I'm in the market for a used manual A4 for less then 20K. I'm currently drive a 2000 Honda Prelude with mods enough to net mid 14's with FWD. My wife and I are having our first child, so the Prelude has gtg and I want a nice sporty sedan.

I'll be buying a quattro equiped car with either motor . . .Which is better for mild tunning? Which is better for long term use? The 1.8T or the 2.8 V6?

Lastly, how important is the DBW feature?

 

yo man i personally have the 18tq and i like it alot and there is alot more tuning for the 18t

 

Hey, welcome to the forums.

The 1.8t is going to be the best bet for just abut any amount of tuning. The 2.8 has no good mods other than the supercharger kit (~$5K bucks). The 2.8 engines usually are more hassle free than the 1.8t engines and have less problems in the long run. I don't think the DBW is really a feature at all. It's not really a perk to the driver.

 

Humm. . . .

It seems the 1.8T is the way to go. . .what a bummer, I found a clean clean 2.8q with sport and premium package for cheap. I have also found a few more manual V6 cars the 1.8t cars. Are the 1.8T's much lighter then the 2.8 model?

If this is the general rule though, I mayl opt for a 1.8T as I do want to do a bit of tunning.

 

Yup, it seems like there are hardly any companies that cater to the 2.8 crowd.

From your background with Preludes, you'll be familiar with getting the intake, DV, exhaust, chip, possibly bigger turbo etc.

check out some sites-

www.awe-tuning.com
www.lltek.com
www.goapr.com

or just use search feature on this site to find much more.

Good luck with finding a car.

 

If your running 14s now with your prelude you will want to beat that or atleast stay about the same. There 2 most popular turbos are the ko4 and the t-28 serios. You will get of the line quicker with the ko4, but the t-28 will reel you in and makes more power. The ko4 is better for autocross and twisties. But for all out speed you want the t-28, its also not as driver friendly then the ko4. I run the ko4 and it is great because I like to autocross. The ko4 spools faster too.

 

I would go with the b5 1.8T...

1) way more tuning...

2) chip puts it up to a 2.8 and better I think cause turbo charged

3) I opted for a 2000 cause I prefered all the interior options and the package

4) you may wanna look at the 2001 b5 cause they uped the horses to 170 stock as opposed to the 150 most of us had stock...I didnt know this til after I bought mine..

5) either way your gonna love your ride and will never wanna go back to other import tuners...theres nothing like handling your audi through the mountains...

 

OMG, you guys have made me excited about the A4 much more then b4.

I'm going to try my hardest to get my hands on a 1.8Tq instead of the 2.8q. I drove the 2.8q manual and it was fun but sedated at the same time. I didn't feel much faster then my Mom's 04 1.8Tq Tiptronic which was suprising to me.

Love the car though, oh so much nicer then my $25,000 Honda.

 

The 1.8t motor is fun. I have drove several but never in a quattro car that day is coming soon .

 

congrats!