Hello, Im a new member here.
I:m thinking of getting an Audi. Its a 1996 A6 2.8 Quattro with 98k miles.
The car is Auto and the private seller wants 5k dollars. Im located in New York.
Basically, I was wondering what are the common problems, things I would need to fix/replace and I should check before purchasing the car. I never owned an Audi or drove one. How is the gas mileage? Im thinking of buying this car or 1996 A4 1.8 with 110k miles for about 4500 dollars. Please provide me with many information or links as possible, thanks!

 

welcome to the forums man. where in ny are you located. There are stickys at the top of the page to answer a lot of your questions or you could try a search. Main thing is timing belt needs to be done, will cost about 1,000 to change at dealership. If you go to cars.com and search information it will tell you all the specs of the car.

 

With cars at those mileages make sure the timing belt has been replaced, along with the water pump and tensioners. also I'd jack the car up and see if you can wiggle the wheel with your hands. If you can you are going to need to replace the control arms as well.

2.8 is going to be overall more reliable
1.8 is going to have a few more problems (due to the turbo) but you can mod it to be a much faster car with not that much money or time involved (good luck stopping there)


hope that helps!

 

I got mine off of ebay for 5300, it's a 1998 1.8t quattro tiptronic with 130k. Basically what you need to decide first is if you are going to want to mod this car very little or have the ability to do a lot. If you say you only want to mod a little buy the 2.8 if you want to have the chance to mod it then go with a 1.8t - a semi-modded 1.8t will put out just as much as a stock 2.8 and get better gas mileage. I'm not sure I'm the person to ask about gas mileage because I have a quattro but the best I've seen is 26mpg hwy.

Things to look into

#1!!! timing belt has been replaced - stock ones should fail after 70k-90k
If your thinking something might be wrong its always a good idea to take it to an Audi shop - private shop or dealer - and have it looked over.

Good luck

 

I'd try to get the price down a little but thats not too bad. There are no 96 1.8T (USA), they started in 97. If you can't decide read this. Personally I'd get the 1.8T.

 

If he has decent maintenacne records, then you are in good shape, go for it.
This year and mileage you're looking at t-belt, and suspension as areas of concern. If he has records of these being done, your in great shape.