Thanks for the support Brian, I only hope other will agree and stop this sensless bashing of the Audi namesake.

When I refered to the timing belt cost, the basic kit is about $130 and the ultimate kit is about $280 (plus shipping) which includes the water pump and coolant and all the other drive belts. The tensioner is the most expensive part. I think I've heard my parents tell me that they got a $1000 estimate to do a timing belt on their Toyota Highlander, as a comparison.

to the OP, have the seller change the temp sensor. cost is only about $15 and should only take a few minutes to do. If that clears up the problem then $2500-$2800 is a fair price in my opinion.

 

BrianJanice - agreed 1,000,000%. fact is most cars will go 200-250k anymore without major failure if maintenance is kept up. And these were premium cars at the time and still are. I've owned American and Japanese cars that weren't cheap and this car seems better built in almost every way. I am over 191k miles with no failures other than the known issues with B5s (control arms, wheel bearings, CTS for example). These things should be holding better value than many think. They are 3 generations replaced so they're not going to get 5 figures but 2800 is lowball for a good-condition car. And service costs are ridiculous but that's the fault of the shops. A timing belt on this car isn't nearly as tough as on my 300zx yet the price is the same. People going to shops are taking it up the trumpet. I feel that the $250-275 labor that I charge for the job is a hell of a lot more fair. No I don't have the overhead of a shop but $130/hr is BS.

Bottom line - it's a used car so expect to fix some stuff. Don't be afraid of timing belts - if you're somewhat handy you CAN do it (or there are others like me on here who do this on the side). Even with repairs, unless it's been beaten and neglected it's very likely to be a good car. You'd spend that money on a Pontiac Grand Prix or an Integra too - which would you rather have?