I recently purchased a 2001 B5 A4 1.8T and I am really impressed with the vehicle. It returned over 30 mpg on a road trip, yet has power to spare when you need it. I love the fact that it gets Honda Civic gas mileage, but rides a lot quieter and has much better driving characteristics.

Just got done replacing some maintenance items like timing belt, tensioners, water pump, alternator, vacuum hoses, breather hoses, air pump hoses, O2 sensors, combi valve, and MAF. Not that there was anything wrong with the car, but I wanted a trouble free ride for a few years.

I paid less than a comparable used Camry and have a much better car. Aside from that, when's the last time you saw a turbocharged, AWD, 5 speed MT Camry?

Used Audi's are a bargain in the used car market - and as long as you can wrench on them yourself, they'll be cheap to keep.

As far as the rear fog light goes, I now know that all the european cars I see with one brake light on are not suffering from electrical gremlins, just a driver that likes to drive around with both fog lights on at all times. LOL

Enjoy your winter beater! You just might end up liking it better than your Jeep. (I know I like my A4 better than my Jeep Grand Cherokee AWD)

 

Install a factory RNS-E headunit, the car becomes pretty much a 2012 model. I've even seen one when they installed motorized side view mirrors to retract when parking.

 

Speaking of driving on which side of the road...this is an interesting read if you're curious about the origins.

Which Side Of The Road To Drive On? Left Or Right, Country By Country Around The World

 

Like it better than the Jeep? Oh hell no! Can't take the top and doors off the Audi!

But I do enjoy driving them both. I think the Coolant Temperature Sensor is on the fritz. Again today it did not want to start up when I stopped on the way home to do an errand. After letting it sit for a couple minutes it finally started up again. Very intermitent but annoying when you are in a hurry.

 

I don't have a Wrangler, but a big **** Grand Cherokee with the durable, but slooow 4.0 inline six. 20mpg on the highway with a tail wind. But it will go through a foot of snow and snow drifts without much trouble at all. We use it when we need to tow things and fit 5 people. Otherwise, it sits in the driveway looking pretty.

The coolant temperature sensor is at the rear of the engine and should have a green top. The black colored ones are prone to failure. I don't recall what years, but I'm guessing that's what ECS tuning was eluding to.

 

Do you have any plans for the b5?

 

Call your dealer - a coworker of mine had post-cat O2 codes and said that Audi had admitted their programming was excessively conservative, and that for $100 the dealer could reflash the computer with wider tolerances that were more realistic. I haven't called to verify it myself but it could be a quick, easy and comparatively cheap fix for your issue.

 

Yeah I had heard of the reprogramming to lower the threshold of the O2 settings. But with 206k miles on the original cats, I am thinking the O2 sensors are probably working well and the cats need to be replaced. But since having a nearly fresh emissions sticker, I don't feel the need to spend the dough on new cats right now. I'll keep checking the CEL to make sure it is just the repeat P0432/P0422 codes.

Any other issues out there that would cause the engine to not start intermittently? Again today I filled up the gas, went to start and it turned over but would not catch. Let it sit for a couple minutes and then it fires up like nothing ever happened. It never happens in the morning or after the car sits for a bit of time.

Oh I guess an obligatory photo of the other ride is in order:

 

Got the CTS in and planning to install tomorrow. Also have a new exhaust leak on driver side. Probably at the flex pipe. Jacking up tomorrow.

 

this is definently Coolant temp sensor