I'm looking at purchasing a new used vehicle and I've narrowed it down to 2 cars, one of which is an Audi A4.
To be more specific:

2002 Audi A4 1.8T
103k miles (driven from Sacramento to Bay Area weekly, hence miles)
2 owners (Adult)
Automatic w/Tiptronic
$8900 obo

It had a 100k warranty which was utilized to its fullest.
Radiator, water pump, brakes, and tires were replaced.
All electronics are in full working condition.

My Concerns:
Rumor has it that the timing belt is something I should be concerned about
because it hasn't been replaced. I'm also concerned that repairs on an Audi are a bit
more expensive than normal. What are your thoughts and recommendations? Anything
else I need to be aware of?

 

ya the timing belt is very problematic with a4 once the start getting near and over 90k miles. Obviously its kind of hard to us to tell how good the car really is without seeing a carfax report and looking at the car in person, but if you do decide to purchase the car you should work out a deal with the seller to compensate for the timing belt repairs and water pump which will cost about 1-1.5g at the stealership unless you know someone else who can do it for you cheaper. If its a manual then you need to check out the clutch and make sure its not worn out... im a newbie here so that is about all i can tell you to check for but im sure so of the more seasoned vets can tell you more what you need to look at as well.

good luck with your future purchase!

 

oh, and another thing to look for is to make sure they have serviced their car regularly, and how often they have changed their oil and whether it was with fully synthetic oil or not. If it wasn't then there could be the chance of sludge in the engine. and another thing i just remembered is the coil packs could start to go as well, but those are something that you could replace yourself if they do go.

 

The car WAS serviced regularly. As a matter of fact, the first owner (who had it up until 96k miles) meticulously kept maintenance records (i.e. wrote down every time she got gas, oil/filter changes, etc. The owners who took over did the same and because it had a 100k mile warranty, anything that came up was replaced.

They already replaced the waterpump at 99k miles and radiator but DID NOT replace the timing belt. Weird, I know, but the dealership wouldn't for whatever reason. I'm not sure what coil packs are but the owners said that 2 "things (i dont remember the name)" burned out and were replaced.

 

well in that case it shoulds like the car was very well maintained to me if she kept meticulous maintenance records on it. As for the two things that burnt out, it could have been light bulbs but im guessing because you can't remember the name it wasnt those and something else. the coil packs create a spark that ignite the air/fuel mixture inside your engine.

as for buying the car, from what it sounds like the car seems to be in good condition engine and mechanics wise. If you do want to purchase it, you should talk to her about working something out for having to replace the timing beltinto the price, which i think should have already been replaced and its seems odd that audi wouldnt replace it at 99k when they did the water pump.

 

I completely agree that it wasn't replaced when the radiator and water pump weren't either
and the current owner doesn't know why the dealership wouldn't do it at the same time.

Yah, it wasn't light bulbs but it was something in the engine.

Thanks for your insight. So it seems that if I were to replace the timing belt, the car should
be good to go.

 

ya i mean thats my opinion, you should look at a carfax report just to be safe as well....

 

If they had it serviced at the audi dealership, the timing belt should have been done with teh 100k service. I will be doing mine before 80k though becuase if ti goes, you're #$%^. It's an interference engine and your valves will bend if the belt breaks, meaning mucho $ to fix. Your first order of business, either during deal making or upon receipt, is to get that TB changed. FYI, the dealership will charge you $1k to $1.5k. You can do it cheaper at a euro shop that knows audis.