In the market for a used car.. A4, jetta Q's

NYSpeed Automotive
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so i’ve been looking around for a new car. i want something to be driven year round and just be a comfortable car.

i was looking at 97+ A4 Quattro’s and was wondering how reliable they are. i’d be spending about 5K on it and have found some for that price with about 100K on them but want know how they are in that high of mileage.

i was also looking at jettas since they’re a little easier on the bank for repairs but if i find a good deal, i find a good deal.

opinions…?

feel free to make other suggestions that could fit in that price range as well.

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http://www.nyspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26915

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A4s aren’t real reliable, but not real unreliable at the same time.

Coilpacks, control arms, and random electronics might fail on you on you. (common parts for the cars)

VW’s can be similar with electronics.

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how expensive are parts for these cars? I know that they aren’t cheap to maintain, but got a rough estimate?

and how bad are the coil packs to get to?

[quote=“2TurboZ,post:2,topic:28621"”]

http://www.nyspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26915

/close thread

[/quote]

yeah i saw that, but jam may beat me to it since i’m not around for another week and a half.

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It’s hit and miss, price wise. I’ve owned my car since Jan '05 @ 57k. Now I’m at 98k…

I spend $300 on an alternator. It was brand new OEM, because a reman was $220 so it didn’t make sense. Plus $20 for new German coolant. The water pumps are known to be suspect so it’d be dumb to use anything but OEM Pentosin. Also $100 for a radiator from Skrapper after I busted the original while disassembling the entire front of the car to get at the alt, but that was my fault for following instructions and trying to disconnect the over-engineered quick-disconnect couplings on the rad.

I also spent $150 on a new OEM German clutch.

Idler pulley gave up the ghost. It cost the dealer $80 because it was still within my warranty.

RCV (rotary changeover valve, changes effective length of intake runners @ around 3800rpm) started rattling. A new one is around $100 and the only VW endorsed way to fix it, but I bought aftermarket bushings for $40 and just fixed the valve.

Brake light switch free under the recall, then $12 when it failed again.

Glove box hinge/damper assembly broke. (over-engineered BS) I fixed the hinge with a piece of aluminum and a couple of screws. Proper fix would have been a new glove box door. :cjerk:

E-Brake lines froze up, hanging up the rear calipers. $25 for Napa’s that were too thick and failed again in a year when the hanger cut through. $60 for new OEM lines from VW that fit properly.

Rear brake pads froze and chewed up the disks. IIRC I replaced them with Advanced cheapies. New pads & rotors for ~$100. Cleaned and greased everything well. Not a problem since.

My A/C stopped working at the end of last summer. The pressures look good so I’ll have to let you know how much the new ??? costs. (Probably just a relay or pressure switch. The compressor doesn’t seem to engage at all.)

I’m probably forgetting some things. Like the various heat and dirt shields that have fallen off and I never bothered fixing.

Repairs aren’t necessarily expensive, but be warned: These cars are attention whores.

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yeah, so much unnecessary electronic garbage and different wierd way of doing things on vws. parts are cheap but replacement comes with headaches a lot.

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god damn, when i first read that list i skipped the part where you said you bought and was like fuck that.

but it doesn’t seem horrible. there are definitly more expensive cars to mantain. hmmmmm, so i’m assuming you would suggest a jetta instead? not that it would be too much better…

i’ll have to see what kind of deals i come across, i do like the cars, alot. And maybe more so when I take one for a serious test drive. anyone wanna sell one?

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[quote=“MOBOOST4U,post:6,topic:28621"”]

yeah, so much unnecessary electronic garbage and different wierd way of doing things on vws. parts are cheap but replacement comes with headaches a lot.

[/quote]

I am going to go ahead and guess you have never worked on a VW or an Audi. They are soooo easy to work on, it’s just the parts are expensive. Everything is engineered to come apart if needed. I can have the whole front end of my car off in under 15min and have full access to the front of my motor. How many cars can you do that on?

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1997 jetta vr6 here.

Purchased the car last july,seemed mechanically sound and so far its been good.crosses fingers.Alternator ground strap turned to dust because the salt ate it but that isnt really a VW problem,its a shitty road salt problem.

