What should I know about a B6 A4 1.8T AT before buying?

jsausley said:
Don't think we have that stereotype in the U.S., but thanks. :p

Anyway, as it turns out I'm not getting this A4. Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm just not sure I want to commit to a high mileage Audi for a daily driver, even if the price is good.
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From experience, I just don't think it's worth it it's not any more fun to drive than your Golf.
 
prizrak said:
From experience, I just don't think it's worth it it's not any more fun to drive than your Golf.
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Yeah, I'm just looking for something interesting that I can put to use on the daily grind to and from work. I love the R a little too much to watch the miles crawl up on the motorway. It's much more fun on country back roads. :p
 
Cobol74 said:
Audi says more about you than an aggressive rude finger could ever do. Do not drive an Audi unless you are obnoxious, it's the Audi way.
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Yep, and I'm gay for driving a Miata and LCG is a dentist because he has a Saab. CR540 has it pretty bad too, since his TT makes him a hairdresser. :rolleyes:


On-topic: does VAG sell different cars in Europe and the US? The Europeans seem to consider VAG cars sturdy and reliable, yet in the states you are advised to stay away unless you have pretty deep pockets.
 
LeVeL said:
On-topic: does VAG sell different cars in Europe and the US? The Europeans seem to consider VAG cars sturdy and reliable, yet in the states you are advised to stay away unless you have pretty deep pockets.
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They are reliable, mostly. But here, we hold Toyota and Honda as the beacon of reliability. Cars from those brands can go to 300,000 with only oil changes and a timing belt or two. There are tons of VAG cars out there for sale right now with 150-200,000 miles, but they've had a lot more work done to them. I consider anything that can make it to 200,000 pretty reliable.

The big reason is that Americans don't take care of their cars properly. From what I understand, Europeans tend to follow the recommended service intervals pretty well. Europeans like rules and protocols (for the most part) and they tend to be pretty good at following them. Americans don't. Americans get in the car and drive it and expect it to just keep working forever. That's why we have idiot lights in the dash, to try to help people understand that preventative maintenance is a good thing. Americans don't understand that, because they think all cars should be like Hondas and go to 300k without issue.
 
jsausley said:
They are reliable, mostly. But here, we hold Toyota and Honda as the beacon of reliability. Cars from those brands can go to 300,000 with only oil changes and a timing belt or two. There are tons of VAG cars out there for sale right now with 150-200,000 miles, but they've had a lot more work done to them. I consider anything that can make it to 200,000 pretty reliable.

The big reason is that Americans don't take care of their cars properly. From what I understand, Europeans tend to follow the recommended service intervals pretty well. Europeans like rules and protocols (for the most part) and they tend to be pretty good at following them. Americans don't. Americans get in the car and drive it and expect it to just keep working forever. That's why we have idiot lights in the dash, to try to help people understand that preventative maintenance is a good thing. Americans don't understand that, because they think all cars should be like Hondas and go to 300k without issue.
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No it's because they are not particularly reliable, perhaps the European duty cycle is more gentle than American but I can compare my 14 year old Subaru (not even the most reliable of the Japanese) vs my then 2 year old A4 (at the upper end of reliable for Ze Germans) and I can see a very big difference.

There is also the serviceability in general, A4 had allen bolts on the rear brakes, I had to order new ones at some point because they stripped the hell out and we ended up welding some hex nuts to it to take them off the caliper... It was a frigging 2 day brake job man (pads and rotors)!

It took me about 30 minutes to replace the entire rear calipers on the Subaru because it has the standard hex bolts on it.

I think the problem is that they are too complicated in general, especially in areas that don't necessarily need the complications.
 
I'm sure all that is true, but I've heard Americans here complain because they have to take their car in to the dealer for service at the 10,000 mile mark. Most Americans go to a mom and pop or a Quick Express Lube or whatever for an oil change and never go back to the dealer at all, so this bothers them.
 
Well, you need a signed service book here if you don't want to lose about 20% off your car's value here.
 
LeVeL said:
Yep, and I'm gay for driving a Miata and LCG is a dentist because he has a Saab. CR540 has it pretty bad too, since his TT makes him a hairdresser. :rolleyes:
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And I'm a police officer... Cuz I have a Crown Vic...
 
jsausley said:
I'm sure all that is true, but I've heard Americans here complain because they have to take their car in to the dealer for service at the 10,000 mile mark. Most Americans go to a mom and pop or a Quick Express Lube or whatever for an oil change and never go back to the dealer at all, so this bothers them.
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That's a problem in my book, I don't want to have to go to the dealer for service. For one I'm decent enough with a wrench for two the nearest service would require me to drive at least 20 mins (no traffic) as opposed to the dude next to my house.
 
My 2002 1.8 A4 has been chugging along for 135k and runs like a champ, and with my meticulous maintenance routine, it's had nary a problem other than having to replace the AC compressor and the oil temp sensor. If I were you I'd seriously consider the car. Unless it's a CVT, in which case just walk away.
 
