I am in the wrong business, and so are you lot

[VectraMan]

My s2000 costs £150 for a basic service, £250 for a major, and that has a complicated technically advanced engine.

It's not that complicated. I do mine myself, and if anything the S2000 engine is dead easy to work on. Not like the FWD cars with the engine and gearbox crammed into a tiny space. But your point about Honda vs. VW/Audi is completely true, and TTs are well known for being so expensive their owners can barely afford their hair gel.

My Primera continues to never go wrong ever. I doubt it's even worth £690.

[ThomasSoerensen]

So, to sum up, VW are overpriced overadvertised crapola...

Particularly the Passat.

[oracleslave]

Didn't you buy a Phaeton or some such crap?

[Moscow Mule]

A mate had a TT, every time he took it for a service the bill was £500 plus. That's for a car with a run of the mill golf engine!

No, that's for a car with a turbocharger, active 4WD and all other sorts of shiny gubbins.

That said, Audi dealers are absolute highwaymen.

I always get the minimum work done just to get the dealer stamp, then get anything serious (new brakes etc) done at my friendly local garage who can source the same parts and whose labour costs much less.

[DimPrawn]

Must chime in on the Audi front.

Mate had an S4. Nearly bankrupted him.

Audi, more expensive to run than a Porsche and no more exciting than a VW.

[oracleslave]

Must chime in on the Audi front.

Mate had an S4. Nearly bankrupted him.

Audi, more expensive to run than a Porsche and no more exciting than a VW.

What do Swindon millionaire tycoons drive these days if not a porsche or an Audi?

[ThomasSoerensen]

Didn't you buy a Phaeton or some such crap?

I don't buy cars - I just look at them a lot. Then I take the tram home. Sad, I know.

[JaybeeInCUK]

I'll give you guys a tip; buy the parts yourself. Here's why...

A few months back my gearbox packed up in my Saab, got quotes between 1100-1500 PLUS the vat to put it right. Now, the engine in it went Boom! a few years back, and that barely cost me £400 supplied from some big breakers up north. So I'm thinking..."something doesn't add up".

Got a price from www.partsgateway.co.uk for £230 inc vat and delivery. All I had to do now was get a price from a grease monkey to fit it. I had a falling out with my last big-job mechanic a few years back so I had to shop around for labour prices. Guess what?

Phoned up 6 places and every bugger wanted to SUPPLY and fit, but nobody wanted to touch the fitting only. "Sorry, we don't do that here".

"Oh? So you don't fit customers brakepads if they bring them in?"

"Well, yes we do, but yours is a big job".

"But your way, you need to source a gearbox yourself AND fit it - surely that's an even bigger job?"

"Ermmmm, naah mate, it's not like that".

"Riiiiiiiiight."

I found a mechanic to do it - oddly, the same herbert who'd done my MOT all this time, I just got lucky when I walked in, he was out, his dolly-bird Mrs knocked up a quote with her 'Point and Click' pricing software, and I insisted on a hard copy, otherwise, as he told me afterwards, he wouldn't have touched the job either. Paid another £300 for labour, so got the whole job inside £600 - so even if, against the odds, something goes wrong, and I have to start all over again, I'm still quids in.

Same principles apply anywhere else you go to buy anything - you see a lot of blokes in their 40's and 50's working under the same roof, all with wives with frivolous spending habits and 2 brats in universities each needing 20k a year, you know you're about to get your pants pulled down.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

No, that's for a car with a turbocharger, active 4WD and all other sorts of shiny gubbins.

That said, Audi dealers are absolute highwaymen.

I always get the minimum work done just to get the dealer stamp, then get anything serious (new brakes etc) done at my friendly local garage who can source the same parts and whose labour costs much less.

On a point of order, not all TTs are turbo (or 4wd).

EDIT - correction to self - the 2wd ones were unofficial imports.

[VectraMan]

A few months back my gearbox packed up in my Saab, got quotes between 1100-1500 PLUS the vat to put it right. Now, the engine in it went Boom! a few years back, and that barely cost me £400 supplied from some big breakers up north.

Was the original price for new parts?

I had the gearbox go on my S2000 (don't tell me S2000s never break). It was going to be £4000 from Honda (I didn't even ask if that was inc VAT or not), but I also used that partsgateway place and got a nearly new one for £450, plus about the same for an independent to fit.

Most people won't go the extra mile, and also get all obsessed about dealer stamps. If it costs you a couple of thousand pounds more to get the dealer stamp, do you really gain enough in resale to make it worth it?