I joined this forum to gather some info on a car I want to buy for my gf.

I looked at a 2.8 that was in sorry shape, so that's a no.

I have my eyes set on a 2000 1.8t with 142k miles on the clock, timing belt replaced twice, no rust, looks decent. Asking price is 4k$, I'll talk the seller down to 3500$, otherwise it's a no.

I'm fully aware that the people whose car is a lemon are the ones who will post on the internet about it.

Still, finding reviews after reviews of negative stuff is a bit alarming.

I do all preventative maintenance on my cars, and I can turn a wrench alright if something breaks down.

The car is also going to be looked over by an Audi performance shop.

Are these cars nightmares, or do we just read/hear about the vocal minority?

For the record, the owner of the car is a woman, and the car was owned by her sister before her. I suppose they wouldn't have kept the car 10 years in the family if it was a P.O.S.

What say you?

 

Generally people here are pretty happy with their cars (except for chocalotstarfish because he's lame). I think as long as you keep up with the basic maintenance, you'll be good to go. Oil changes every 3,000 miles and such.

There are also a lot of DIY's available with decent support from other members so if something goes wrong and you can wrench, chances are you'll be able to fix it. Keep in mind that these cars are getting older as we speak so expect some things to break here and there due to age.

Last but not least, any pics of the Audi sisters?

 

I had the same doubt's as you but you have to look at it this way the B5 model is almost 10year's old there gonna have problem's hear and there such as any car but if you keep up with your maintenance you should be fine if your not into modding the biggest concern you will have is Changing oil,Changing tranny oil,Coil pack's going bad(easy fix),Timing Belt(and your car has that done all ready), Oh and putting in 91 or 93 octane GAS for the 1.8T that's it-Ive had my 2001 A4 1.8T quattro for 6 month's now and have not had one single problem with it.

(only problem was that i spent like 1 hour trying to figure out how to open the gas tank)-------lol

 

Yes, I expect some things to fall apart on an older car.

But electrical gremlins that cost an arm and a leg are a bit more worrysome than, say, shot control arm bushings.

 

in general i haven't heard of any major electrical problem's with this car just maybe some blown fuse's due to improper grounding or like me i tried to put in some LED side marker's and it blew the turn signal fuse and the hazard light's fuse which i have no idea why till this day and that's about it oh and the freaking LCD monitor in the middle crapping out which is very common in these B5 model's.

 

Yeah, I read about that, is it true that Audi will want to replace the whole electronic gizmos/module that come with it, instead of just replacing the display?

 

lol yup sneaky little bastard's aren't they,.. does not bother me at all im used to not having a display screen i come from a family of ford's and jap car's so i dont care about the screen

 

I wouldn't care about it, but since it's for my gf, she will prbably bitch and moan about it.

Women...

 

TRUE TRUE LOL she be like why is the display in Arabic honey? lol

 

If you want a reliable car look at Honda, Toyota, Nissan, etc. Audis are just VW's in a tux, and the reliability of vw's is well known as about fair... Not horrible, but not great. A B5 A4 will most likely give you the following grief:

Control arm/tie rod bushings/ball joints start to get noisy around 100-150k
ABS control module will fail.. Not if, but when. Usually around 100k
Airbag ignitor or wiring short giving you an airbag light.
Sunroof drains like to clog.
Ignition and emissions equipment is known to crap out more often than necessary- Coil packs, maf, ignition control module, 02 sensor..
Vacuum leaks..
Valve cover gasket(s)
Sunroof switch contacts get dirty.
Self-dimming side view mirror guts leak out.
Flasher relay usually craps out sooner than later.
Engine coolant temp. sensor is gunked up or broken by 100k.
Secondary air pump tends to be suicidal.
Cam chain tensioner will get noisy.
Brake light switches sometimes have a short life.


A lot of these things are wear-items that you might expect to have to be replaced with any 10-13 year old car. Most of the things on the list are the notorious items. Some issues are only applicable on certain years and engines. All that is in the newbie guide, though. With well over 100k on the car, I'd expect a lot of these things have been addressed already.

On the positive side, the b5 has a timeless look, is rewarding to drive, and the drive trains are pretty much bullet proof. It's just everything that is attached that is suspect at times You don't hear of people throwing rods unless it was highly modified... And people have been abusing the capabilites of quattro for decades. The manual trans. holds up beyond belief. The slosh box auto is known to hold up well beyond 200k as well.