Going to see an S3 tomorrow

Hello all. Bit nervous and largely stressed out. Must try to stay calm, objective and realistic. This time tomorrow I may be a land owner, but must have the strength tomorrow morning to just walk away if needs be. Going up on the train, need to be up at 6! Ahhhh - exciting biting...

Make sure you get pictures! There’s plenty of experience to help get you through the troubles that you’re bound to be getting yourself into, somehow very few of us seem to mind!

Yes. Back in the late nineties I owned/loathed/loved a 1973 MGB GT (the solid hub cap version). Finally gave it away when I left the UK to live in Italy. I now live in Spain and indeed this S3 is the Santana version. The young lad (30 something) thag I'd selling it loves restoring classic vehicles. The S3 itself looks like a pile of s h 1 t, but after talking to him at length it's clear that he doesn't much care about cosmetics. He's rebuilt the engine and just about everything else relating to the mechanical side of things. New clutch, new everything by the sounds of it.

As regards its apauling appearance I'm wondering (assuming that I buy it) about simply removing the paint and polishing it. Or is that the stupidest idea I've ever had?

Didn't buy it. There was a knocking noise coming from the engine which the vendor maintained was normal. My thoughts were, I know these 2.25 diesel engines are pretty noisy but surely there are limits. Upon raising the bonnet it was immediately obvious that the banging (thonking) was coming from the air filter - of all things. The noise from the engine itself seemed to be quite normal. I suspect that there is an injector pump timing problem that's causing the thonking - or something similar. But I just didn't know enough about that particular engine, there and then, to buy the vehicle and drive it 100 miles home - upon arrival I'd have been demented! I walked away....

It would probably have died on the journey. That kinda noise in those engines is bad news. Now you’ve got the itch onto the next one.