How much of a bad decision is a 1996 Audi A4 2.8?
....I run my car hard and have had many trouble free miles....wait I do have to change the oil from time to time...
Every car / brand has hit and miss issues (If someone can name one car that is 100% perfect and will never have any issues, I'll paypal you $1000 right now!). Stereotypes like this make me laugh
....All my friend's own VW's and they all have electrical problems and they always say how reliable their cars are 
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I heard nothin but great things about saabs...
10 second google search: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...aab_story.html
Last edited by Cspence; May 25, 2010 at 10:38 PM.
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....I run my car hard and have had many trouble free miles....wait I do have to change the oil from time to time...Every car / brand has hit and miss issues (If someone can name one car that is 100% perfect and will never have any issues, I'll paypal you $1000 right now!). Stereotypes like this make me laugh
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Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 428
Total Cats: 1
From: Burlington, VT
I've run Audi's for about 15 years. I've run a bunch of VW's as well.
I currently run 2 A4's (99 and a 2001).
The B5 A4 with the six is a nice driving car, but not very powerful, and you can't do much to tweak more out of that 6 (doesn't like turbo's much).
Here are the soft spots you should look for:
1. The water pump / timing belt is a big job on these. You'll pay between $800 / $1200 for the job, or swear for most of weekend if you do it yourself. It must be done every 90k (manual says 110). If you don't, the belt will snap and the valves will impact the pistons.
2. The control arms get sloppy at the bushing and the entire set needs to be swapped out. PITA job, and expensive parts. Listen for clunks as you go over speed bumps to see if yours are ready to quit.
You need a source for cheap parts for these. Chris at www.force5auto.com is a good source.
You also have to buy the Bentley manual. This should run around $80, unless you get a "used" copy on Ebay.
The difference between an A4 and a Honda is a matter of the cars having a soul. The Honda (no matter what badge it wears) feels empty to me. The Audi is a drivers car.
I currently run 2 A4's (99 and a 2001).
The B5 A4 with the six is a nice driving car, but not very powerful, and you can't do much to tweak more out of that 6 (doesn't like turbo's much).
Here are the soft spots you should look for:
1. The water pump / timing belt is a big job on these. You'll pay between $800 / $1200 for the job, or swear for most of weekend if you do it yourself. It must be done every 90k (manual says 110). If you don't, the belt will snap and the valves will impact the pistons.
2. The control arms get sloppy at the bushing and the entire set needs to be swapped out. PITA job, and expensive parts. Listen for clunks as you go over speed bumps to see if yours are ready to quit.
You need a source for cheap parts for these. Chris at www.force5auto.com is a good source.
You also have to buy the Bentley manual. This should run around $80, unless you get a "used" copy on Ebay.
The difference between an A4 and a Honda is a matter of the cars having a soul. The Honda (no matter what badge it wears) feels empty to me. The Audi is a drivers car.
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Want fries with that?
iTrader: (3)
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,011
Total Cats: 3
From: Twin Cities, Minnesota
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, are you ******* kidding me?? Every Audi I've ever driven or been in (02 A6 2.7t, '10 A4 2.0t, 00 S4 2.7t, 05 TT 3.2 Quattro) has been dull, unassuming, and even boring to drive. Not to mention expensive, bland, and slow.
Here's a copy-paste from another forum I post on, because I'm too lazy to type anything:
Here's a copy-paste from another forum I post on, because I'm too lazy to type anything:
In the past week, this is what's happened to my A6 2.7t.
1. The inside of the drivers side door is fucked. The locks don't work, the keyhold doesn't work, and I can't even manually push down the lock. The first day this happened I had to crawl in through the trunk.
2. The car got stuck at WOT. Out of the blue, I floored it to merge, didn't come back up. I was on the hard shoulder, and it scared the **** out of me.
3. The passanger side door fucked itself aswell. I opened it this morning, and it wouldn't close. Not one bit, it would go all the way in and even turn off the interior light, but it wouldn't latch. I had to drive in with the door held closed with bungee cords.
4. The washer bottle exploded. The car now beeps at me EVERY ******* 3 MILES. And it's not just a suttle ding, it's like a ******* smoke detector going off in the car.
5. TCS/ABS arbitrarily stopped working. No warning at all, it just stopped. I didn't notice for a while since I drive with the TCS off anyways, but when I tried to turn it on it wouldn't. Restarting the car resulted in it being on for a couple of miles, but then turning off again.
6. The manifold blew a hole. Sounds funny now. If I'm honest though, this happened a while ago.
7. The brake lights are stuck on. Even now, with the car off and the lights off, the lights are still on, draining the battery as we speak.
And over the past month, it's developed some horrible vibration, it's gas mileage dropped from around 22 to 19mpg, part of the fender just fell off, and it started rattling somewhere.
It's the same deal with my mom's car (TT 3.2 quattro (though not really a quattro system 'cause the TT wasn't worthy, since it's gay, slow, heavy, ugly, and automatic)). It's at 45k miles, and it just got a new transmission and whole ******* wiring harness. Luckily this one is still under warentee. ******* horrible car.
