I bought a low mileage 02 A4 1.8T last year, have put only 6000 on the car and have put over $1000 into it for maintenance and repairs. All work has been done at a shop, because I am too busy/lazy to do it myself. Nothing major (knock on wood) has broken yet, just a few little things. Audi just extended the warranty for the Timing Belts a few months ago to 100K I believe. I would expect Higher mileage cars are likely to see more problems than I have encountered. If you can find a CPO’d one in your price range although I imagine thats unlikely, that could save your some headaches.
I say go for it…it will be your time/money spent fixing it. Read up on the Audi message boards to see what the common problems are. Most are not that bad, and can be avoided with proper maintenance. If you find out the car is too expensive or not reliable enough…sell it and move on. Lesson learned.
Some of the issues I have seen listed in this thread were specific to the B5, and were supposedly corrected for the B6. Timing belts, engine sludge, coil packs and recently known to me corrosion prone e-brake lines pre 2004 are common for the B6…ohh and they are really slow, so good luck not modding it.
I was the one that was attacked? I laughed (out loud) when I saw a post looking for a “luxury car” for “$5k”. Period. The end.
Can you please show me where I said that a B6 A4 was a terrible car?
I have recommended them to many people. I was working on Audis before you could even drive. Hint: It isn’t a coincidence that this guyhas the same name as me.
Quite frankly. If you are willing to accept that a ~$10k Audi B6 A4 will not be a trouble free experience, then I’m more than willing to help. So far all you have done is said :newman:
Add the fact that $10k was the top of your listed price range, and it seems that it would be smarter to take the money on a $10k DD (what you are looking for) that doesn’t have the potential to have several thousand bucks worth of work required right off the bat.
Ever changed the clutch on a quattro car? My buddy just picked up a 70k mile B6 A4 showing no signs of wear, and had to replace it within 10k. There went $2k (price a clutch and FW). Same car ended up toasting its AC compressor this summer, there went another $1500, good thing the car is CPO’d and it cost him $50. What about brakes? Brake sensors? Wheel hubs? Timing belts? I’m sure you have all of the stupid Audi tools that are required for basic scheduled maintenance, and a VAG-COM as well. You’re right, keep on arguing. I stick by my original post.
I’d buy the 3.0 if I were you. It is a tank of a motor, and a far better bet for a daily driven car that won’t be modded.
And for the record, it is “I could not care less”. As in “I could not care less that you have owned 15 piece of shit DSMs”.
No, not really, you just can’t read, and chose to ignore the “facts” that you don’t like. :roll2:
see now a post like that has much more useful information and i appreciate that. I was just pissed that you jumped to the assumption that i want to be an e-thug baller with a luxury car and that i would not be able to handle the all the service stuff. So thats why i got pulled off topic also. I can take advice, but when you say it in such a way, it just kinda pushed me the wrong way. so anyways, now that i know you have experience with these cars and know your stuff its a whole different story.
I was more so looking at the 3.0 because having a NT would be much better for me because if i got the 1.8 next thing i know i would be getting a manifold fabbed up for a 35r and looking to run 30 lbs of boost :).
Im not looking for performance, anything that can get through the shit rds around here in the winter because half the time they dont feel like plowing them in the winter.
is there anything i should look out for in either the 1.8 or the 3.0? As of right now im looking at a 02 3.0 for 7500. I need to talk to the owner to get some more details but was hoping i could get him down to 7k or so. That leaves me with 3k to do timing belt, water pump, tires, ball joints etc.
Also how are the automatic transmissions in these cars? Was thinking with the 3.0 the car would be beat on less compared to the 1.8t. this assumption correct?
A/C compressor, 3 O2 sensors, HID bulbs, Coolant fans, coolant temp sensor, CV boots, Front and rear pads, front rotors, 2nd set of control arms(6), complet new vacuum system, plugs, air filter, Fuel filter, shocks front and rear, ABS control unit, tires for the summer wheels, tires for the winter wheels, etc.
I’m about $600 a month for the last 7 months to keep my passat in good running condition. (F-A-I-L) Hopefully it won’t continue this way.
So would I. I don’t think an Audi is beyond your mechanical ability to repair, it’s just that you’ll be constantly in that state. Plus, Legacys can be had with heated seats and the like.
2002 a4 1.8t 5 speed
quattro
100k
front/rear heated seats
sport package
bose sound with 6 disc indash changer
extra set of stock 5 spoke 17" rims
new timing belt at 80k
new clutch at 90k
southern car
$8,000
so for all you haters that laughed about a nice vehicle for under 10k:suckoff:
plans for the car:
s4 door fins
s4 mirrors (maybe)
paint match the lower grey trim
20% tint
RNS-E audi navigation plus
sell the multi spoke rims, get a set of winter tires for the OEM b6 5 spokes
pick up a nice set of rims for the summer (not sure what though)
trying to keep this car basically stock and not mod it. Car runs great and smooth as it should. and just need a couple things tended to (missing foglight trim, cracked tweeter cover). Overall i am very pleased with the purchase and couldn’t go wrong for the price.
now on to the pics… (will get some better ones once everything is finished up)
Nice find. Should be a great car, having the timing belt (even tho its honestly a pretty simple task IMO, having just done it this week) and the clutch done is a huge bonus.
So far there hasnt been anything I havent been able to fix myself, control arms, wheel bearings, abs module, turbo, timing belt, water pump etc. Everything seems pretty straight forward etc, no different than any other VW I have ever worked on.
With that attitude, you could own a B5 S4; the Holy Grail for the VW/Audi haters.
The car you picked up looks very nice. I like B6s a lot. You do need to chip it before you do any of that cosmetic stuff. Then it will be able to get out of it’s own way.
Get an old laptop, and get a VAG-COM cable and software. It’s pretty much the most useful tool you can buy for these things.
Also, fresh full synthetic every 5K is a must. These like to get gooped up.
sounds like you did well for your needs… personally, I’ll never own an AWD car with an open rear diff like the gen IV quattro system. it just makes the car super numb to drive.
