So I finally got around to putting my 99.5 1.8T back into summer mode this past weekend. After taking some glances under the car a few times I noticed that the aftermarket cat-back exhaust had rusted through a bit right before the muffler. I'm actually planning to sell (trade-in if I have to) the car before the end of the summer so I thought this would be a good chance to replace the exhaust with the stock one.

Off to the dealership I go, to find out that a stock exhaust (2 pieces) would cost me $1200 (cdn) + $300 in labour. Hahaha so forseeing something like this I took off 5 minutes down the road to a VW dealership. Guess what, they can get me the exact same parts for $900 but still cost some more for labour. Soooo I travel a bit further to a Midas Muffler. Find out they can get the parts from VW for about $100 less (still with next day shipping) and still cost a bit less in labour too. Just got back today with my new exhaust on (yea its stock but w/e) and about $600 more in my pocket...

Moral: Audi's can be expensive to maintain sometimes but only if your lazy. Take the extra day to make some more calls or try other mechanics. Do some more research online and find some DIYs and at the end of the year you'll be shopping for some new rims rather then asking your grandma for another loan...I've done that before kekekekeke.

 

I would've just custom'd it if you're selling the car and saved that much more money

 

Wait, you went out and paid someone to turn it back to stock? Why wouldn't you just leave it on there. Of course you won't get back the money you paid for the aftermarket exhaust, but you could get like another $200 at least for the car with the aftermarket exhaust compared to the stock exhaust. You should have just had it patched up. I think you just screwed yourself out of $1200+.

 

moral would be to keep your stock parts in the event you are going to put back to stock

 

Wait... So youre telling us the dealer is more expensive than anywhere else for parts and labor???? I find that hard to believe.

 

When I bought the carthe aftermarket exhaust was already on it. Plus when reselling the vehicle, you have a better chance of selling it with everything stock. It would be harder to find a buyer who would appreciatean exhaust and pay more for it.More-less I'm just trying to saythere's always a better price out there if you actually take the time to look.