Project Vent Your VAG Hatred Here!

[stuboy]

i got a vw sharon tdi in drag............

[vaughant]

Also a vag shite owner in the form of a Leon TDI of the ve pumped variety.

Starts everytime first time, does 45mpg at 80mph, doesn't use oil or water and still had plenty of go when required.

Oddly has no visible rust although I maintain that SEAT seem the best of the vag group in this regard.

I've been very impressed with it and it cost buttons, MOT next month and I'm looking at an exhaust and maybe a windscreen, passed the last one first time bar a few advisories now all done (pretty much all caused by a bad oil leak).

Served me well and would buy again.

Different price bracket for what I own but I hate to say vag are no match for Japanese quality, my avensis estate feels so well put together in comparison, the 2.2 Derv is a delight as well. I'm a big fan.

[D Spares & Tyres]

I spent all day yesterday in a 2003 Galaxy

 

It drove well but hardly anything electrical worked.

 

Totally rotten rear arches. Filler and duct tape holding it together. Good towcar though

[jonny69]

I was sort of hoping you were going to replace those other lights with brown tape and various coloured shopping bag 'lenses'.

 

Anyway.

[abelw44]

I was sort of hoping you were going to replace those other lights with brown tape and various coloured shopping bag 'lenses'.

 

Anyway.

I'm afraid my extensive shopping bag collection doesn't have the correct colours in it. However, the tin of Quality Street chocolates I have here....

 

Sent from my MIX_2 using Tapatalk

[djim]

Yet another Aldi fiddler here with my 99 B5 A4 avant. Here it is...

 

 

It's a 1.8t petrol turbo and in the 3 years since I bought it, it has been the most reliable car I've ever owned. Basic servicing every year (oil, filters, brake pads), a few MOT bits (2 callipers, control arms), a thermostat change because it was struggling to get up to temp and that is it. Interior is pleasant enough and much nicer than the B6 passat it replaced which was a whole bunch of trouble. Engine pulls well and it'll cruise on the motorway all day. 

I was planning on keeping it for a while as I enjoy it but I got rear ended in Dec and it is now a Cat C, and the dog and kid have taken their toll on the interior. 

I'd still fully recommend them though, it doesn't have a spot of rust on it and everything works fine which is pretty good going considering it is nearing 20 years old. 

 

 

[beko1987]

I've always really liked that shape of a4 estate... Are the ones within my budget going to be any good now though? They do all seem to have been worked for their living...

[bunglebus]

No hate from me, I really like that shape Audi and drive a '98 TDI Passat too. Bulletproof.

[abelw44]

I've always really liked that shape of a4 estate... Are the ones within my budget going to be any good now though? They do all seem to have been worked for their living...

They're definitely out there, and usually not too expensive - but as you say, they've normally worked hard, and it's difficult to get hold of one that doesn't have galactic mileage on it!

 

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[garbaldy]

How can anyone hate vag when a car wearing these seats can be had with mot in 1.9tdi flavour for £80,

Cheeper than walking.

[abelw44]

Bit of bank holiday success this evening. Fitted the new Oxygen sensor, and it now registers no fault codes! MoT time methinks!

 

Had an advisory for old tires last time, so hoping they haven't deteriorated much since then...

 

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[Lord Sterling]

Very briefly, I owned this 1.9 TDi-flavoured Passat:

 

 

I got it for free, sadly, the alternator was pretty much giving up the day I got it. I managed to *just* make it home, despite being stopped by a cop (my trade plate fell out the back window) then it didn't start again.

 

I had no money and owned £oads in bills, I just didn't have time for it so it got given away again.

 

I would like another one at some point to actually properly try one out.

[Shirley Knott]

^ Other than the massivley complicated front suspension set up, constantly failing electric windows, regular leaking/wet carpets with subsequesnt CCM damage and rusty front wings they're lovely.

 

I'd thoroughly recommend trying one.

[Jams]

I've took a gamble on a few vags of late 2003 golf gttdi 150 looked ace as had been pineappled was total shit tho.

 

Bought a Leon bkd 140 apart from the turbo sounding like a siren and the lumpy idle its ok. It's on ebay atm tho

[abelw44]

MoT day today - standby for news of the inevitable abject failure!

 

I had hoped that the new oxygen and mass airflow sensor I fitted had cured the emissions problem - it was certainly running much cleaner and had more power, but seeing the amount of visible fumes from it on the way to the garage this morning, I'm not so sure...

