Found this car for a steal on Craigslist, my new B7. Meet Elena

[RakkCity]

She's my third VAG car, coming from a B8 quattro i couldn't afford and an 05 GTI that was hit for a total loss last week only 3 months in.

The 1.8T in the VW was fun, I had plans to throw APR on it and a turbo back etc., but the FWD was always sloppy. I grew up in the Mustang scene and besides a few beaters never owned one or even thought of FWD when I thought of performance. The quattro in the B8 was nice but it was mated to a CVT that, while comfortable, was anything but sporty. I knew I wanted something AWD, with a turbo motor and a manual trans, I even looked at Subi's and R32's but something kept drawing me back to Audi. Plus they were available in my price range. A week and a half of checking CL, Autotrader, cars.com, forum classifieds, facebook groups, even calling local shops and everything was either FrontTrac, automatic or had a v6.

A few days ago this ad pops up, I found it at about midnight. less than 12 hours later I was driving home with it, knowing it wouldn't last long. Mileage is a little higher than I wanted and silver wasn't my first choice of color, but at the price I really can't complain.



Click on the picture for a full album of the pics from the ad. I found this attached to my valet keys, and the name sounded right.

So I get her home in time to go to a funeral (priorities), after which I spend about 3 hours just cleaning, and cleaning.. This car was bought at auction by the seller I dealt with, and it was dirty in places that shouldn't have dirt. It's still not 100% clean, but most of the visible filth is gone and I'm going to have a detailer do what he can for the rest. Underneath the grime it's in great shape, needs new wheel bearings in the rear (might just do all 4) and could use an oil change and a tune up, among other things mechanically. Need a little love cosmetically in places but 8/10 on appearance. Wheels have got to go though

Shooting for FMIC, exhaust, GFB DV and maybe a TIP. Stage 2 tune through APR or JHM, Neuspeed short throw, Bilstein w/ Eibach cup kit with some 18's. Should make for a nice comfy-fast DD.

What are your thoughts for exhaust? it's 3 pieces right.. the test pipe/cat, downpipe, and catback? I don't want to spend a fortune on cats when I can swap the stock exhaust back on every other year for inspection, but I also don't want to make everyone's ears bleed at work or home.

Also, I gotta have my tunes. I have this stereo, which I believe to be the Symphony II. Some threads claim it has an iPod hookup, other have responses like "Posted: Sept 26, 2009: 'Here's how I did mine: <broken link>.'"

If I have to, I'll buy a double din with a touchscreen, but I really like my cars to keep the stock radio for aesthetics, aftermarket units always look so out of place to me. Is there a connector I can plug into the back of this head unit that has a 30-pin (iPod) cable on the other end? My plan is to use a Tune2Air to make it bluetooth and use a magnetic mount in the airvent to hold my phone. Had this setup in the B8 and it was incredible, automatically started playing music when I turned the car on. If there is no such cable that interfaces the Symphony II with an iPod connector, are there any other modern day solutions that work?

Thanks for any and all advice, wisdom, links, etc. and if you have any parts for sale on my list shoot me a PM.

[Sanjman]

As you can see most of us dont have the patience to read long posts unless it's a useful DIY. Any how congrats on the purchase.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

[DannyDeez]

Damn you consider that a steal? My A4 is a million times better than that and I can't move it. I feel like I'm giving it away. I'm definitely on the wrong side of the country.
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...1#post11447954

[RakkCity]

As you can see most of us dont have the patience to read long posts unless it's a useful DIY. Any how congrats on the purchase.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

Car forums aren't what they used to be, I guess.

[RakkCity]

Damn you consider that a steal? My A4 is a million times better than that and I can't move it. I feel like I'm giving it away. I'm definitely on the wrong side of the country.
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...1#post11447954

Based on what people are asking, that car would easily go for $12k+ here in SoCal. I'm almost tempted to find a buyer for this one and fly out there to drive it home, that thing is immaculate and is the exact color scheme I wanted. Talk about a turn-key car.

[LINDW4LL]

Nice pick up, OP!

You're correct on the exhaust being three pieces. Most of the gains can be had from a HFC or test pipe. As far as a catback, I don't really understand spending a lot of money on an exhaust for this car as the 2.0T isn't a great sounding engine to begin with- all of the exhausts sound relatively the same IMO. I'd probably just do a muffler delete if you want some more volume.

Damn you consider that a steal? My A4 is a million times better than that and I can't move it. I feel like I'm giving it away. I'm definitely on the wrong side of the country.

While your car is great, he paid half of what you're asking when considering that sales tax was included, for what's the same car at it's base. I'd say he got a great deal.

That said OP, flipping this one for a couple grand in profit and buying Danny's wouldn't be a bad idea

[RakkCity]

Nice pick up, OP!

You're correct on the exhaust being three pieces. Most of the gains can be had from a HFC or test pipe. As far as a catback, I don't really understand spending a lot of money on an exhaust for this car as the 2.0T isn't a great sounding engine to begin with- all of the exhausts sound relatively the same IMO. I'd probably just do a muffler delete if you want some more volume.

Thanks! I might try this option out and see how I like it. Any idea what the stock downpipe and catback diameter is?

While your car is great, he paid half of what you're asking when considering that sales tax was included, for what's the same car at it's base. I'd say he got a great deal.

That said OP, flipping this one for a couple grand in profit and buying Danny's wouldn't be a bad idea

I'm happy with my car. I've had my nice pristine Audi that I didn't abuse and took meticulous care of, that'll come again later in life. For now I just want to have some fun with 4 wheels.

Besides, with the sale of my totaled VW, I'm up around $9k of payout from the at-fault party's insurance claim, so I don't feel guilty at all dropping a few grand into this one.

[DannyDeez]

Based on what people are asking, that car would easily go for $12k+ here in SoCal. I'm almost tempted to find a buyer for this one and fly out there to drive it home, that thing is immaculate and is the exact color scheme I wanted. Talk about a turn-key car.

Haha ah man you could have bought it and shipped it out to you for way less than $12k. At least you got something you're happy with. Congrats and enjoy her!

Nice pick up, OP!

While your car is great, he paid half of what you're asking when considering that sales tax was included, for what's the same car at it's base. I'd say he got a great deal.

That said OP, flipping this one for a couple grand in profit and buying Danny's wouldn't be a bad idea

Yea I guess you're right. Tax in my area is about $500 on an $8k sale.
So if I stripped my car completely back down to stock..
It's a 6 speed man with 30k less miles, and a meticulous maintenance list, what would you value it at?

[Snowboardguy989]

JHM is the flavour of the forum for good reason..Had APR stage 2 JHM blows it away

[RakkCity]

Thanks!ndefinitely seen the love for JHM and gonna order it after all the other parts are installed