Considering one of these B7's, would timing belt budget be necessary?

[aututto]

Hey all,

I originally was battling between a B8 a4 and an e92 328xi. After driving both I ultimately decided the audi just didnt do much for me and began pursuing a manual (auto is awful) 328xi (or 335 in the rare occasion one would show up). Well after searching a few weeks I got to wandering through other vehicles and decided to go see and test drive a 2008 2.0t B7 a4. Well I must say I liked it much better than the b8, not sure if thats a sin around here, but it felt much more engaging and I felt as though the build quality was a bit better (minus the clicky center control buttons). I noticed that the car seemed to vibrate/buzz a bit when in drive at a stop but from reading around here that seems to be the norm. Driving through it was silky smooth. So with the prices of B7's being what they are I decided to search out a few. I found 2 very nice 1 owner 2005.5's but I want to be sure they aren't being offed because timing belt (which I assume is 100k or 10 years). I also found a decent 2008 2 owner and my overall question is what should I expect maintenance out of any of these three besides the regular pop ups. The silver one I have found is my personal favorite and seems to have addressed alot of issues as noted in carfax (pcv valves, valve cover gasket, coil packs). But the red 05 is very very low miles so it makes it tempting, and the 08 is well the final year of production so I'd assume most kinks will have been ironed out. Anyways enough noobish blab here are the cars:

2005 Silver 69k (My personal favorite of the bunch, I like grey interiors)
http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/de...7597/overview/

2005 Red 49k
http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/de...9610/overview/

2008 Black 57k
http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/de...4715/overview/

Sorry for such a long drawn out annoying post but after hovering around the forums and for sale ads enough I had to ask :)

[aututto]

Actually Im noticing a strange hood gap between hood and grille on the silver one. Can anyone shed some light on this? Maybe hood isnt latched shut?

**EDIT** It actually may be normal could just be photo angle

[JDillon15]

Looks like you have several questions here. I'll do my best to answer them.

1. Timing belt, Absolutely needs to be done. Depending who you ask, I think most people are recommending changing these at around 50k-60k. I could be wrong there, but it really isn't one of those things you want to put off.
2. Your different options. I noticed none of them are manuals? Make sure none of them are CVT; that's bad news. I also noticed none of them seemed to have any/many packages. That's something to consider what you want. Some things to look for are bi-xenons, nav, rear heated seats, auto dim mirrors, etc. Looks like you're looking for low millage examples. You're also going to want to look into the "cam follower" on these cars. Google it, there are plenty of threads about this.
3. The hood gap can be adjusted. There's a DIY on here that you can correctly adjust those if you end up with that car.

[aututto]

Hey thanks for the reply.

Wow 50-60k huh? That may explain the pricing on these lol.

I'm not terribly concerned with options. Mainly heated seats and Quattro. All of these are awd no cvt I did my reading on those already and I'm not a cvt fan anyways.

And okay didn't know about that so that shouldn't be a problem.

[JDillon15]

Hey thanks for the reply.

Wow 50-60k huh? That may explain the pricing on these lol.

I'm not terribly concerned with options. Mainly heated seats and Quattro. All of these are awd no cvt I did my reading on those already and I'm not a cvt fan anyways.

And okay didn't know about that so that shouldn't be a problem.

You may also consider the color of your interior. I strongly prefer black; but to each his own.

[aututto]

You may also consider the color of your interior. I strongly prefer black; but to each his own.

Not super picky on this, I'm actually not a huge fan of the black on these cars. I actually put in my post that I'm a fan of Grey interiors :)

[vce1232000]

Because you havent the rite tiptronic equipped A4 yet

[trj]

Apologies, my input isn't on any of the cars you have in the I'd go with the one which is most equipped or equipped as you want.

However, I'd still go look for e92. I recently found one with every package I want but in TiAg color which is a no go for me. Still debating if I should pull the trigger, mostly because silver is my least favorite color on cars and it's am xdrive. I like RWD with BMWs.

My reasoning: those BMW inline 6s are silky smooth. My e46 had 185k miles and the engine didn't even feel like it was On, even on cold starts. The 2.0t in B7s are noisy, almost diesel sound. Auto transmission is jerky. Seats are terrible, suspension (if not sports) is very FWD like, and steering is super light.

The saving grace for b7, Quattro. Never felt secure in snow/ice than while driving b7.
Plus b7s are almost half the cost of e92.

Pros for e92:
Adaptive xenons standard.
Sports suspension standard (for RWD).
Sports seats are very nice.
Really nice steering feel.
50/50 weight distribution.
Very good resale value.
No need for timing belt change, they use timing chains.
Rock solid auto transmission if going for 335.
Memory seats standard if you go for the ones with electric seats.
Autodim mirrors standard.

Pros for b7:
Quattro (in your case).
4 doors.
Much more cheaper to buy.
Cheaper to insure.

Why do I say this?
I have a b7, e46 and have been looking for e92 since I owned it. Retrofitting xenons, memory seats, auto dim mirrors, rs4 rear sway bar, timing belt change have almost brought the cost near to e92 lci. Still have to get a nav headunit and better suspension.

I might sound like I'm pro BMW but this is what my extensive research on both models and ownership of these two brands have lead to.

If you want the options and prepared to pay more go for e92. If you can live without options or find one with the options you want (need) and like b7 styling, go with b7.

Note: b7 and e92(specially n54 335) are hpfp disasters if not taken care of in time.

Good luck with your decision.

[Ashtonts]

Hey thanks for the reply.

Wow 50-60k huh? That may explain the pricing on these lol.

I'm not terribly concerned with options. Mainly heated seats and Quattro. All of these are awd no cvt I did my reading on those already and I'm not a cvt fan anyways.

And okay didn't know about that so that shouldn't be a problem.

Timing is recommended to be done at 110k on these cars. Didn't get mine done until like 105k lol. If you wanted to be super conservative I'd say do it at 80k. No real reason to do at at 50-60k imo

[shahk62]

The B7 is quite a lot of fun to modify and increase power compare to the Naturally aspirated bmw. Also note that the Bmw plastics are a lot more likely to fail from heat cycling (I know more than one person who's had cracked pulleys or exploded cooling systems ) so just keep that in mind.

In terms of timing belt for me Audi reccomend a 90000km/4 years whatever comes first. But realistically speaking changing at every 60000km is very reasonable.
Cam follower is something to just check - for me my stock one was fine at 105000km but I still did it anyway for peace of mind.


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[KJack]

I changed my timing belt this year at 58,000 miles. The car is a 2007 so my main reason for changing it was the age of the belt rather than the mileage. I didn't fully trust a belt that went through nearly ten years of temperature extremes. I would suggest having any car you're considering checked out by a reputable Audi shop before buying. Cam follower and oil consumption issues had been noted with these cars.