Hey,

I am just about to get my first car, and an Audi a4 ( 97ish) is in the race. My only problem is that many of these late to mid 90's cars have like 120k miles plus on them.

How many miles on an a4 is too many before it becomes *sigh* unreliable ?

thanks

 

First of all... Welcome to the forum in9007!

There is no such mileage number that "officially" consigns an Audi as unreliable. It is all up to the previous owner's driving habits and maintenance discipline.

I'd search the archives under several kinds of topics to get a better idea of what to look for when buying and what to expect as an owner. This kind of question has come up several times in just the last two months.

Post exactly what year, which engine you are looking at, and the asking price; then we can give you some better advice on that particular car.

 

I know a lot of it is personal prefernce and whether or not you plan on reselling this car or just keeping it til it dies. I've talked to a lot of A4 owners who take care of their cars and tout the fact that they are more pleased with its performace at 100k miles than they were at 50k miles. Some of the things you have to take into consideration is whether or not you will be modding the car (nothing severe) enough to keep on top of its game. But by far the most important thing you need to consider is how well the pervious owner took care of the car. Even spend a few extra bucks and subscribe to a service that gives extensive vehicle history.

Obviously you shouldn't really expect a car with that many miles on it to blow you out of the water or have and extensive life thereafter, but if you put in the time to make sure the car was well taken car of, and you too are willing to go the extra mile to make sure it stays in good shape, I can't think of any reason why you shouldn't be confident in your decision.

I hate to be devil's advocate, but I've found that if you really wanna get a good idea about something, listen to the bad things people have to say about it because people who love it are just going to tell you what you already know. But don't take the negatives as discouraging, rather, look at it in a constuctive way to come to your conclusion.

Happy hunting

 

Excellent point.