A4 1.8 RELIABILITY AND MODS

["Clough, Sam" <SClough@irps.atl.invesco.com>]

Any experience out there on how durable a modified 1.8TQ would be?  I'm in
no rush to buy, but I have to admit I have been out looking and trying to
gather information.  First of all, being cheap or saving depreciation
(depends on how you look at it) I would probably buy a used A4 with around
20k, definitely no more than 30k.  Then, being the power hungry Porsche guy
I am, I would want more power. I don't know much about Audis (yet) we only
have an A6Q which is by now means a tuner car, but it seems that the basic
upgrades to make the A4 a quick car are a new intercooler, K04 turbo (I
think), a re-mapped chip for the turbo and more boost, and exhaust upgrades.
By what I've heard and seen on TAP's website this is supposed to improve
horsepower to anywhere between around 220-250.  My question is, if I bought
an A4, it would be subjected to daily driving in Atlanta traffic, so some
fast moving, some stop and go and the occasional crawl when the interstate
is really heavy and of course, every now and then the car would be driven
"briskly" shall we say on weekends.  You can't ignore the Georgia mountains
you know.  So, are these motors reliable enough to put up with that kind of
driving and that kind of horsepower and still last over 100k (with
responsible driving of course)?  From what I can see, you can make
incredible HP numbers out of these cars, but race cars are constantly
rebuilt and I do not want a car that's going to blow up or self-destruct at
low mileage.  So, any experience/opinions about the A4 1.8T and tuning would
be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in Advance,
Samuel

Samuel W. Clough
Invesco Retirement Plan Services
404-575-3571