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Buying a quattro in the UK
This is from the August 1996 UK quattro Owners Club Newlsetter. It
should serve as a cautionary tale - if you don't know what you're doing
when buying a car - take an expert!
Quattro quattros and a million potholes
After two years of trouble free 90 and 100 quattro motoring, plus
one of trouble filled V8 quattro motoring in our family, the time
came when I decided to replace my 90 with another quattro of some
description. After a test drive in a 90 quattro 20v I decided
that I preferred the old 90 and that the only option was to go
for an Ur quattro. The search began in February this year.
The first car I looked at was only ten miles away, just outside
Edinburgh. When I saw the lady who was selling the car I thought
she was a barmaid, but she told me she was a Chartered
Accountant. I sat in the passenger seat expecting a sedate test
drive, only to be pinned to my seat as she sent the cold engine
screaming up to 6500 rpm in first, in second and in third. We
left the 30mph zone and flew along a somewhat icy road at 85mph.
After a couple of miles she turned the car round and asked, 'Do
you want to drive? I certainly did. That was not because I
wanted to buy the poor abused machine, but so that I stood a
slightly better chance of going home in my car and not an air
ambulance.
The next car, described as being in 'concourse condition', took
me on a 400 mile journey from Edinburgh to Attleborough, near
Norwich. When the seller took to me see the car I asked him not
to start the car immediately as I wanted to look under the
bonnet. I hope he was grateful when I pulled out the dipstick
and pointed out that there was barely a drop of oil in the
engine. Despite the oil shortage I went for a drive. He put the
poor performance down to a "spring being turned back". I was far
from convinced so we called at Don Lear of Diss who confirmed
what the oil covered #l spark plug suggested: 100% leakage in
cylinder #1. GBP40 well spent at Don Lear and 800 unnecessary
miles later I was back in Edinburgh.
My next journey south took me to Harlow in Essex where I was
looking at quattro number three. The seller picked me up at
Stevenage in his Avant RS2 which he regretted buying. He told me
he had plenty of money. Maybe he did, but I thought it was queer
that his cars were probably worth more than his house. His car
was the best I'd seen but not worth GBP7000 so I got on the next
train to Woking to see Sal's quattro (a fellow club member). The
85,000 mile car seemed to be straight, had GBP7,129.42 of service
history and a transferable warranty. So after some Pasta at
Sal's house and the exchange of a wad of notes I headed back to
Edinburgh.
The car performed without a hitch but it soon become obvious that
it required some wheel bearings and top mountings on the front
suspension. The next task was to find a mechanic who knew
something about quattros, so a call to David Preece provided me
with the number of Gordon Campbell, who in turn provided me with
the number of Ralph Payne in Rosyth (01383 419857). Ralph used
to be foreman in an Audi dealer and also worked for Audi Sport.
He knows the cars and keeps me on the road at very reasonable
costs.
Having a new set of front wheel bearings and an oil change I
could see no point in leaving the car parked in Edinburgh, so I
decided it was time to go for a proper drive. Where better to go
than Romania? Well. to be honest it was a little more than just
a spin, I had to go there anyway.
I left Edinburgh with my wife very early on 1 April and drove
overnight to Folkestone. A smooth journey saw us at Andemach
on the Rhine in Germany around 4pm the same day. The next
morning we hit the Autobahn around 10am intending to hammer
through Germany and Austria that day. However, that was not to
be. After doing a few miles on the Autobahn at a leisurely
125mph, I was alarmed when suddenly a loud whistling noise came
from the engine compartment and the car began to lose power. I
limped to the next exit, which was a service area, with many dire
thoughts about what had gone wrong. A look under the bonnet
revealed nothing amiss so I called the RAC lntemafional and told
them I had a serious problem.
