Request advice on purchasing a 1990 V8 Quattro (long)

[David Weiss <dzweiss@worldnet.att.net>]

I'm pretty new to the list, too.  Glad to see there are some other folks 
interested in the V8's.  They're neat cars.  Hope some of this is
useful.  Sorry it's so long!

I bought my '91 5-spd last June, had 69k miles.  Looked nice, but needed
much TLC, to whit:
   original timing belt;
   brakes were all original, front rotors warped, rear pads very low;
   original nitrogen bottle (aka pressure accumulator, bomb) was bad;
   dirty injectors;
   original plugs and air filter;
   radio dead;
   small crack in grill;
   driver's floor mat shot;
   clock dead;
   cracked passenger visor door hinge.

I called all over the Midwest looking for a '91 200Q or a '92 S4, bought
out-of-town newspapers, etc.  Pickings were slim: a red 93 S4 in St.
Louis, a 75k mi 200Q at Carousel in Iowa City and a 46k (I think) 200Q
at Audi Exchange in Chicago.  The saleslady at Carousel was proud that
the previous owner had just replaced the front brakes w/ "the right
brakes for the car".  She faxed the service ticket-- big bucks for UFO
pads and rotors, after owner compained of shimmy when braking...  The
Chicago car had original brakes, and the dealer tried to play typ.
used-car sales games _over the phone_!

Isringhausen in Decatur, IL had a black 69k mi V8, but I wasn't
interested until they mentioned it was a 5-spd.  I drove out there, we
dickered, and I bought it.  Way under NADA, even after discounting for
defects, but I probably paid too much according to some of the recent
posts on V8 prices!  Isringhausen replaced the timing belt and radio. 
They really showed some class when they found the back side of the
timing belt worn, and replaced the rollers of their own accord!

I fixed the other stuff, ex the mat.  Everything was pretty easy to get
at.  Two bottles of Techron cleaned the injectors for a huge
improvement. Although the clock wasn't available separately (whole
instrument cluster ~$1000), Wise Speedometer in St. Louis sent it out
for repair for $60.  I got a spare clock from a yard and sent it out,
rather than muck around in the dash twice.  Also found the visor used. 
New parts are expensive.  

Waiting months for the $3c list floor mat-- the Germans have sent mats
for the automatic twice now, under the 5-spd part no.  Chuck at Plaza
Motors is going to try and send a tracing, labeled "Funfganggetreibe"
(where's that double dot?) back through the parts system.  BTW, the
automatic mat is about $70 less, a real bargain.  Four custom mats
coming from Imparts are 1/3 the cost of the single Audi work of art.

The idle stabilizer also went south after 2k miles.  Very easy to
replace, but more $.

Happy hunting!

--Dave Weiss
    '86 4000 CS UnQ (sold to a friend who still talks to me)
    '89 200Q (gave its life for mine last year)
    '91 V8 5-spd
    '93 90 CS UnQ (wife's car)