[V8] '93 V8

[Roger M. Woodbury]

If the car has received real maintenance and the most recent service 
includes the timing belt/water pump I also see no real issue with this 
car. The belly pan is pretty important but it gets lost a lot on almost 
all Euro cars that came with them.

I have no real experience with very high mile ZF transmission such as in 
this car.  I believe the model is 4 HP24-A.  The "A" part indicates it 
is the Quattro variant which was only used by Audi.  This transmission 
is NOT easily rebuildable as there are (to my knowledge) only two places 
in the US that will rebuild them and both are on the west coast.  ZF no 
longer supports the transmission and will not rebuild in in their 
rebuilding facility. It's not the cost, but because of the scarcity of 
the cars now, the 4 HP24-A is simply obsolete.  I was quoted around 
$3000 for rebuild including shipping from both west coast places, but 
the killer for me was the cost of removing and replacing the 
transmission plus the cost of custom fabrication of oil coolers for 
engine and transmission plus the assrted lines that ran to and from 
them, all of which were too heavily corroded on my otherwise nearly 
pristine V8 Quattro.

Now, for the hobbyist who can afford the time and is willing to spend 
the money necessary to tie the car up if necessary while you either 
wrench it yourself of otherwise get the transmssion overhauled if 
needed, this looks like a fine car.  Personally I am no longer interested.

If I was twenty years  younger than I am now, knowing what I know about 
these cars, my answer is the same:  IF I could just park it in the 
garage to work on when I could spare the time and WANTED to spend time 
wrenching, I might be interested.  But I would need to be sure what I 
was getting for replacement parts first.

I want to add here also, this car is now twenty-four years old. It has 
more than 100,000 miles in total and although it is pretty, beneath are 
all those rubber grommets that the Germans just so love to use in every 
possible suspension point, the hangers for the exhaust system, the 
mounting points for transmission, engine, differential and every other 
odd thing....remember those nifty rubber boots that go on either side of 
the steering rack, and I could go on and on, but you get my drift:  I 
will guarantee that regardless of how good the maintenance has been over 
the past twenty-four  years, a qualified mechanic looking up at the 
underside of the car when its on a lift could probably find more than a 
grand's worth of miscellaneous parts that need now to be replaced, or 
soon will be....even if the car lived its entire life in Oregon.

My feeling is that if this is THE car you just simply have to have, AND 
you can buy it for less than three grand, it will be worth taking a 
shot.  But don't be surprise if you find afterward there is another five 
grand that will need to be put into it that you had NO idea it needed.

I'll give just this advice:  as the seller how many service records are 
IN the car and when the last major service including engine and fluids 
was done.  That's a good start.

FWIW.

Roger