Starting my B6 A4 1.8t journey... take 2..action!

[Trevsaudi]

Hey everyone its been a couple of years since I've been back on this forum and I just wanted to start off by saying thanks to everyone who tried to help me out with my old b5 problems, this was the only place I could really come and find useful information from knowledgeable people, so thanks!

SO! A couple of years ago i bought a b5 with a few problems but awesome price, and it of course turned out that the old saying "you get what you pay for" was completely true, the car was a piece of utter shit and i ended up selling it to carmax for 500 bucks at a several thousand dollar loss to me..(ouchy)

Fast forward to the present and i am now back in the market for an A4 (damnit i love these cars and they will be the death of me) but this time I'm determined to do it the right way, soooooo here is my situation

-trying to keep my price range around 10,000-11,000 (not set in stone tho)

-Looking at getting an '02-'03 A4 1.8t quattro 5spd preferably leather interior with the dolphin gray exterior (not sure what colors they offered in '02 but i saw an 04 in this color and loved it)

So i'm wondering if my price range is right for this year range (if not what should i be paying? the cars i've looked at so far are in the 70-100k miles range), so what kind of mileages would be suitable, and what should i look out for? I know TB and water pump should be done at around 70 i believe? i remember something about control arms and bushings, something or other from back in my b5 days, basically just looking for the major common problems that people would be selling their otherwise nice a4 because of.

Thanks for any input.

[J-jizzle]

A year ago I got my 02 A4 dolphin gray fwd 5sp for $10,900 with 66,000 miles. The car has needed nothing but regular maintenance and some regular shit that wears out. I have put 15K on it. (like TB, fuel pump, motor mounts, valve cover gasket)-motor mounts are not done yet...

[pondside36]

I would think that you should be able to find something good in that range... things to look for are a USP or sport package, look so much better and don't need as much cosmetic out the box, TB job done, how are the brakes and rotors, maintenance records (ie, oil changes and oil type, if sludge issue reared its ugly head), I would also check the interior for peeling (so annoying), also check vacuum lines and check valves (could be on there way out)... I'm sure there are some more.... happy hunting and welcome back..

[El_Chapusca]

This january i got an 02 A4 (not bad for being 18) that my uncle was selling(got it for 7.500$) 76k miles dolphin grey 5sp quattro and i gotta say this, I love this car havent had one problem with it just the basic stuff like changing the fuel filter thats about it
really good cars if you know how to treat them

[Teratorn]

Got an 03 A4 dolphin gray quattro 5spd sport package with leather that had 45K miles on it for $15K. Only issue that I HAD to take care of was a crumbling one way check valve that was causing rough idle, and also replaced the oil dipstick that was also falling apart.

[Buegie]

I would think that you should be able to find something good in that range... things to look for are a USP or sport package, look so much better and don't need as much cosmetic out the box, TB job done, how are the brakes and rotors, maintenance records (ie, oil changes and oil type, if sludge issue reared its ugly head), I would also check the interior for peeling (so annoying), also check vacuum lines and check valves (could be on there way out)... I'm sure there are some more.... happy hunting and welcome back..

No way you're getting a USP for 10K, 20K+ is more like it. Sport package though would be good

[Trevsaudi]

thanks for the replies, yeah i dont think ill be able to afford an ultrasport, no big deal tho im not that big of a performance freak, but whats up with the peeling problem anyway i've always seen that on these cars?

oh and side note, one of the reasons i like these cars is because they offer pretty good gas mileage along with such a beautiful luxury looking exterior/interior unlike hondas/toyotas etc etc, if i got an exhaust system (looking at the magnaflow catback) would it improve gas mileage?

oh one more thing, will audi dealerships do inspections on a car, like say i found one i liked and took it into the dealership is it worth paying them to inspect it before i buy it or should i go elsewhere?