Would you Buy one?? 2001 A4 - Let's hear what you think

[gallat1]

I want to add a second Audi A4 to the garage....and here is what I'm seeing, what's your opinion?

2001 Audi A4 - 1.8T Loaded (cold weather package)
Either 75k or less for around $8.5K or over 75k ot 110k ~$6k.

Every used car is different, but the many lately are in decent condition. Most will need either new tires, brakes, PIXELS, and almost all will need at least one control arm, timing belt/water pump, and other fun maintanence items.

My question is...After owning one for many years, do you still recommend it? What are your thoughts on price? What's your opinion on mileage?

-gallat1
current - 2007 Audi A4
soon - 2001 Audi A4

[MOtown A4]

I bought a mint 01 back a the end of 08' with 48k on the ticker. best used car i've ever bought. I'm already contemplating buying another one as a winter vehicle.

[tar]

i would look into getting a 75-85k car that has been well maintained. unless you found a hidden gem with 20k on it i wouldnt pay 8.5k for a b5

[RockyMountainB5]

Yea, go for the lower priced B5's - especially if you can fix them up.
You should be able to get one for way less than what you quoted - however, my 01.5' did cost me more than market for the other years....
But sometimes you gotta pay to get exactly what you want.

[gallat1]

That's great. Saw a couple super low mileage ones. Any issues with the age of the car versus the miles on it?

[gallat1]

Thanks for the info. I'm ready to pull the trigger if the right one comes along. I've taken two to ind. mechanics. The first looked like hell underneath. Contol arms, oil pump issues, muffler, etc and the sales guy won't budge. The second was beautiful, under 50k listed for $10k. The guy came down only $300 dollars and I walked out. Too much for my blood, but the car did sell the next week. Either someone paid near that price, or he unloaded it somewhere else. Oh well. Now I'm indifferent about mileage, since anything out there with over 100k is selling rather cheaply.

[dcampana]

yeah high mileage would not scare me off if it is properly maintained. I have 157k on mine, had had it since 37k and its damn mint... so they are out there. If you cna be patient you will find one:)

[biketsai]

Hell yea, 2001 all the way

[discontained]

I bought my 2001 back in april of '07. It had bad pixels, raw tires, all the lights were on the dash. It had 97k on it and as soon as I saw it I had to have it. I always wanted one since i had my MKII golf. Its been a rough journey but I absolutely love the car. Getting vag-com and DIY helped me save a bunch of money and get on a more personal level with my car. I say go for it! See if you can find the best one 2001.5

almost 3 years later and im rocking 167k miles and it still is running great.

[bmann]

I bought my 2001 back in april of '07. It had bad pixels, raw tires, all the lights were on the dash. It had 97k on it and as soon as I saw it I had to have it. I always wanted one since i had my MKII golf. Its been a rough journey but I absolutely love the car. Getting vag-com and DIY helped me save a bunch of money and get on a more personal level with my car. I say go for it! See if you can find the best one 2001.5

almost 3 years later and im rocking 154k miles and it still is running great.

^ What he said. I got mine with almost 145k on the clock and put just over 10k miles on it since. When I saw it I had to have it—love the quattro, 1.8T, Sport package and ivory interior. Yes, it needs work here and there—I've done some repairs and upgrades as well as had some done for me. If I weren't able to do some DIY jobs and hadn't been expecting repairs in general then it would probably be a nightmare.

[tar]

i paid on 6k for my 99 with 60k miles last year so 10k is very unreasonable. check the classifieds on here there are a few nice ones forsale.

[99A4NOW]

Wierd how there seems to be a lot of support for high mileage cars in this thread but when I tried to sell mine in the classified section they took one look at the mileage and said it wasn't worth anything (basicly). I've got a well maintained unmodded '99 quattro sport with with 240K and it rides and dirves as well as any B5 with half as many miles that I've test driven in the past six months. I feel it is well worth the $4200 I was asking but since no one else agrees I'm going to keep it. I love the car and I'm sure if I continue to maintain it as I have it will last a long time, maybe even hand it down to my son when he's old enough to drive (he's two right now). Or if someone wants to give me $4K for it I'll sell it.

[A4Rob]

Either way, assume they both need a full TB job. IMO, go for the cheaper car. Save the $2500 for maintenance.

