Owning an older 5ktq(was Audi Gods hate me)

[Doyt W. Echelberger]

Right on, Nick. Remember, but I don't feel I was unlucky.  They were great 
cars when new and it cost over 30 grand to take one home, and they still 
contain all that sophisticated engineering which was expensive to build and 
is still there and expensive to replace when it is worn out. No one is 
lucky enough to have owned such a car for over 10 years without replacing 
many of those expensive systems.

Nine to fourteen years later and after 100k to 200k miles they still _look_ 
like new but sell for one or two thousand US dollars. Think about 
it.....why aren't they still worth over $30 grand?   They have depreciated 
by about $30 grand for good reasons.

The other side of the coin is that a renovated one could be worth more than 
a few thousand dollars, at least to some people. Me for example.

The mid-to-late 1980's type 44 tq's potentially have attractive driving 
characteristics, and are well-preserved by their galvanizing, and a casual 
buyer could easily make a snap decision to buy a used one and then discover 
a week later that he has also bought a 4-5 thousand dollar maintenance debt 
which he has to pay before the car is safe and reliable. But it doesn't 
have to be that way.

I wrote the truth to Greg about my ownership experience because both he and 
I knew that he was smart enough to make his own decisions about getting 
into such a potential situation. It turns out that Greg decided to stay 
with his 86 4kq.  He deserved the chance to make that decision before he 
already owned a 5ktq along with it's potential renovation debt. Reading 
about my experience was an eye-opener that he asked for and got. Now if he 
still wants a type 44 tq, he can look for an example that has had these 
things corrected, and it follows that he can expect to find a higher asking 
price on a car that has those things done already. He may not choose to pay 
that price, but he will understand it.

My personal opinion is that a well-maintained and documented 5ktq should be 
priced at about 4-5 grand. And one without the maintenance and the records 
could well be worth nothing and could really be just a debt waiting to 
happen. Or it could be an incredible bargain.  Nobody needs to agree with 
that if they have reasons to believe otherwise. And anyone is at liberty to 
throw the dice on acquiring a used type 44 that doesn't have the 
documentation and an inspection by a trained experienced and honest Audi 
specialist.

In case anyone read this far, IMO my Audi ownership has been a huge 
bargain. Somebody else paid the 30 grand to get it off the showroom floor, 
and I'm driving that same car farther and longer than he did, for under 10 
grand. He must have had a different value system than I do, and I am 
grateful for that and respect his right to act on those opinions.

Doyt Echelberger
87 5ktq   coming up on 190k miles and probably good for another 100k


 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
At 11:31 PM 2/15/01 -0500, you wrote:
>This coming from the owner of an '875k cstq. I think that just one persons
>unluckiness or unfaithfulness to Audi gods, whatever, should not scare some
>else  away from buy on of these great cars. I agree many things can go wrong
>with this car, but what Audi doesn't have its inherent problems. I think the
>main problem is that most of these cars have close to if not over 200,000+
>miles on them. What other car do you know of that could go this long with
>out having some of these problems crop up as well?
>I think it depends on what type of car you like more. Do you like cruising
>at high speeds(5kcstq) or do like bombing around twisty back roads(4k). I
>will agree though that the 5k seems to have more "stuff" that can go wrong
>on it.
>
>Nick Stuart
>'87 5000 cstq