Rejecting my S3 after 2 yrs

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S3DynamicMode

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Hi all, I will keep it short, I’m in the process of forcing Audi to take my 66plate S3 back and giving a full refund after 2 years back and forth to the dealer, I bought it brand new built to order and have had nothing but problems with it multiple replaced parts and terrible customer service.from dealer, The biggest problem is the mag ride on standard 18 wheels is terrible, Myn doesn’t work properly and is almost undrivable, It cannot cope with normal roads and feels like it’s bottoming out all the time. After Owning a 16plate for 6 months with same wheels but standard suspension that’s made it clear this car has the worst ride quality I have ever encountered. It literally ricochets off imperfections and feels like there’s no air in the tires.
Can anyone explain why my car can’t drive like a normal car?
 
Has anybody checked that they actually removed the 'chocks' fitted for when it was being transported from the factory?
 
Apparently they have checked shipping blocks, I have taken it to 3 dealers including the 1 who supplied the car, All the techs mentioned about shipping blocks and after supposedly checking they told me it’s fine, It’s frustrating as I have always explained to them in detail what’s wrong and all they ever do is go on 20 min test drive then say nothing wrong with this car
 
I have my fingers crossed that the financial ombudsman will rule in my favour
 
I think 2 years is way too long to reject a car tbh, you should really have done it within the first 6 months.
As for the magride, no issues with mine either on the factory 19's or my winter 18's that I have on now.
I guess it's been in a few times for this so all the suspension has been inspected? Has the ride height adaptation been completed at all, even from the factory with settlement it will be out and can affect the ride
 
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Can't really offer any diagnosis, plenty on here with more experience and knowledge than me. Although my 17 plate S3 drives fine with mag ride and on 19s. I doubt it's the comfiest ride but then it is a sports car so not expecting it, but it's far from how bad yours is described.

As others have said 2 years may be too long, however there are more and more consumer acts now, and if it's been this long with constant issues and you have history of this, it can only help. Think the only way it'd work is if you managed to find the problem and could prove it was there from when you bought it, ie you've been sold a faulty car. Could be tricky otherwise.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
 
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Yea if I had a problem that severe I would have returned the car long before now, you have less rights than you do in the first few months. I rejected a car after 3 months (successfully), but I wouldn’t be so confident after this length of time. It’s a maybe a little bit like clearing your plate then complaining to the waiter the steak was over ******.... If you’re on a pcp then maybe ride it out (pardon the pun) for another year or so until you’re in a better equity situation and move to a new car. Sorry to sound negative and I am just playing devils advocate, either way hope you get it sorted mate, nowt worse than spending all your hard earned cash and being left disappointed, been there :(
 
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Thanks for the replies, No adaptation has been done, I asked a tech about this, if he could check mag ride had correct settings and the answer was he thought I was looking into it to much. I know now that 2 yrs is too long to reject but the main reason it’s got to 2 yrs is the dealer who supplied the car contributed to this long drawn out process for example they took 3 months to get a new back box as my valves where making a whistle noise every time the car was started on idling, Then it took them 5 months to get a new illuminated door trim for drivers side- when the part arrived they booked me in, got there to be told they can’t find my courtesy car and they ordered wrong part and have trim for passenger door instead of drivers door so it took 7 months to successfully replace a piece of door trim?
 
I was on a pcp 4yr deal, I got them to value the car and it’s 22k at 2yrs old with 18k on clock, retail was 39.5k I got it for 37.5k. How has it lost 15k in 2 yrs?
 
Sounds like it’s the extras which you’ve spec’d doing the damage to the depreciation?

My poverty spec 66 plate FL S3 (only spec’d High beam assist and privacy glass, Daytona Grey) was slightly in equity in August on a 4 year PCP with £2k down, seems like the math suggests that extras don’t make it worth any more when looking at trade value.

I’ve rejected a Mercedes after 8 months, mainly down to the lack of customer service, a decent independent would have sorted the issues out, the car went in over a dozen times and I declined to drive away in it a number of times and kept evidence of each incident, sometimes they just haven’t got a clue....

Can you voluntary terminate at this point?
 
As others have said rejection is within first 30 days for full refund, 6 months for 2/3 attempts to repair or replace the car, after that they are allowed to carry out repairs as much as possible. .
I have been successful with the rejection process (within 30 days) quite recently and won. BUT, it has to be proven that the fault is a manufacturing defect. Stuff breaks all the time but that doesn’t mean cars can be rejected on that basis (unless within the time constraints above). If you can get proof it is faulty then you can push for a better repair/replacement part. Hope you get sorted mate.
 