Nothing major so far,im due for brakes and they’re average compared to USA cars price wise.

My lock actuator is acting up,not unlocking my driver side door when I use the remote.

I dont know of any car history as of whats been done to it for maintenance :ohnoes: but its been really good.

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Reliability wise Jetta vs A4 is 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Either one should get you 200k+ without any major failures. And yeah they actually are pretty easy to work one once you get used to the way they’re designed. Parts can be had for less than an arm and a leg (maybe just an arm) if you know where to look.

Good cars, a pleasure to drive, just know that you will need to work on it from time to time.

If I could go back in time though, I would have gone A4 instead of Jetta. Audi quattro >>>>>>>>> Jetta FWD.

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Oh, one thing that is nice, you’ll never have to worry about body rust. And parts seem to come apart much easier compared to many other cars.

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^^why won’t I have to worry about rust?

[quote=“BikerFry,post:10,topic:28621"”]

Reliability wise Jetta vs A4 is 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Either one should get you 200k+ without any major failures. And yeah they actually are pretty easy to work one once you get used to the way they’re designed. Parts can be had for less than an arm and a leg (maybe just an arm) if you know where to look.

Good cars, a pleasure to drive, just know that you will need to work on it from time to time.

If I could go back in time though, I would have gone A4 instead of Jetta. Audi quattro >>>>>>>>> Jetta FWD.

[/quote]

huge part of my decision is based on that. I’m probably going to go with an a4 because of the AWD

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[quote=“93z24,post:12,topic:28621"”]

^^why won’t I have to worry about rust?

[/quote]

IIRC VW (and I think all German manufacturers) anodizes the car’s body panels. They will rust, but much much more slowly than say a Japanese or American car. (Not counting the old plastic Saturns that truly won’t rust.)

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[quote=“BikerFry,post:13,topic:28621"”]

IIRC VW (and I think all German manufacturers) anodizes the car’s body panels. They will rust, but much much more slowly than say a Japanese or American car. (Not counting the old plastic Saturns that truly won’t rust.)

[/quote]

New saturns are plastic too, and they aren’t anodized they are galvanized.

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I have owned both a 99 A4 1.8T Q and now I own a TDI Jetta

The A4 would get about 23ish mpg around town and the Jetta gets about 44ish, That was the selling point for me, but if you are going to get a Vr Jetta you should just go for the v6 A4

The A4 was nicer and the previous owner did all the control arms and timing belt so I never had any issues in the 25k that I owned it other than a wheel bearing.

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BTW, the A4’s Quattro is the greatest AWD system I’ve driven with, with the exception of an Audi 90’s quattro system with locking rear diff.

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I am looking to get rid of my 97 A4 quattro for 5k if you are interested.

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[quote=“01AudiS4,post:8,topic:28621"”]

I am going to go ahead and guess you have never worked on a VW or an Audi. They are soooo easy to work on, it’s just the parts are expensive. Everything is engineered to come apart if needed. I can have the whole front end of my car off in under 15min and have full access to the front of my motor. How many cars can you do that on?

[/quote]

I personally have only a few times but I have two close friends who have a Jetta and a Passat. They always get thier oem and aftermarket stuff so cheap (not to mention the availibilty at junk yards).

Im not saying thier hard to work on, im just saying they have very different ways of doing things that oppose conventional methods that most automakers use, thus creating more time for the self reparer to figure out if its thier first time working on a VW.

I owned an audi myself as a wintercar for a month and everything on it was so f****** ass backwards on it.

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[quote=“93z24,post:12,topic:28621"”]

^^why won’t I have to worry about rust?

[/quote]

All the parts on an Audi are Galvanized, Stainless, Aluminium, or Plastic. So nothing rusts. Plus the factory undercoat is pretty thick and durable. It’s a great thing, I wish all auto manufacturers did things this way.

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[quote=“01AudiS4,post:19,topic:28621"”]

All the parts on an Audi are Galvanized, Stainless, Aluminium, or Plastic. So nothing rusts. Plus the factory undercoat is pretty thick and durable. It’s a great thing, I wish all auto manufacturers did things this way.

[/quote]

this is not true galvanized steel can still rust, paint chips it happens