here's my .02: never EVER ever EVER ever buy/sell a car to/from family or friends. this applies regardless of the condition of the car.

 

CTDriver want's us to say "Yes get the car" but very few of us are going to say that without knowing all the details - and even then it will be with a warning that many things can go wrong.

It has nothing to do with Audi's going bad after the clock turns a certain milage, it is all about what you are expecting to do with the car, how handy you are, and Audi's being complicated. Bottom line - Audi's are expensive to own and fix. There are certain things that go wrong and if you choose to over look them your certainly going to crash and burn. But even if the few things are OK there are a zillion others that can get you.

If your ego say you can't live without an Audi go for it.. or another, but stop trying to get us to say"Yes Get it" when we havegiven you the potential problems and our honest opinion that it is not a good deal. Older Audi's are not for the faint hearted or financially strapped. They are great to drive but that comes with a big price....

 

I'm fully aware of things that might go wrong.. I'm not trying to tell anyone here to tell me "yes Get it" thats kinda rude... I have an extra $8K to use should something happen, Someone here might say well why not get a newer model or one with lower miles.. But yeah then I have to do the same cyles over again with the timing belt and all and so on.

I do my on work on my car I did for both my 95 Impreza and 03 Forester XS I'm not scared to get my hands dirty

 

I might have been harsh but certainly not rude......

Working on an AUDI is not like working on a Impreza or Forester. An Audi is much more complicated, the parts are more expensive, and figuring out what is wrong can be very hard even with a CEL. Sometimes you need special tools or the ability to make a tool to do the job.

Drivability and electrical issuesseem to be thehardest problems to fix.

There are different types of Audi owners.

One is the guy that buys a car -puts gas in it and lets someone else do all the work. Another is the guy that mods his car and drives the wheels off it. Both of which require money..Lots of money and no or little ability..

There are people with out a lot of money that unrealistically expect the car to be perfect and get really mad when it has a problem. These people usually scream about the vehicles being lemons or argue with the dealer about fixing things.


Then there is the technically proficient guy that enjoysGerman engineering andare willing to spend a lot of time keeping his car going. He usually likes to do the work himself and enjoys "cardbaord on concrete." Connected to the Techy guys are those that like working on cars and are willing to go thru the painful learning curve involved with an Audi. Both of these require some money but not as much as the first group.

There are the guys that have some money and abilityto mod their cars. These people arn't poor but they are not rich either. They like sharp wheels, spoilers,chips and free flow exhausts. They like their cars and are willing to spend much of their cash on them. But when somethingbreaks they are in trouble because there is little money available to fix the car so they start selling the parts of 20 -50% of what they paid.

Then there are the guys that get really burnt, mostly because of ego and stupidity --They purchase a used German car andfindthat when they break they cost gobs of money. They think they can do the work butfind thatthey can't , don't have the money to have someone else do it , or can't afford the parts.

There are the bottom dwellers - somewhat techinically proficient people that look for older Audis that have been taken care of and have a few good miles left. They realize that it could have a big failure at any time but are happy with squeezing the last bit of use out of the vehicle.


I realize this is an over simplification and there are many different levels between the Spend All and Stupidity guys, -- but where do you belong???




PS .. Guys like Auditech 79 are great at helping the techies and bottom dwellers keep their cars on the road-

 

I fit the more "cardbaord on concrete" type yes the car has a higher learning curve with it but can't let a good mind go to waste will you? Very little modding will be done (it's a 2.8 after all) from what I searched around here the suspension will be checked. I also plan on getting a Vag-com seems worth it from all the threads here.

But when you say speical tools like what tools?