[Seerlah]

I adore my AWM

[MCFLYYY]

Yea don't pay that much for a B5. Looking for low mileage is overrated. Over 100k isn't bad, but like other's have said, just make sure it's been properly maintained (timing belt and such). You'll save a bunch that way, and can afford to start modding faster .

[yung_wallace B5]

i got mine 98 with 135 for $2K 10 months ago , and have put about 1500 so far do bring it back to shape, so 3500 so far

[witwer4444]

Bought my mint 2001.5 2.8L (fully loaded) back in Sept 08 with 99,999 on the ODO.

I paid 8K out the door, but that was because I bought it from a dealer who got it for me from another dealer (Dealer costs are a B*tch!)

Anyway, good luck with the find.

[bmann]

Bought my mint 2001.5 2.8L (fully loaded) back in Sept 08 with 99,999 on the ODO.

I paid 8K out the door, but that was because I bought it from a dealer who got it for me from another dealer (Dealer costs are a B*tch!)

Anyway, good luck with the find.

Yeah, according to "book" prices, dealer value is several thousand higher than private party value regardless of what the condition or mileage is. So you're paying several thousand extra for their overhead and profit. Yay.

[walky_talky20]

I say get a cheaper car and don't worry so much about mileage as condition. These aren't american cars that feel like crap after 100k miles. My '01 has got over 160k and still drives nicer than some new cars. If you can DIY the repairs on higher mileage one you can save a bunch of money. I wouldn't pay 10k or even 8k for a B5 A4, that is more like S4 pricing.

[gallat1]

You guys are hitting it on the nose. Thanks for the confidence. I'll post a picture of what I pick up (when I find it).

[Coopa]

$8-10k will buy you a pretty nice b5 s4 these days!

I think you'll be hard pressed to find a b5 with 50k or less on it, just seems kind of unrealistic to me. If you find it, more power to ya. The price will likely show with the low mileage.

You should be able to find a nice 1.8t with 75-90k miles, with most major maintenence done for under 6k. Timing belt, waterpump, tstat, newer tires minimum. If there aren't maintence records, stay away (unless its dirt cheap). That's the one huge regret I have about my car. Zero records, at all.

Just for reference, I picked up a 97 1.8t with 116,000 miles. Timing belt waterpump and tires were done, body has some cosmetic issues.

I've put almost 15k on it since last spring, only maintence has been a new thermostat, new flex pipe (no belly pan in the winter was a bad choice) and a oil cooler gasket. I was worried that the whole car was going to be a money pit after 120k. It's doing great, loving it.

Don't compare the b5 to any american made car that falls apart at 100k, there's no comparison. Walkytalky is spot on, my 97 has less issues than some of my friends' cars that are 2003 and newer.

Hopefully this helps, good luck searching man!

[dangerous_dave]

Any B5 A4 from 97-01 is worth between 2k-5k. The only condition that would make me spend more than 5k on one would be if it was a 1 owner car with under 80k with ALL of it's service history. I mean this car would have to be almost perfect to spend over 5k.

I agree that you can't compare an Audi to an American car. The build quality is a world apart. You don't see too many Cavaliers with over 200k that still run good and still have factory paint.

[giusto1989]

Any B5 A4 from 97-01 is worth between 2k-5k. The only condition that would make me spend more than 5k on one would be if it was a 1 owner car with under 80k with ALL of it's service history. I mean this car would have to be almost perfect to spend over 5k.

I agree that you can't compare an Audi to an American car. The build quality is a world apart. You don't see too many Cavaliers with over 200k that still run good and still have factory paint.

I agree. I paid 7k on my 98 1.8t Sport package about a year ago. It had 39 thousand miles with 1 owner who kept a record of all the maintenance done at Audi dealers. The guy took amazing care of it. Looked new. I think it was a pretty good deal.

[autocross16v]

When I was looking at A4's forsale I only wanted a Facelift model and prices varied. If it wasn't for the fact that my brother wanted to sell his for a hell of deal I would not buy a high mileage one unless well documented maintenance history. My 01 was bought at a dealer in 2004 by my brother. Previously owned by a dentist and he got it with 49K miles. It now has 138,7xx miles and is still a great car except it will need control arms, another T-Belt job (I did the last one for my brother), tire, and shocks (which will be coilovers). I am kind of amazed at how much these things are selling for and I am glad that they are still worth good money considering they are "old."

PS. mine has dead pixels too. So really just typical A4 problems.