Earlier this year, I sold my trusty 2003 MK4 Golf with the legendary 1.9TDI PD100 diesel engine. The car was slow but so much fun to throw around a corner. It was a good looking car too and well specced for an SE trim level. Sadly, it was riddled with small issues that month after month were costing me a fortune to keep up with and fix.
Small electrical issues followed by a clutch going then it needing the front suspension being rebuit were already eating away at my money but the persistent oil leak was the straw that broke the camels back. In January 2025 I began looking for a new car.
Initially, I was looking for a newer Golf, like a MK6 TDI. These could be had for around £2,000 or a nicer one with a higher trim level could be bought for around £2,500. My uncle suggested looking at an Audi – like a Golf but a bit nicer all around. He showed me the A3 8P and I really liked the look of it. So, without hesitation, I started looking for my new A3.
I had already bought an expensive money pit of a car and so I was willing to spend a little bit more to make sure that the car is solid. My strict criteria were:
- Around 100k miles
- Diesel
- Low owners
- Cheap UK road tax
- Similar insurance group to Golf
- Unmodified
All of these requirements led me to the Audi A3 8P fitted with the 1.6TDI CAYC engine. After looking on AutoTrader for a few days, I found one not too far and from a reputable company. We agreed a price and a few days later, I signed the contract and wired the company the money. The car was delivered just a few days later on Febuary 2nd 2025.
The car had 2 owners from new and was mainly city driven around the outskirts of London. It had around 98k miles by the time it arrived at my house and had full service history from registered Audi garages – finally, I had a well looked after and reliable car that could get me from A to B. On top of this, the dealership I bought it from had just replaced the front brake discs and pads. Transferring my tax and insurance over to the new car was also cheap as it is only £20 a year road tax and one insurance group higher than my old car and so there was only a difference of £60. Everything I wanted I now owned.
After driving the car for a few weeks, I decided that I wanted to maintain it as well as I could and so I booked it in at my local garage for a service. I had them change the oil to genuine VW AUDI Quantum 5w30, fit a new oil filter and a cabin filter. I also asked the guys at the garage if I could look under the car whilst it was on the lift.
I was happy as the structure of the car and body was rust free and in decent condition. The car is a 2010 and from England and so there was a decent amount of rust on the subframe and other suspension components but generally, the car was in good shape. I was happy – I had a nice car.
The maintenance didn’t stop there however . I wanted this thing to be bulletproof and after looking at the service history, I noticed that there was no mention of it ever having a new timing belt, water pump or tensioner. There were also several advisories on the MOT history for things saying ‘Coolant leak from water pump’ and ‘Low coolant’. I booked it in at a local garage to have a new timing belt, water pump and tensioner fitted. This took around 8 hours of labour and cost £585 but was worth it knowing that the car was now good for another 10 years or 100,000 miles.
With the car now in better shape than when I got it, I simply drove it. I drove it to and from university every day, to and from work and even just took it out on nice drives every now and then to try and keep the DPF from getting blocked up. It was a great car. I even caught the moment it hit 100k on the odometer.
It was mid-June and I had just returned from Crete. I left my car at home and when trying to start the car in the morning, the battery was completely flat and didn’t have enough amps to even crank the engine over fast enough to start. Strange but resonable as the car had been sitting for around 8 days. After a jumpstart, the car was making a slight whirring noise from the engine bay.
I carried on driving the car until one night, the noise turned from a slight whirring to what could only be described as an angry roar. It turned out to be the clutch on the alternator pulley. Because the car was fitted with stop-start, a new alternator was nearly three times the price of a standard car alternator and set me back a whopping £309 from Euro Car Parts. I had the car booked in the following monday to have the alternator replaced.
Monday morning rolled round and I drove the car to the mechanics. I was about a mile away when the car started making a violent banging sound as metal shrapnel from the alternator pulley hit the firewall and underbody of the car. I carried on driving, where the noise got worse, another bang and the noise stopped. The final bang caused the battery light on the dash to illuminate and my power steering no longer working. The car ran for another 10 seconds before gently stalling and I was able to glide it up hill and pull over on the side of the road.
