A warning about 2 cars I looked at this week.

Post by **joesnow** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 10:01 pm

Hi All

So been casually looking for an RS4 for the past couple of weeks. It started off of more a dream but the more I looked, researched and sorted finances it started to become a reality, but after a 300 miles round trip on Monday and the same again today I felt it may be a good idea to warn any potential buyers of the things missing from the adverts.

I saw this one in Bedford on Monday.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p
The garage selling it is based in Birmingham and the guy told me it was at his nephews garage in Bedford as he had someone view it at the weekend. Didn't think anything of it but thought it was strange the service history and documentation was still in Birmingham. Spoke to the guy in Bedford and he said he borrowed it for the weekend to go to a wedding in so the stories didn't match. Alarm bells also started to ring when there was no garage and the car was parked in a locked carpark.

Here are the good points,
Although listed on a Cat D the panels are all straight and if it has had an accident I couldn't tell where it was.
Milltek exhaust sounded very good. Definately a mod I will do when I find the right car,

The not so good points
All 4 tyres are level with the wear limit and a couple had gouges in the side walls. Not to worry though as the guy I spoke to in Bedford can get really cheap part worns but they might not be the same brand!!!!!
Alloys were pretty scuffed
The car was filthy. I can overlook a black car thats dirty on the outside but inside had drink and food wrappers in the front and rear footwells and fag ash in the ashtray and around the gearstick. It just look liked it hadn't been looked after.
Was told there was a grinding noise when braking, Quote "it's like metal on metal so may need new pads. But it still brakes good. I'll take you for a drive if you like?? I'll happily take it to 100 mph and then brake hard to prove it" Errr, no thanks.

And then this one in West Brom
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-AUDI-RS4 ... 3a79aac93b
Was quite looking forward to seeing this as it ticked all the boxes. Had spoken to the owner on the phone and found out his bottom price so this was definately a potential

Good points
From the outside the car did look good, all panels were straight, paint was good, wheels and tyres were all good.
Went out in it as a passenger and pulled very well, was a little bumpy with the Koni's on but can be adjusted to suit

Not so good points
Although advertised with 87k on the clock the actual reading is 93k. This would seriously pee me off if I was to bid on this car and found out when I went to collect it.
Sunroof doesn't work. You can hear the motor but apparantly it has come off it's rails.
Pressed the check button and it picked up on tyre sensors being faulty and a couple of bulbs being out.
2 12" subs and an amp have been added to the stereo which will be removed. This would concern me that the original Bose setup has been tampered with. Maybe my lack of knowledge is causing unnecassary concerns and this is an easy thing to add/remove from the original setup.

I know these cars are not going to be mint and could be a couple of the cheapest ones on the market, but I was really disappointed that the adverts weren't accurate and thought I would share my experiences in case there is anyone looking to view these cars and stumble across this forum (like I did).

On a positive note I did see a mint Misano Red saloon today that made it all worth while.

Post by **Mr V10** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 10:18 pm

I can just imagine the seller of the first one, couldn't you tell he was a pr1ck over the phone?
Shocking these cars have fallen into the hands of such twats - ' I can get you part worns real cheap, not all the same brand'. Feck off.

Post by **pDkALO** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 10:50 pm

A couple of observations that apply to buying cars, and particularly kit like RS4s:
1. If it's cheap, it's usually cheap for a reason
2. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is, and
3. FON!

Keep looking - you'll find a good 'un - in the right hands and with the right maintenance there's no reason why they shouldn't stay mint for years to come, but... as others have noted on here recently, they're at an age and price where they may not get looked after the way they need to be, so tat is appearing

Good luck!

Post by **stu** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 11:38 pm

Interesting read.. thanks for typing all that. I had a fun five minutes going over the photos to see if I could spot any weirdness. THe onyl thing I could spot was an aftermarket steering wheel in the first car - off a TT? Someone probably had the round wheel originally.

FON! And welcome.

Post by **MrGeneric** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:53 am

Do not buy any rs/s from bham! As soon as you find out the cars in bham tell em to fcuk off...
Ringers, accident repairs, unrecorded accident repairs used in robberies and owned by drug dealers.
Stay away, well away !!!

Post by **joesnow** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:45 am

Another one
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-AUDI-RS4 ... 3a79b59227

This was listed by a different seller last week who I contacted and he told me the car had sold but had an R32 if I wanted to go and look at that.

MrGeneric wrote:Do not buy any rs/s from bham! As soon as you find out the cars in bham tell em to fcuk off...
Ringers, accident repairs, unrecorded accident repairs used in robberies and owned by drug dealers.
Stay away, well away !!!

This is proving almost true from the 3 I have seen there but I have seen 1 that on the face of it seems a very genuine car and seller. Although this 1 is advertised for more money so kinda makes sense.

Post by **joesnow** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:47 am

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-AUDI-RS4 ... 3a7909dcfe

Ok, same car but to listings.

Post by **Coaster** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:49 am

MrGeneric wrote:Do not buy any rs/s from bham! As soon as you find out the cars in bham tell em to fcuk off...
Ringers, accident repairs, unrecorded accident repairs used in robberies and owned by drug dealers.
Stay away, well away !!!

totally agree- and I reside there! When I was looking there were two cars available in b'ham- one had 20" wheels and the other had a matt black wrap- FFS.
Seriously though- if you're specifically looking for a black on black car with black wheels and blacked out windows that is the standard of car & seller you will have to deal with.

Post by **ShaneyB** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:16 am

They are both shocking!

Anyone who says in their ad 'the car has been malicousley looked after' clearly isn't meticulous at all. Probably meant maliciously..

Be patient, something will turn up.

For the record I'd NEVER buy any car from eBay!

Post by **klauster** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:48 am

Would a brand new clutch assembly (I mean everything clutch related) being done on a 85k MINT car add any value or just make it easier to sell?

Post by **Mr V10** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:00 am

joesnow wrote:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-AUDI-RS4 ... 3a7909dcfe

Ok, same car but to listings.

*two

Places not to buy cars from:

Birmingham
Bradford
Leeds

Post by **brn7y** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:58 am

These are the same places with 'refer' in the insurance database.

Post by **bam_bam** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 12:12 pm

CAT C/D = walk away.

FON.

Post by **ShaneyB** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 12:21 pm

bam_bam wrote:CAT C/D = walk away.

FON.

+1

You will NEVER know the exact truth regarding the damage.

Leave well alone.

Post by **HYFR** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 12:59 pm

the price reduction also needs to be at least 25% against a LIKE - for LIKE example

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