I need a little advice, here's some background. My wife has an '11 Q5 2.0T and after the second oil consumption test, it failed and is in for rings and Pistons? She got a 13 A4 as a courtesy car yesterday while hers is getting fixed. I have a son who is going to be 17 in December and getting ready to take his driving test. He is pretty responsible for a 16+yr old, has been working since 15 and saving for a car. Up until yesterday he wanted a Subaru Impreza RS, but now is looking at used A4s, has around $6K plus saved.
So to the question, is there anything I should be looking at as potential issues, and what should I look to avoid? I don't want to get someone else's headache. I prefer he gets an AWD car as we live in the woods and have a longer uphill driveway that is an issue in the winter. Also, he would prefer a stick shift, he wants to learn how to drive one. My wife and I agree that will keep his hands busy so he might not be tempted to be playing with his phone while driving, but it's not a deal breaker. Thanks in advance for the replies

 

80 reads and not one piece of advice?

 

Best bet is to read the stickies and start looking around what would be in his price range. Once you narrow it down to the model (B6, B7 most likely) then you can read the stickies in those forums.

Some will tell you that Audi's are expensive to maintain. I really don't see a huge difference. I might have been luckly with mine though. The one thing more expensive is oil changes. A4s use fulll synthetic where others can get by with regular oil. In my case that doesn't matter as I use full synthetic in both of my cars making the cost the same in my Audi and my wifes Kia.

1.8 you need to look out for sludge and 2.0 need timing belts done around 100k and that can run $1k (I had mine done for just a tick over $900).

6 speeds are much harder to find than autos. You already said you wanted AWD as most here would say stay away from the FWD.

 

Thanks rhodes991, we found an 02 we are going to look at, manual with 120k. Doesn't say if it's 5 or 6 speed, looks pretty clean. My nephew is going with us, he has an 02 Jetta VR6 and had a 1.8 prior to that. He went to ATC for mechanics and just finished BMW school so he has a better idea what he is looking at. I will heed your advice and look forum specific, thanks again