Working man's quattro - Audi TT - Car rejected, getting a refund

[Schaefft]

First gen TTs have been on my radar for a little while now. The are a design icon and for the prices they are going for they might be a bit of a steal. The A6 of that time (which actually introduced Audi's bauhaus-esque design before the TT) is even higher on the list for me. Great job on cleaning this one up!

[Peter C]

The black grilles located along the bottom of the front bumper were chipped and ideally need removing and respraying.

For now, I've just touched them up with black paint.

I use my iPhone as Sat Nav and to play music (inc radio) via the head unit. As I do not like dangling wires extended from the cigarette lighter +12V socket, I always hardwire hidden cables to serve the phone and associated paraphernalia. A little research revealed that there is a switched +12V supply and good earthing point under the dash.

Getting to it was fun.

The iPhone will sit in the cubby located to the front of the gearstick. I had to drill a small hole to pass the cables from behind the dash into the cubby hole. To get my drill to fit, I had to dismantle the triangular metal brace.

Getting everything back in was a little fiddly but after 90 minutes I had a good earth and switchable +12V supply ready for connection to a new socket that I ordered on EBay yesterday (£2.99 inc p&p). 

[HMC]

Love the interior details. I remember being taken for a spin in one by a friends uncle in about 2001. Almost new 225 model.

I loved the performance but Also the attention to detail and quality touches and overall design.
 

Everything you touched was either brushed aluminium, soft touch, wrapped in leather or heavily damped. Yes I think I now need a cold shower.

[Peter C]

In between other weekend chores, I wanted to replace the engine oil on the TT today. How hard can it be? I got a Bosch filter and Shell oil from ECP, for a reasonable £46.

I started by taking the undertray off. Whilst it was dirty, there was no evidence of any significant oil staining. The underside of the engine also looked clean and dry. So far so good.

I removed the sump plug and allowed all the old engine oil to drain out. The oil filter is located to the front of the engine / behind the radiator. From the top, it is inaccessible. From the underside, it is visible but equally difficult to access. To make life easier, I removed a hefty bracing bar. To remove the bar, I had to dismantle some more plastic undertrays.

With access improved but far from ideal, I tried to remove the oil filter with my trusty old chain wrench. Having tried to twist the old filter off by attacking it from every possible angle, all I managed to do is deform it. The bloody thing wouldn't budge. I eventually gave up and popped over to my local ECP and bought a suitable removal tool.

With the correct tool to hand, the old filter came off in 10 seconds. Putting the new one back on was nice and easy. Well done ECP for supplying the correct part. It doesn't happen that often!

I cleaned up the undertray but I did not put it back as it's a fiddly job and all being well I will be taking the TT to my mechanic next week to have the cambelt replaced. 

With the bonnet up, I checked the condition of the coolant (nice and pink, looks fresh) and there is no evidence of any leaks. Perhaps I've bought a good 'un? Shame that today's oil change had to take 4 hours.

 

[motorpunk]

These are great. It’s the newest Audi I’d consider owning, when the styling was soft and interesting, not aggressive and oikish. I had two MK4 Golf GTis and liked those too, and guess these are more of the same.

[hairnet]

ecp lol

funny that the correct stuff they provide is technically not for a car 

 

[Vince70]

I recently bought a similar Alpine head unit  as new old stock on Facebook for £30 and it’s a brilliant head unit.

I would love a TT and I saw last year a very tidy silver example on Bexhill seafront for sale for £900 with just over 100,000 on the clock and checked out its mot and it looked a goodun but didn’t have the money or room for it and it was a lovely looking early example on a S plate.

These are only going one way now in price for a nice example and also 5 years ago I got the money out to buy a beautiful looking black Cabriolet TT 225 with 65000  on the Clock and it was supposed to have  full service history etc but something told me to do a comprehensive HPI and it came back as a CAT C when it was two years old so I bottled out as the seller kept it very quiet.

 

[Peter C]

I’ve taken the TT back to the chap I bought it from to have the cambelt replaced. Parts, including a new water pump and labour will cost £225, which is very reasonable. Pic outside my house.

[HMC]

That sounds cheap to me! Especially if it’s as well packaged as the oil filter.

[cort16]

That sounds like a good price. Don't feel bad about the oil change it once took me 3 weeks to change a set of front brake discs.

[Peter C]

35 minutes ago, HMC said:

That sounds cheap to me! Especially if it’s as well packaged as the oil filter.

Agreed. It’s a fucker of a job. The belt cover is located so close to the inner wing that even I couldn’t get my cock in there. And that’s saying something.

[Bradders59]

Same reason I keep finding excuses not to do the cambelt on my 1.5dci Clio. I may live to regret it though.

[ChampionRabbit]

Recently acquired a soft-top TT with non-quattro. Very good fun so far, although suffering from a few issues that I believe are fairly typical of these (coolant temp, fuel gauge, LCD). Mercifully doesn't need a cambelt, but does need a service, so I'll warm-up my extensive collection of cheap and nasty oil filter tools in anticipation of FUN and GAMES*.

They really are quite a cheerful place to sit though, and buzzing about the b roads in it is surprisingly entertaining! Quite good!

[Peter C]

10 minutes ago, ChampionRabbit said:

so I'll warm-up my extensive collection of cheap and nasty oil filter tools in anticipation of FUN and GAMES*.

Get yourself one of these, I couldn’t replace my oil filter without it.

[ChampionRabbit]

10 minutes ago, Peter C said:

Get yourself one of these, I couldn’t replace my oil filter without it.

Funnily enough, I have one but have never had cause to use it, so I'm weirdly excited by this prospect...