 

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[Shirley Knott]

Dose of Cataclean + drive there at 5k rpm and she'll be right

[abelw44]

It's only gone an flippin' passed, hasn't it? Well chuffed with that!

 

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[abelw44]

An experimental pootle was had yesterday, to see how it went after the MoT.

It drives beautifully, it's smooth and amazingly quiet - plus the sound system is lovely. Somewhere along the line I've definitely cocked up the front offside suspension, as it's knocking loudly over bumps in the road. Further investigation required at the weekend - updates will follow!

 

 

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[Des]

Bit of an easy target H8ing on the Vag slags but fuck VW, fuck their arse. How about a drivers door jamming wide bastard open? Absolutely locked in place and forcing it will tear out the hinges, check strap semi fractured and no amount of poking and prying would get the door closed until I popped the door card and unbolted it at the lumpy end. And it can fucking well stay there jangling around, the cost of replacement for this two bob part including wanker tax is £70 odd. Or I might cut a proper check strap from seat belt or an old boot, whichever turns up first.

[Kiltox]

Very briefly, I owned this 1.9 TDi-flavoured Passat:

 

 

I got it for free, sadly, the alternator was pretty much giving up the day I got it. I managed to *just* make it home, despite being stopped by a cop (my trade plate fell out the back window) then it didn't start again.

 

I had no money and owned £oads in bills, I just didn't have time for it so it got given away again.

 

I would like another one at some point to actually properly try one out.

My FiL still has this - it’s dying though. Needs another fair bit of maintenance to keep it on the road and even then it’ll still just be a scruffy B5 Passat pushing 300k miles

 

It’s started making an awful racket that sounds like a knackered pulley of some description too

[Supernaut]

From 2014 to 2016 I owned a 1999 Audi A4 1.8T quattro sport.

 

That meant it had 180hp, sports interior and sports suspension. The interior was a supremely lovely place to be (everything lit up red, including the little wheels to open and close the air vents, and mine had special white dials), and it was reasonably fast once you wound the turbo up. It was a money pit otherwise though. In the time I had it, it broke 3 bastard springs and each one was £90 from Audi (sports springs, sat 20mm lower than standard, Audi were the only people who stocked them).

It never broke so badly it stranded me, but it was a money pit on one little (and not so little) thing after another after another. It was never 'sorted' for any length of time until something else broke.

 

It had a cracking 10-speaker Bose sound system and looked ace though (Java green!). I also put the middle and rear sections of exhaust from an S4 on it, which gave it a nice wee burble. Even got it remapped to 210hp but still thought it would have been better with a V6. It just felt like it bogged down at lower revs until you wound it up properly. No matter how quickly I drove it, it just felt a bit dull too.

 

It met its end in late 2016. I sold it (not intentionally) to 17-Coffees' dad in April 2016. He used it as a commuter car for about 6 months then an HGV changed lane into the side of it. He was fine but the car was a write off.

 

If I do ever end up with another B5 A4, I'd go for a lower spec (non-sports) spec. The non-sports parts seemed to be reasonably priced (albeit useless to me at the time).

 

I do remember replacing the rear springs was actually quite pleasant. The whole unit just unbolts from the wheel arch, then you can work away dismantling the lot at your leisure on a workbench.

 

 

Here it is in happier times. Late 2015 when I'd just joined Autoshite and turned up to a meet at Crail.

 

 

 

Oh yes, when the HGV changed lane into it, apparently the driver said "sorry, didn't see you"

[abelw44]

COLLECSHUN CAPERS!!

 

Not sure if it really counts as a true Autoshite collection when you already owned the vehicle, and are only driving half an hour up the road to collect it, but there we are...

 

The blue German shite has a tow bar, complete with double electrics, making it perfect for shite collecting. As such, no sooner was it MoT'd and on the road, than I hired a trailer:

 

 

And set off to collect the (MORE VAG ALERT AVERT THINE EYES NOW THOSE WHO HATH NOT BEEN BLESSED WITH THE GIFT OF VAG ACCEPTANCE) Mk2 VW Golf GTi:

 

 

Which had been away having new sills welded in, in order to pass an MoT, along with four new tires, a new windscreen and some other rust bubbles seen to.

