Buying guide · quattro GmbH · 2011–2012 · 2.5 TFSI five-cylinder · 340 PS
Audi RS 3 Sportback 8P
Everything that decides whether the one you are looking at is a good buy or an expensive one.
28-page guide, A4 and phone · 4-page inspection card · instant PDF · VAT included
In the guide
What the Audi RS 3 Sportback 8P guide covers
- 01Every fault this engine has, and how much work it is
- 02Why Audi's "permanent quattro" is a multi-plate clutch with its own oil, filter and pump, a test you can do on the drive to see whether it works, and what launch control and tuning do to the parts behind it
- 03Why rust on this car is mostly a question about accidents, what the carbon fibre front wings tell you, and the two places Autocar asks you to check for water
- 04What is simply fifteen years old — and can be left alone
- 05The inspection card: the whole viewing on paper, in order, to take with you
- 06What to say to the seller, and what to keep to yourself
From the guide itself
This is how it reads
This is what one of the fourteen looks likeLast Real Engines
5 · Front lower control arm bushes
Half a day plus an alignment, by our assessment
This is the item where Audi's own bulletin saves you money. For the A3 from 2005 to 2013 it says that "creaking and squeaking noises from front axle when driving at low temperatures on rough/bumpy/uneven roads" come from the rubber and metal mountings of the front control arms, "which does not affect the service life and function of the components. This is a normal condition." The same bulletin draws the line: "Track control arm bushings that are completely cracked through should be replaced."
Autocar adds the symptom that does matter: "Clonks and looseness on poor surfaces suggest the bushes are giving up."
Leave it for a creak on a cold morning — Audi says it is normal. Within a year or two for clonks and looseness. Now if a bush is cracked right through, which you see on the lift.
And this is how the card readsLast Real Engines
- 1 · Before anybody starts it
- 2 · The cold start · do nothing else, and nobody revs it
- 3 · The engine bay, cold
- 4 · Round the outside
- 5 · Inside, ignition on
- 6 · The test drive
What €24 buys, put next to what it saves
The gearbox's control unit is a day in the workshop by our assessment, on an expensive part, and who does it matters more than how. The timing chains sit at the gearbox end of the engine, according to Audi's own training material, and that puts replacing them at two or three days by our assessment — exactly why the guide tells you how to hear the warning before you buy. And a driveline that has been used for too many launches can mean driveshafts or a propshaft. The guide is €24. It will not stop any of that from being needed — but it does tell you which of them you are looking at before you agree a price, and that is the whole of the difference between paying for a car and paying for someone else's postponed maintenance.
VAT included · sold by Lemon Squeezy as merchant of record · questions first? buyersguide@lastrealengines.com
Start with the free guide
The six questions that decide whether this car is a good buy
- The gearbox — has it been serviced, and does it shift cleanly?
- The quattro clutch — has it been serviced, and does it actually work?
- How has it been used?
- The first seconds of a cold start.
- The brakes — and the Audi campaign behind them.
- Has it been crashed?
Start with the free guide: what this car is, and the questions that decide whether the one you are looking at is a good buy or an expensive one.
Before you buy
Questions
What exactly do I get?
The full guide as a PDF, 28 pages in A4, plus a phone edition to read at the car; and the inspection card, 4 pages to print and take to the viewing. €24, VAT included.
How is it delivered?
Straight after payment you get a download link for the guide, the phone edition and the card. No subscription, no account.
Can I get a refund?
EU consumer law gives you fourteen days to change your mind. For digital content that right ends the moment delivery starts, provided you agreed to that at the checkout. If the file will not open, or you were sent the wrong car, write to us and we will fix it or refund it.
Who handles the payment?
Lemon Squeezy, who sell the guide to you as merchant of record. They charge the VAT at the rate of your country, send the invoice, and email you the download link. We never see your card.
Why are there no prices in it?
Because a price we cannot verify is worse than no price, and because a price would be wrong for most of the people reading it: workshop rates across Europe differ by a factor of two or three. What does not change is how much work a job is, so every point says whether it is an hour, half a day, a day, or a week in the workshop. Ask your own workshop for its hourly rate, and every hour in the guide becomes your own number.
Is this advice about a specific car?
No. A guide tells you what to look at; it is general information about the model and not advice about a specific car. Have every car inspected before you buy by someone who knows the engine.
Going to look at a Audi RS 3 Sportback 8P?
Take the guide and the card with you.
28-page guide, A4 and phone · 4-page inspection card · instant PDF · VAT included