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I've always been curious about the Quattro system, and thinking about buying a used one to try it out.
I've seen the general recommendations are to buy a one owner car with full records from a private party, but any particular models I should gravitate towards for reliability in advanced age and mileage?
I'm not in any sort of rush to buy so I can be patient in order to find the right car. I'll probably prefer an A4/S4 but would be open to any sedan.
I bought a 2011 A4 Avant 2.0T with 93,000 miles on it 6 months ago and so far I love it. The way it handles and drives is great and I love the styling. The internets seem to be insistent that it gets 29mpg (ish) I get a rather impressive 32-36 as long as I don't decide to play with the sport setting then the extra speed, torques and excitement puts and end to my mpgs ... but boy is it fun on some of the more windy roads around here.
The all season tires it came with weren't really up to our winter here in Northern Michigan so I put a set of winter tires on and along with the quattro system the car stuck to the roads like velcro. Its actually rather fun to drive along some of the unmaintained roads here in winter as it handles snow like a pro and the handling is amazing!
As far as reliability goes so far so good, the back passenger side door has its own little electrical issue (its German it couldn't go without at least one electrical issue) and sometimes decides not to lock, thankfully we live in a very safe area and I have no problems with people ransacking my vehicle.
Oil change recently cost $60.00 at the dealer, I had a money off voucher and also wanted them to look over it to make sure it wasn't doing anything strange that I hadn't detected.
Its built on the B8 platform and has a timing chain instead of a belt, I will get them to look at the guides next time it has an oil change (I now have 103,000 miles on it)
I like that its a sport wagon, it gives me the option of putting the seats down and carrying larger objects if I wish, something I wouldn't necessarily have with a sedan.
I bought 11-years old Audi Quattro A4 3.0 3 with 160K miles. 30K miles later - so far, so good. No big problems noticed, other than wear & tear & regular maintenance (and CATs which needs to be replaced some day, but it will never arrive).
Buy one with service records and don't waver on that. Sometimes the dealership the work was done at will print out the service history from a VIN number, other than that the rest is up to the previous owner. I'm meticulous and have everything ever purchase on my S5 in a file. With that said my friend has an A4 B7 with 250k and its all original he's done three timing belt/water pump services on the thing!
I wouldn't touch one with 100k on the speedo. This is from a former Audi owner
Same here. Also a former Audi owner. Only ours never made it to $100K. At 80K miles, it needed an $8000 repair, this was in addition to the over $14K worth of work the dealership did for free while it was under warranty. BTW, bought it brand new. The dealership didn't even seem shocked by the amount and frequency of the repairs.
1998 A4 2.8 stick shift is at 155k and runs very well. Its repair history was a couple electronics things, some minor repairs, and mostly regular maintenance/wear items. Nothing crazy. It was maintained regularly but not exceptionally. It might go a lot further, but we're running out of garage space so it may leave me soon. Two people have expressed interest.
Biggest issue has been engine oil leaks requiring adding oil frequently. Gaskets get tired.
The last 50k miles, work was done by nearby independent shop. It probably wouldn't work well if taken back to dealer at this stage.
Thanks for the replies. It's an itch I want to scratch. A $10k spin of the roulette wheel is fine with me. If it's a clunker I'll know not to do it again and at least it's not $50k.
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