considering a 2000 or 2001 A4 Avant

[Wylie Bean]

Aside from having let the timing belt go too long and the tensioner
failing with catastrophic results, our 99 A4 1.8T Avant (tiptronic)
(bought with 9K miles in 11/99) has been a great car, with only minor
flaws to speak of.  The thumb shift makes the automatic almost
enjoyable.  No oil sludge issues, as at that time the interval was 5K
miles from the dealer under warranty.  I've replaced the valve cover
gasket twice, once before and once during the time I had the engine
apart for the head rebuild, and it was amazingly clean at 98K miles.
NO buildup (anywhere, not just on the vc) whatsoever, and I used both
synth and dino oils in no regular pattern.   The ABS controller has
just gone kaput, but other than that, nothing other than the ignition
output module ($320) has failed outside the warranty, door handle
(spring failed) and a couple of vacuum lines to the turbo and bpv were
replaced under warranty.  We did not have the coil problems associated
with the later cars.

As far as pickup/lag, it's there, but it's nothing that can't be
overcome with a little attention to throttle, and any idiot knows
better than to pull out to pass first THEN nail the throttle hoping to
go past the car in front of you before getting whacked.  The turbo
helps the engine make good power at 2K rpm.  It's also one of the
safest cars on the road, scoring higher than the comparable Volvos
(surprise, not really) in the class.  With the wife and 2 kids in the
car daily, that outranks all out performance in my book.

Wylie Bean
TheRingmeister at triad.rr.com
90 Cq
99.5 A4 Avant 1.8Tq