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S3DynamicMode said:
I was on a pcp 4yr deal, I got them to value the car and it’s 22k at 2yrs old with 18k on clock, retail was 39.5k I got it for 37.5k. How has it lost 15k in 2 yrs?
Click to expand...

That’s about right. A car roughly loses 50% value in 3 years so losing £15k in 2 years isn’t far off in a car almost £40k. The depreciation is high/steep in the first few years and slows down towards the 3rd. Car are money pits I’m afraid.
As other have said here I would say it would be unlikely you get a refund. You have put 18k on the clock so it’s not like it’s been parked up waiting for repairs in the 2years of ownership.
It sounds like you have had a bad experience and looking to recoup your money back which is understandable, I would be the same. I rejected a car a while ago so know exactly how you feel.

I would think carefully what you really want out of this. What alternatives do you want if they refuse your rejection? Go in armed with all the evidence like days it been with dealer, list of all the repairs and attempted repairs.
 
You mention the ombudsman. I think for this you will need an independant engineer’s report.

Also, as you have had 2 years and 18K miles out of it they are not going to give you anywhere near the purchase price, even if you succeed in a rejection. Probably more like trade-in plus a bit of compensation.

Have you ever taken it to an independant garage for advice?
 
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RichardT said:
You mention the ombudsman. I think for this you will need an independant engineer’s report.

Also, as you have had 2 years and 18K miles out of it they are not going to give you anywhere near the purchase price, even if you succeed in a rejection. Probably more like trade-in plus a bit of compensation.

Have you ever taken it to an independant garage for advice?
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Hah, I will be surprised if they even give him trade in price now. He's said there's so many faults, they won't take it back!
 
S3DynamicMode said:
Thanks for the replies, No adaptation has been done, I asked a tech about this, if he could check mag ride had correct settings and the answer was he thought I was looking into it to much. I know now that 2 yrs is too long to reject but the main reason it’s got to 2 yrs is the dealer who supplied the car contributed to this long drawn out process for example they took 3 months to get a new back box as my valves where making a whistle noise every time the car was started on idling, Then it took them 5 months to get a new illuminated door trim for drivers side- when the part arrived they booked me in, got there to be told they can’t find my courtesy car and they ordered wrong part and have trim for passenger door instead of drivers door so it took 7 months to successfully replace a piece of door trim?
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It sounfs to me thst you need to reject the dealer rather than the car!
 
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The consumer rights act says 6 month limit for rejection after they have opportunity to fix problems, Ombudsman told me all options are on the table and they can force Audi to take it back regardless of time. All the dealers say there is nothing wrong yet every morning when I leave for work my whole neighborhood hears me leave with screeching brakes as my soundtrack, 1 of them actually said to me “ I wouldn’t put up with screeching brakes on a 40k car “ I roll my eyes and think if only it was that easy
 
Tried to reject the dealer, That’s why I went to 2 others unfortunately it seems common practice is to go on 20 min drive then say nothing wrong, I even printed off a list of issues to be looked at and they ignored it. I had to contact Audi uk as the 1st dealer basically left me out in the cold and stopped returning my calls, Audi uk told them it’s unacceptable to not call back then I had call from head of sales to be told he thought I was finding problems that didn’t exist! The **** hasn’t even driven the car
 
Nightmare mate. Sorry to hear of your woes. I hate it when techs say "feels Ok to me" when it clearly doesnt. What happens when you change the drive mode from dynamic to comfort, does it make any difference to the feel of the suspension at all?
 
S3DynamicMode said:
Hi all, I will keep it short, I’m in the process of forcing Audi to take my 66plate S3 back and giving a full refund after 2 years back and forth to the dealer, I bought it brand new built to order and have had nothing but problems with it multiple replaced parts and terrible customer service.from dealer, The biggest problem is the mag ride on standard 18 wheels is terrible, Myn doesn’t work properly and is almost undrivable, It cannot cope with normal roads and feels like it’s bottoming out all the time. After Owning a 16plate for 6 months with same wheels but standard suspension that’s made it clear this car has the worst ride quality I have ever encountered. It literally ricochets off imperfections and feels like there’s no air in the tires.
Can anyone explain why my car can’t drive like a normal car?
Click to expand...

Have you driven another S3 on the standard 18" wheels? If so, and the difference is night and day, then go back to the dealer and insist the master technician does the same.

