I'm thinking of getting an A4. Wife wants a 2.8 with a stick. What goes wrong on a car of this age? (probably will have 70k - 85k miles). What are the weak spots? What is the recommended timing belt interval? Things like that. Thanks for the help.

Jim Dresser
Rochester NY
'98 BMW M3
'88 Porsche 944 Turbo S
and lots of others.....

 

problems will depend on previous owner and how well he took care of the car. timing belt is about 80k or so. so when you buy it ask if it had it changed already, if not put it on the top of your to do list along with the water pump and possibly fuel filter. also keep in mind there are practically no mods for the 2.8 and if ur wife plans on doing anything to the car your better off with the 1.8T.

 

also check the timing belt and see when it was last replaced.

 

The anti-lock breaks systems in the B5 a4s sucks ballz. Mine has been shot since about 60k miles and i havent bothered to replace it yet... who needs em anyway lol if im every in a sticky situation I just tap the breaks fast. Anyway Im not the only person who experienced this... its a very common thing with the years u are looking at.

 

Yea, 2.8 is more reliable than the turbo but, timing belt will be more expensive to replace. The recommended audi intervall is something like 110k miles but, people have f'ed up their engines at even 60k so definatelly have that done....will prolly be in the 1 grand range as far as price goes. Control arms are **** and get screwed up on our cars often too. Abs unit was mentioned. I am not too sure about the dbw and ndbw for 2.8's but for 1.8 best year would be 99.5.