Three litre beater - 2005 Audi A8 3.0 TDi
Discussion
I needed a cheap daily driver for a bit - something comfortable but sensible. The current state of the used car market makes this really difficult - so many cars out there are massively more expensive than they were not so long ago.
What I probably should’ve bought was a nice sensible Avensis or Mondeo or something. Cheap to fix, robust, etc.
Where’s the fun in that? Enter my three litre beater - a 2005 (55) Audi A8 with 201,000 miles on the clock
What could possibly go wrong?
What I probably should’ve bought was a nice sensible Avensis or Mondeo or something. Cheap to fix, robust, etc.
Where’s the fun in that? Enter my three litre beater - a 2005 (55) Audi A8 with 201,000 miles on the clock
What could possibly go wrong?
Of course not everything works, it’s a sixteen year old luxobarge after all.
So far I’ve found
1) OSR indicator doesn’t work. Tried to fix it, made it worse. It’s a stupid LED thing, a replacement is £280++. Found a facelift one for £108 - going to fit that even though it’ll look stupid unless I replace the others too. As long as it’s safe and legal I’m not arsed, for a bit at least.
2) folding MMI screen gets a bit stuck and you need to help it fold/unfold. New gears required - £8.99 on eBay for some metal ones to replace the shredded plastic ones. Will sort once I work out how to get it out of the dash. Sure it’ll be a 5 min job…..
3) Electric tailgate is pretty hesitant, needs some assistance. Guess it’s a similar issue to the MMI screen just more expensive!
4) Headlights are cloudy. Looks like someone tried sanding the NS one and gave up.
5) Screen wash is very reluctant. Guess there’s a blockage somewhere.
6) Parking sensors inop. It’s the length of a f
king cruise ship so I’m keen to sort this
Not bad really for 201k miles!
So far I’ve found
1) OSR indicator doesn’t work. Tried to fix it, made it worse. It’s a stupid LED thing, a replacement is £280++. Found a facelift one for £108 - going to fit that even though it’ll look stupid unless I replace the others too. As long as it’s safe and legal I’m not arsed, for a bit at least.
2) folding MMI screen gets a bit stuck and you need to help it fold/unfold. New gears required - £8.99 on eBay for some metal ones to replace the shredded plastic ones. Will sort once I work out how to get it out of the dash. Sure it’ll be a 5 min job…..
3) Electric tailgate is pretty hesitant, needs some assistance. Guess it’s a similar issue to the MMI screen just more expensive!
4) Headlights are cloudy. Looks like someone tried sanding the NS one and gave up.
5) Screen wash is very reluctant. Guess there’s a blockage somewhere.
6) Parking sensors inop. It’s the length of a f
king cruise ship so I’m keen to sort this Not bad really for 201k miles!
Set about the cloudiest headlight with a very cheap headlight restoration kit today. It’s improved but still not 100% clear - the compound was a bit off and the polishing pad missing so I had to improvise.
Will re-do it once some better equipment arrives. Noticed the Xenon bulb on that side is pink and dim so it’ll need replacing - I’m quite surprised how cheap these are nowadays! £24 each for Osram ones, even as low as £3 each for cheap dodgy unbranded ones.
Will re-do it once some better equipment arrives. Noticed the Xenon bulb on that side is pink and dim so it’ll need replacing - I’m quite surprised how cheap these are nowadays! £24 each for Osram ones, even as low as £3 each for cheap dodgy unbranded ones.
Love that rear light fix. Although hopefully I won’t get caught behind you as would trigger my OCD.
For a 2005 car it sounds in decent condition, probably no more risky than a 2010 car but a lot cheaper.
If it wasn’t for the ULEZ I’d like to be in 3 litre diesel from 2005 than a newer smaller engined barge like I havebnow
For a 2005 car it sounds in decent condition, probably no more risky than a 2010 car but a lot cheaper.
If it wasn’t for the ULEZ I’d like to be in 3 litre diesel from 2005 than a newer smaller engined barge like I havebnow
Yeah I can’t say I’m thrilled about it but £108 vs £272 for a car I’ve only had for 5 mins and still need to properly soak test before actually spending on it seems like a no brainer.
Quite sad that it’s gone from people chucking £2k at it regularly to someone bodging it about like this
Quite sad that it’s gone from people chucking £2k at it regularly to someone bodging it about like this
Ace, found myself looking at these and wondering how ruinous they can be.
They dont rust and its a fairly standard engine if you go for the 3.0 diesel and not any V10/W12 or whatever.
I had an Audi 100 when I was like 23 and I think getting one of these would have a similar feel, i.e. like am driving my dads car.
They dont rust and its a fairly standard engine if you go for the 3.0 diesel and not any V10/W12 or whatever.
I had an Audi 100 when I was like 23 and I think getting one of these would have a similar feel, i.e. like am driving my dads car.
The MMI screen has the common fault where it doesn’t open/close smoothly and needs some manual assistance. These cogs are usually the issue - they’re plastic and they strip eventually
A repair kit is available for as little as £8.99 so how hard can it be?
Very. Getting the screen out was a massive fk-on. The wiring was deeply buried behind the dash.
I’ve changed the cogs but gave up on reassembling the mechanism for another day and took my Kangoo ZE home, leaving the disassembled Audi to think about what it’s done.
A repair kit is available for as little as £8.99 so how hard can it be?
Very. Getting the screen out was a massive f
k-on. The wiring was deeply buried behind the dash. I’ve changed the cogs but gave up on reassembling the mechanism for another day and took my Kangoo ZE home, leaving the disassembled Audi to think about what it’s done.
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