While waiting for the breakdown truck, I sat feeling depressed in
advance about how I was about to be ripped off by some German
garage. To take my mind of the approaching bill I had another
look under the bonnet, and lo and behold I noticed that a useful
little device, know as the idle control screw had completely
disappeared. A thumb placed over the hole it had left, confirmed
that this was the cause of all our problems. I was not entirely
surprised since Ralph had already pointed out to me that it was
leaking. Ironically I had ordered one before I left the UK. In
any case the breakdown truck arrived and took us to the nearest
Audi dealer who needless to say had no such screw in stock. A
few phone calls confirmed that no other Audi dealer in the
vicinity had one either. There was nothing for it but to drop in
to lngolstat for spare parts. Auto Bach kindly stuck a stopper
in the hole to let us continue our journey. The stopper however
didn't stay there long and it was thanks to our Boots First Aid
Kit that we arrived in lngolstat that afternoon, just as the Audi
Factory Workshop was closing.
The next morning I returned to the workshop only to be told that
they did not fix cars for customers but only repaired factory
cars. However, for some reason they agreed to fix my car and
also to replace the rear exhaust silencer which by this time had
started blowing. Fortunately, the RAC covered all the labour
costs and GBP300 of parts so I only had to pay for a small
percentage of the 1000 DM silencer. While we waited for the
repair they sent us on a tour of the A4 production line and left
us to wander round the Customer Centre. A few hours later we
picked up the car and headed for Vienna. Everything was back to
normal. A few empty stretches enabled me to discover that the
car could accelerate up to 145mph even on an incline. I was
convinced that the car should not go that fast and become
suspicious enough to open up the ECU and see if it was chipped,
which I'm glad to say it wasn't.
Germany didn't last long and soon we were back to walking pace in
Austria and Hungary. Driving in Hungary is a bit like driving
the wrong way round a stock car circuit. There is a frightening
mixture of 40mph Trabants and 140mph BMWs etc. Many drivers
think nothing of overtaking despite the presence of oncoming
vehicles. Time and again this leaves you with a simple choice:
get of the road or get mangled. Time and again I chose the first
option and found that the quattro is one of the best cars for
driving at 70mph with two wheels on the verge and two on the
tarmac.
Thursday morning saw us through the Romanian border in the town
of Oradea. The Romanian roads have never been good. Four years
ago when I was last there they were bumpy. This year they were
so bumpy and potholed that the best mode of transport would have
been a hovercraft. You have to use both eyes at all times - one
to look out for gigantic potholes and the other to look out for
other drivers who are swerving around trying to avoid the same
gigantic potholes. On more than one occasion in city driving I
found that the only option was to follow the locals and drive on
the pavement instead of the road (Romanian pedestrians are very
understanding). As I drove along the Romanian roads with my
teeth rattling I often consoled myself with the thought, if these
cars survived rallies they can survive this.
On one journey the road suddenly and inexplicably became as
smooth as any German highway. No sooner had I taken advantage of
this, than a policeman leapt out from a parked car and pulled me
in. Radar Kontrol, he said. However, he was unable to give me
any indication of my speed and I suspect the nearest radar was 50
miles away at Timisoara Airport. In any case I took the easy
option and paid the GBP2 fine. I was really rather grateful to
him as it enabled me to spot that a bulge had appeared on one of
my tyres.
Despite an enjoyable week in Romania I was glad to get out. The
Hungarian roads which are not always the best, felt as if they
were carpeted after Romania. 12 hours after leaving Romania we
were through Hungary and Austria near Nuermberg. We stopped for
the night at Winkler Brustd in Lengenfeld, a hotel just of the
Velburg exit on the A3 which has its own brewery and makes
splendid beer. Just the place for any quattro owners heading to
lngolstat.
Two days and 4500 miles later we were back in Edinburgh. The
damage? Two tyres and GBP600 of petrol. So, if you're bored this
summer or your car needs run in, just take a spin to Romania or
why not the Middle East? Don't worry about the quattro - it's
more likely to survive than you are.
Philip Ross, Edinburgh, June 1996.
--
Phil Payne
phil@sievers.com
Committee Member, UK Audi [ur-]quattro Owners Club