‘Start/Stop system deactivated! Please start engine with key.’ Hmm. So I did. The engine would crank but never start. I put my hazard lights on and got out of the car in the rain to check what explosion had just happened in the engine bay.
The first thing that I noticed was that my alternator pulley was sitting on top of the top radiator hose – somehwere it should never be. The second thing was the distinct lack of a serpatine belt, hence why the car lost power and power steering. As for the no-start issue, I couldnt work that one out. I called out a tow truck and forked over £60 to be towed a mile to the mechanics.
They carried out the work and called me about four hours later to ask a question that made my heart sink “Has the car ever had any trouble starting? We can’t seem to get it to start and there’s codes for a camshaft position sensor error” – It seems like the car had jumped time.
They also said I needed a new battery as my current one only had around 7% life remaining. Again, had the car been fitted witout stop-start, a normal battery would have been around £65 but because it did have stop-start, I needed a special AGM 096 battery at an eye watering £209 from Halfords. This was starting to become a very expensive day for me. (Foreshaddowing here – It didn’t get better).
The lads at the garage deleted the stored timing code, chucked on the new battery and with my permission, attempted to start the car again. The car turned over and sounded like it didn’t have any compression on some cylinders, just when the car sounded as if it was going to start, the sound of valves hitting pistons echoed in the garage and we all looked at eachother knowing what had just happened. I litertally could have cried.
I left the garage, not knowing if I’d ever see my car on the road again. A day later, I got the call I was dreading. Turns out the serpantine belt got wrapped around the crank pulley which caused the timing belt to fray, and the engine losing time. The damage was done.
What were I to do next? I had a few options, none of which were attactive given the cost but I had to do something.
- Part out my broken car and sell parts of it and buy a new car
- Fit a new engine from a wreckers yard
- Assess and repair the damaged engine
The third option was the best as I knew the history of the car and would feel more comfortable repairing what I already had rather than buying another engine that could also have more problems. Option one was not even for consideration as I had already sank so much money into the car. I called my Uncle who had several mechanic friends.
He towed the car to his friend who confirmed that there was damage done to the valves in the head and that the only way to fix it was to take the head off, clean it up and machine it and then fit new valves. Expensive but not as expensive as a new engine or hell, a new car.
The car blew up June 24th and went in to the engine rebuilders in early July. After a few months, I finally got the call back that the engine was repaired and on August 29th, I picked the car back up. The car had the refurbished cylinder head, new timing belt, water pump and tensioner and a new battery. It was like being back at square one. The grand total of the repair and labour was around £1500, if you were wondering.
I was just happy to have my car back. It would have sucked to see it be sent to a scrap yard after only owning it for a few months. It’s next challenge was a trip to the Lake District. A bit risky driving a car 350 miles up north immediately after rebuilding the engine but hey, if theres ever a time to do it, its now. The car did great! The only real problems were a DPF warning light appearing after 2 hours of constant high speed driving and a severe lack of power getting up hills in the lakes. This is understandable as it is only a 1.6 TDI.
Since then, I have just been enjoying the car. I keep it clean, drive it carefully and let it warm up before using boost too much and service it regularly. Just a few weeks ago, I fitted a new wheel bearing and two new lower ball joints to fix the steering on the car.
The only thing I wanted out of this car was a bit more power. As previously mentioned, the car would struggle to pull away quickly which made it bog down in high gears. This meant that merging and overtaking were risky. There was only one thing for it – a remap.
I took the car to a local tuning garage and for the cost of £395, they put the car on a dyno, created a custom tune and loaded it onto the car. Now, the car has more low down torque which makes driving the car so much easier as I don’t have to worry about changing down to third gear all the time. The car feels quicker and can now keep up with faster moving traffic.
So, that is the story of my Audi A3 8P. From getting the car, fixing the car, blowing the engine to rebuilding it and then turning it into my dream, powerful daily driver. Now, the car is exactly what I wanted it to be and I am happy with it. I just plan to drive it and put miles on it, maintain it regularly and enjoy it.
Thanks for reading!