 

Loading up was a moderately unnerving process, the rear suspension of the Audi took quite a pounding at various points, but eventually everything was balanced, and the Golf was ratchet-strapped down and ready to rumble:

 

 

Flippin' tailgaiting Golf drivers....

 

 

The Audi performed valiantly, dragging the Golf home without complaint!

 

As a reward, I went out on a damp, drizzly Friday and gave it a service:

 

 

Incidentally - anyone on here ever heard of Crosland filters? I hadn't before, so slightly concerned I may have just fitted absolute junk... Not that that wouldn't be entirely fitting, of course.

The oil filter on these b5 A4s is an absolute pain in't tharse to get to, it's equidistant from the top of the car or the bottom, so you're no better of lying under it and reaching up with oil dripping in your face than you are reaching down and removing all the skin from your forearm on various engine components. It was also put on tighter than a tight thing on a tight day.

 

After the service, the Audi was dropped in to kwikfit to see if they'd mend the puncture in the spare tire. But alas, it was not to be - not only would they not mend the puncture, the tire being ancient, cracked and generally decrepit, they told me that three of the other tires were in a similar state, and the fourth was rapidly approaching it. Along with this, the kind kwik fit fitter (kwikfitter?) told me I had assembled the front suspension wrong - turns out the shock absorbers are sided and I had put them on the wrong side, meaning they were rubbing against the hub carrying arm. Bother. Another days work taking them off and swapping them round. The joy of shite ownership!

 

Over and out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[abelw44]

I feel I ought to add that I'm aware of how dreadful the alloys on the Golf are - they were not my choice, most of the work done to it has been in "de-chavving" it. It was lowered, with a stupid aftermarket immobiliser, silly rims, a stupid stereo and various bodges of all varieties, which have been being slowly undone!

[Sigmund Fraud]

Incidentally - anyone on here ever heard of Crosland filters? I hadn't before, so slightly concerned I may have just fitted absolute junk... Not that that wouldn't be entirely fitting, of course.

 

Crosland was a UK manufacturer of average quality filters up until the 1990s. They were then bought by Sogefi (of FRAM fame*) and used as a UK-only brand name until 2010. The brand name was then sold to ECP, who have been using it to market cheap, far-eastern filters.

 

So, yes, they're a bit shite. I'm a world-class cheapskate, and even I pay the extra £1-2 for a Mann/Hengst/Purflux.

[Dick Longbridge]

I feel I ought to add that I'm aware of how dreadful the alloys on the Golf are - they were not my choice, most of the work done to it has been in "de-chavving" it. It was lowered, with a stupid aftermarket immobiliser, silly rims, a stupid stereo and various bodges of all varieties, which have been being slowly undone!

Well done for daring to show your mk2 gLof on here. They’re strange with their rot patterns - some have ruined filler necks, some have no rear lower panel, and some catch it on the sills. Some don’t seem to rot at all!

Yours reminds me of my old black H plate mk2 Golf Gti, which sounded glorious with a VR6 conversion. I don’t tend to mention it on here due to the bizarre ‘all vag & GM are shit, even the old ones’ mantra.

Looking forward to seeing more de-barryage!

 

As an aside, is the gen5 Celica anything to do with you? I owned a Carlos Sainz RC import a few years back, and still love the look of that generation.

[abelw44]

Crosland was a UK manufacturer of average quality filters up until the 1990s. They were then bought by Sogefi (of FRAM fame*) and used as a UK-only brand name until 2010. The brand name was then sold to ECP, who have been using it to market cheap, far-eastern filters.

 

So, yes, they're a bit shite. I'm a world-class cheapskate, and even I pay the extra £1-2 for a Mann/Hengst/Purflux.

 

Ah right, duly noted, I'll be a bit less tight next time!

 

 

Well done for daring to show your mk2 gLof on here. They’re strange with their rot patterns - some have ruined filler necks, some have no rear lower panel, and some catch it on the sills. Some don’t seem to rot at all!

Yours reminds me of my old black H plate mk2 Golf Gti, which sounded glorious with a VR6 conversion. I don’t tend to mention it on here due to the bizarre ‘all vag & GM are shit, even the old ones’ mantra.

Looking forward to seeing more de-barryage!

 

It was risky, I know, but I felt that having already exposed my other VAG chod, I couldn't sink a great deal lower in the view of fellow shiters..

Interestingly, mine hasn't rotted in many of the expected places, the fuel filler is fine, as are all the pillars. It's only gone on the sills, and around the crappy plastic plug where the wipers would be if it were for a foreign market.

