audi a4

[bongo]

a few q's on these as for some strange reason i really want one lol,it'll be a £1000 one ive seen p,r upto 2000 platers for this price mileage dependent.

 

how reliable are they as 99% will have 140k+ on them

 

diesel petrol etc....

 

dont mind the 1.8 petrol...dont want anything thats going to be worse off than my 1.8 focus mpg wise

 

also dont mind diesel.

 

your thoughts and experiences

[shawdreamer]

I had a old 1.8t years back, loved the drive, was like silk, handled ok for a big motor too and could shift down the motorway like a rocket.

 

only drawback was the suspension arms (apparently a known weakness), I paid for the smooth ride with the constant need for arm replacement (think it was 3 times in 2yrs at one point) but that was definetely vastly increased by the need to go over the hideously high speed bumps they put everywhere round the area in which I'd just bought my house (the route to get out of my area when I had my slammed Si was so roundabout it was daft).

 

barring the arms though It was a shockingly reliable motor, had a traction control light flash up but the dealership told me it was a Ecu glitch and reset it for nowt, also a bit greedy about town but what biggun isnt?, especially Turbo Bigguns!

 

for the price you can pick em up now I wouldnt hesitate to grab yourself a clean example, by far the best entry level luxury motor you can buy for the prices Ive seen asked imho.

 

word of warning though.....dont be tempted by any of the smaller 1.6's, even though A4's aernt as weighty as you'd expect you'd still see yourself having to beat the crap out the engine to get anything close to performance out of it, 1.8 or higher imo.

 

btw........ that was a "P"reg

Edited August 4, 2013 by shawdreamer

[robbie]

i not long sold a a4 2.4 v6 drove realy well wasnt as bad on fuel as expected would happily have another but shawdreamer has basicallty summed it all up

[bongo]

thanks guys,yeah it would be minimum 1.8 or diesel dont want a guzzler though,ive been looking for a few weeks now,the 1.8 se seems to be the most popular about,,but the biguns 2.4/2.6/2,8 are cheap for obvious reasons..

 

love this colour....

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/adv...399hy?logcode=p

 

another nice one

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/adv...399hy?logcode=p

Edited August 4, 2013 by bongo

[sidrick]

Reliable enough. None of the petrols will give you better MPG than the Focus, but the difference wouldn't be too much.

 

The bigger diesels are great workhorses, the non-turbo petrols are a bit of a waste of time. The 1.9tdi won't move any mountains but it's bullet proof.

 

If you go for the 1.8t then at 140k+ service history is very important as (obviously) unlike the non-turbo motors there's more potential for some big bills.

[bongo]

dont mind no better mileage just dont want less.

 

just a case of looking now for a nice one thats close.no rush though.and possibly swap for my focus.

[dansGTI]

F*cking brilliant car, although I had the b6 shape (2001 on)

 

It had done 228k when I'd finished with it, and I abused the hell out of it. It was a 1.9 130 tdi, and always did 50mpg all day long. I drove it to Scotland and back in a day to fetch a beetle, didn't miss a beat.

 

Mechanical wise, that 1.9 PD engine were used in most other VAGS, so parts are Pee easy to find, and not dear. They feel solid, and drive lovely.

 

The biggest thing to check is when the DMF was last done, and maybe a turbo. But it's the DMF that will spank you if it goes, everything else IMO is no more expensive to fix than anything else.

 

Pic of the battered old girl:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v195/danielayto/5A3298E8-E062-4129-AAAC-CFCE11441761-7462-000006C4DBFA1803.jpg

Edited August 5, 2013 by dansGTI

[bongo]

the dmf wouldnt be on a 96-01 though would it?

[shawdreamer]

http://www.evo-host.co.uk/getimg/31347.jpg

 

that was the same colour as mine, "burnt orange", looked dull when dirty but had a stunning fine metalic finish to it that looked stunning when polished.

 

Im actually pining for it now, I know the lad I sold it to sold it on in good condition still so I wonder if I could hunt it down!.

 

getting pretty hard to find a clean unwrapped example of the petrol 1.8t

[bongo]

like that colour aswell

[mikes-fat-arsed-estate]

I would say go for it there great cars as are most vag cars I also own a vw passat b5.5 which is the same platform as the a4's , they do have there common niggles like most cars the 1.8t can suffer from sludge build up around the 100k mark the diesel pd's go for ever providing regular & the correct grade oil has been used I certainly wouldn't be put of by mileage I'm a member of ukpassats there's actually a few topics at the moment on what to look for when buying one , check the plenum drains they block up concealing a hell of a lot of water leavin the battery submerged under water which then leaks through the pollen filter into the foot well drowning the ccm which controls alarms and all the electrics also if this problem is present the brake servo will be covered causing alot of brake faults so check this , like mentioned above they have about 8 control arms each side so when one plays up can be a pain in the arse to track down

Here's mine

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn129/allanmichealsmith/390837E7-106B-477A-89EA-6DE359922A39-8971-0000087D0013FB5F_zpsd2b42e32.jpg

[bongo]

very nice mate.

[shawdreamer]

like mentioned above they have about 8 control arms each side so when one plays up can be a pain in the arse to track down

 

I remember going into D&E motorfacters up ere the very first time for the Audi and saying "Im here to pick up the offside control arm suspension assembly for a 96-97 audi a4"

 

the warehouse womble buggered off into the back for a while, came back a dumped down a whole pile of bits on the counter, I hadn't even looked at the ones on mine, was just replacing what the previous owner told me needed doing.

 

Id been expecting one maybe at a push two bits of various shaped metal (naively thinking it'd be as straightforward as a escort)..... boy was I bricking it when the lad explained "that is just the Offside" when I said "I didn't need the Nearside aswel"

[ScORTED]

The 2.8 petrols go well the torque suits the midi sized barge, the 1.9tdi is the sensible daily though

[mikes-fat-arsed-estate]

Also the 130 tdi model once remapped see figures 165 - 180bhp a few guys on the ukpassats are running these figures & one estate is running a tad over 200bhp the torque you get is unbelievable