Biturbo 4x4 Advice

[Nova_Spider]

Hi All,

Hoping someone can advise me.......

I'm a big Vauxhall fan and never had any other make but recently thinking of changing to a 2012 (177bhp) Audi A4 Avant TDI Quattro S-Line as it ticks a boxes for my Job. The problem is i'm looking at over £11k for anything that's done under 100k miles. Then I remembered Vauxhall did the VX-Line Biturbo 4x4 Insignia which I can get a 2013 for around £7k.

Although this ticks all the boxes I've read loads of issues with the A20DTH/A20DTR oil pickup seal which I can do myself so no real issue. Is there any other issues I should know about apart from the usual Flywheel, EGR and DPF?

Then there seems to be load of issues with the Haldex unit which I thought was odd as the VAGs don't seem to have half the problems! Is this because they're not serviced properly? If I was to service it every 20k miles would that stop it failing? My other thought was getting a Haldex controller and turning it off most of the time as 90% of my driving doesn't require 4x4. Would the prop still turning still cause failure or is it only when the clutch pack is engaged?

http://www.vdveer-engineering.nl/index.php/en/shop/controllers/haldex-controller-gen5-0ay-detail

I do around 25k-30k miles a year and sometimes have to drive across fields and dirt tracks and in the snow so 4WD would help me during the winter months.

Any help gratefully received!

Thanks,
Rob

[0011728]

Hi Rob and welcome to the forum . You seem to have done your homework and covered the main expensive faults. The Haldex being the biggie after the pickup seal. Earlier models were prone to failure but later ones I believe were modified. MY2013 might be on the cusp of the change so maybe another forum member will be able to confirm.

Annual service of the Haldex would be prudent but I believe the oil is rare as "rocking horse poop" and expensive as saffron . IIRC servicing of the Haldex is not on any of the Vauxhall service schedules so no wonder they were breaking

I would check to see if the Haldex is on it's way out by test driving the car in forward and reverse on full lock both sides and see if there is any "crabbing".