{"id":4128,"date":"2021-06-06T20:51:45","date_gmt":"2021-06-06T19:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andrewhope.co.uk\/Blog\/?p=4128"},"modified":"2026-07-21T21:06:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:06:43","slug":"how-reliable-is-an-audi-a3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andrewhope.co.uk\/Blog\/how-reliable-is-an-audi-a3\/","title":{"rendered":"How reliable is an Audi A3"},"content":{"rendered":"

My car is still relatively new, I owned my Golf MK5<\/a><\/strong> for around 8 years, this one is quite recent. At this moment I can’t highlight all the common problems on an Audi A3, so I will be listing them as I go<\/p>\n

This is the ones I’ve accumulated, or become aware of since owning the car. I will be updating the post once I’ve written the repair guides for each one. The Golf and Audi A3 are pretty much the same car, so a lot of the problems you experience will be encountered with each car.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer<\/strong>: This page contains affiliate links. Predominantly as an an eBay Partner Affiliate, Google Adsense and Amazon Affililate and as a member of other affiliate networks. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking a link, I earn from qualifying purchases and may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.<\/em><\/p>\n

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REAR WIPER<\/h3>\n

The rear wiper on the Audi A3 tends to fail. Whether the motor burns out from overloading it simply stops working. Once it’s stops it will most likely need replacing. This seems to happen on a few models. I would recommend unplugging the connector if yours fails. There’s been issues where they start fires in cars.<\/p>\n

IGNITION STARTER SWITCH FAILURE<\/h3>\n

The ignition starter switch tends to fail in the Audi A3, the common problem you get is the radio switching off when driving, and the stereo not switching off when you take the keys out of the ignition.<\/p>\n

I repaired mine, you can read the ignition starter switch repair guide<\/a><\/strong> that I wrote.<\/p>\n

DOOR HARNESS FAILURE<\/h3>\n

The door harness wiring is far too short in these cars, so the constant back and forth flexing on the wiring harness eventually snaps the wires. I carried out a temporary fix on my Audi A3 harness<\/a><\/strong>. Once I purchase the repair kit I’ll be writing an article.<\/p>\n

The common problems you tend to get with this are communication errors, central locking errors. Electric window problems. Basically you lose all power and communication to the drivers side module (and others) if they have the same problems<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My car is still relatively new, I owned my Golf MK5 for around 8 years, this one is quite recent. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1395,1396,1397],"class_list":["post-4128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-automotive","tag-common-problems-with-an-audi-a3","tag-how-reliable-is-an-audi-a3","tag-what-is-the-most-common-problems-on-an-audi-a3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t