 

Will keep you updated!

[abelw44]

As an aside, is the gen5 Celica anything to do with you? I owned a Carlos Sainz RC import a few years back, and still love the look of that generation.

 

'Fraid not, the Celica is having some work done at the same garage the the GTi was at - nothing to do with me!

[abelw44]

Right then, time to amend my lack of any kind of update to this.

 

The Audi is, as far as I can tell, dead as the proverbial Dodo.

 

It recently developed a little overheating problem, which caused a boil over, the top hose bursting off the radiator, and coolant vomiting out all over a multi story car park. Much to the amusement of many other drivers. Bother.

 

No matter, I thought, and I put the hose back on and bought lots of bottled water from the local supermarket which got the car home. The radiator was decrepit, having been on the car for 18 years, so I replaced it with a brand new one. I went for a drive and all seemed well, and I assumed the problem was gone. I think I've covered my usual level of correctness before on this thread before, so I won't go through it again.

 

Driving the car on a 20 mile trip, it proceed to boil over again, but in the arse end of nowhere so I couldn't get hold of water to attempt to make it run again, and I was worried now about how much damage the engine might have sustained. So, I rang the RAC and a knight in orange flashing armour came to my rescue.

 

Whilst waiting for the brave knight I idly took the oil filler cap off, and could smell the exhaust fumes venting from it. Bother.

 

So I can only assume either OMGHGF or piston ring damage. Or potentially a double whammy of both.

 

The brave knight towed me home:

 

 

Once home and unloaded the poor sod now refuses to start and just cranks over and over.

 

So I think it's time that she's crushed into a cube and sent to the great scrapyard in the sky.

 

However, I was hoping some folks on here might have some suggestions for me, as there are perfectly good parts on it that I'd like to pull off and sell before scrapping it, but I don't know how that affects whether I actually can scrap it or not.

 

The brand spanking new radiator will come off and go back in it's box to be eBayed or sold on here if anyone wants it as nearly new.

 

It's got 5 brand new Hankook tires on it, so I want to nick the wheels off it and sell those - but presumably it needs some wheels to be able to get on a trailer?

 

Obviously, if there are any bits on it that are useful to anyone on here, please drop me a line and I can sort out getting them to people.

 

Oh and finally - I'm now in fairly desperate need of sub £1000 estate shite transportation, so I'd be very grateful for any suggestions in that department. I've been drooling over Rover 75 tourers on Auto Trader....

 

 

 

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[abelw44]

So, a thread resurrection of sorts....

Been meaning to write about this for a while, but back in June I made another ill-advised purchase - a 2001 b5 Audi A4 Avant 1.8 in a very fetching shade of Burgundy!

Here she is post car wash on the day of purchase:

In true Autoshite style, I put a deposit on a car sight unseen, travelled a long way to buy it and then immediately drove a car I knew nothing about 250 miles home! What could possibly have gone wrong?! As it turns out, absolutely nothing, because on closer inspection it has been fastidiously maintained. I suspect previous giffer ownership, as looking at the service book, they got absolutely rinsed by an Audi dealer for 20 years. It has 21 main dealer service stamps (So many they ran out of space in the book and had to hand write some in!), It's on its third cambelt including the original, has had frequent fluid changes, air con services and so on and so forth. The signs were all there, it was on four Continental tyres when I bought it, along with a full complement of Bosch wipers.... The owner has actually written in the service book beneath each service exactly what they did, down to the brand of oil and parts that were fitted! 

Though, as you can probably see from the photo, it hasn't survived the last 20 years entirely unscathed - it has had some proper giffer scuff repairs, with apparently zero masking of any kind (The front o/s headlamp has red paint on it, as did the tyre and fog lamp!) Aside from the cosmetics, it has a driveshaft that is tired and knocks quite spectacularly at full lock (because the p/o only got rinsed for a single new driveshaft when one of the CV boots split! Cheapskate...) 

Aside from these minor foibles, it honestly drives like it's 4 years old, not 20, it's smooth and refined whilst being surprisingly rapid considering it's only a 1.8! The best part was that I only paid 500 squid for it! On the way back from purchase, I brimmed the tank, and based on rough, back of a fag packet, style calculations I reckon she pulled about 40mpg which I think is seriously impressive for an old bus! 

