I am contemplating purchasing a "Certified Pre-Owned" 2006 A3 2.0T (DSG, Premium/Convenience/Cold Weather Package, Open Sky, Murano Green) from a local Audi dealership (Northeastern US). It has pretty high mileage (29,500 miles). The car appears to be in very good condition aside from some minor cosmetic scratches to the bright interior door trim on drivers door. I drove it and did not percieve any obvious problems.

Is there anything in particular that I should be double-checking/ wary of as potential problem areas with this particular model, before making a decision?

Thanks.

 

The 2006 model year has the scheduled maintenance included plus you still have some of the original warrantee left. Just to be on the safe side - pull he VIN on that car and see when the original owner took deliver. If it was in late 2005 - that mileage is not too bad.
As far as potential problem areas go - some of the owners tend to have problems with getting the smiles off their faces. And quite a few of the spouses have complained about the owners showing up late from work because of the 'scenic' routes they tend to take.

 

Agreed. The remaining warranty and service plan will give you piece of mind for the next 20k miles. Personally, average cars get 12k-15k per year, so that mileage isn't too out of the ordinary.



Cheers!

 

The A3's have been relatively trouble free. Occasional problem areas have been AC compressors, wheel bearings, interior sunshade for open sky, OEM Pirelli P6 tires. Pull the maintenance records - make sure it's had the I3 and I5 updates ( re - flash ECU, coolant flange seal). If the maintenance looks good, then you should be in for a long and happy ownership experience.

 

Good call on the tires, hesaputz! If it still has the original Pirelli P6 All-Season tires on it, you should really try to get the dealer to put new tires on. With that kind of mileage they have probably been replaced already, but if not you should insist on having them replaced (preferably with something different!)

 

I puchased my 2006 CPO A3 (late '05 build) in August with 25k miles, and looking at other threads regarding A3 mileage, I'd say 29K is nothing to worry about. I definitely like having the Audi Advantage Plan that is included with '06's(although I haven't used it yet), and the CPO warranty extension is definitely nice for those of us who plan to keep our cars for a while.

An '06 advantage is adjustable steering boost with VAG-COM.

Mine already had new tires - nice Toyo T1-R's (winter Dunlop 3D's will be mounted soon). As hesaputz, noted, you should probably have new tires at that mileage (I think they're required for a CPO car), hopefully not another set of the infamous Pirelli P6's. Scratches on the driver's door interior trim seems pretty typical.

I had the dealer give me the service records and found that those ECU reflashes and several other items had already been fixed, although I have gotten the "intake flap motor" CEL a few times (always self-cleared, so far). My car hasn't had any A/C issues, although the PCV valve was replaced (now on the "C" version), and something about a "flywheel" service - no idea what that could be. I haven't heard any noise from the Open Sky that some complain about, and oil consumption looks low to moderate. I added a quart of Mobil 1 0W-40 about 4K after the records indicated it had last been changed, and I'll be changing it every 5K. Make sure that 'yours' has had the service at 5K, 15K and 25K.

Check out the many threads in the A3 Noobs sticky above.

Enjoy!

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try to get the dealer to pull the service records. Unfortunatley it looks like the car has brand new P6 Fourseasons installed on it already.

 

A couple of quick followups on looking at the '06 A3 again. I noticed that the Open Sky roof opens only about 2/3 of the way when the button is first depressed and then it takes a second push of the button to open it fully. Is this the way that it is intentionally designed, or is there something flaky with it?

ALso just out of curiosity, what is the little button with the key logo on it on the back of the center console (rear seat area) ? I assume it has something to do with child door locks or something, but didn't get a chance to check the manual.

 

The Open Sky roof takes three presses to open fully: first press tilts the roof, second press slides it back about half-way, then the button needs to be held to slide back all the way. Or just hold the button and it will keep opening. Seemsa bit strange that it only closes by holding the button continuously.

The button with the key logo on the rear of the console locks all the doors, but pressing it again does NOT unlock them! It could have been embarassing when I discovered that while sitting by myself in the car, but I was able to reach the key fob in front.