Rejecting a car is always difficult. I tried it on a Golf GTI. After months of the car being back and forth to various dealers within the first 10 months, I tried to reject. VW didn't want to know, and neither did the dealer. I paid for the car in full, which always leaves you in a weaker position.

In the end I gave up, sold it and moved on.
 
If the problems are as night and day as you say and are that obviously apparent then without doubt your option has to be as suggested above and take their tech out in a different car of the same type and compare. Usually problems often arise when an issue is intermittent or difficult to see/hear, but in this case they sound as though they should have no grounds to dismiss the problem.
 
I don’t know if you have a case or not but gut feel is I doubt it!!!

Also. A bit pointless going to a second or third dealer as they don’t care as they don’t have anything to gain from backing you

That said if Ombudsman is on your side get something in writing from them and go direct to Audi U.K.

In all the dealer test drives have you actually been on the car to point out the problem to the tech/master tech?
 
I have just rejected a car and as long as the complaint was logged before the 6 months and they have attempted to fix it than you should win it and you have it logged they have attended it fix it numerous times and your not doing it to get out than you should be fine but be prepared to take a hit money wise due to you having the car for 2 years and normally one payment per 1k miles.
 
Damo S said:
Nightmare mate. Sorry to hear of your woes. I hate it when techs say "feels Ok to me" when it clearly doesnt. What happens when you change the drive mode from dynamic to comfort, does it make any difference to the feel of the suspension at all?
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Drive mode does change the general feeling but it’s not a matter of too hard or soft it is more that it feels like its hitting the bump stops and there is no travel in the shock and no air in the tires like the wheel is actually making contact with the road through the tire regardless of setting comfort auto dynamic. It’s actually worse in comfort as everything’s soft and pliable then all of a sudden smash crash out of nowhere, at least in dynamic mode everything is rigid and taut so when it bottoms out it’s not so much of a surprise. Does that make sense? Cheers
 
I don't think i would put myself through anymore strife if this was my car. Why don't you look at trading the car in for something else? If Audi say they can not find any problems then there is no reason for them to reject a trade in.
 
S3DynamicMode said:
Drive mode does change the general feeling but it’s not a matter of too hard or soft it is more that it feels like its hitting the bump stops and there is no travel in the shock and no air in the tires like the wheel is actually making contact with the road through the tire regardless of setting comfort auto dynamic. It’s actually worse in comfort as everything’s soft and pliable then all of a sudden smash crash out of nowhere, at least in dynamic mode everything is rigid and taut so when it bottoms out it’s not so much of a surprise. Does that make sense? Cheers
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Have you driven another car with mag ride to see if it’s the same?
Not trying to say you are imagining it but if you can prove side by side your car is different to another it might help your case a little.
I know you mentioned you had one with standard suspension but that’s comparing apples with oranges. They will feel different to a point as it’s a different set up.
 
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AlS3BE said:
Have you driven another car with mag ride to see if it’s the same?
Not trying to say you are imagining it but if you can prove side by side your car is different to another it might help your case a little.
I know you mentioned you had one with standard suspension but that’s comparing apples with oranges. They will feel different to a point as it’s a different set up.
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Yes whilst I waited for myn to be built I went into dealer several times to test drive the various versions of the s3, The saloons that came with mag ride standard don’t bottom out like Myn does I drove it for about 2 hrs to make sure the mag ride in dynamic wasn’t too harsh, they didn’t have a hatch with mag ride but I presumed it would feel the same regardless of body shape. In hindsight the dealer confirmed that the saloon is a different chassis and wheels are wider track and further apart then the hatches, they also told me the saloons have better driving dynamics and ride control as it’s a different car. WTF are they playing at ? How can they not inform the customer BEFORE buying that there’s so much difference between hatch and saloon that the saloon is a different car, What a joke!
 
The 3rd dealers master tech did confirm on a test drive with me that the suspension did feel odd but he said he needed a like for like model to compare to find out what it should be doing, Customer service said they haven’t got a like for like and couldn’t find 1 in the uk, a 3dr hatch on standard 18’s with mag ride. They said speak with Audi uk and they said they haven’t got a like for like so nothing they can do
 
The car is going 1 way or another I’m just waiting for the ombudsman to make a finale decision, it has a history of parts fitted and problems to investigate so I don’t think Audi will have a leg to stand on
 
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In my limited test drive in a saloon it didn’t feel hugely different to a hatch. I would say it’s the same chassis with a different body plonked on top. The wheel offset are slightly different so it would be a slightly wider track but wouldn’t thought it was enough to make it drive that differently.
Not seen a magride car with 18s, when I ordered mine mag ride forces you to go up to 19s and similarly if you want 19s it automatically chooses magride.
Sounds to me it could be faulty shocks or uncalibrated/badly calibrated shocks.
 
