Audi TT 1.8T (Mk1) | Shed of the Week

Shed's played Cupid with a TT once before - surely lightning can't strike twice

Sometimes Shed will recommend one of his SOTW selections to friends.

Right. The first thing he wants to make clear at this point is that he has never indulged in the seedy practice of insider trading, diverting unknowing advertisers of underpriced classics into his sticky web for immoral personal gain.

Okay, so the only reason he hasn't done that is because nobody has been daft enough to put a £1500 E63 AMG or a £999 Caterham onto the PH Classifieds as yet. The fact is though that Shed's recommendations to friends only happen very rarely. Although he is well accustomed to the sharp sting of physical abuse, Shed is more frightened of the mental anguish that might result from somebody he knows actually listening to him, buying a car he's recommended, and then having a nightmare with it, which they would then be looking to blame him for. That's the kind of friends Shed has. The not very friendly type.

The last recommendation he made was towards the end of 2018 when a sexy German piece landed on his column. He knew that a lady friend of his in the village had just had her Mini Convertible nicked, so he showed her some pictures of the Audi TT 180 Roadster that had just appeared in Shed of the Week. To his surprise and fear she went and bought the thing, causing Shed to skulk around the village for most of 2019, wearing itchy red beards from the joke shop and diving into doorways whenever he saw her approaching.

Turns out that he needn't have bothered with all that malarkey. Despite spending the square root of naff-all on maintenance or even on cleaning it over the last fifteen months, the lady hasn't been let down once by her TT. She loves it. And that's a true story by the way.

Emboldened by this experience, Shed has decided he might recommend this week's TT to one of his other 'friends', if one of you lot don't buy it first anyway. It's a 225 that's just passed its MOT with only a few small advisories. You'll probably want to renew the front tyres and one CV boot first, and then maybe the rear springs. Once they're done, you - or Shed's pal - will have a swish-looking example of the Bauhaus movement made metal, in a good colour with a not too smashed leather cabin.

There'll probably be some complaints about the conditions of sale in this ad, but we must remember that vendors do have the right to sell stuff how they like. Maybe this vendor is trying to stop someone like Mrs Shed roaring over to his place before trying to press a grubby collection of Kensitas coupons and Green Shield stamps into his hand. Whatever the reason, all the 'part exchange to clear' and finance warning stuff is probably why this TT has been sitting around for the best part of a month. Buyers get suspicious of a seller's motivation, even when in reality there might very well be nothing at all wrong with the motor.

In amongst all the warnings and admonishments for this one we see that it's got a decent sounding service history and has had a new clutch, water pump and belts in the last couple of years. The heated seats don't work, which could just be a fuse or a loose wire; the central info display is only going to be any use if you can read Morse code; and the handbrake button has flown off, which often happens with TTs when someone has a go at replacing the handbrake trim. Button replacement is a simple push-fit, or if you wanted to really push the boat out you could get an entire handbrake assembly off eBay for a tenner or so. How much effort you want to put into solving the other two issues will depend on how much you're bothered by them.

Shed can't vouch for this TT, or for any shed come to that, but he is feeling strangely brave all of a sudden. He will need all his courage this week. It's not escaped his notice that 2020 is a leap year, and he's heard an awful lot of banging from the cellar with quite a few parcels arriving from companies specialising in restraint clothing, barbed wire and cattle prods. He might have to buy this Audi himself to see if it's still good for its advertised six-second 0-60 performance on what might end up being a very long maiden drive.

See the original ad here