need help with decision!
 

so here is my problem. i am 17, i love cars but my dad loves muscle cars and only buys chevy so i hav only worked on and driven domestic cars. I want to get a 2001 a4 1.8t quattro, with roughly 80-100 thousand miles on it. not only would it b a daily driver but i obviously would start to do sum work with it (turbo boost, chip, exhaust, intake etc.) i have heard that this year was a relativley unrealiable car. even thou i do alot of routine matinence on my own, i cant do any of the electircal stuff or any other major problems and dont hav the money to keep paying audi to fix what ever goes wrong. So i guess the main question is are these cars reliable as a daily driver, and when i start tuning it, will this decrease the reliability of the car? also, how affective is the car if i dont do much with the turbo (dont make that much $) but instead did more work with chips and exhaust and intake (0-60 and quarter mile time)? done alot of searching but come up with contradictory results...what r ur experiences:

I have a 2.8 so my experience is a little different. I fell in love with my car as soon as I saw it. Even after replacing the entire front suspension and now having to replace the exhaust, I still love my car.

You will definitely need money aside to fix things, that's a given with any used car. I'll let the 1.8'ers inform you of their accounts.

Being young and not making much money is tough, we have all been there. Your parents might not like the car if they are the ones who will get stuck footing the bill in case something goes wrong, and things usually will.

I'd advise getting the car completely looked over for any issues and go from there. I'll be honest though, I would never have considered owning my car at your age. But that's just me.

if i knew the issue's with my car i prob would went with a cobra or a ss camaro

A well maintained 2001 1.8T with a chip and such will be a pleasure to drive, and if you don't beat up on it and take care of it, and you can do most of the work yourself then you should't have too much of a problem. They can be expensive to repair, however. It's not that they're not reliable, it's just that a forced induction engine has a tendancy to fail a little easier than a N/A car.

If you really want an Audi, kudos to you, but you might want to start with a 2.8, which is a strong engine, then work your way up from there as you get older and more reliable income.

Your BIGGEST concern if you're looking for about 80-100K miles is make sure the Timing Belt has been done already, otherwise you're looking at about 300 bucks to fix it yourself, or up to a grand at a shop. As with any used car, money is always an issue, and maintenance records are a must.

Good luck in your decision. There are a few 17 y/o on this forum with an Audi, and their opinion will benifit you the most...

This thread is running in Off Topic too. I recommended he post in this forum instead. And as a former 17 y/o with and Audi I wish I had gotten something different; like a P71 Crown Vic.

I think young people should drive Subarus. Why?
-Decent AWD (actually, not that good if you get a 5-spd manual... but better than 2WD)
-Pretty reliable
-Not toooooooooo expensive

Only problem is that they're ugly....


But if you go for an A4 then I wouldn't really mod it much. Keep that money in the bank. Save it for more important things like tires and fixing whatever problems come up.

i am 16 with a 2000 audi with 76xxx on it and so far my only troubles have been a cracked windsheild and my dad not paying attention and there goes the bumper

It all depends if the car has been taken care of like try finding an a4 where you now it has all the records of being serviced

i got my audi a4 1.8t 2000 when i was 19, and have not had a single trouble with it yet! i have done the timing belt, upgraded suspension, exhaust, chip / DV, boost gauge, tint, rims, and a few other things, and the only trouble i have had in the last 25k miles at all is replacing a TRE that was probably going to go soon (did it as preventative maintenance cause it just had started to slip a bit when i was doing my Timing belt job)

but i can say that you really should not have problems if you are sensible with doing what needs to be done with the car...

as you can see you can make pretty drastic changes over stock and not have any problems like me! (except my E.R. visit last summer and stitches due to working on my car with a cheap spring compressor!)

not to be a pic whore or anythign but here is a little inspiration for ya!
day 1:
Attachment 41361

day 365:
Attachment 41362

and oh yeah... whats wrong with a little chevy love?!?!

my dad's toy (i drive it much more than him though :) !)

(69 chevelle ss 396 (blew engine) so swapped with 454, and 5 speed tranny!... its a beast)
Attachment 41363
Attachment 41364

I got my car stock with 84k at 16, sophomore winter, and before I had my license. I've spent a good amount of money the past 2+ years on maintenance and mods and I could not have owned this car without a job. Being able to do suspension, brakes and some other things myself saved me pretty much money. I'm not sure if I could have afforded a 1.8t though and I'm glad I'm stuck with my 2.8. I'd probably want to buy way too many unnecessary things if I had a 1.8t..

I've had my '01 since May '06 and it has been very reliable for me. As long you do the preventative maintenance it will treat you right. If you have a little bit of automotive know how you should be good. As someone said above in that mileage range make sure the timing belt was done and, if not, do it.