im looking into getting a cheaper audi (one under ten grand, probably), mostly for that delightful quattro and great manual transmission, and a big thing for me is ease of DIY. stuff like a small engine, a large engine bay, more simplified and redundant mechanicals. this is so that repairs and maintenance can be done almost entirely diy.

ive heard quite a number of horror stories about timing chain replacements involving removing the entire front end + draining the coolant systems, and how the thermostat on the 1.8T engine fails a lot and its a good 2 or 3 hour job to replace it since you have to take so much out of the engine bay.....that's the kind of thing i want to avoid.

if i have to go OLDER than MY2000 for stuff like that, that's fine too, i just need to know specific models