Hi all,

My friend and I were browsing car dealerships, when all of a sudden we both spotted a black '01 Audi A4 Quattro sitting out in the lot. This car is a thing of beauty. Strangely enough, this was the only car out there without a price tag on it. We go online and find out it's about $9,000. Now I reeeeally want to jump on this opportunity and buy it, but I also found another black '01 A4 Quattro for a similar price.

Here are the main differences:

First car
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Manual
99,717 miles
$8,995
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Second car
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Automatic
46,382 miles
$11,995
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I checked the histories of each car and the only difference was that the first car had two previous owners, while the second car only had one previous owner. No accidents.

Which one do you guys think would be a better purchase? I'm fine with either transmission and I'm not too worried about resale value if I ever sell it.

Thanks a ton,
Henry

 

given that your not worried whether or not its auto or manual... if you can afford the extra cash, go with the second audi, the automatic.
you can probably get the second audi down in price some too.
if your a college student and might ever be struggling with money i wouldnt buy an audi. because it seems to me like you either get lucky with an audi and dont have problems with it.. or you dont get lucky at all andyour audi becomes a money pit where replacing things never ends.
But if you have the money then go for the second,AND if you dont think you'll ever have a problem replacing things every now and then.. just in case. I'm not saying you'll have to.. it's a low mileage car you may never have a problem with it. The resale value of the second car will obviously be more in later years just because it will most likely (i guess not in some cases) always have less miles than the first car.

Second audi for sure though if the extra moneyisnt in your worries.

 

I kinda have a preference for manual, but you sound sure in your argument for the automatic car. I always thought Audis were pretty solidly built? Enough so that they wouldn't be that worn out by the 100k mile mark? What parts would I be looking forward to repairing then?

Thanks!

 

well wait... 1.8T? or 2.8?

the 2.8 V6 is a more reliable platform than the 1.8T

and yesssss audis are solidily built.. there's a few guys on the forums with 150k+ on their cars and still running strong. yet some had a lot of problems getting there and others had none. IMO it seems like theres no rhyme or reason to audis and why they break down.

 

1.8t

 

will money ever be a problem?

another thing.. if you don't need the car immediately, it might be wise to not pounce on the first option you have and look around some more.. the b5's can go for pretty cheap with reasonable miles

 

Unless I end up spending thousands to constantly repair broken things, no.

 

Also, I've been looking around online for other possibilities and I narrowed it down to these two.

Maybe the problems that arise depend on the owner? I won't be redlining or anything close to that. Just some in-town cruising and a few long distance drives back home.

 

no 2.8's?

and i'm not saying spending thousands on repairs is typical, but if your going to invest in an audi i would be prepared for it just to cover your own ****.

have you checked out craigslist?

yes a lot of the problems you would encounter would depend on how the previous owner took care of it. if he was up to date on maintainence and took good care of the car, you really shouldnt have much to worry about. if you take care of your car your car will take care of you.

wait until tomorrow around noonish and you'll have a lot more repsonses than from 1 person at 5 AM ET

 

hahaha yeah but youve given me a lot of help already
ill go through the craigslist listings

thanks a lot man!