Please forgive my newbie questions here. I'm sure you get one of these posts every few days. I am the proud owner of a 97 BMW M3. I love it to death, but alas, I am moving to Utah and rear wheel drive is not going to cut it in the winter and getting a winter car in addition to the M3 is out of the question. I think an A4 Quattro is probably going to be my best bet. I am looking at 97 to 2000 models and am wondering what ya'll would suggest as far as 1.8T vs 2.8, as far as reliability, fuel economy, ease of mods, chips etc. What years are what, ie. B5, B6 etc. Is there anything I should look out for, common problems, things to avoid, things to look for. If you had 8-12 grand to drop into an A4, what would you get?

 

Get a 99.5 Audi A4 1.8T for Modding
otherwise get a 2.8L 30V V6 for Reliablity.

The MPG is pretty comparable but I think if you dont hammer on it you can get better MPG in a 1.8T

150HP/150TQ stock 1.8T chipped = about 200HP/230TQ

Control arms, wheel bearings are known to go bad. Just get the service records and MAKE SURE HE CHANGED THE DAMN OIL.

96-01 = B5 either 1.8T, or 2.8L V6 (in 96 there was a 12V V6 instead of the 30V)
02-05.5 = B6
06+ = B7

Alot of things can go wrong in any car.. just make sure you service it and treat it right.

 

InsaneHatter, thank you very much, this is just what I need to know. When you say 99.5 A4 1.8T, I'm assuming you are talking about the year, is there a difference between 99.5 and say 97?

 

There's a difference bet 99 and 99.5

 

what's the dif?

 

99 has 2 piece headlights foglight are in the headlights different dash layout

 

http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/a4/diff/