Hey guys. I'm new to the Euro car world. As you can probably tell by my username, I'm a full on japanese car chick, mainly because of their reliability.

But I'm looking for a car, and the A4 quattro caught my eye, mostly because of its AWD option which is highly attractive since I live in CT. I was wondering if you guys could tell me a little about the car, their reliability, maintanence costs, normal things that tend to go wrong with the car, any information would be greatly appreciated.

Right now I'm looking at a 96 A4 quattro 2.8L 5spd with 150k so I'm worried that it will need alot of help down the road cuz if I got a toyota or a honda, I wouldn't worry lol. Thx

 

Hi suprachica79, welcome to the forum. A 96 A4 will probably have a much higher cost of maintanance than a Japenese car. It really just depends on how the car was cared for by its previous owners. Make sure the timing belt has been changed as well as the idle pully, tensioner. Also A4's have a history of control arms and tie rod failures. please search for details. We've answered this question almost on a weekly basis.

 

try to find something with less miles, go with audi, definitly an experience of a lifetime.

 

I'm really only looking into the car because the price is only $4200, which is very low for this car, even with this many miles, at least in my area anyways.

I've already read alot about the control arms going and I normally ask about the clutch and all the belts to see if and when they have been replaced. I assume because it has 150k that the control arms have probably already been replaced along with the clutch and all the belts.

My main objective was to find a cute coupe as a starter car but I've been opening up my options because I've had no luck finding what I want.

I moved into looking at european cars because we all know the engineering is phenominal but I also knew that they were going to be high maintanence and I'm a teen with a job that pulls in at a max of $10 an hour (I work on commission). But the appeal of this car is unbelievable.

Now, I've opened my car search to sporty looking 4 doors with a luxury interior thats reliable and this Audi has all of that. I was seriously looking at BMW 325I's and IS's but the RWD turned me off since I am a first time driver in new england with alot of tempermental weather. I've also looked at comperable cars such as the Infiniti G20 but the look isnt as good and the power is lacking ni comparison, I don't think it is up to par with that of an A4.

So basically, I'm looking into these cars because I saw a phenominal deal and am wondering what you all think would be regular maintanence fees I will be foreseeing as well as yearly maintanence fee's for any audi. thx again for your kindness and wealth of knowledge.