Need some advice, a friend of mine is considering buying either a 2004 A4 1.8T Quattro with sport and prem. packages or a 2004 Volvo S60 AWD auto also with sport and prem. packages. Both cars have about 100,000Kms and the prices are the same. I argued with him that I thought the A4 is a much better car but he is very worried about the 1.8T sludge problems and other Audi problems. The dealer that is selling the A4 bought it off Audi finance after the lease expired, unfortunatelyhe says he has no service records for the car and he cant get them due to a privacy act? if this is the case then if something did happen to the engine the extended engine warranty would be useless without all the oil change records...right??

My father has owned a 2002 A4 for the last 4 years and it has never given him any problems so I guess I am basing my opinion of the A4 reliabilty strictly on that, I dont know the Volvo so I cant say how reliable it is, I did a quick search online and I did not find any common problems with the S60.

Has anyone ever compared these two cars, and is Audi's sludge problem really as common a problem as it seems to be????
Any comments/advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

My last car was a 2002 S60 AWD. It was an ok car, it never really gave me big problems. But I didn't enjoy owning it, it is def an old mans car! The only problem I had with it was the door locks (very common), where you try to lock the car and then car unlocks itself. PITA!! After own both I would say that the Audi has costs me more to maintain, but it is worth it. Also another thing to consider is Volvo promotes it's great AWD, but I would say Quattro is MUCH MUCH better.

As for the service records, I ran into the same problems at the dealership the other day. They said that if I got permission from the previous owner they would release all the records they have on my car..

 

I also had a 2002 s60 awd. It wasn't at all sporty, but it was like driving a recliner, that car was so comfortable. As for the awd, I'd say it's not the best as I hit a small patch of ice, lost total control of the car and rolled it into a ditch. I did walk out without a scratch on me though. If your friend doesn't want to buy an audi, tell him to by a bmw xi model. That's what I had before I bought my a4 cab and it was an awesome car!

 

i heard volvos can be made pretty fast, they use a 2.5 motor so can spool a much larger turbo