RS246.com Forum :: The World's #1 Audi R, S and RS Enthusiast Community

Hi All

Does anyone have any experiences, both good and bad they have had and would like to share?

If they both had identical cars, who would you buy from and why?

Cheers,

DTC

Fontain was recommended by a friend that bought an RS2 from them & had nothing but praise for them. I bought my RS4 last February & again excellent service on the sales front also the service dept. Todate I have nothing but praise for them.

Lots of Audi dealerships sell cars to Fontain and I have not heard anything negative about them, but obviously people shound post their experiences, good and bad.

Bought my wife A3 3.2Q DSG from Fontain... decent spec as well as Nothelle kit. Had 18 months remaining warranty and it was almost £2k cheaper than anything equivalent from any of the main dealerships in the country. Very professional, polite & knowledgable sales guy called Keith. No probs whatsoever and I'll recommend them highly.

Got my RS4 from Fontain and also highly recommend them...

Got my RS4 from Fontain and also highly recommend them...

Got my S4 Avant from Croft as I live very close to them and dealt with Alex who used to work at Fontain. George (runs Croft) used to be a partner at Fontain and can be difficult to deal with. I did have a few issues with mine when I first bought it and to be fair Alex sorted them for me. I was not overly impressed with the service side of things at Croft as they use a small garage in Iver called SeaSpray Motors. Nice guys but to be honest they gave me confidence when they had to change the cam belt, water pump, wheel bearings etc.
I have since had a fair bit of work done by Fontain (speak to Chas Lawler in service) and they are very good, not to mention a shed load cheaper than a main stealer. I'm considering upgrading to an RS4 and will without a doubt consider buying from Fontain. Not so sure about Croft though.

Sorry DTC,
I didn't answer your question. Price spec etc. would obviously come into it and with the benefit of hindsight I think I would choose Fontain out of the two without a doubt.

Good to hear good things about Fontain's service, as I have a deposit on an S4 (B5) from them.

However, sale service aside, how are their servicing side technically?

I read that specialists such as (from memory) QST, MRC and AMD are the way to go and often diagnose or resolve problems an Audi main agent will miss. In your experieinces where do Fontain sit in this comparison?

TIA

Welcome to the site Graham.

Have a look in the B5 S4 forum, there is lots of relevant info to read.

Technically I'd go to MRC. Just had an issue with an irritating rattle at low speeds in mine which I suggested to Fontain was the Heat Shield. They said 'NO' it IS the cam tensioner. I have the cam tensioner replaced and the rattle still persists. Took it back to Fontain and low and behold....they now say they THINK it's the heatshield as I suggested..? £250.00 down the pan. Also the Eibach springs they fitted are rubbing causing my tyres rub in certain situations. The told me this would definately not happen.

Anyone else?

Would Fontain know a split F-hose a fault TBB and a leaking turbo hose from their elbow?

The sale guy inspired no confidence in this area, maintaining the B5 S4 to be a reliable machine, but as long as sales talk aside their Techs know their stuff I will be happy.

Basically, I am buying from Fontain with a 12 month warranty. Would a visit to another specialist be advisable or not?

For technical stuff, in my limited experience, yes. The specialists tuners know these cars inside out, if they didn't they wouldn't exist. Some are just MUCH nicer to deal with. The same can never be guaranteed at a dealer as many will testify of Audi themselves. I did look at an RS4 at Fontain and was told the cambelt service was due at 60,000 miles when even I knew different, so I bought from somewhere else. That may not be typical I hasten to add, enjoy the car, and pop up to see MRC or APS.

I bought my S4 from croft in oct 2005. I received a call from Alex to say the car is ready to be picked up after I noticed that the cambelt wasn't changed as they had advertised. I had my wife and 3 month old son with me to up the car up at 17h00. When we got there I parked my A4 round back to swap the wheel - as I was going to hold on to my RS4 replicas. That took them an hour since the wheel wouldn't fit without spacers. The spacer where found 10 min into the job but it still took another 50 min to complete the job. After running out og patients, I enquire when I could leave with the car. Alex then told me that the car had no MOT so they took it to SeaSpray to be done. That took another 2 hours. My wife is p*** with me because the baby needs feeding and changing. I would never recommend croft to anyone for anything. The service as well as the technical side of things is well below standard.

NEVER use Seaspray.!

What a joke.