Mikiejag

I have always wanted a TT for as long as I can remember, and now it is time, but buying one used with miles will probably be the oldest car I ever purchased in my 45 years.
I am looking at the 2009-2012 range and found a 2009 TTS Prestige, all the options, but it has 85000. Other than the normal issues with cars, I hear about the timing belt and water pump being a must replace item.

Is this overblown? or is it really a serious problem? I can't seem to actually find any reliability ratings or specific long term issues and maybe thats a good thing. I would think over 10 years, this car would have been shaken out and any problems or trends found.

Any pointers before I test drive it? Thanks so much,

Michael

Mikiejag

Just took the TTS for a test drive and the brake symbol is lit up and there are two red lights, one for airbag and one for brake.

The airbag one is probably because the seat pulled the connection loose, but the brake lights concern me.

What is the cost of a set of brakes? all four. even a rough guess would be great.

Vegas-roadster

Read this FAQ to learn about issues and model differences https://forums.fourtitude.com/showth...-MK2-TT-a5-FAQ
The Mk 2 TT does not have the chronic timing belt issues that the Mk 1 has which is probably the tales you heard. But given that a TB failure will result in a $5K+ repair, I'd replace it and all associated parts every 10 years or 100Kmiles. So a 2009 would be due for a change.
There is nothing special about TT brakes. You can get them as cheap or expensive as you want. Personally, I like EBC rotors and their red pads. You can check parts prices on their website or Amazon.

Mikiejag

Seems the timing belt is all over the mk2 boards and postings, thats good to know about it, looked at the belt and it was new no fraying.

I have been all over that FAQ and researching, the TTS drives great, but I have seen everything to $1000 to about $2500 for brakes. I am not a do it myself person, so an average dealer cost is what I was looking for.
Would you say those red lights are no biggie or is this a get out of it as soon as possible?

Vegas-roadster

I frequent 2 other Mk 2 boards besides this one and I've seen less than 5 Mk 2 TB failure posts in the past few years and all on 8+ year old cars. Looking at the belt is almost worthless. The failure points are the water pump and tensioner that you can not check.

The rear lights can be a biggie if you have to replace the assembly because it melted.

Mikiejag

I am headed out of town for a week, just ordered an adapter called Carista, going to check out the faults when I get back.

Also going to just offer something like 13k to cover the brakes, not sure the dealer is going to go for it. If they don't even consider a price drop, then won't even go back out.

There will always be another one out there.

JoeKan

Not sure where you are, but while you're looking around, also look for a third party VW/Audi shop & have a talk with 'em. My mechanic is 1/2 the price of the dealer & he uses OEM & brand name parts. It's harder to find a good mechanic you can trust than it is a good car.

tropos

I've got a 2009 TTS, purchased about 2 years ago at 75K miles and have put about 10K miles on it. The number of things that can go wrong are...endless. Some of them, like the shock/strut assembly, can be difficult to detect. For instance, in my case the left rear assembly showed some leakage during inspection, but my mechanic didn't think it was anything to be concerned about, as it happens frequently with no performance issues. 6 months later it failed and had to be replaced - and you have to do both sides at the same time, so that wasn't cheap. The timing belt can go 100K+ and you can't tell by looking at it. Fuel cam follower, magnetic ride sensor, oil cooler seals, water pump and ignition coils have all been replaced - and none of it could have been easily diagnosed by a mechanic.

One thing that will almost assuredly need to be done is intake valve/manifold cleaning - mine had never had it done before as far as my mechanic could tell and it needed it.

I would *strongly* recommend getting it's maintenance history and repair records. If you can get all those and have a pretty good idea that it was well maintained and repaired properly (meaning they used OEM or better parts - none of that generic crap), had all it's maintenance done on time and it's showed no major issues, THEN you could consider buying it. If you don't know how well it was maintained, I would pass. I would echo JoeKan's recommendation to find a great, indie Audi mechanic. A dealer is almost always 'last resort' for any kind of maintenance or repair - they seem universally bad.

For the record - I LOVE my car, I do track days now and then (which likely contributed to some of the maintenance needs) and it's just a dream to drive. I've spent a chunk of change that I didn't really expect, but I still think it was worth it.

Oh, if you're looking for average range of costs for repairs, this site is ace:

https://repairpal.com/