I'll be in the market for a daily driver soon... and I want something I can tinker a little with, something I can take to an autox every once in a while, or a track day when my v8 914 (PM me if you want details... I'll start another thread for that if theres intrest..no highjacking here) is broke.

~begin semi intro~
Ive been driving around a 86 944 turbo for 5 years... Im a very good mechanic, and welder/fabricator. I am a huge turbo guy (I would twin turbo my 914 if I could afford a trani to handle it.. lol) and know how to tinker with them, I tuned my dads 944 turbo with a t04 with a piggypack system. Needless to say, I know enough to say im not a newbie to cars...
~end semi intro~

BUT i am a newbie to this forum, and it looks like you guys have a good "situation" going... Needless to say, i'll jump back into my main topic and say...

Why do you guys drive a Audi a4?

Would you suggest a 1.8t or 2.8?

How reliable are they? How long do the engine's last? What about timing belts? What about suspension?

Anyone take their car to the road courses? How does the suspension and bearings hold up?

How overengineered is the car? How much hp can the internals take? What about the trani and AWD system?

What products are out there for engine performance? (a thread link is cool here.. I know its an overly discussed topic)

What about fuel economy? I've been reading 32mpg online.. anyone actually achieving that on the highway? What about around town?

How about routine maintenence? How expensive are parts?

Thanks again.

Andrew

 

First off get the 1.8t. the sky is the limit with it. the 2.8 well you cant mod that worth crap other then a supercharger and even then its still slower then a bt 1.8t
They are reliable if you take care of them. its like a lady treat her right and she will treat you right. on the other hand if you ignor her she will screw you over
timing belt at 60-70k intervals
you will likely get coilovers if you track her. or some kind of suspension up grade
lots of people race the cars. they hold up well
overengineere?
i ran 337whp on stock internals at 21psi. never dyno'ed it when i was running 40psi but im sure i was making some big numbers
tons of upgrades are aval for the 1.8t
if you go big turbo kiss the gas good by. you will have good mileage if you dont race all around town
parts are a bit more expensive but they wont kill you. routine maintenence needs to be done but its not that bad again

 

Why do you guys drive a Audi a4?
Quattro, comfort, style, rating on the kickass-o-meter

Would you suggest a 1.8t or 2.8?
1.8t for modding, 2.8 for reliability

How reliable are they? How long do the engine's last? What about timing belts? What about suspension?
They will last a long time with the proper maintenance. A guy on another forum just hit 200k in his A4. If the timing belt goes, expect to pay for a new head.

How overengineered is the car? How much hp can the internals take? What about the trani and AWD system?
The rods can take about 350hp. After that they've been known to snap and go through the block. The tranny and awd have seen 500hp with an upgraded clutch with very few problems.

What products are out there for engine performance?
https://www.audiforums.com/m_55694/tm.htm

What about fuel economy? I've been reading 32mpg online.. anyone actually achieving that on the highway? What about around town?
Not since I upgraded my turbo.

How about routine maintenence? How expensive are parts?
If you do it yourself it'll be a lot less expensive. Depends on what parts really. Take a look around the ECS tuning site. They have a lot of the more common parts that go bad.

 

luxury + quattro
if you wana mod it 1.8T. if you want more reliability but no significant mods shy of a supercharger get the 2.8
as reliable as you are. there are a4's out there with over 200k miles so the engine is real strong. timing belt around 70k for pre 99.5. 80-90k for 99.5+ (due to upgraded tensioner)
suspension ain't really my thing. sry
i think around 400 hp is its limit. already has forged internals and can handle 30-40 psi. auto trannies can handle about 300 ft lbs of torque at most. manual trannies are damn near indestructible. Quattro is the best AWD system ot there (at least i think so, tho evo's are getting damn impressive)
city i get about 18 but i got a heavy right foot. highway i get about 420 miles to the tank
parts are not that much more expensive than typical car parts. its the labor that is really expensive, but since you know your way around a car you wont have to worry about that. as for routine maintenence http://www.bentleypublishers.com/tech/audi/

check out the link in my sig. it'll prolly answer a lot of your questions

 

Everything Chaos said.. and I get 21-18 miles to the gallon, but again I redline 90% of my gears!

 

The rods are cast and skinny as hell. The pistons are forged.

 

once you drive one you will know why we love them...

 

You should also watch this.

and this one.

 

duh, i make A4's great.

 

We love audi for the same reasons you love porsche, except audi adds the luxury to the mix.

Its a great all around performer, and a great base to begin modding from. Get the 1.8t.