Fontain Audi

dan_b

dan_b

A2OC Donor
Just taken my A2 in to Fontain Audi for a service (minor service at 105k miles on variable service schedule) and to get them to look at my overboost problem (I was unable to spot anything), OSS lubrication and check the 3rd gear stiffness/notchiness (I ran out of time this weekend to check the cables). I've used them before and they've got a very good reputation as an independent garage but who have an official Audi service stamp...

The nice thing is, they have given me an A2 as a courtesy car :) It's silver 1.4 petrol in poverty spec. Drives nicely though - the gearbox is so much lighter than on the diesel, and of course the smoothness at tick-over vs the diesel is quite dramatic!
 
Yes you can really tell it has a much lighter nose - as you say turn in is quicker (it's on 15" chrome alloys) and it seems to ride quite differently to mine. Also you're right the clutch is completely different, much lighter. I do wonder if my clutch isn't on the wane...
 
Hi Dan,

I took my a2 to Fontain audi for it's last service, they did an ace job on the service and was very please with price(£150 for long life and not major amount of filter changes) but god they could charge over everything else, they kindly pointed out a load of other issues which I might want to keep an eye on but the prices they were going to charge were extortionate! Admittedly using audi parts is going to be more expensive but if my memory served me well it was £240 for rear discs and pads and I ended up paying £150 from Kwik fit and they give a lifetime warranty on the pads(free replacement pads). We took my girlfriends s3 2001 there for an abs/ESP light problem, spent £350 ish on doing that and a few other bits an the abs and ESP light were still on. They pointed out £2000 worth of work to sort out on the car, we paid £800 elsewhere. From now on I'll be strictly having a service there and nothing else, not unless I can find a good reason to pay around double(including genuine audi parts though).
It was very nice to have an a2 to borrow from them! I also think the fact they've so many audis there gives great confidence in their abilities, didn't help with the s3 though!

Rant over! :)

Cheers

John
 
That is how i feel about my local dealer, camberley audi. As long as you tell them exactly what you want done i.e a service they are fine but if you give them a fault to fix they end up changing a lot of parts and racking up a huge labour bill! i only go to the main dealer for servicing and nothing else and i dont get an a2 courtesy car either!

Chris
 
Sorry, a bit off topic
Dan, Re: petrol/diesel, you are absolutely correct about how different the driving experience is. I had my petrol for 2 years until the recent change to a diesel. After 3 weeks of ownership I am kind of still getting used to drive a diesel. First and huge difference to me is a gearbox and clutch operation, on my petrol they are feather light and smooth, whether on my diesel the gearbox is very very stiff. Driving petrol in town in heavy traffic is much more relaxing for me, with diesel you are constantly sort of under pressure struggling with changing the gears. Also when stopping the diesel's rear seem lifting up (rocking) due to a heavier nose. I still drive my petrol A2 occasionally, trying to sell it at the moment, and it does feel like two absolutely different cars.
 
Well I wanted the service stamp, and I can't bear driving around in a TDi with no boost plus I've got a drive to Sheffield coming up soon, so lacking the time to do it myself I didn't really have much alternative! Let's see what they come up with anyway. They've just phoned to say they are suspecting the N75 valve at the moment, which is better to hear than the usual ill-informed "it's the turbo mate" sort of guff you tend to get, so we'll see...
 
Yes it's quite surprising to realise just how different they are mechanically. I wonder how the 1.2TDi feels though given that that has an alloy block (very unusual for a diesel) so the nose will be more like that of the petrol motors. Not that we got the 1.2TDi over here of course :(

an2rey said:
Sorry, a bit off topic
Dan, Re: petrol/diesel, you are absolutely correct about how different the driving experience is. I had my petrol for 2 years until the recent change to a diesel. After 3 weeks of ownership I am kind of still getting used to drive a diesel. First and huge difference to me is a gearbox and clutch operation, on my petrol they are feather light and smooth, whether on my diesel the gearbox is very very stiff. Driving petrol in town in heavy traffic is much more relaxing for me, with diesel you are constantly sort of under pressure struggling with changing the gears. Also when stopping the diesel's rear seem lifting up (rocking) due to a heavier nose. I still drive my petrol A2 occasionally, trying to sell it at the moment, and it does feel like two absolutely different cars.
Click to expand...
 
Just to say I had a very positive experience at Fontain - the service was a breeze, they spotted a few things that might require my attention and alerted me to them (eg. the heatshield on my off side CV boot had come loose), diagnosed and fixed my boost leak very quickly (the ECU was reporting a faulty N75 but they tracked it to the N75 vacuum hose), lubricated the OpenSky, adjusted my gearshift cables and gave the car a full valet. All through the work I was kept regularly updated by phone on progress and the bill was totally acceptable - much cheaper than a main dealer, and I get a certified Audi service stamp.

Also while I was there I got a good look round at some of the S and RS models they have in the showroom, plus they were working on an S2 Coupe which brought back lots of good memories for me! They actually have 2 A2s in their courtesy car fleet, one petrol and one diesel. On a final note, the service chap said he'd never seen such a high-spec A2 as mine before. I didn't mention Tank :)

Anyway - I would thoroughly recommend Fontain Audi to West Londoners if you need some work done. I'll be going back there in the future.
 
So my car's back at Fontain, the boost leak came back despite the new N75 hose fitted the otehr week. Hopefully it's not too difficult to solve. Anyway, this morning they loaned me a rather fun Seat Ibiza - what a hoot to drive! Great ride quality, very sharp turn in, and over 4000rpm the engine really opens up, it's like it's got a high-lift cam on there or something.

I also had a good drool over a very nice red ur-Quattro 20V, such a lovely machine...
 
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