The car is fully loaded, leather seats, sliding roof, etc. Is there any reason why the AWD quattro books for so much more? I wouldn't consider paying the 4k if it wasn't booked at 4.5 already with all the options selected.

Performance isn't a concern as much as reliability, and the car's timing belt was just replaced so it sounds like regular maintenance should keep it running for quite awhile, any thoughts on that?

 

I'll put it to you like this.

Like with any used vehicle, you will run into problems sooner or later. Hopefully later, but you never know. 4,000 for this car is a lot in my book, but your trying to buy it at a stealership, no wonder. If you really like the car and need it, go ahead.

I would personally wait it out and buy one at auction. The thing with buying at auctions, the car tends to need more work but if you get it at the right price it makes sense.

See if you cant bump the price down.

 

It's a small dealer, he was also the mechanic that replaced the valve covers and did most of the work on it.. After trade on my current (crappy 94 cutlass) car I'm down to 3k to actually pay. Sorry to sound like I'm arguing with advice I asked for, but at only 3k into the car after trade it seems to be a decent deal

 

Since it's not an Audi dealer, you should make sure they replaced the hydraulic tensioner when they replaced the belt. If not, definitely move on or have them replace it at no extra cost. The physical belt usually lasts longer than the tensioner and if either fails, you're done.

I mentioned the lack of performance upgrades as a warning to you as many people buy and then ask which BOV works best.

 

I wouldn't be buying a B5 from a dealer, these cars are too old for the dealer circuit these days so they tend to be trade ins or bought stupidly cheap for whatever reason. If you like the carf, by all means buy it, but IMO a better deal for a better car could be had.

 

I just purchased a 99 a4 2.8 Avant. The car is everything I dreamed and more. Take it to a euro shop and have it checked out. It will cost u $100 but worth the price of mind. Also I believe the tensioner on these can be changed without taking the timing belt off. Could be wrong but don't think so.....

 

It could be, if you anchor the tension with some other contraption and guarantee that you don't take the engine out of time, keep everything lined up, then lever like crazy against the tensioner roller while you use your third and fourth hands to monkey the new tensioner in place...and then later on you can curse yourself out when the water pump goes and you just have to tear the whole ******* thing apart again, when you could have saved yourself all that time, hassle, and aggravation by just replacing all the timing components the first time...

 

I concur. I have the old 12V version, which is even simpler and more reliable than the 30V.

On these cars, I would be far more concerned about the driveline -- leaking seals, worn-out CV joints, pending transmission failure, etc.

 

The other reason I hate buying any car from a dealer instead of the owner is the loss of maintenance records and history. In used car shopping, the ideal scenario is buying directly from the original owner. While inspecting the car, you are also actively interviewing the owner. Case in point -- we bought the 1996 eight years ago from the original owner, who had just replaced it with a newer version of the same thing. We saw his house, how he maintains his cars, etc., and it has been a pretty good ownership experience for us so far. He disclosed that it had been lightly sideswiped by a slow moving UPS truck and partially repainted on the left side -- sure enough, a few years later the paint along the upper left edge of the roof and boot area is cracking, even though the original factory paint elsewhere still looks remarkably good after 17 years.