How bad is the idea of buying a 400tkm Audi 80?

Eye-Q

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Hamburg, Autobahnland
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Mazda MX-5 NB ringmeet fashion accessory
I'm thinking about buying a car for ringmeet and stumbled upon an Audi 80 B4 2.3E (with the glorious 5 cylinder engine) in the classifieds. The seller states he invested a lot in it, last year brakes all around, water pump and timing belt, radiator and clutch at 370tkm. There are two sets of wheels: those nasty ones which are currently on the car and the original Audi aluminium rims. The roof is just wrapped so it can be removed to make the car all white. MOT has been done in March, next year it'll be 30 years old so it would be eligible for a historic plate (but I guess not with that lowered suspension).

The good:
- 2.3l 5-pot :love:
- It's an Audi 80 so the bodywork is fully zinced which should mean minimal rust
- Probably eligible for historic plate next year
- It's from the second owner so it didn't go through a gazillion owners who just chucked it away after a few years
- Apparently the owner has cared for it

The bad:
- Currently it's not registered for the road so I'd have to get temp plates to do a test drive, and I don't know how long this would take currently
- Those rims, but the original rims including "very good" tires are included so the hideous ones can be swapped and sold
- That lowered suspension
- 400tkm

The ugly:
- That interior - good lord, blue cloth in a white car...
 
Buying a shitbox would be very Ringmeet... we've had worse.

Plus, it would join other white VAGs with a mismatched roof :lmao:
 
Same car, but only 1400 Euros, leaves you more cash for repairs:

 
I can't possibly discourage you from buying a 5-banger Audi 80. I prefer the green one and it's roughly the same colour as the E30 touring Thomas bought in 2014 (!) that looked pretty bad but just worked.
 
That’s a tasty car for sure. If you can’t find a catastrophic reason for why it isn’t TÜV’d then go for it. @thomas may know about the temp tag thing with his Verdeck Systemfehler Eos.
 
Buying a shitbox would be very Ringmeet... we've had worse.

Plus, it would join other white VAGs with a mismatched roof :lmao:
I object to the term "shitbox", that's reserved for Peugeots, Citroens, Fiats, Dacias and the likes. :mad:

Same car, but only 1400 Euros, leaves you more cash for repairs:

Yeah, but that's 450 km away (about 5 hours by train) compared to the 40 km of the white one which I can do cycling, and I don't want to waste a day plus train tickets getting there and discovering it isn't the car for me...

I'll see if I can find other 5-pots in the vicinity, the white one was the first car I found interesting when browsing sub-3000 Euro cars in the classifieds.

Make sure you leave enough budget for a roof rack for bike transport, though. ;) :p
Good call, but I'd rather get a rack for the trailer hook since a) it exists and b) having it on the trailer hook means less aerodynamic drag compared to having it on the roof which is a bit better for fuel economy on the way to the ring. ;)

I can't possibly discourage you from buying a 5-banger Audi 80. I prefer the green one and it's roughly the same colour as the E30 touring Thomas bought in 2014 (!) that looked pretty bad but just worked.
As I wrote: the green one is 450 km away, I want to be able to cycle there and back, meaning a max of 60 km from home in northeastern Hamburg.

That’s a tasty car for sure. If you can’t find a catastrophic reason for why it isn’t TÜV’d then go for it. @thomas may know about the temp tag thing with his Verdeck Systemfehler Eos.
It is TÜV'd, as I wrote it has been done in March. That said, even here you can get it TÜV'd by knowing a TÜV inspector who will "miss" faults which otherwise would fail the car...
 
Sometimes, my level of incomprehension amazes myself.
 
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