BUYING ADVICE

‘They have no real Achilles’ heel: tyres are expensive, and be careful if it has ceramics – a front disc is £3000 compared with a steel one at £190. The engine is cheaper to maintain compared with a V10 with turbos, but it does have to be removed from the car for even small jobs: a lambda sensor is £160, but the labour is £1200. There are no real problems with the suspension – the front gas struts are £1800 but it’s rare for them to go wrong. We’ve changed a couple of PAS pumps, and inlet manifolds – these can break up internally and be swallowed by the engine. Like all FSI engines they suffer from carbon build-up, so a £900 de-coke gives good results. Overall, incredible value.’

Martin Adams, unit20. com