My mother had a mkIV Golf that was mostly reliable except for light bulbs burning out every other week. Then, at ~100k iirc (having driven ~70k in 7 years), electrical gremlins invaded. First the stereo died twice, then power windows, and then she traded it in for a mkVI. The new car has been fairly reliable so far for ~36k miles except for a leaky radiator.

My father has a B7 A4 2.0T, which has not been so reliable. A cam chain link snapped at around 85k miles, prompting very costly repairs. My father takes meticulous care of all of his cars and goes either to a trusted mechanic (who we know personally) for small stuff, or the dealer for anything even remotely major. His old Accord made it to 188k or so without any issues...
 
LeVeL said:
On-topic: does VAG sell different cars in Europe and the US? The Europeans seem to consider VAG cars sturdy and reliable, yet in the states you are advised to stay away unless you have pretty deep pockets.
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It's mostly the same cars, and I don't get why reliability seems to drop when they're exported there. Hell, my coworker has a Golf TDI estate that's made in Mexico, for the Finnish market. :lol:


jsausley said:
But here, we hold Toyota and Honda as the beacon of reliability.
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Toyota (and to a lesser extent, honda) has always been considered the beacon of reliability here too, but I just don't like them. It has mostly to do with the fact that it took them to the early to mid 2000's to figure out how to make their cars feel like they aren't made from ground down soda bottles. A late 90's Toyota will be more reliable than anything else the same age, but it has this horrible cheap plasticky feel I just don't want.

Also, engines. Toyota is advertising the current base Avensis to have 130 horses and that's fine for a family car in this part of the world, but it's a 1.6 liter vvt-i that has to be revved to hell and back if you want to make any sort of progress. Have fun downchanging for hills that a European downsized turbo with less displacement and horsepower can climb without issues in sixth gear. :)
 
Perc said:
It's mostly the same cars, and I don't get why reliability seems to drop when they're exported there. Hell, my coworker has a Golf TDI estate that's made in Mexico, for the Finnish market. :lol:



Toyota (and to a lesser extent, honda) has always been considered the beacon of reliability here too, but I just don't like them. It has mostly to do with the fact that it took them to the early to mid 2000's to figure out how to make their cars feel like they aren't made from ground down soda bottles. A late 90's Toyota will be more reliable than anything else the same age, but it has this horrible cheap plasticky feel I just don't want.

Also, engines. Toyota is advertising the current base Avensis to have 130 horses and that's fine for a family car in this part of the world, but it's a 1.6 liter vvt-i that has to be revved to hell and back if you want to make any sort of progress. Have fun downchanging for hills that a European downsized turbo with less displacement and horsepower can climb without issues in sixth gear. :)
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How is downshifting and revving the nuts out of engines a problem? :p
 
Perc said:
It's mostly the same cars, and I don't get why reliability seems to drop when they're exported there. Hell, my coworker has a Golf TDI estate that's made in Mexico, for the Finnish market. :lol:



Toyota (and to a lesser extent, honda) has always been considered the beacon of reliability here too, but I just don't like them. It has mostly to do with the fact that it took them to the early to mid 2000's to figure out how to make their cars feel like they aren't made from ground down soda bottles. A late 90's Toyota will be more reliable than anything else the same age, but it has this horrible cheap plasticky feel I just don't want.

Also, engines. Toyota is advertising the current base Avensis to have 130 horses and that's fine for a family car in this part of the world, but it's a 1.6 liter vvt-i that has to be revved to hell and back if you want to make any sort of progress. Have fun downchanging for hills that a European downsized turbo with less displacement and horsepower can climb without issues in sixth gear. :)
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Are german cars just as reliable (or close enough) as their japanese counterparts over there then? I always wondered the same thing too, I always see people on this forum with mid 90s BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis and they seem to all okay with decent amount of miles on them. On the flip side, I haven't heard of anyone in the states with a german car that has similar luck.

Its kinda not fair as I think that for the most part, the germans drive a lot better than say my Acura or other japanse luxury brands...but I don't see myself buying a german due to long term maintenance costs.
 
I ended up with a cheap 2004 Passat 1.8T with 111,000 miles. It has had the timing belt and water pump changed and is in pretty good shape. Cost me less than half of what the B6 A4 would have cost and it's basically the same car except it has no AWD.

Just something to drive every day and put mileage on. Only one problem with it and it seems to be the secondary air pump making a horrible noise during cold starts. It's a simple fix thankfully.
 
jsausley said:
I ended up with a cheap 2004 Passat 1.8T with 111,000 miles. It has had the timing belt and water pump changed and is in pretty good shape. Cost me less than half of what the B6 A4 would have cost and it's basically the same car except it has no AWD.

Just something to drive every day and put mileage on. Only one problem with it and it seems to be the secondary air pump making a horrible noise during cold starts. It's a simple fix thankfully.
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Congrats! The Passat is somewhat softer than A4 so might even be a better choice for a daily depending on your preference.
 
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