My friend found this 98 a4 turbo. its got 150k on it and the guy is looking for 5995$. Hes wondering what would be good things to look for and if this is a good deal. He also found a 97 a4 with the 12v v6 with 125k onit and the guy wants the same amount. so hes wondering what he should look for in these cars and if these are reasonable prices. thanks for your help

 

i would say about 5-6g for both would be fair, i personally would go with the 12v because its a very reliable engine. although i like 1.8t better mostly, thats just because of the things you can do them, i would be alittle hesitant on putting any money into an engine with 150 on it. make sure he gets the front suspension checked out on both (tie rod ends controll arms, engine mounts) that has been my only problem with my 96 12v

 

I got my laser red 97 A4 1.8T Quattro Auto w/ Premium (Bose), Winter, and Sport packages @ 118K for $4750. Try to beat that deal.

 

timing belt. If it hasn't been done twice, it's about to make itself known. If your friend is into performance, he'll kill himself if he buys the 12V. That 1.8T has a lot of miles on it; I wouldn't hit it unless he could prove that it's been impeccably maintained. It's a cheap purchase, but he'd run into problems sooner or later.

 

how did you get such a good deal on your car, where did you find it?

 

I will chime in here with a small amout of personal experience.... I just recently purchased a 99 A4 1.8TQM with 156K on it. I was warned on these forums before I bought it that it could get expensive to maintain. I had found that the car had routine oil changes between 2500 and 4000 miles all its life. It had 117K miles on it when the timing belt left loose and it did a nice job on the valves. (and for everyone else thats reading this- this was the first and only t-belt change... at 117K!!!) This cost the previous owner $3K. So I weighed that in my decision and bought the car for just over $6K. I am still unsure if I made a good choice, but I do really like the car. I figured that if the top of the motor is virtually new, and with the regular oil changes, I might be safe to make some mods to it some day, but not until I change the timming belt again. If you hang around these forums for any length of time everyone will have you paranoid about the timming belt issue, I know I am. Check the maintence records, should show at least one t-belt change and be prepared to do another if its only been done once. Good luck with your decision.