hi guys and gals,

ive been a member on your sister site ukmkivs.net for a short while, (well near 4000 posts worth ) and i'm looking at swapping my MK5 Golf for an Audi A4 convertible TDI or a maybe a 1.8T.

Thought the best place for advice/or a possible sale would be here,

heres my build thread from ukmkivs to see what ive been up to.

http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/t/353883.aspx?PageIndex=45

Ive been looking at the 2.5 TDI convertibles 03/04 reg, ive been driving my Golf for nearly two tears and even though my daily commute is fairly short across town is has been delivering MPG figures that ive been happy with (late 30s, high 50s on motorway)

Im due to move job location in a few weeks and my commute will be ringroad and motorway and so im thinking a 2.5 tdi will provide fairly good mpg on that kind of journey?

Ideally i would love the same unit as what i have in my golf the 2.0 TDI 140PS model but alas i know not enough about audis to know if they made the 03/04 model with this powerlump. I havent found any in my search to be fair.

Any advice would be great guys, i have been also looking at BMW 3 series convertibles as ive had one of those before and loved it tbh . But... im hoping you guys can help me stay VAG as i love the VAG scene.

any advice would be great .cheers in advance

Welcome over buddy. I don't think the 2.0TDI 140 engines came in until a bit later. You might get a late 04 plate though

What's your budget?

davemk:

Welcome over buddy. I don't think the 2.0TDI 140 engines came in until a bit later. You might get a late 04 plate though

What's your budget?

thats what i think but thought best to ask you guys.

my budget is whatever i can get for my Golf basically, ive been offered 6K at two garages as a trade in and my friend whos a trader sold one like mine with no leather,alloys or sat nav etc last week for 6.5K so im thinking 7K is realistic.

heres the kind of cars ive been looking at.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320686709430&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130510422404&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

but im not sure the 1.8T will be much cop mpg wise??

No, can't imagine you'll get decent MPG out of the 1.8T. Certainly not as good as the MPG you're getting with the TDI.

Hi mate, you met me once.  I used to go to the SW meets before I sold my Golf.

2.5's are considered quite thirsty.  the 150/160bhp ones do 38-40mpg, the 180 ones do more like 35.  I've also read about the £500 fuel pump being a relatively common failure with age.

I would say you could go for a 1.9TDI 130bhp and chip it to 160/170 quite happily, but they weren't available on the convertibles.  With 03/04 reg convertibles, you won't be looking at the 2L TDI as they are on the B7 and those convertibles came out late 2005  believe.

The 2.5V6 TDI is your only diesel choice with B6's.  The 1.8T mpg can be quite poor too, like low-mid 30's

davemk:

Or find some more money and ask a friendly mod if he can get a loaded 3.0 TDI cabriolet quatttro with DSG.

hmmmm more money, realistically not gonna happen right now.

might have to investigate the BMW equivalent then, ive had one of them before i do like em but wanted to stay VAG

Diesel = 2.5 TDI (160 bhp.) - 38mpg.

Petrol = 1.8T (160bhp), 2.4 V6 (180?), 3.0 V6 (220bhp)

Not much choice really.

BMW diesels - be aware of swirl flaps.  And the interior quality on the 3 series - it's really poor.

EDIT - You could always just not get a hairdresser's car convertible?!

benjie:

EDIT - You could always just not get a hairdresser's car convertible?!

I know, I was only joking!

Big convertibles are still proper cars!

from what year can you get a 2.0 tdi in this im interested in buying one 

About 2005, though it could be as late as 2006.  I'm not 100% sure.  The B6 ended at differing times depending on whether it was saloon, avant or convertible.

davemk:

Given that you've said your commute is short and across town, I'd avoid the 170 TDi due to possible DPF problems.

 Finally managed to get hold of an audi A4 cabriolet and im ecstatically pleased with it.

do have a few questiosn which im not sure youll be able to help with but hopefully. it seems to have an ipod wire in the glovebox and ive plugged my ipod in and it charges so it must be connected to something, how do i now switch the standard HU to ipod function? normally the ipod is in place of a cd changer is it not?

it also has a sony ericsson phone kit in it which luckily for me should be compatible with my phone. however cant seem to work out how to connect that either. if anyone has a sony ericsson system in their car do you have any advise?

Like they said, It's 'CD' once for the built in CD player and 'CD' again to get the 6-disc changer (or in your case, ipod) going.

Pics of the new car?

Th old cd button twice dont seem to work! Ipod is on,charging etc but wont come through stereo.hmmm . Weird. Pics to follow.dont wann post phone pics wont do it justice.

 hmmm weird might get my audi tech pal to take a gander when i get him to give the old girl a health check

So ive been looking for weeks for a convertible to replace the mk5. With a messer here and a timewaster there i was getting no where and getting very frustrated.

i check autotrader again on the off chance and an Audi A4 Cabriolet popped up just 6 miles away from me.

I thought what the heck ,it would be rude not to check it out so i went round yesterday on the off chance ,wasnt expecting too much as it had a few more miles on it than i would ideally like.

When i got there i was pleasantly surprised to find it was in fantastic condition. I checked all the usual items (oil,coolant etc etc )and all was looking good. and so a test drive beckoned.Took her out for a spin and what a lovely car it was all getting too good to be true. Next was the documented history, ive never seen so much paperwork. It has every single receipt for every single item ever bought for it, even down to tyres and wiper blades, its probably got more history than all of my previous 9 cars put together. Including full Audi service history.

i left the car and told the seller i would pop home dicuss with the wife and give him a call within the hour.

on the drive home i decided the mileage was the only thing making me hesitate and that the history more than satisfied me that the car had been lovingly cared fr and looked after so i decided i was having it.Went home told the wife i was having it and went back within the hour and bought the car.

i came home with this,

excuse the pics i havent taken any yet so these are from the advert

 
audi by The Chuff, on Flickr

audi 2 by The Chuff, on Flickr

audi 3 by The Chuff, on Flickr

what do we think?

"Went home told the wife i was having it and went back within the hour and bought the car."

Really? Or was it more like "Can I buy it? Pleeeaaaaase."

Looks really good mate. We just need some sun now.

What engine is it? You planning on doing anything to it?

Have you thought about doing to face lift front end conversion?

 not really my bag mate, not really into turning it into something its not.plus its a lot of loot for that.

people kept on at me bout putting gti bumpers on my mk5 ,but it wasnt a gti and i dint want to look like i was pretending it was so i just had the gt bumpers smoothed.

much more unique in my opinion

You wouldn't be making it into something it's not because it is 'Sport' or 'S-Line' anyway, you'd just be converting it to the new single grille front end as opposed to twin grille like it is now.

I do get what you're saying about making it's something it's not though.

ChuffGTTDI:

Thanks benjie. Ill bear all that in mind! Hlpful knowing someone to ask questions hheh

Ask away, though I don't profess to know everything!

Also, loads of cab owners seem to swap their rear lights for B7 ones.  I don't know why and I don't know what the difference is, just thought I'd say!