I've got a '99 A4 Quattro Sport 1.8T (manual trans) with a ba-zillion miles on it and the paint/body is really starting to show it's age. The car unfortunately has spent most of it's life outside and acid rain/bird crap/tree crud/ and whatnot have really taken theire toll on the paint, not to mention stone chips and careless people who have come in contact with the car.

The car runs great- t-belt job is still 20 to 30K miles off and most of the typical wear problems have been addressed over the past couple years. Believe it or not I still owe money on it (cause I'm a poor working class loser) but it's getting close to payoff. When asked here on the forums most say cars of this age (and mileage) aren't worth diddly, but it really looks like I'm going to keep it until something really major happens (like it gets totaled in a car accident) or someone wants to give me $4500 for her.

Knowing this, IYO, would it be unwise to sink another $2-3K in a new paint job (and that's being conserative)?

 

I certainly wouldn't drop $2-3K on it before it was paid off. Wait till it's paid for, see how it's holding up, get the TB and anything mechanical up to snuff, and then decide on the cosmetic stuff.