1. The inside of the drivers side door is fucked. The locks don't work, the keyhold doesn't work, and I can't even manually push down the lock. The first day this happened I had to crawl in through the trunk.
2. The car got stuck at WOT. Out of the blue, I floored it to merge, didn't come back up. I was on the hard shoulder, and it scared the **** out of me.
3. The passanger side door fucked itself aswell. I opened it this morning, and it wouldn't close. Not one bit, it would go all the way in and even turn off the interior light, but it wouldn't latch. I had to drive in with the door held closed with bungee cords.
4. The washer bottle exploded. The car now beeps at me EVERY ******* 3 MILES. And it's not just a suttle ding, it's like a ******* smoke detector going off in the car.
5. TCS/ABS arbitrarily stopped working. No warning at all, it just stopped. I didn't notice for a while since I drive with the TCS off anyways, but when I tried to turn it on it wouldn't. Restarting the car resulted in it being on for a couple of miles, but then turning off again.
6. The manifold blew a hole. Sounds funny now. If I'm honest though, this happened a while ago.
7. The brake lights are stuck on. Even now, with the car off and the lights off, the lights are still on, draining the battery as we speak.
And over the past month, it's developed some horrible vibration, it's gas mileage dropped from around 22 to 19mpg, part of the fender just fell off, and it started rattling somewhere.
It's the same deal with my mom's car (TT 3.2 quattro (though not really a quattro system 'cause the TT wasn't worthy, since it's gay, slow, heavy, ugly, and automatic)). It's at 45k miles, and it just got a new transmission and whole ******* wiring harness. Luckily this one is still under warentee. ******* horrible car.
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I really enjoy my Audi (Allroad), it's a very nice car that hasn't gotten any complaints from passengers or even people that have driven it. Every car has its horror stories and these are no different. Keep the maintenance up to date and it should comparable to most other 14 year old cars in that same class.
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BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, are you ******* kidding me?? Every Audi I've ever driven or been in (02 A6 2.7t, '10 A4 2.0t, 00 S4 2.7t, 05 TT 3.2 Quattro) has been dull, unassuming, and even boring to drive. Not to mention expensive, bland, and slow.
Here's a copy-paste from another forum I post on, because I'm too lazy to type anything:
Here's a copy-paste from another forum I post on, because I'm too lazy to type anything:
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Saw this car in person last year at Waterfest....its a damn beast!
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Only problems I have heard with the b5 s4 was with turbo replacement...not even that the turbos fail prematurely, just that they are a pain in the *** to replace once they do go. Other than that, it seems that the car is pretty trouble free depending on the previous life it lived. If someone bought one with the ko4 swap already done, they should have plenty of trouble free fun. I may be doing this when the miata grows old on me....only I may be looking for one with a gt28 swap
Saw this car in person last year at Waterfest....its a damn beast!
Saw this car in person last year at Waterfest....its a damn beast!
When I was just getting out of them, there was a lot of TiAL talk although nothing had really materialized yet. RS6s still make massive amounts of power compared the the K04s and Buehn Bombs of yore.
Oh and GURUMAN's car isn't even an S4. =P
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Wow... Lots of Audi hatred in here. I have an '01 A4 1.8T Quattro I daily drive. While it does have its problems none affect driveability that much. ABS module goes out on the B5 ($300-500 to have rebuilt) and control arms take a dookie at ~100K. That's about the only things I've come across on mine. Just do your general maintience and you will be fine. Mine has 162K on it BTW... Still runs like a champ. Minus no ABS currently. 
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How much is the car? If the timing belt hasn't already been done, chances are you'll spend more getting it done than what the car costs at this point. I have a B6 3.0. No real issues other than complaining about the cost of the timing belt.
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Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 65
Total Cats: 0
01-04 Saab 9-5 Aero wagon or sedan
Handle well, for a large FWD car.... 265bhp, Great interior quality. 23-30MPG. Comfortable....
Its like a FWD Audi, that is Reliable....and Not ugly....
Handle well, for a large FWD car.... 265bhp, Great interior quality. 23-30MPG. Comfortable....
Its like a FWD Audi, that is Reliable....and Not ugly....
Last edited by Aero91; May 26, 2010 at 06:56 PM.
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Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 7,388
Total Cats: 474
From: Jackson, MS
Holy crap. Did you guys know you can get a 2004 Pontiac GTO for about $10-11k now? That's out of my price range (and likely will be for a couple years) but that's not a bad way to get into an LS1/LS2.
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Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 7,388
Total Cats: 474
From: Jackson, MS
Damn, I thought I had found a 2000 Ford Contour SVT in great shape For $3k within driving distance...then I checked the dealer's website and it's marked sold.
The search continues. I'd love to find a nice Subie. Never any in this part of the country, unfortunately.
The search continues. I'd love to find a nice Subie. Never any in this part of the country, unfortunately.
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