This is somewhat long, so if you would like to skip right to the point, scroll down to the bold part.

Before I continue my car is a 1999(.5 maybe?) A4 1.8 Turbo, Automatic with 97,xxx miles, bought less than a year ago with ~95,5xx miles.

So, if anyone would remember, a while ago, I fell victim to the timing belt snapping. As it turns out, the tension arm broke, $2300 later, the car is back home now.
After it came home (I got it back just around winter break from school), I drove it for a bit and just before heading back to school, it had several other problems... nothing too major this time. (I did not teak the car back to school, as per parent's request)

Spring break rolls around, and by then my parents had it checked and it needed a few things (totaling another $1300). Car then runs...well decently well.

I got the error code (I now forget what number), but it was for the catalytic converter, not running to "peak performance". I established this could be from some various reasons...
At this point I was getting around 16-20 mpg combined... but this was partially due to my short distance driving...Driving back home from school, on the 2 hour trip, sitting in traffic, my check engine light came on...I, luckily, was near a local shop, so I had them check the error code. I turned the car off to go into the store to get someone, they told me to bring the car around, and I had a problem starting it...but no major problem, I did manage to get it from there. 4 separate error codes (well, 8, but they were each in there twice), misfire in cylinders 1,2,3 and 4.

I then decided to change the spark plugs. Upon pulling them out I noticed they were still the original plugs from the factory... 96000 miles, and a snapped timing belt... don't you think that they would have replaced them with half the engine? No big deal though, I replaced it with the suggested NGK Platinum $12 a plug. The performance difference was ridiculously different!

Anyways if you are still reading and interested, I get home for the summer relatively problematic free. Now I am home for the summer, I needed to get the car inspected, no biggie... (here in PA we have an emission inspection for those that don't know). I was a little worried about my cat putting me out the emission, but I passed that part...the safety inspection cost me a good $250 though.. (car needed tie rods, a few lights I didn't know needed replacing and what not.)

So with the cat, I am thinking of changing the o2 sensors (as a side note if anyone wants to give me any suggestions, and as to whether or not that is something to DIY or not?)
I have noticed that my coolant is running lower and lower as of late, and yesterday I had to put water in the system to get home... (hopefully not an oops moment? It is okay to add water to the coolant, temporarily?)

Anyways, to the subject title.. My father has pretty much had it with the car... he is more or less worried about me in the car. He does not trust the reliability of the car enough for me to take it as a daily driver... We're thinking of trading it in for an 05 Subaru Legacy (not sure of GT or not yet)

The reason for this whole post is for various reasons... First and foremost, I wanted to tell of my car, and to hear opinions. Second, is there anything I could do to make the car...well in a nut shell.. more reliable?

My family is now more budgeted than before (we are buying a new house), and well my car's expenses are adding up... So the question comes up, keep old and, to be honest, prone to breaking car, or buy a different car with a more reliable background? We're expecting to pay about $2500 for a newer car...
A good question to ask is what are the chances I will need to drop $2500 into the car? What do you guys think? It is actually kinda stressing me out... I'm always worried about the car...

Would any one like an Audi A4 1.8T Quattro, Automatic with manual mode. 97,xxx miles, and all the aforementioned repairs/work?

Anyone have any comments, advice, solutions, well-wishes, anything really, I'd be willing to hear.

 

well ill throw my 2 cents at it..

being that youve had all of these problems with the car, and given that they had original plugs in it and all that jazz.. id prolly get rid of it as well..

i love my car.. its had its fair share of repairs needed (steering rack, turbo, control arms need to be replaced, cat converter got plugged) ive replaced CV axels, it needs a new valve cover gasket, and thats just to name the more major things..

all in all my car hasnt broken me by any means, and ive fixed thigns that have come up because well its a new england now 11 year old car and this stuff happens.. the problem is you never know when buying a car like this (unless you know the history behind it) how the previous owners maintained it, and what they fixed, how they fixed it, etc..

if i had a car with those slew of problems and my parents were up my *** about getting rid of it, i would..

these cars are very reliable and amazing machines when they are maintained and take care of.. but if things are passed by, they can all come at once, and youre left with a laundry list of things that need to be fixed, and thats when it gets reallll costly..

if you can find another similar car that has been maintained very well and is kept up on, youll see a completley different ride.. but maybe its time to cut the losses and move onto something new?

good luck with everything man

 

Dear God,

Please don't let this happen to my car.

Amen

Anyway, sorry to hear you're having such a hard time with your Audi. I would have to agree, though. Cut your losses and move on, but don't let "Audi" as a whole leave a bad taste in your mouth. Further down the road, when you've established yourself in this world, you can always come back and find yourself a well maintained model and truely enjoy the German engineering marvel that these vehicles really are.

 

lol i agree.. my can really has run awesome outside of a few minor things here and there and thank god for the forums cause ive learned so much and really do realize how small things can be and how to take care of them in advance even, like the control arms and such.. but listen to brad haha hes right

 

If it wasn't for this forum, I would have given up on my Audi a long time ago. The collective brainpower here helped me when I was a fresh Audi noob, and while I know I still have so much to learn, I know a lot more than I did a year ago!

 

thats right.. i mean i joined the forum in 2006 and researched for 2 years before i bought my car.. and i still dont even come close to knowing the amount that some guys on here who have helped me do.. its amazing, really is..

 

I got lucky... I was looking for a 99 or newer Audi or BWM back over a year ago, and I fell in love with this one at first test drive. Not until after checking out this forum did I realize the gem that I had stumbled upon! 99.5 TQM FTMFW!

OP- my bad, we didn't mean to rape your thread... some of us Audi owners can get rather emotional about our cars, and we hate to see a fellow owner struggle with theirs... Like I said before, don't let this one car leave a bad taste in your mouth for Audi's. They truely are remarkable!

 

haha yea apologies man for jackin your thread to talk about how we love our cars lol but we just wanna see you enjoy it like we do.. dont get discouraged!

 

-Amen

 

To the OP, if you already replaced the timing belt/water pump, cat converter and spark plugs, you have already done the major problem areas with an older audi. So nothing major should happen besides small issues that you can easilly research here on the forums. However on a side note i don't recommend ANY german car for someone thats in school and doesn't/can't wrench on the car themselves. Shops and dealerships will take you to the cleaners with these cars, the parts themselves aren't very expensive, but the labor is.

The coolant leak you will find at the back of the cylinder head where the coolant flange meets the head. Very difficult to get at without the correct tools and it takes a long time to do. Perfect example here, the entire flange costs $30 online. If you have the dealership (or any euro shop) you will pay 4+ hours of labor to change it. In other words $350+ just to fix a $30 leak. These can add up faster than you think, so if you don't plan on doing the work yourself, cut your loses and buy a toyota. Preferably a 4cyl VVTI engine that has a timing chain (most nissans use chains too) so the only thing you would likely need to do is change the oil.