Worst Car Experience Ever

Today, currently nearly 3am on Saturday 25th February, I am experiencing my worst ever car experience.

I’d returned to Heathrow after doing some work in Dublin, got to my Audi TTS (which I have had less than a week) and the pedal clutch went flat to the floor and stuck there. Call AA around 8pm and they were with me 8.45pm.

Seems like I’d encountered a common issue with the Audi TT - clutch master cylinder failure. It is an issue that can only be fixed at a garage.

The AA man did a great job of getting the car out the multi-storey (I was parked on the 3rd floor in Heathrow T5 Short Stay) and then found a place to leave me and the car, to await a flat bed.

The wait started at 11pm and roughly 3am (4 hours later) the flat bed should be arriving. Maybe I’ll finally be home by 5am, 9 hours after this nightmare started.

To be continued…

My view for 4 hours!

And things did work out pretty much as expected. The flat truck arrived around 3am, loaded up the TTS and we were home around 5am.

Fortunately the car does have a warranty. It's also under the 14 days of ownership. I asked the company I bought the car from about getting a refund, but they suggested they handle the warranty claim for me and pay for any costs. I thought that seemed fair enough. I still like the car, it just shatters your confidence when things like this happen. And I will ask them to check for water leaks too (bloody Audis and water leaks, I fear this could be my 3rd successive Audi car with a water leak!) And might as well get them to check for gearbox oil leaks too (the way my luck is going with cars at the moment, it could be 2 successive cars with a leaky gearbox!)

That will be two fucking Audis in the garage!

The Aftermath

It's easy to do knee-jerk reactions to these events. The reality is that this is the first car breakdown where I've needed assistance to get home, in nearly 30 years of driving. I have had a couple of other times I needed to call the AA, but both those times they were able to get the car going.

The wait was tiring, but I've heard of people who have waited much longer (the flat-truck recovery driver was telling me of a couple who had to wait 12 hours, then be taken on a 5 hours drive back home.) Are AA the best firm!? Sounds like they are not. My AA cover comes with my bank account.

Things that will change in the future:

1. My next car won't be German, it will be Japanese (this is from my own impression and from speaking to the AA man with many years of experience, who sees Japanese cars - especially Lexus - as being the best.) And I will never buy another German car again. Only Japanese cars going forward (perhaps cars with Japanese engines and gearboxes too ... like a Lotus Exige S3 😉.)
2. Find the best recovery company out there and get really good recovery cover, not the very basic cover I get with my bank (it cost over £200 to get my car back home over 50 miles - which I actually think was a fair price, but when you're told "you don't have recovery cover" it's a bit of a worry.)

Regards my current two cars, once they are fixed I have no plans to move them on, certainly not right away. The A3 will still need brakes, wheels and tyres looking at. The TTS might be fun to upgrade a little (exhaust + map.)

Any more major problems from either car, and they will be on their way. No point throwing good money after bad. I simply cannot afford any more lemons!

THE END

PS My main emotion is not anger that a newly purchased used car has broken down in less than a week of ownership, but one of sadness that it is broken. I really quite like the Audi TTS. Actually, two cars stuck in the garage is a depressing situation - yes, I am a bit depressed. Never mind, shit happens!

PPS I'll post updates down here on progress getting the TTS fixed.

Wednesday 1st March 2022 (5 days after the breakdown): Audi TTS is not being worked on yet. Will require gearbox out. Needs inspection to ascertain the issue but either slave or master clutch cylinder (inside the gearbox). That makes it two Audis with f**ked gearboxes.

This definitely marks the low point in my relationship with cars. Two cars, both in the gararge with f**ked gearboxes. Where do we go from here!? I feel like a mug and it's not a feeling I like. Why have I bought such sh!t cars!? My feeling now (I know I'm a little bit emotional about it) - I don't want these sh!t boxes in my life, I want them to f**k off! F**k off Audi TTS! F**k off Audi A3! F**k off Audi! F**k off quattro and s-tronic! F**k off German cars! F**k off dodgy used car sales people!