I just purchased a 2000 A8 Quattro with 136k and will be picking it up in a day or two. Timing belt status is unknown so far. Could it be the original one with this many miles? I hope there is a way of telling if the belt has been done recently, so I don't have to replace it unless necessary.

What items are likely to fail and expensive to fix on this car? My limited research shows timing belt, tranny (although 2000+ should be stronger than previous versions). I already have the checklist from audipages.com, just wondering about the major things to pay attention to when picking up the car.

Thanks for any suggestions! Carfax says 2 owners, no problems.

 

hmmm very interesting I notice the EPC and CEL lights are on and they should not be ( they have a 3 second time out ) so have them sort that before you pay for it apart from those it looks good and only 2 owners which means its probably been serviced well but if you cant confirm the timing belt has been done its better to have it done for peace of mind

 

Thanks, I'll make sure those lights are okay. However, it seems like the pictures were taken while the ignition was on but the engine was not running. Could that be why all those lights are on? In any case, I will find out tomorrow night when I go to pick up the car.

Update from 9/17/07:

Just picked it up, it is in pretty good shape. Those lights were not an issue, it seems that the picture was taken just after turning the ignition key.

 

Run a carfax on your car. Some of the time, it will tell you if a dealership has serviced. You can then go to the service department with your VIN and ask them to run through some of the items on the carfax listing. I bought a 98 similar to yours, blind! I found out the car was dealer serviced since day one. It had 127K when i bought it. I had no idea of the condition (tranny, timing belt, etc.). Turns out, I got lucky full timing belt service at 121K. New transmission at 65K, I just recently dropped the pan and changed the fluidmyself at 127K, running smooth! Audipages.com is an excellent reference. Good luck with the carfax.