Since purchase back in June, it has eaten up my daily 100 mile commute without a single fault! During the hot weather, I chucked it into a garage to have the aircon regassed on the off chance it might work - sure enough, pressure tested, it is absolutely spot on, and blows ice cold! Though the air con clutch is definitely on the way out as it makes an incredible grinding noise when in use ( which I only noticed one time when I got out with the engine still running and thought it might be about to explode... a testament to old school VAG sound deadening!) 

Other work I have done, includes new front brakes:

 

As well as continuing its giffer heritage, by way of applying an old school AA badge to the grille and a NT sticker to the windscreen! I rather like the look of the AA badge on it...

 

 

Recently, it started running pretty cold, particularly as the weather turned on my morning commute - so I set about making a total hash of what I thought would be the fairly easy job of replacing the thermostat! It's actually relatively simple to do, it can all be done from underneath, all you have to do is remove a small metal support for the engine that impedes access to the thermostat housing. However, naturally, I chose to do the job in the evening, just as the light failed and so I also failed to properly seat the thermostat before doing up the housing. The thermostat is at the bottom of the engine, so I would guess there's about 2-3 litres of coolant that goes in before any reaches it... So there was some swearing and desperate casting about for the bucket to chuck underneath when it inevitably started horsing out of the thermostat housing! And then I got to lie on my back, in the puddle of mercifully warm coolant, with it continuing to drip on my face while I reseated the thermostat and did up the housing again! Though that said, I regard an antifreeze aftershave as something of an Autoshite badge of honour...

Since then, I also noticed it felt slightly down on power - /engage car bore mode - these engines have quite an interesting inlet manifold, with a valve on it to allow it to switch between two different lengths, to achieve laminar flow of gases at different engine rpms. However, the valve that controls this, is made of plastic and is on the engine so gets heat cycled frequently causing it to go brittle. So the arm snaps. I have seen pictures on the internet of a nice looking kit to replace it with an upgraded metal version, but I've never been able to actually find somewhere to buy one (If anyone on here knows, I'd be really grateful for a link!). So, for want of a better way, I applied a top quality* bodge:

 

 

And so far, it has done the trick, for at least 1000 miles now! 

The other bit of work I have done, that as yet remains unfinished, involves the suspension. I invested in a Febi Bilstein kit with all of the suspension linkages and replacement fittings/fixings as they are all 20 years and 170k miles old, so could do with a refresh. The only ones I have done so far are the lower arms and drop links on both sides. It's all relatively easy to do, it just takes time, which I don't have a great deal of! The only bit that scares me is the dreaded pinch bolt for the top arms, which took me forever to sort out on my first A4! Though this time I may just take the hub knuckle to a garage with an oxyacetelene torch to heat it up and drift the pinch bolt out, as I have replacement top arms so it doesn't matter if the boots on the old ones get knackered in the process.

(I'm not a photographer, in case you hadn't guessed!)

 

Disaster struck one morning, when I came out to find a huge screw in one of the tyres, which meant it was flat as a pancake - but thankfully slight hoarding tendencies saved me. From the old A4 I have had a spare wheel in the shed/garage for years (Despite multiple "why the hell have you still got that? It's just taking up space and you will never use it" type comments..) which had a brand new tyre on it that had never seen the road - so that was pressed into service and I was back on my way! The only time in living memory that putting a part like that away for the future has actually payed off, so I may have been a little smug about it...

 

 

I have also given it an oil and filter change, having done a bit of research, people online seem to think that Shell Helix Ultra 10w-40 is the dogs for this engine, though I'm open to suggestions if anyone on here knows different! On that note, does anyone have any thoughts/experience with snake oil type oil additives? I've been umming and arring over the Liqui Moly Ceratec additive, as reviews suggest that it makes a noticable difference. It's just ticked over 180k miles in my ownership, and it's been so well looked after that I would like to continue that and keep it going as long as I can!

That's all for the time being, but in the not too distant future, it needs a cambelt. I would like to replace the air con clutch at the same time, and it also seems sensible to put on the brand new radiator I have still in its box in the garage that I bought for the last one... 

I'll leave you with a couple more beauty shots, for those of you who don't harbour quite so much VAG hatred!

 

Thanks,

abelw44

[DavidB]

My A3 is now on 206000 miles and it's showing no signs of ever dying. I've spent about 1.5k in the past year on it, it feels and drives like a new car.