A family member of mine offered his Audi A6 for me to buy very cheap it's his current son's car but I would be looking to buy it in about 2 months.. it's a 2000 silver A6 sedan I only looked over it really quick before we had to run to the office but I think it's the 2.8 model.. anyways it has about 170K on it and it's an auto a few things consern me which is the milage and the auto tranny..

Also the son had a little crash and the front bumper is pushed up a little and the passgener side mirror is gone but the fixture is still on the car, both he said he will fix before he sells me the car (I don't doubt him) I got to ride in his A8L which was pretty nice.


I really only know about Subaru's since thats what I have.. I did all my own car work and stuff.

To keep it short My opinion isthat you will need to get a REALLY good deal on it to make it worth while. Not that the car wont last much longer - I am sure itis possible - It just depends on what has been replaced and repaired and how its been maintained. what you need to be prepared for is very high cost of repairs if you have to take it to a shop. I have found parts to be fairly reasonable and the car has not been hard to work on as long as you have the correct tools. I drove a loaner A6 2.8 that had 173K on it and it drove fairly nicely so I am sure they can make it that Far and still be a good drive. I only have 85K on mine so I don't know what the Major issues are at that Mileage. others on hear I have seen with that many miles - you might do a search for high mileage vehicles.

Good luck

ok I will do a search on that, it seems I see a lot of talk about the MMI is that the display on the dash? I've seen and heard how high the repair bills can be I work on my own car so not sure how much more involved the audi will be over the subaru.

213k mi, i'm changing our my passenger cat. other than that, nada. smooth.

I agree with ddunham...it has to be a really good deal to buy...almost FREE :D

the rest of the body is clean minus the right passenger mirror and bumper.

it's an auto which kinda disapoints me.. but if I get a killer deal then thats good because I tried looking up to see what price range it would go for and I never saw any listed with this one and the same amount of milage.. my consern is how long will the auto last? I told him 2nd week of May I'd be looking to buy providing the dmanges are fixed but it seems the mirror is only around $83-150? maybe it was not an OEM mirror... Anyways the car is silver

If it's anything like Subaru don't the tires have to be pretty much same size and near the same wear patterns on all 4 tires?

170K means it could run forever or break at the end of the drivrway depending upon how much care it had in the past and the attitued of the Audi gods.

Big items are the typical list of things you'll see all over Audi Forums. The biggest is the timing belt - if it hasen't been changed within the last 80K or so it will break! It might go another 50-100K but probably not. The cost to change the belt could easliy approach what the car is worth.

Bottom line - he is selling it cheep because that is all he get for an Audi with high milage and the bumper and mirror doesn't help. Don't go by the blue book or other used vehicle appraisals because the variables are too many.

ok well I will make sure that is asked before I decide..

told you I'm a noob.. :( car is a 2000 A4 2.8 the car has 134k the MMI is missing lines and the check engine light was on... other then that the car seemed ok.. the mirror needs to be fixed (he called in today about that) and the exhaust has some kind of leak which he says he will replace.

Let's see -- We have a 2000 A4 with 134 K - the front bumper is bent - the mirror is broken - the check engine light is on - the exhaust leaks - the MMI is messed up - and we don't know about the timing belt etc.

Without the CEL and timing belt I would guess it would cost about $3,000. Throw in $1500 for a timing belt and your at $4500.

The CEL could add another $1000 or lots more.

As a minumum you need to fix the exhaust, mirror , and CEL -- with the biggest unknown being the CEL.

Even if he gives you the car it is questionable -- Run a scan to see why the CEL is on.

Good thing he was going to fix the mirror and body damage. I'm very curious too about the CEL you cant see jack on the LCD on the center LCD on the gauges it has all those lines If it really is the ribbon cable not being down hard enough on the contacts sounds like a good project for me to do.

the car for the millage it had on it rode decent I thought.. we will see after I take ownership of it..

I say.... if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck... it's a lemon. Way too many issues IMHO. You could find a better deal out there without all that drama.

issues? but he is paying from his own pocket to fix them? he still has not given me a price but I don't think he plans on making too much off it and since im a family member. I think it might be worth a shot... he is on his 3rd Audi so any issues the past models had he should be aware of them..

The car is gettign up there in mileage, and he is basically fixing what's wrong with it now, but the future holds many changes and I wouldn't feel comfortable buying a car that needed that many things fixed first before I could drive it.

Would you date a chick one of your friends broke up with after he told you she had emotional issues and drug addiction but she went to counseling for it and she's all better now? Same thing to me with this car.

well I guess listing the body issues makes it seem exssive...

I do know one thing people sitting in the rear wont like the size.

You know nothing inless you know the price...

In his mind is a good price $100, $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, etc??? Listen to AZAudiA6Q !!

ORIGINAL: NH_USA

You know nothing inless you know the price...

In his mind is a good price $100, $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, etc??? Listen to AZAudiA6Q !!


