im looking to pick up an 95-01 A4. but my thing is i set my self a 6k buget on the car itself so itll leave me room for basic maintance and some mods when i do get it. i see alot of cars in my area with 190+ miles on them. what problems would these cars come with. mainly all highway miles. im just curious what any B5 would suffer from at this age? my plan is to get one around 80-100k miles but like i said...im curious. thanks.

 

depends on how well the previous owner took care of it. perfectly maintained these cars can see 200k+ no problem but i wouldn't trust the car was that well maintained. the 100k mile range is a good place to look. should be able to find one for 6 or 7k. just leave enough money to account for basic maintenance, and get one with the timing belt already done. its gota be done every ~75k and it costs around 700 unless you DIY.

 

ok thanks. so basicly around 100k. timing belt already done. and hopefully no sand in the engine(to polish the ports)? gotcha...

 

DON'T BUY FROM A STEALERSHIP. The buissness i work for also has an auction liscence and i can get a 2001-2 low mileage audi for 6k. I would never though. I've seen so many horendous jury rigs done. We buy our work vans from there. 1 caught fire the same week when a crappily welded on oil line broke dumpin oil on the engine. My boss bought a Camaro convertible cause it looked so hot and was 2 good 2 pass up. It 2 caught fire. Every van we get from there has serious **** wrong with it that wouldn't be worth ti if we didn't have a mechanic on staff. Trannies filled with Lucas that is toast a week after you leave the lot. An engine with toasted valves that they played with th timeing to get it 2 run decent until we bought it. IMHO the best way to buy used is from a private seller with full records on the car. Preferably someone who says mileage subject to change which means they drive it everyday without problem and it hasn't been sitting around. If the seller is askin a fair price,i test drive it and poke around and a mechanic checks it out only then will i buy. I couldn't see spending 6k on a car with 190k miles though. Stuff is bound 2 crap out. Theres better deals to be had just wait. .02

 

yeah and having a shop check it out and do a compression test is a good investment too.

 

yea id get a carfax and take it to the dealership to get the 100point inspection i think it was. something like that. and if the seller isnt all for that then the car isnt for me.

 

dealership will charge you out the *** for an inspection. have an independent mechanic do it

 

ok

 

and a carfax won't tell you anything about accidents or anything unless they are reported correctly,butitwould tell you something DMV related lik ifthe car ever had a salvage title...but a carfax will tell you the previous owner(s), date(s) and mileage at the time of the car's previous transactions.

 

thanks for the input guys. i may actually look into a wagon as well. something a little different