OT: Audi A4

[Jon K]

awaiting Jon K, he knows a bit about them i believe.

Heh. Here are my thoughts --

These cars are great when they're great - they're horrible when "ok". They don't hold their value worth a ****. This is because of poor consistency from car to car in terms of reliability, I'd imagine.

The K03 turbo on the 20v 1.8t craps out at around 100 - 120k typically. It's a pain in the ASS to replace it yourself. Dealers charge an AMAZING coin to replace it with a new K03. The timing belts have to be replaced every 40k miles or so, which requires significant breakdown of the motor on these things. The B5's, which a '99 is, is known for a BUNCH of electronic gremlins. Axles break even on stock cars, if it's quattro that's great but the transfer cases need maintenance.

The best part is that they are CHEAP. When I was looking for my '92 525, I was looking at a '98 A4 (in 2002) and they were like $10k. The bad thing, is that the parts aren't horribly expensive... but it's a volkwagen... that means the parts are ok in price but it requires the engine to be removed to do anything. I am joking, but sort of not. When a manifold stud broke on my friend '03 Jetta 1.8T, we put it in the garage and started to replace it. Turns out the stud broke on the turbo side and so it needed a new turbocharger or drill and retap the downpipe flange. No big deal...remove turbo, put up new turbo (used but new to us)... wrong. Exhaust manifold has to come off. No big deal.... 20 nuts right? Wrong. 20 nuts and oil lines and coolant lines and engine needs to be unmounted so it can tilt. Put the new turbo on and bolt **** back up right? Wrong. Coolant/oil lines (hard lines) are pinched when the turbo is unbolted by the weight of the turbo. So now we need to try and preserve the lines or do new ones. Managed to preserve the lines. The lines have to be installed on the turbo, then the turbo to the manifold, then the manifold to the head.... with coolant dripping in your mouth and you arms getting tingly... do the math.

My recommendation is if the car is MINT and you KNOW it's mint... maybe do it. But be prepared for some pretty gay and unpredictable maintenance.


Oh yeah - I forgot to add a couple things. The 1.8T motor, like any turbo motor, can be made to make great power with just a chip. However, people have blown engines - not from bad tuning or aggressive driving... but from mechanical failure of connecting rods.

Here is a car we're currently working on it's my friend Nick's A4 1.8T:







You get the idea - this sort of damage DOES occur on very lightly modded / stock cars. It's just one of those things - people run junk fuel, knock the engine for months/years, then someone winds it up full throttle and ... take a peak above

[markus]

ill pass guys. i even talked to a guy whos sister has a 2001 A4 and the engine blew at 81k. I drove a 525i with a 5-speed today and I must say i thought it was pretty fun. this one was a pretty rough car. im looking for a nice well kept 525i 5-speed if anyone has one for grabs.

[txp135]

He's asking about A4 (not A2s and A3s), which is a more expensive version of the VW Passat. And as I said, they are nice car until you have to spend money. If you look at the comments from people who have owned the car for more than 3 yrs, see if it still adds up to 86%.

[Wes F]

Damn, had no idea Audi had those kinda issues...always loved the a4s, at least the looks/interiors...what about the s4?? I'd love to get one someday, should I not? I drove my cousin's '04 s4 once, it was absolutely-freaking-amazing! Thing was fast as all hell, damn fine interior, and had badass looks...are these things no bueno?

[Russell]

Heard the newer ones are much better cars. I sure hope so. My daughter bought a 2004 A4 1.8T Quattro with 23,000 miles as a certified car from an Audi dealer. It has all maintenace paid to 50,000 and warrenty til 75,000.

She is fully aware of the sludge issues with the turbo engine and the need for "dismanteling" of the car for a timing belt/water pump change and need for regular auto trans service. However, she only plans to keep it about 3 years and move on.

BTW, the interior is very-very nice and rides and drives very well. There were no recalls on this model which is surprising for any car these days.

To answer yor question, I would stay away from an older A4

[takumidrift30]

Just got mine for 3 weeks now, it's A4 2.8L 1996. I was really looking for a daily driver/beater car coz right now I'm using the 525i stick as my daily driver. I intend to keep the car as much as I can so don't want to put miles on the clock plus at the same time keeping it mint. So decided to buy another acr, initially was looking for an E30 but I came across this guy who's moving out of state (even if after reading and speaking with owners of Audi still went on with the car) it was below $2000. Not that it has problem but he's running behind his schedule. Gave me new parts that he was about to replace on the car, over the weekend put them on.
As with Jon K's write up hell it's like Indiana Jones parts by parts to have to remove/pull down before to get into the main part. Though so far so good with the car but what an experience working them, guess have to prepare myself in the future.

