. Also get familiar with the groups to trouble shoot to save yourself money. The groups dyi fixes work and are a lot cheaper than having a mechanic do it.
 

martyg

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That 2009-2010 2.0 engine is having reliability issues. Aggravated by poor maintenance, especially around oil changes and quality of oil..they get hot and proper synthetic oil changes are important. I know a few people who have walked away from their A4 2.0T engines for oil consumption and turbo issues. Like, great car..but it's getting into the maintenance years..anything over 100k miles is getting into component replacement..alternators, steering pumps etc. And they are expensive to maintain.

Totally agree here. I've been with VW family products for some time - Porsches, Audis and VWs. Driving an SQ5 and TTRS now in the Audi group. My advice would be to purchase a CPO. I purchased my SQ5 like said (not enough TTRSs to go that route), and purchased a 7 year extended warrantee fior $3K + change. Super cheaop way to go. One blown modual would cost that much. Did the same program with the TTRS, but purchased new.
 

scott43

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So my friend's A4 had the Underboost condition..I was diagnosing it a bit for her. I gave her possible scenarios for the cause, she went to Audi and an independent and got some quotes and decided to walk away from the car. I don't think it was turbo failure, it was still driveable, but likely wastegate/diverter valve/downstream manifold leak and she wasn't interested in carrying on with it. So she bought a CR-V and hasn't put a penny into it in 7 years except for regular maintenance.

However..see my comments on actually driving the VW group of vehicles... ogsmile
 

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