generic A4 questions

[thejimrose]

jumping in here..

MY 96 was 1st year of the a4, not 95 as said. 99.5 got better
headlights, but these are an easy retrofit to the early cars - mine
ran about 400 for housings and HID parts. the AEB is regarded as being
the strongest of the 1.8s and is why i bought my 98. it's also 1 of
the more sludge prone because audi revised their oil service
recommendations post facto. as said, buy with a good history and an
analretentive owner.

warm up and cool down are only slightly more work than what you would
normally do. you're not going to flog any car cold are you? my 1.8t
takes about 5 minutes to get warm. it's very quick. as for cooldown -
basically i drive real easy for 5 minutes before shutting the car off.
which i would usually do anyway. if i've been driving hard i'll up
that to 10+ minutes of mellow driving. if you're really worried get a
turbo timer and problem solved.

i spoke to several audi specialists in the area before i bought mine ,
and ALL of them told me the cars were very reliable and the motors
were near bulletproof.

interestingly, every tech i spoke to would also moan / grimace / wince
in pain when i mentioned that the other car i was considering was a
200 20vtq.

i would def get a well maintaned 1.8 over the 6. it's smooth but dull.
and HEAVY. and no tuning options. which is no fun. =) also a PITA to
work on if you DIY.

the turbo's also are good for at least 80k. they're not unreliable.
mine let go at 120.

i aslo agree that the b6 is a more sorted chassis, depending on your
budget, you can get a nice b6 car [02-05]. they dont have the same
issues with the front suspension, abs pump, airbags, etc as the b5's.
altho at this point i can change control arms in only a little more
time than it takes to change oil.

the s4 is also in that price range, and is a super fun car, but
another level of maintenance cost. but a chipped s4 is as fast as
you'd want to be on the street and is a wonderful car to drive. it's a
mile-murderer.

gl,
jim

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