[urq] I'm the type of guy that shouldn't own a urq.

[urq]

Before I bought my 1978 Audi Fox I acknowledged to my friends that I
expected to have to pay more to keep the car as I would have to pay
mechanics to work on it ... for many of the same reasons you cite ... of
course parts availability wasn't one of them at that time.  Over the years I
learned to do everything on that car ... the Fox, and later the urq ... they
are not that complicated.  If you have a fuel pressure gauge you can test
just about everything in the CIS system.  Flywheel pins don't usually break
off ... and the flywheel sensors on the I-5 engines seem to be pretty
robust.  A rear diff seal failure isn't going to leave you dead on the side
of the road.  The some of the sorts of things that might leave you stranded
are maintenance items like timing belts; others like Hall Senders in dizzies
and fuel pumps are things that you can buy spares of and keep them in the
trunk.  If you would trust an MC, learn to trust the WX.  The MC has been
out of manufacture for maybe 5 years less than the WX ... 

There is one inescapable fact ... it is difficult to find parts for 25 year
old vehicles ... I would argue this is not specific to Audi ... that said,
for Audis I've found that the aftermarket suppliers still can get the sort
of parts that are known to fail or wear out.  If you can't find a mechanic,
start asking the other urq owners who live near you where they have their
cars worked on.  I would bet that searching for a few more possible sources
might get you a good reliable mechanic.  Funny, if a mechanic told me he was
afraid to work on an urq I'd tell him that I wouldn't trust him enough to
take any of my cars to him.