Re: Should I buy a new car....

[paul.heneghan@bbc.co.uk (Paul Heneghan)]

From: ggthack@swansea.ac.uk (Graham Thackrah)

>Well, I may have a chance to buy an 80 quattro (a reg, 84 ish) for 850 odd
>quid.

Go for it!  The A and B reg are the best, as late B reg 80 quattros have the 
1800 sport engine instead of the gutsy 2144cc I5 136hp version. 
 Alternatively, find a mark 1 90 quattro with the 2226cc engine.

>By all accounts it is in reasonable condition with 107k miles (that isn't 
very
>much at all from what I have heard and when compared with my 80 sport with
>120 odd thousand). The photo I have seen of the car suggests it is clean 
with
>little rust although I should really reserve judgement until I have had a
>closer look.

My 80q (also 1984 but a B reg) now has 147kmiles.  I bought it at 56kmiles 
(I am pretty sure it had done a LOT more than that as I have seen cars with 
120k miles in better condition) and it has been extremely reliable.  A 
couple of rust spots have appeared - mostly my fault as I didn't touch up 
the stone chips.  A couple are not my fault:
Offside front wheel arch - probably the result of a poor repair
Rust hole under windscreen seal
Surface rust patches on the top of the sills

>After keeping up with this list for a while I reckon I have a good idea 
about
>what to look for, *the thing I would ask is if anyone has any thoughts on
>whether or not it is worth getting rid of the 80 sport for a q?* I am 
thinking
>of spending enough money on either car to maintain them in as good 
condition
>as I can and I was wondering if folks thought this would be more worth it 
for
>the q than the sport? It probably would involve more cash for the q than 
the
>sport.

In my opinion the sport and the q are totally different cars.  I have never 
driven an 80Sport, but I have driven enough 80GLS, Passat GLS, GolfGTi and 
JettaGLi over the years to know what it must be like.   My 80q has not been 
particularly expensive to maintain over the last 7.5 years - list of 
problems follows.

>I do like the sport and it is probably quicker in a straight line than the
>80q but after being taken for a ride in a quattro turbo in the rain of 
Manchester
>on Monday night (thanks again Jim) with no loss of traction when it was 
given a
>bit of a foot full and when trying the same in my car to be met with wheel 
spin
>and no increase in forward motion (in second, heh heh) , I am thinking it 
is not
>all about straight line speed in the dry.

I had a Jetta GLi before the 80q.  The Jetta was probably even faster 0-60 
than the 80 sport, but neither can hold a candle to the 80q.  Try pulling 
out of a side road and trying to turn right in the wet in a front wheel 
drive car - now try it in an 80q - you won't be able to spin the wheels!

Here are the problems:

2 broken front springs (broken when I bought the car - I thought the clunk 
was a CV)
I originally bought cheap replacements (GBP40), but they lowered the car too 
much and gave it a ridiculously aggressive stance.  Last year I installed Pi 
springs, Boge TurboGas shocks and strut mountings all round (GBP500) - this 
transformed the handling
1 front CV (GBP120) - torn boot allowed grit in (broken when I bought the 
car)
1 headlight - reflector rot (GBP120)
Rear diff mounts (GBP60) - these stopped the clunks when changing gear and 
also allowed the centre diff to unlock without me reversing at high speed!
1 gear change arm (GBP30) - the stainless steel ball had a loose rivet and I 
couldn't select reverse or fifth when the engine heated up.
1 set of wishbone mountings (GBP100)
1 tie rod end  (GBP30)
The car used to eat through tyres because of asymmetric wear - I used a 
spirit level and borrowed some tracking gauges and did the camber and toe 
in, and now I get well over 20kmiles out of a set of part worn tyres.
1 handbrake cable (GBP30)
1 rear callipers (GBP75 second hand) - the parking brake mech seized
Various rubber bushes for petrol pump, filter etc. (GBP20)

That's all that I can remember.  There were also a few indicator lenses and 
bumper corner pieces - these are very vulnerable on the 80q!

We originally got 30mpg out of it - that was when my wife was using it to 
commute to work (40 mile round trip).  These days, the mpg has dropped to 
24mpg as I use it for an 8 mile round trip 5 days a week.  Also the 
injectors are loose, so I need to get more seals and the thermostat appears 
to be stuck open, so the engine rarely reaches operating temperature.

There is absolutely no point in selling this car as it is worth next to 
nothing - the tweed interior was beginning to deteriorate when I bought the 
car 100kmiles ago ( I have some seat covers now) while the exterior looks 
like that of a 14 year old car.  As the car is still a pleasure to drive and 
is not depreciating, I shall continue to drive it until something major 
fails.

I service it once every 12k - 15kmiles.  This is not a boast folks (actually 
it probably is), but my engine has done the best part of 150kmiles (probably 
a lot more) with dino oil changes every 12k - 15k.  It burned a little oil 
when I bought it and still burns a little oil - nothing to worry about.

Early this year I bought an Avant with 115kmiles which according to the 
service book has had 8 oil changes (average 15kmile between oil changes) - 
now at 128kmiles it uses about 1litre of oil in 5k miles - not bad.

Paul
paul.heneghan@bbc.co.uk
1984 Audi 80 quattro
1989 Audi 100 Avant