[Kobe Diesel]

I have 98 A4 with 2.8L 30V, 5spd and quattro (125k miles). My daily driver since the BMW is still in project status (blocks)
It is a beautiful car. Has plenty of power. The torque curve is best at 3k rpm in any gear when you need to get on it and go.
Very smooth gear shifting and excellent clutch pedal travel.
I have done basic engine maint, not too bad, unless you have to do timing belts - oh joy I cannot wait for that one, front of car has to come off and then you can access the front of the motor.
Has a slight rough idle which Im still perplexed as to what is causing it, but there is no roughness when revving the engine. Some cheap, to so-so, to good quality components.
Had to replace the rear wheel bearings. No suspension issues YET.
Brakes, no problem to work on, straight forward.
It's my daily, don't care about value as I probably will drive it to the very end.
Had I to do it over, I would have gone with the Avant for the extra space.
The latest Audi line is spectacular (I like more so than the new BMW line)
Otherwise, stay away if it's approaching 75k miles. Buy a young Audi, not old.

[whiskychaser]

I'm shocked you guys think of Audi's like this, I've not heard one person ever be scared of buying an Audi over here, they're well respected and never 'nearly went under' here, being one of the strongest car manufacturers, many people much prefer audi's over the bimmers cos they're seen as not having that 'bad driver' edge.

The users on that MSN link have given the car 86% which I'd say is pretty damned good... especially when if you put the E39 next to it, it only gets 89%...

People fight over A2's and A3's in this country :o

Couldnt agree more. Ok they dont have the looks but they are generally bomb-proof. Maybe they send any lemons further afield? Arent the cops buying skoda's now? :-)

[Jon K]

Damn, had no idea Audi had those kinda issues...always loved the a4s, at least the looks/interiors...what about the s4?? I'd love to get one someday, should I not? I drove my cousin's '04 s4 once, it was absolutely-freaking-amazing! Thing was fast as all hell, damn fine interior, and had badass looks...are these things no bueno?

Don't walk away from the turbo S4, RUN! Its a great motor when its great. The S4's suffer from the same failure as the A4's only two times more frequent/likely and you literally have to take the engine out of the car or remove the front clip to replace. RUN RUN RUN!

[Sam-Son]

Heh. Here are my thoughts --

These cars are great when they're great - they're horrible when "ok". They don't hold their value worth a ****. This is because of poor consistency from car to car in terms of reliability, I'd imagine.

The K03 turbo on the 20v 1.8t craps out at around 100 - 120k typically. It's a pain in the ASS to replace it yourself. Dealers charge an AMAZING coin to replace it with a new K03. The timing belts have to be replaced every 40k miles or so, which requires significant breakdown of the motor on these things. The B5's, which a '99 is, is known for a BUNCH of electronic gremlins. Axles break even on stock cars, if it's quattro that's great but the transfer cases need maintenance.

The best part is that they are CHEAP. When I was looking for my '92 525, I was looking at a '98 A4 (in 2002) and they were like $10k. The bad thing, is that the parts aren't horribly expensive... but it's a volkwagen... that means the parts are ok in price but it requires the engine to be removed to do anything. I am joking, but sort of not. When a manifold stud broke on my friend '03 Jetta 1.8T, we put it in the garage and started to replace it. Turns out the stud broke on the turbo side and so it needed a new turbocharger or drill and retap the downpipe flange. No big deal...remove turbo, put up new turbo (used but new to us)... wrong. Exhaust manifold has to come off. No big deal.... 20 nuts right? Wrong. 20 nuts and oil lines and coolant lines and engine needs to be unmounted so it can tilt. Put the new turbo on and bolt **** back up right? Wrong. Coolant/oil lines (hard lines) are pinched when the turbo is unbolted by the weight of the turbo. So now we need to try and preserve the lines or do new ones. Managed to preserve the lines. The lines have to be installed on the turbo, then the turbo to the manifold, then the manifold to the head.... with coolant dripping in your mouth and you arms getting tingly... do the math.

My recommendation is if the car is MINT and you KNOW it's mint... maybe do it. But be prepared for some pretty gay and unpredictable maintenance.


Oh yeah - I forgot to add a couple things. The 1.8T motor, like any turbo motor, can be made to make great power with just a chip. However, people have blown engines - not from bad tuning or aggressive driving... but from mechanical failure of connecting rods.

Here is a car we're currently working on it's my friend Nick's A4 1.8T:

You get the idea - this sort of damage DOES occur on very lightly modded / stock cars. It's just one of those things - people run junk fuel, knock the engine for months/years, then someone winds it up full throttle and ... take a peak above

So I take it you think they're unreliable