Hey everyone, Im new to Audi Forums and Euro cars too. I have experience around japanese and some american performance cars.

Im looking into selling my current car (nissan) and buying a used Audi. I have estimated 10,000 budget to purchase a used car. I've narrowed it down to the b5 generation A4. Im looking for a good daily driver and weekend auto-x-er.

Which engine do you reccomend? 2.8L v6 or 1.8t ? Keep in mind that the car may have 75-100K miles. Which engine is easier to work on, and better suited for Auto-X? I plan on only doing mild engine upgrades as I am still in college and on a tight budget as is.

Im thinking Quattro for sure, and manual trans is a must.

What is there to look for when selected a used A4? Obviously timing belt and water pump around 60K are expected.

How do these cars compare to other german cars as far as user friendly? Ive worked on a friend's 3rd body Jetta 2.0L, half shaft/axle wasnt too bad, but waterpump was an absolute nightmare!!!

Overall, the A4 Q seems like the perfect candidate for my next car. I want something reliable with a good combonation of performance / luxury, with room for 4 adults and cargo. Im looking forward to getting into something with comparable performance, but much nicer overall then my 1990 nissan 240sx.

Thanks in Advance!
-Mike

 

Well if you want to Auto-x def the 1.8t. The 2.8 (as i know from first hand experience) has very little mods available besides a chip that doesn't give you too much and a $5k supercharger. Quattro is a nice thing to have. B5's don't have the greatest rear seat leg room...but it's doable.

 

Mike,

You want a 1.8tq manual.

It is what I have, and I love the setup. I do not autocross (yet), but my car could sure handle it.

You can search the site for all the details, but this is the car you want. Ironically, I have a Nissan as well, a 90 300zx. I love both cars.

The audi is probably the most nicely engineered car that i have owned. I would call it "mechanical harmony". And the B5 1.8 can be heavily modded.

Check out the 10.8 second a4 at www.tappauto.com to see what I mean.

The cars can be set up amazingly well. Mine has coilovers, and it handles like its on rails.

You sound like you've done some homework, and are capable of doing some DIY. If that is the case, get this car, you will love it.

let us know what you end up with.

 

if you want minimal mods, and seeing as you are a college student, i would say go 2.8. smoother car with generally more reliability than the 1.8t. find a nice 2.8 and do some "look good mods" i dont mean rice it out. i mean painted lowers, lip spoiler etc..... and enjoy your Audi. i should have gone 2.8 but i bought the 1.8T(2001) because i got a good deal. i say this because i am not big on mods for my Audi. hope my .02 helps.
Nick

 

wanna trade?

 

thank you all for the quick replies.

My plans would be to do mild performance mods (intake/chip/coilovers/brakes) and in the future step up to supercharger (2.8L) or turbo/fuel upgrade (1.8L)
Besides lowering ride height, clean exterior mods would be done soon as well.

I do have a thing for turbo 4 bangers though. Ive owned a 1997 Mitsu eclipse GST and my current Nissan has a 2.0L turbo. For Auto-X I think that a flat, useable powerband is perferred over a peaky one. However, being user friendly and reliable come before dyno charts.

Reliability is a huge reason Im going to sell my current car. It seems little things go wrong every week, and maintenance parts are very difficult to find for my engine.

 

Ive done some researching in the last week or so on A4s. That is how I came across this forum. I feel comfortable doing nearly any DIY project in my garage. However I am still skeptical about the German cars being hard to work on. The stereotype in my head goes something like: Amazing engineering, but expensive parts and difficult design to work on.

When I do get an A4, pics will be up here that same day.

 

When I sit in the driver's seat, my 240 has no backseat. lol

 

I dont agree completely. Parts are a little more, I dont feel its any harder to work on than any other car. Every car has certain parts that are hard to get to. One car might be hard to work on the waterpump, while another car the waterpump is easy but the alternator is a beotch. So, its all relative.

So far on mine I have done tie-rod ends (easy), replaced the ICM (easy), and the timing belt and water pump (not very hard but time consuming the first time around).

So, I think you will find its not too bad, especially if your a DIY type. Most of the people that complain are the ones that can't do any maintenance themselves at all, and have to get raped by the dealer for everything.

 

The water pump is driven by the timing belt on 1.8t? Im going to price a bunch of matience parts when I go into work tonight (advance auto parts)

Thanks for all the replies guys. Im pretty set on 1.8t Q.

For 1.8t, which years had which power output and what were the differneces mechanically?