A3 1.9 Tdi E Se

[reefer110]

Hi all,

1st post here.....

My question relates to the A3 1.9 TDi e SE Sportback, I'm looking for real world experience of this car, in particular around the '59 plate. There are a few motoring reviews on the web but nothing more than the usual blurb you get from these type of things.

I'm looking for info about reliability of the engine, I've read the 1.9 fitted to this is one of Audi's older engines, 'gruff', 'rattly' and 'unrefined' are some of the words used. Is this to be believed?

I do a lot of motorway miles, the car seems ideal in terms of mpg, not too dissimilar to my current A2 but with the potential of being more comfortable to drive. The car I'm looking at has a couple of extras, heated seats, climate, Bose and privacy glass. Just wondering if the heated seats would be part of a winter pack, or if they could be specced individually.

Finally, was the Bose system available in different configurations, or did it always consist of the 8 speaker/sub package in the A3.

TIA

[neilos100]

Hi There and welcome to the forum!

Well, I have the almost the same car, well actually my wife does. Its a 59 plate bright red one and its done 125000 miles so far but in Sport flavour rather than SE.
Personally i think its a great drive, sure, its noisier than my A6 but thats to be expected. The 1.9 is reckoned to be Audi's most reliable diesel engine by many on this site. The engine is a little 'rorty' but i quite like that and its a car that you can chuck about on the road, well certainly more than my A6 anyway...
Indicated mpg is great, my wife drives from Ickenham near Ruislip, round the M25 to just north of Watford and she gets it to around 68-70mpg! Yes she drives gently but even i can get it to 60mpg with relative ease.
Bose and heated seats I cant comment on, not fitted in ours.
We're very happy with it and would definitely recommend it.

Neil

[reefer110]

Great, just the type of feedback I was after. I'm going back for another look/drive of the car tomorrow and hope to give it a little more poke than I did on the 1st drive.

I know it's not an S3 but I'd like to see how it does in the corners, I'm not expecting the world on standard suspension and wheels, but, as I mentioned before I think it will be miles apart from the A2.

One other question, the car has an AUX socket near the armrest. I realise I can use this to play music etc from my iPhone. Does anyone have any experience of being able to use the same connection to talk on the phone through the car audio system. I'm pretty sure this one doesn't have bluetooth fitted.

[neilos100]

Not sure you can use the aux socket to use the phone....but do check if it does have bt..I didn't know ours had till a week or so after we collected it...when you go to take a look turn the ignition on and make sure your bt is turned on on the phone....if it's there the phone will see it.
Good luck!
Neil

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[Guest 2]

I will have mine for 3 years this December (09 plate 1.9 TDIe Sport Sportback). Got it with 27k and its now on 101k. Throughout that time I've had ZERO issues, apart from one warranty item. The car itself only had 1 prior warranty claim with the first owner so they're pretty reliable. Tax is only £30/yr and insurance is just below £220 for my wife and I.

Engine noise is a normal diesel, bit tractory but which PD isn't? Once you get going its fine, just idle it's a bit noticable. Road noise is fine and 70mph is just below 2000rpm so it's still quiet.

I drive mine 600 miles a week, all motorway and brim to brim I'm averaging a genuine 58-62mpg. I recently got it REVO'd so more power and more low down torque which is very noticeable at motorway speeds which the car lacked a bit before. Haven't done a brim to brim with the map yet but seeing 70+mpg on the DIS more often than I normally did.

My car was a basic Sport spec but during my ownership I have retrofitted Audi bluetooth, RNSE, AMI, Oem rear sensors, cruise control and a few other pieces which brings it up to the same spec as my A6.

All equipment and packs can be seen here https://www.audi.co.uk/content/dam/a...0June%2008.pdf

Cornering on the Sport isn't bad, its 15mm lower than standard and on good grippy tyres (Mich PS3 225/45/17) it holds the road well and gives you confidence to give it some stick.

You can indeed use the Aux to route the voice calls through the speakers but you will have to select AUX each time your phone rings and possibly hold your phone nearer your mouth for the mic. Retrofitting Audi BT recifies this however and integrates nicely with the standard radio headunit, DIS and multifunction steering wheel.

For the miles my car does weekly and overall in a year its very VERY reliable, won't give bother if you're treating the DPF correctly and servicing it every 10k miles.

If you can, hold out for a Sport, it's much nicer inside than a SE (comfy sports seats, sport 3 spoke mfsw, digital aircon, aux, 15mm lower suspension, 17" wheels, front fogs).

And fwiw, don't be tempted by the 1.6 TDI, it's crap, slow, uneconomical and problematic.

[reefer110]

Another good write up, thanks for taking the time to do this.

I hear what you are saying about waiting for a sport to come up, I agree that it would be nicer to have the sport seats but the standard ones don't feel too bad. Having priced up the options from the pdf listed above I've worked out that that this TDIe has around £2200 worth of extras fitted, which I think are -

Deep sea Blue paint, Bose, Heated seats, Rear parking, DZ climate, and Privacy glass. It may also have the lighting pack, I need to check. The only thing I'm not really keen on is the standard alloys, I can see these being changed.