I wish I could have got rid ages ago but because there is
Flowrider99 said:
I don't think i would put myself through anymore strife if this was my car. Why don't you look at trading the car in for something else? If Audi say they can not find any problems then there is no reason for them to reject a trade in.
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Got the dealer to value for a trade in and because there is 8k negative equity they said they wouldn’t finance that equity so I’m stuck with it
 
S3DynamicMode said:
I wish I could have got rid ages ago but because there is

Got the dealer to value for a trade in and because there is 8k negative equity they said they wouldn’t finance that equity so I’m stuck with it
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WOW, that's a lot of negative equity for an S3. I know BMW were offering huge contributions on the stock 3 series, with a little money in from yourself the financial hit may be a lot less.
 
AlS3BE said:
In my limited test drive in a saloon it didn’t feel hugely different to a hatch. I would say it’s the same chassis with a different body plonked on top. The wheel offset are slightly different so it would be a slightly wider track but wouldn’t thought it was enough to make it drive that differently.
Not seen a magride car with 18s, when I ordered mine mag ride forces you to go up to 19s and similarly if you want 19s it automatically chooses magride.
Sounds to me it could be faulty shocks or uncalibrated/badly calibrated shocks.
Click to expand...
When I said to them myn doesn’t drive like the 1’s I tested they srtraight away said ah well that’s because the saloon is a different chassis so can’t compare with my hatch, I said rubbish it’s just a different body then they let me speak to head of sales who confirmed saloon is a different chassis with different dynamics. I think they only told me because they were using the fact against me to say my car isn’t supposed to feel like a saloon
 
Jcbmally said:
WOW, that's a lot of negative equity for an S3. I know BMW were offering huge contributions on the stock 3 series, with a little money in from yourself the financial hit may be a lot less.
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I know tell me about it, The 3rd dealer said it shouldn’t have anywhere near that much on it as it’s latest model loaded with almost all options and 18k on clock isn’t a lot of miles
 
So how did it come to have 18's from the factory AND magride? It's not possible to order it like that.......at least not in the UK.
 
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I went with mag ride and
AlS3BE said:
In my limited test drive in a saloon it didn’t feel hugely different to a hatch. I would say it’s the same chassis with a different body plonked on top. The wheel offset are slightly different so it would be a slightly wider track but wouldn’t thought it was enough to make it drive that differently.
Not seen a magride car with 18s, when I ordered mine mag ride forces you to go up to 19s and similarly if you want 19s it automatically chooses magride.
Sounds to me it could be faulty shocks or uncalibrated/badly calibrated shocks.
Click to expand...

I choose mag ride and 18’s as I thought this would give me the best ride quality as I thought I was just adding adjustable suspension over none adjustable but it turns out the mag ride is completely different suspension set up that relies on its computer and sensor info to work, I asked them to check the calibration but the tech said the settings would have been loaded and checked at factory and he thought I was looking into it too much, what a joke they wouldn’t even check it apart from 20 min test drive to say feels ok
 
Sounds like pish to fob you off if you ask me.
They probably don’t know how to or don’t have the manual to calibrate the magride.
I know djalix on here is a big advocate of calibrating the magride. Might be worth having a word with him if it ends up you losing a lot of money.
 
audi upgrades
-Ju- said:
So how did it come to have 18's from the factory AND magride? It's not possible to order it like that.......at least not in the UK.
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When I ordered it you had to have mag if you wanted 19’s but it let you have mag on the standard 18’s. This was configured and ordered at the dealer in uk. If this is not possible anymore then it tells me my car could be a mistake but they won’t admit it and have treated me like I’m mad and imagined all these issues
 
S3DynamicMode said:
When I ordered it you had to have mag if you wanted 19’s but it let you have mag on the standard 18’s. This was configured and ordered at the dealer in uk. If this is not possible anymore then it tells me my car could be a mistake but they won’t admit it and have treated me like I’m mad and imagined all these issues
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Where are you based?
 
And the reason I ordered mag was I thought it was just a case of adjustable vs non adjustable, so it was a no brainier as adjustable suspension is supposed to be the next level in driving dynamics and comfort or so the brochure said, In fact it’s ruined the car and myn doesn’t work properly and it feels like it’s bottoming out regularly
 
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