Hi,
I am currently in the market for a 1997 to 1999 a4 quatro 2.8...I am a college student and being so have a budget. I can aford the cost of the car/insurance/gas and misc charges. My only fear is that I am looking at an audi with 109k miles and don't want to get into a car that is going to require thousands of dollars every month. What have your guys experinces been with repair cost/parts cost/reliability of higher milage a4's. I am very familiar with honda and can pretty much do any maintance required myself. I am sure there will be a learning curve but I plan on doing most the maintance myself. I just don't want to get into a car I love and then have to sell it because I can't aford to give it what it deserves. Thank you for any input on the manner.

 

well i'm 16 and i have a 98 2.8 qautro, my insurance is 220 a month full coverage, so i'm guessing yours will be cheaper, maintnence can cost and arm and a leg from what i've experienced to far, but i'm sure u can find a place other than audi that can service it. My only concern about it having 109k on the clock is the qautro system, those engines seem pretty bulletproof to me if serivced and kept up of course, you may be looking a a perfectly good audi or you may be looking at a peice of trash, i would see how much you could find out on the service history

 

Hate to tell you, but go buy a Honda Civic or a Toyota Corolla.

Audis are fun to drive, but not fun to repair, especially on a fixed budget. Costs are high, very few aftermarket parts, and reliability vs Toyota or Honda is ummmm....questionable.

How does 56 dollars for 4 OEM spark plugs grab you, or 28 dollars for a gallon of antifreeze, or the 500 dollar control arm repair?
Nope, if you have to ask, you can't afford.

I love driving my audi. But I bought it mentally prepared to spend 1500 a year in repairs. I don't think that I spent a total of 1500 dollars in repairs in the 300K miles I drove my Camry.

Insurance rates for the car are OK, depends more on you.

 

So far mine has been pretty solid. I've had my timing belt replaced but this was a preventative measure..it didn't break. That was the biggest cost on the thing and it ran me $700 cuz I was too lazy to try to do it myself and it was too cold anyways. The driving experience is by far the most superior to anything I've had the pleasure of sitting in. No it won't cost you thousands a month..but repairs can get costly so baby it every step of the way(good gas, proper warm up and cool down, oil changes..everything you should be doing with your car anyways).

-T

 

If you go for the 2.8 make sure you get a 30V.. and if your getting one with 110k on the odometer make sure you replace the timing belt right away. And yeah for an example on how much things cost.. I bought a 96 with 105k on it and had to replace the alternator that was 400 bucks just for the alternator!!! Well good luck with whatever decision you decide to make

 

You bring up an intresting point I forgot to ask. Is there much difference in the reliability of the 30v vs the single cam?

This may not be the best place to ask but can you recomend any other cars that rent as ricer (wrx) and are still awsome in the snow around this price? I obviously love the audi for its handling but I don't want to get into. I most likely will still get the audi, just want to explore everything fully and no what I am getting into. Thanks for helping out this newbie

 

I would recommend the 30V because its more tunable.. and seems to have more parts readily available for it..plus it has some more ponies

 

The 12V is a more reliable engine than the 30V. While the 30V is more tunable, the 12V has more aftermarket performance upgrades on the market. The only "out of the box" tuning for the 30V is a supercharger, on yeah and a chip that gives next to no power (8hp).

 

If you are in college, you are well on your way to learing about delayed gratification. Buy what you can afford, and leave some money in the bank for emergencies.

Other than the mortgage for my house, I've never taken out a loan and paid off the credit cards at the end of the month. If I couoldn't pay cash, I would either wait until I saved up some more $$$$, or lower my expecations a bit.

If you do buy the Audi, make sure you leave money in the bank for emergency repairs. No sense having a nice driving car that sits in your driveway because you can't afford to have a part replaced.