[Jamie]

Nice, i've had a few TT's - i think 4 in total, My wife is on her 3rd, the 2nd of which still lives on here

this was my favourite

 

[Peter C]

8 hours ago, jamiechod said:

Nice, i've had a few TT's - i think 4 in total, My wife is on her 3rd, the 2nd of which still lives on here

this was my favourite

 

Nice colour!

Despite buying mine almost a fortnight ago, I’ve only driven it for about twenty minutes on the pre purchase test drive. I’ve spent time tarting it up with a view to transfer my insurance and start driving it from the 1st November.

I have joined a TT Mk1 group on Facebook and all I am seeing is posts about multitudes of different problems that affect these cars. Mine appears to have been well looked after and doesn’t suffer from any of the regularly reported issues, at least not yet.

Based on your experience, if looked after, are old TTs robust enough for daily use?

[omegod]

Curious as to the cambelt cost ? just weighing up a possible costs in case of a future purchase 

[Jazoli]

37 minutes ago, omegod said:

Curious as to the cambelt cost ? just weighing up a possible costs in case of a future purchase 

I paid £389 a month ago for a cambelt and water pump change on ours, which is now ChampionRabbit's

[Peter C]

1 hour ago, omegod said:

Curious as to the cambelt cost ? just weighing up a possible costs in case of a future purchase 

Before I bought the TT (from a TT specialist in Ickenham), he told me that a local (to him) mechanic can replace the cambelt and water pump for £225. With that, I will get a receipt and a stamp for the service book. A quick check on EPC suggests that the timing belt kit costs less than £100, so labour must be approx £125, which I guess equates to less than half a day's work.

My local mechanic (chap who replaced the gearbox on my W124) didn't fancy the job. Can't blame him. 

[Jamie]

5 hours ago, Peter C said:

Nice colour!

Based on your experience, if looked after, are old TTs robust enough for daily use?

Thanks! 

 

And absolutely, they are really good tubs. 

 

My wife had a mk1 roadster which was then @Jazolis wife's and is now @ChampionRabbit she commuted to Manchester in it daily before WFH, only criticism of hers was it was missing a 6th cog, which I'm sure yours has?

Very robust and ideal winter hacks with heated seats and quattros 👍

[Peter C]

43 minutes ago, jamiechod said:

Thanks! 

 

And absolutely, they are really good tubs. 

 

My wife had a mk1 roadster which was then @Jazolis wife's and is now @ChampionRabbit she commuted to Manchester in it daily before WFH, only criticism of hers was it was missing a 6th cog, which I'm sure yours has?

Very robust and ideal winter hacks with heated seats and quattros 👍

I saw your old TT roadster advertised here and I would have been very tempted if it had a tin roof and a proper sized boot. 

That's great news. I always need a bit of time to become familiar and start trusting an old car. That's easy to do when you lease a new motor, which is what I've been doing the last 3 years.

Mine has the 6 speed 'box and the heated seats are in good working order. With a 4x4 drivetrain it should be perfect for the winter. I am not particularly bothered about minor aesthetic issues, although to be fair my TT is fairly tidy, I just need it to be reliable. 

[DaveDorson]

it's basically a MK4 golf.

 

It'll be absolutely fine for regular use, provided you keep on top of servicing, which it looks like you are doing.

[LoftyvRS]

The compost behind the trailing edge of the front arch liners is a typical VAG group thing, the scuttles drain down that way and all the rotting leaf debris just builds up. Sensible thing is every other service pull the bottom screw out and hose the inner wing out. I've not long bought a 2016 Passat as the daily and that was exactly the same, half a bucket full of dirt from both inner arches. 

Nice TT though, they have aged very well and a clean one is not out of place anywhere still. 

[AndyIggs]

I've got a 2002 TT (225 BAM) as a daily and its a fantastic car for the money. Parts new and used are plentiful and repairs aren't too expensive either.

Keep on top of the servicing and it'll last you many years. People keep saying they are going up in value but I'm not seeing it at the moment. Mines on 111k and don't think I'd get much more than £1500 looking at current prices. 

[AndyIggs]

15 hours ago, Jazoli said:

I paid £389 a month ago for a cambelt and water pump change on ours, which is now ChampionRabbit's

£345 here all in

[Jamie]

41 minutes ago, AndyIggs said:

I've got a 2002 TT (225 BAM) as a daily and its a fantastic car for the money. Parts new and used are plentiful and repairs aren't too expensive either.

Keep on top of the servicing and it'll last you many years. People keep saying they are going up in value but I'm not seeing it at the moment. Mines on 111k and don't think I'd get much more than £1500 looking at current prices. 

the BAM ones seem to be going up a bit, the 180/150s not so much

[AndyIggs]

12 minutes ago, jamiechod said:

the BAM ones seem to be going up a bit, the 180/150s not so much

Possibly but nothing dramatic, its not an issue for me as I'll keep mine until its uneconomical to repair but you get the usual forum and facebook members who think they should be selling for 10x the price! The issue with TT prices are due to the fact there were so many sold and still so many available 15-20 years later. Good indication to how they were built and suitability as a daily in my eyes.

[Jamie]

inciidentally just found a pic of my first TT i had back in 2011 - I paid £2k for it with about 89k on , you'd probably pay the same for it now lol 

[New POD]

On 29/10/2020 at 00:05, jamiechod said:

Nice, i've had a few TT's - i think 4 in total, My wife is on her 3rd, the 2nd of which still lives on here

this was my favourite

 

It has broken all 4 springs. Weird looking because of the wheels sitting too high inside the wheel arch. 

 Colour, in my humble opinion, does not suit, despite that I love a bright green car usually. Maybe it's the contrast to the architecture, of both buildings and car.