Hey guys,
I was hoping to get some good info about buying a used Audi A4 and praticularly the one linked below. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated. Any tips on what to look for and what to ask when going to test drive the car would be great. I will be going this coming Saturday. Thanks!

https://thesharpestrides.com/display...hicleID=172606

 

Looks pretty nice. Its at a dealership so it should be half safe. Make sure to run your fingers along all of the panel gaps, if they are pretty rough then that panel was probably repainted. Other than that just try to get all the records you can.

 

Instead of starting a new thread, I'll commit a sin and add on to this one.

Also considering a used Audi, specifically aA4 1.8T Avant w/Tipronic. Best I can tell it's the 99.5 version. 113K miles on it.[&:]

My question is, how can I tell what package(s) the car is equipped with? VIN number? Search here seemed to say VIN doesn't help..

It has the Tiptronic auto-box with the up/down butons on the steering wheel, 16 inch alloys, leather no-power seats, sunroof.

Any help or advice appreciated.

 

you will have the cold weather package if it has heated seats, ski, sack, heated mirrors and windshield washer nozels. convienence package has home link garage thing, and other stuff. thats really all i can help ya with.
- as for the audi above, It looks nice, and it is a black car. black cars are generally worth more, so thats a plus

 

It doesn't have the heated seats so I guess that means no cold weather package. Not that I need that here in Hotlanta! How can I tell about the Sports package? Any visual giveaways? Any manufacturer's label or code I can look for??

I ran the VIN through Carfax, looks clean. Of course Carfax only catches the dumb criminals, so I'll take that with a grain of salt.

Am going to test-drive today, will look for the oil sludge on the filler cap, and oil leaks underneath. Any otherproblem areason this particular car/transmission/engine combination that I should be looking for?? I know it has no maintenance records, so if I decide to buy, I'll negotiate the need for a full timing belt/waterpump/tensioner service into the price.

Cosmetically, it's not perfect, lots of small parking lot dings. Not a dealbraker for me, my nephew owns a body shop that specializes in restorations, and does great work. A full repaint would just cost me materials.

Here are a few pics of the Avant that I'm considering.



[IMG]local://upfiles/39065/93597820748C441EA0746FD44F91D11B.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/39065/9A6F9BBDE75347DC824A317747D9D9F4.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/39065/EBAC679FADA94365ACF91A86135CB63E.jpg[/IMG]

 

Test drive didn't go so well. Pulled out of the dealer's lot (by myself, which I love!) and thought the car felt sluggish. Withina few hundredfeet, the steering was pulling strongly to the right. Flat tire!! It had looked fine sitting on the lot, but apparently had a defective schrader valve. When I immediately pulled back into the lot, they aired up the tire, but you could hear it hissing air pressure as soon as they removed the hose.

So, I'll go back later this week for a test drive once they corrrect the tire issue.

Other than the tire, other things I noticed.
Bad
-Rear window on drivers side is inop. Doesn't respond to up/down button on driver or rear door.
-Air Bag light on []
-Missing center caps on 2 alloys
-mismatched tires (all 4 are different brands) [:@]

Good
-No leaks that I could see in the lot after moving the car.
-Inside the oil cap appeared to be sludge-free

Still really undecided on this thing. Seems like a car with alot of potential, but would need some TLC. Of course that potential could be potentially good or potentially bad.

The only thing keeping me hooked into considering this A4 is the price. I think I can drive away from the lot at about $4100 for the A4, drop another $600 for matching tires, $1000 for timing belt/tensioner/wp, and have about $5500 into it.

Still need to address the airbag light and rear window, but (maybe I'm nuts) I don't see those as deal-breakers.

Thoughts??

 

4100 is not a bad deal at all, even for those annoying faults. i would say as long as it doesn't have like 150000 miles on it, jump on it.

 

Oh yeah, it's a Quattro as well, so, as Bill Murray would say,"it's got that going for it"

 

yeah... make sure it's a quattro!