So is that implying that Audi's are no good after some set miliage? While I had my Subaru I cross shopped with an Audi A4 but they all here in the Northeast seem overpriced (dealerships) IMHO from what he has told me so far he is not looking to make much off the car anyways and with his son just coming out of the hospital and on his way back to school his dad is planning on buying him another car (why he wants to get rid of the A4)

ORIGINAL: CTDriver

ORIGINAL: NH_USA

You know nothing inless you know the price...

In his mind is a good price $100, $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, etc??? Listen to AZAudiA6Q !!


from what he has told me so far he is not looking to make much off the car anyways and with his son just coming out of the hospital and on his way back to school his dad is planning on buying him another car (why he wants to get rid of the A4)



If the current owner has had several Audis, as you have said, and he is not letting his recently hospitalized son keep the car, that should tell you that the car is at the end of its life. If he gives you the car, and you decide that you are going to drive it until it dies without making any further repairsthat is fine. However, if your mindset is to "save" the car, forget it. It is going to be a very expensive car if you try to "save it."

I had plans to fix that was needed I hear the supsenion was the weak part of the car... i'd like to get at least 200K from the car however I will keep my backup subaru legacy just incase something happens.

Well just drove the car to the shop anyways.. ugh I see why he is trying to sell the car he does not need 4 cars and he is looking at a few cars.. A 98 Lotus Esprit V8 or a BMW M5 no sure.. But anyways he was saying hmm between $4-5K you are looking to spend and I said yes. But with the milage on the car and the work that needs to be done he needs to come down.. Hell I could get the same deal at a stealership and have peice of mind.

He did say he had the timing belt done so thats out of the way.

here's my .02: never EVER ever EVER ever buy/sell a car to/from family or friends. this applies regardless of the condition of the car.

CTDriver want's us to say "Yes get the car" but very few of us are going to say that without knowing all the details - and even then it will be with a warning that many things can go wrong.

It has nothing to do with Audi's going bad after the clock turns a certain milage, it is all about what you are expecting to do with the car, how handy you are, and Audi's being complicated. Bottom line - Audi's are expensive to own and fix. There are certain things that go wrong and if you choose to over look them your certainly going to crash and burn. But even if the few things are OK there are a zillion others that can get you.

If your ego say you can't live without an Audi go for it.. or another, but stop trying to get us to say"Yes Get it" when we havegiven you the potential problems and our honest opinion that it is not a good deal. Older Audi's are not for the faint hearted or financially strapped. They are great to drive but that comes with a big price....

I'm fully aware of things that might go wrong.. I'm not trying to tell anyone here to tell me "yes Get it" thats kinda rude... I have an extra $8K to use should something happen, Someone here might say well why not get a newer model or one with lower miles.. But yeah then I have to do the same cyles over again with the timing belt and all and so on.

I do my on work on my car I did for both my 95 Impreza and 03 Forester XS I'm not scared to get my hands dirty

I might have been harsh but certainly not rude......

Working on an AUDI is not like working on a Impreza or Forester. An Audi is much more complicated, the parts are more expensive, and figuring out what is wrong can be very hard even with a CEL. Sometimes you need special tools or the ability to make a tool to do the job.

Drivability and electrical issuesseem to be thehardest problems to fix.

There are different types of Audi owners.

One is the guy that buys a car -puts gas in it and lets someone else do all the work. Another is the guy that mods his car and drives the wheels off it. Both of which require money..Lots of money and no or little ability..

There are people with out a lot of money that unrealistically expect the car to be perfect and get really mad when it has a problem. These people usually scream about the vehicles being lemons or argue with the dealer about fixing things.


Then there is the technically proficient guy that enjoysGerman engineering andare willing to spend a lot of time keeping his car going. He usually likes to do the work himself and enjoys "cardbaord on concrete." Connected to the Techy guys are those that like working on cars and are willing to go thru the painful learning curve involved with an Audi. Both of these require some money but not as much as the first group.

There are the guys that have some money and abilityto mod their cars. These people arn't poor but they are not rich either. They like sharp wheels, spoilers,chips and free flow exhausts. They like their cars and are willing to spend much of their cash on them. But when somethingbreaks they are in trouble because there is little money available to fix the car so they start selling the parts of 20 -50% of what they paid.

Then there are the guys that get really burnt, mostly because of ego and stupidity --They purchase a used German car andfindthat when they break they cost gobs of money. They think they can do the work butfind thatthey can't , don't have the money to have someone else do it , or can't afford the parts.

There are the bottom dwellers - somewhat techinically proficient people that look for older Audis that have been taken care of and have a few good miles left. They realize that it could have a big failure at any time but are happy with squeezing the last bit of use out of the vehicle.


I realize this is an over simplification and there are many different levels between the Spend All and Stupidity guys, -- but where do you belong???




PS .. Guys like Auditech 79 are great at helping the techies and bottom dwellers keep their cars on the road-

I fit the more "cardbaord on concrete" type yes the car has a higher learning curve with it but can't let a good mind go to waste will you? Very little modding will be done (it's a 2.8 after all) from what I searched around here the suspension will be checked. I also plan on getting a Vag-com seems worth it from all the threads here.

But when you say speical tools like what tools?