Buying guide, please help
 

Hi guys,
I am new to this forum and new to the Audi platform. A little about myself,
I own 3000GT VR4 with 550AWHP and I love it-summer car. I am looking for something that I can drive when I just want to rest from that high G-forces when I am not under the influence of 550AWHP lol and still have fun with so I looked at the Audi. I am looking to buy a 2004 A4 1.8T and it has 130000 high way miles on it.

It is priced at $11997, is that a good price?
What should I be looking at when checking the engine?
What frequent problems do these cars have?
How hard or expensive is it to do repairs at the shop?
How about oil leaks, around valve cover or other places?
I plan to someday bump up it's HP to at least 250AWHP, how is modification on the Audi platform?

Any info is greatly appreciated. At this point I am stock between that Audi or a 2008 Volvo C30-another great car too.

Thanks

Step one got to audizine.com
Step two ask the same question, get flamed for not searching, then get some good answers

Price sounds high for that mileage. Have you checked eBay or autotrader?

something dont seem right there

I would do search later, don't have time for it right now. I should have mentioned I will be going to look at the car right after work.

Yah, I thought that the price was relatively high for the mileage.

i think price is way too high for that mileage. either talk them down, like 2g's, or walk away. think about the debt you're taking on for that high of mileage. in my opinion it's not worth it, but it's up to you. you won't have to look very hard to beat that deal.

put it this way im going to look at a 02 with 111,000 on it and its 7999...so i think you can get a much much better deal

in response to some of your other questions, i would be sure to get a quattro, and would get a manual trans. def dont get an auto fwd bc the cvt will not even hold up to stock power.

you can get 250 easily enough, and keep it reliable. anything over 90k miles needs to have a new timing belt, or youll have to do it immediately. the cars do have problems with oil sludge if the oil is not changed on schedule or synthetic is not used.

with a car like your vr4 im sure you can work on your own stuff. these cars really arent hard to work on, and are sometimes easier than my rx-7s. there are lots of common probs though. read through the first couple of pages here and the stickies and youll learn a lot.

also, you may want to see if you can find a 2.0 car in your price range. would be easier to make the power, and the engine feels better in general.

If you do buy one make sure you have a friend with a VAG COM, they come in handy :D