I have been cruising the forums now for a couple of months and have finally come to the point where I am seriously looking at a 2002 Ming Blue Pearl A4 with a five speed. I love the A4 B6 sedans but I have always loved sport wagons (from any manufacturer). Problem is, A4 Avants with a manual and a 1.8t are not very common in my area of the country (Western New York). I don't have the time to fly out to the west coast just to get my hands on a 5 speed Avant, not to mention I drive for a living and a coast to coast trip does nothing for me anymore. So my question is, if I do decide to buy an Avant with an automatic, rather than a sedan with a 5 speed what are the draw back besides alot of the after market exhuasts I have looked at only fit a manual. Will an automatic hold up when I start upgrading the car (chip and injectors, and hopefully a K04 turbo in the not too distant future). Or will one of the only draw back be that I will have to look a little harder to find a quality aftermarket exhaust for the car. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

the auto tranny can't handle more than around 300 ft lbs of tq. a k04 with the basic file would be fine. u should talk to onepoint8tee. he's in the process of doin a k04 on his tip right now. as for exhaust just go custom

 

i have been trying to research cuze i have a 97 A4 1.8t, seeems like the automatic transmission can handle around 250hp, and my car has 135k miles and still shifts smoother than anything i have driven. now the triptronic transmission i gues can handle reasonable more hp, not sure what exact number is, but thats my 2 cents

 

there are things you can do to the tranny so it will hold as much as you want but it costs ya... a level 10 kit will make er pretty much bullet proof

 

ya but you give me the money u were going to spend on a level 10 tranny and i'll go pick up a manual avant for u

 

I appreciate the response guys, I guess just be a little more patient and wait to see what comes along on autotrader as far as manual Avants go. Thanks again.

 

Where in upstate NY are you? I ran into a similar problem....

I was dead-set on getting a 2.8 rather than a 1.8T (long term maintainence costs, reliability, etc.) But since the factory builds such large portion of the 2.8's with automatic trannys, I had a tough time finding a used 2.8 manual. Eventually, I found a car that had everything I wanted (milage, price, options, color, etc)....everything except a maual tranny. I made the compromise and bought it. It's definitely not the same as a stick, and I don't think anyone will tell you that it is. Just depends how important it is to you.

I know my tiptronic (2001) can handle right around 300HP, so i could still run a supercharger if I wanted to. But you'll doubtlessly shorten its overall lifespan by pushing its limits.

 

I know what you are saying Jazz, I don't want to buy an automatic if all the upgrades will put it against its operational limits, just doesn't make sense. So I guess I'll just bide my time and keep searching, its not like I desparetly need a new car, just wanted to do a basic upgrade so to speak (then again anything is an upgrade from a 2000 Cavalier). As for what part of upstate, I live about 45 miles due south of Buffalo, NY. Maybe 100 miles west of The Glenn. What about you?

 

haha... I wish... Im still trying to figure out what file they can use with my ecu if i put a k04 in. No tuner's can give me a clear answer... But ya I wouldnt do more than a k04 and i would only do the basic file with a tip chip. I really dont think the tip could handle an aggressive k04 file reliably without a level10 upgrade.

 

Yeah, Rochester NY here.

If you have the time, I'd say wait it out. That was my problem...I needed a car, and fast. My previous car (1990 Toyota Corolla) had developed a nasty gas leak, so I couldn't really drive it around for months while I waited for my "perfect car" to come on the market. I really didn't want to dump another $400 into a new tank either, my overall search for a car lasted about 2.5 weeks before i bought one.

If you're willing to make the drive, there's a few places here you could check out:

CDI - www.cdicars.com (I think) - they're a tuner shop outside of Rochester carries a small inventory of imports. They do great work, but a tad pricey for routine maintanece. I'd feel very comfortable buying a car from them, and they're definitely doing my timing belt if I don't do it myself.

Sutherland Automotive - (try google for their webpage) - A decent selection, but probably not my first choice as they have a reputation for being a bit shady. Definitely worth looking at though.

John Holtz Audi - One of the biggest dealers in Rochester, this is where I got my car. Expect to pay a "big dealer" price, but there's always room to haggle, and my deal ended up being pretty good. Don't trust their "certified pre-owned" at all, mine had a few obvious problems with it...but to their credit, they were very good about fixing them.