Audi advice
 

Hey guys;
My daughter is looking to buy an '02 Audi TT with the 1.8T motor. the car fax is completely clean, with ALL maintainance done at an Audi dealer. The car has 75k on it, but is in excellent condition. Ive always been skeptical about Audi's, and there past history of being expencive, un reliable, etc. The reviews on this one are accually not bad at all. Any German car mechanics out there with some advice (Guido)? Future major maintainance etc?? Were thinking of going to look at it tonight.
Thanks

10 yo Audi? Nuff said. (and I love Audis)

My girlfriend has an 09 A4 2.4... Anything done at the Audi dealer has been expensive, breaks and rotors were over $2500 she was quoted almost half buy an outside garage specializing in Audis. Tire changes at Audi are very expensive. Basic maintenace at the dealer if fine, but they always want to recommend something expensive to might need changing down the road. Accidents are expensive. She tapped somones bumper under 10mph in rain one day, other car was spotless and her grill, hood and radiator were all pushed in, headlights all cracked etc... cost just under 12k to fix beause of all these little plasitc pieces that break. I mean I must admit that the shock absorbing engineering that is built into the car for accidents is definately great but, for a fender bender to cause that much damage is terrible in my opinion.

My other buddy had an 04 S4 and it was at the dealer more often then not and then the parts were never available. Something was wrong with his front end and the entire front end needed to be changed. Well 6months later, no front end he ended up selling it and getting a Lexus.

Another friend had an 03 A4 and it was built proof. I see tons of Audi's around so maybe ive just had a few bad experiences because people seem to be buying them left and right around here

I had an 01 quattro ragtop. It was a fun car, but the electronic dash started getting wiggy. And I had two wierd incidents where the car shut down for no reason on the freeway. Coast to a stop, key off, key on, good to go. Was very disconcerting.

They are pretty nice inside.

I had BMW 330ci 6sp that use to do that Shawn...Would just be driving down the highway and boom car shuts off... Luckily it was a manual so you could just pop the clutch while rolling but wasnt cool in an expensive car

I wouldnt go with an Audi that old and without a warranty. Ive had several friends who had major issues with their audis prior to the new generations.

especially stay away if its an Automatic! A bunch of lawyers just filed a class action lawsuit against Audi for the CVT transmission. The one in my GF's Audi went out at 60k miles! The dealer wanted 7k to replace it.

Hopefully no one would buy a TT with an AT anyway! How boring that would be. :D

Heres a link to the car
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...27069275&Log=0

it sure looks nice, but that just looks like it could be a headache to me. IMHO, if you are looking for a car in the 12k price range, still with a brand that has a very good history of reliability.

That's priced pretty high IMHO.

For that kind of $$$ you could get into an s2000.

^ What he said! S2000 all day long over that thing

Water pump is a big deal on Audis. If it hasn't been done and 75k is right around where it needs it you are looking at $900. At least that is what it was in an 03 A4 wagon we had about a year ago.

Sorry, I don't do German cars anymore. I'll only answer questions about commercial HVAC systems now. ;)

Those cars can be brutal if you get one that hasn't been maintained. If the timing belt records are up to date and it got the complete deal (waterpump, timing belt, tensioners, rollers, etc) then it could be worth buying. As with any used german car, I would recomend getting a full inspection done by a mechanic that is used to dealing with those cars.

TT's are great cars. Very fun to drive. Especially with the turbo motor and quattro. I could easily see why someone would be drawn to one. Just make sure it's been well maintained. They have a lot of parts to break. A turbo charged, all wheel drive car will never be cheap to maintain.

I had a 2001 TT with a 1.8T and a 5 speed. It was actually a pretty good car. It averaged 25 mpg city and highway. Small things started to go on it, the latch on the glove box broke, the boot on the shifter starting coming apart, and the digital portion of the dash started to get grainy. I did have to do an ac compressor, but it crossed refferenced with a 1.8T jetta, I picked up a used one for 75.00 and took care of the AC with a recharge, the gyrometer went out, it control the abs, it would randomly try to engage the ABS system whiel you were driving, throw a code and reveret to non antilock brakes until you turned it off and on. I did the brakes myself ect and a sensor here and there. It seemed like normal maintance for a car with 80,000 miles. I had it 4 years and put 40,000 on it before it hit the road. I would do it again.

Just have someone check it out really well.....

That TT is priced way high!

I sold a 2003 A4 with in 2009 with 65,000 miles for 12.5k. My Audi had custom wheels, snow tires on stock wheels, tinted windows, killer sound system, coil over lowering kit, and it was in perfect condition.

A co-worker has a S2000, I have not been impressed.

because of maintenance issues?

2008 with 70k miles. He said he has had one sensor go bad. No maintenance issues to speak of. I just think the dash is dated, the hood is too long, and I don't fit in the thing.

^ Its a 2 seat sports car, not a grand tourer! The S2000 will be virtually bulletproof and is alot of fun for the money. The only thing in its "class" I like better is a Porsche Boxster S.

P.S. Jon always has great insight, but he is also the pickiest man on earth!

You're not the first to mention that.

I would go with this all day long over the TT. By the way, who wants a car named after the word my 3 yr old uses when she takes a leak?

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...27111797&Log=0

I just have to think maintenance would be cheaper on an s2k tho, no? I just can't think any german is going to be cheap to work on. vtec is definitely an acquired taste, though, and not for everyone.

But both the boxster and s2k are "real" sports cars. My TT was dropped, on 19s with chip and exhaust, but it was still basically a jetta/golf/bug underneath. A fun car but not in the same league.

I would guess that the S2000 would be far cheaper to maintain. From oil changes to brake jobs and everything in between. My dad has a 2005 Boxster S. They replaced his trans at 20000 miles (under warranty) and had to replace the stereo headunit a couple times I think. Other than that it has been pretty much flawless. But as someone said before, find an independent shop if you are going to own a german car!

ya... we had an Audi S4. Once that was no longer covered under service agreement at the dealer, we had our mobile mechanic tend to it. Something about 10 quarts of synthetic oil gets you up over $100 in parts for an oil change pretty fast. I did the brakes my self, I could do better pads and much better rotors for less than the dealer wanted in parts. We bought the S4 as certified pre-owned and worked a service agreement into the deal for the first 100k miles. I miss that car but my wife was trashing it. She simply had no idea how to drive it and would loan it out to her friends.

We had a Boxster for a few years. It was my wifes car and I didn't drive it much, but when I did, I totally flogged it. It was a great little car. I wish she didn't get tired of the convertible so quickly because I had fun with it. I should have kept it and turned it into a track car.