AudiForums.com - 2003 a4 $1700

Quote:

Originally Posted by pikollo21 (Post 1448932)

should i go head and buy it.

NO! Absolutely not! What's his address? You know, so I can go yell at him for trying to take advantage of you.

Get for $1500, plan on spending $2500 to make it run like new and you have 4 grand in it. You can't buy a 2003 Civic, Accord, Camry, etc with 100K miles for that.

BUT #1, I always caution people who don't work on their own vehicles about buying fixer uppers. You don't need a mechanic you can trust with the lives of your family, you need to have a mechanic you trust with your wallet. You may get lucky and it might truly be a $600 repair, but don't bet on it.

I have bought many cars with bad motors, bad transmissions, blown head gaskets, etc. I nearly always end up spending more to fix them than I first thought because in addition to their obvious problems, they ended up needing brakes, wheel bearings, etc. Things that are hard to tell if you can't drive the car.

The one car I got lucky on was a 1991 Bonneville. A friend of a friend, who was a mechanic, bought it for his wife to drive in 2000. Spent some money making it perfect and a week later the motor locked up. He had some anger management problems and his wife wanted to get it out of his sight quick. I gave them $500 for it and hauled it home. I pulled the plugs and tried to turn the motor over and it was definitely locked up. As I was about to start pulling the motor, my dad stopped by and said, before you get carried away, pull the starter. With the starter off, the motor turned free. I called my buddy and asked if I should let the guy know it was just the starter and bring it back. He said HELL NO! He would lose his shit. I thought that was pretty stupid, so I tried to call him anyways. His wife answered and I told her and offered to return it, she said HELL NO, he would lose his shit. Better he thinks it's the cars fault than his. I put a starter on it and parked it in the front yard and sold it that day for $2500.

But #2, Why wouldn't your buddy just pay $600 and get it fixed himself? Do you trust him to not hose you on the deal? Does he maintain his stuff well? In my experience, cars that are well cared for rarely suffer from major mechanical breakdown now days, especially with only 100K. I know there are exceptions, I have owned a couple of them, but just keep it in mind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pikollo21 (Post 1448932)

What are some of the unknowns? please chime in

Did it overheat? How long was it driven like this? Is it really just a gasket or is the head cracked? Is the lower end OK? If that stuff checks out, replace anything that should have been replaced by 100K miles that the previous owner can't give you a receipt for; timing belt, water pump, tensioners, coolant system parts, coil packs, injector seats, fluids, etc. Then you will KNOW they are good, but your bill won't be $600.