Hello

I'm after a bit of honist advise here

I'm looking for a new (or rarther a change) and have seen 2 that I like.

Number one is a Met Black '99 Audi A3 1.6 Sport 3dr thats up at 3300.

The other is a Graphite Grey 2003 MK 4 Golf GTi 180 3 dr thats up at 5700.

Now i've test driven the Audi, and compaired to my Fabia....WOW! What a nice car!

The Golf is a really nice looking car, but I'd have to Finance about 2K to get it, do I really want to do that?

So... do I get what I can afford and get an Audi A3 and upgrade to a 1.8T in a year or 2, or do I get what I want now and to hell with it?!

The Audi is such a nice car to drive, and with all the goodies- Climate contrle CD Auto changer + the rest.... I think I'd be happy dispite the performance loss over the Golf.

Though I think I'd kick myself over 'what I could've had'.

What do ya'll reckon?

I can't think anymore! :confused:

Cheers

(P.S. I can afford the repayments on finance, I'm just in 2 minds about what to do)

A 1.6 or a 1.8T? No contest tbh.

Watch out for the A3, if its an AKL engine they got an awful habit of going pourous and leaking the coolant into the oil.

My 'honest' view

Personally I would go for the GTI, if I was after a vee dub it would be the Mk4 Golf every time.

IMHO the early A3's have aged pretty badly unlike the Golf.

A 1.6 or a 1.8T? No contest tbh.

Watch out for the A3, if its an AKL engine they got an awful habit of going pourous and leaking the coolant into the oil.

My 'honest' view

Christ!!

I wasn't quite exspecting that!

I know about coil packs on 1.8's and the 'week' bottom ball joints and ARB drops, but the pourous engine problems sounds like a bloody nightmare!

Cheers for that Lummox

It led to a lot of mucky engine changes when i was at Audi a number of years ago.

I had a 99 Audi A3 TDI. It was a great car, but the 1.6 is *far* too limp-wristed for the A3 body.

If you do look at the A3, check for bubbling front doors (behind the black trim at the bottom), bubbling on the roof channels (hard to spot- run your finger along the edge), ropey volume control on the Concert radio, and broken electric windows (though they are cheap to fix if you do it yourself).

Go take a look at audi-sport.net in the 8L A3 section.

There's common problems on the Golf too, and some common to both.

The trim in the Audi is lovely. Really good, but my Fabia vRS is a better drive than the A3- though doubtless some bushes and the dampers were probably past their best in the A3.