Buying First 2009 Audi A4 2.0T. Advice?

[Bradleeleslie]

Buying my first Audi. Any advice?

[base14]

dude, its a sticky at the top of the page. https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...uestion-Thread

[ak11214]

Buying my first Audi. Any advice?

My solid advice is do not buy 2009 year model. Not sure what's your budget but I would rather get a higher mileage 2013 than low mileage 2009.

[Nano909]

My solid advice is do not buy 2009 year model. Not sure what's your budget but I would rather get a higher mileage 2013 than low mileage 2009.

×2.
If you can't get a 2013 (B8.5) I recommend you try your hardest to get a 2011-2012. They updated a lot of stuff from the 2009-2010 models that made the car not fun to drive.
Stay away from 6 speed FWD CVT auto transmissions since they're weak (and that's any CVT from any car honestly).

Make sure you inform yourself on the options added as things you think are standard, aren't. For example, no BT music streaming from your phone (you can connect to talk though), no folding rear seats, push to start and keyless entry, etc.

It's a good car and fun to drive. It's pretty underpowered honestly but a k04 upgrade can change that.

If you do buy one, welcome.

[zeusontwowheels]

I have an 08 A4 B8 1.8T.

In hindsight, I would not have got this model. It's now 10 years old and 150,000km, and there's a fair bit going wrong.

All costs in AU$ over the last 2 years of ownership
- New suspension all round $3500
- Failed CVT TCM $4800
- Three failed door actuators $150 * 3 (purchase from China, install yourself - Audi want $700 EACH)

I've also spent AU$1100 on the RSNAV unit

Still a great car, but make sure you have deep pockets if you're going an older year ...

[nitsujle]

Made the mistake last year buying an 09 with 55k miles on it, but my suffering has turned into a hobby as I fix everything wrong with this car. If your budget is only allowing for an 09, be ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that it has had the revised timing chain tensioner installed (full timing system refresh would be ideal) and has had the oil consumption fix done (stage 1 and 2). If you’re test driving it, put the passenger side window down when coasting and listen for a “baseball card in a bike spoke” sound. If you hear it, that’s the turbo’s wastegate failing, which will eventually throw a P0299 underboost code. All in all, I could’ve bought a much nicer Audi for the average amount per month I’ve thrown into this car, but I found a new hobby out of it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


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[Smac770]

If it's not quattro and a wagon, it's not worth the troubles.
In the US, B8.0 is 2009-2012, B8.5 is 2013-2016. The 8 speed tranny would be preferable, but that started in 2011. Also, 2009 still had MMI 2G; the switch to MMI 3G didn't occur till 2010. And if you like the radio, HD Radio wasn't added till 2011. Bluetooth audio streaming wasn't added till 2013.

So you really want a 2011 or later rather than a 2009 or 2010. If money won't allow something newer and it's not a quattro wagon, buy something else, anything else.
If it is a quattro wagon and it's worth the risk, you have many things to consider. Unfortunately, the legendary list of possible engine problems with the CAEB motor was not so well known when I bought my used 2009 A4 quattro wagon in late 2011. It's been a pita, but the BWM wagon also only had a 4 cyl with it's own range of issues. But if I were buying now, I'd much rather have the 8spd, MMI 3G, and HD Radio for my troubles.

Even if you do not have the turbo rattle yet, I would suggest getting the clip (06J145220A, $30, shopdap.com) and putting it on. My replacement turbo started rattling recently after 20k miles or so; put the clip on and it's back to pretty decent engine acceleration and no more random lag from a standstill. But so even a replacement turbo can develop the worn hole that the actuator arm plugs into. The AoA warranty extension on the turbo is over based on time (70k miles / 7 years). But you can get a refurb for $400 and install it yourself or it's a 5 hour job at a shop. Not a complete deal breaker. And a non-issue if you're going to go stage 3 KO4.

Your intake manifold might eventually break if it's not already been replaced. Some places are trying to sell the metal intake from the B8.5 as a replacement for the B8.0 plastic intake. But you can still find the plastic intake places, and it's 1/4 the price. The warranty extension on this, if it's breaks in the typical manner is 125k miles I believe. But again, with a 2009, you're looking more at time limits than miles limits. Also, fuel injectors are on a warranty extension if they are related to misfires. Guess we can thank California for something more than almonds.

The camshafts chain tensioner is something you should inspect without delay. If it's not been replaced with the K rev, do that. If it breaks, it's a bad day. And it's that kind of part that will go without warning. That said, there is a class action lawsuit for AoA to cover the repairs if the tensioner breaks and the head trashes itself.

The issue that will make or break you. The oil consumption issue from the rings/pistons. Not sure if AoA is still helping if things go bad; I think the class action lawsuit (yeah, another class action about this engine) only specified a warranty extension to 80k miles/ 8 years. So you're past that. If you develop the issue and AoA won't help you out, it's thousands of dollars out of pocket to fix. Mine started around 75k miles and by time they fixed it at 84k miles, I was burning a quart every 500 miles. So "it's fine now" really doesn't mean much.

Keep in mind, you could also run it till it dies then get a CPMB motor and swap it in, skipping the costs of fixing all the CAEB problems if AoA doesn't help out.

[Hamza1230]

Run from that car man. If someone gave me a 2009 Audi A4 for free I wouldn’t take it. You don’t know how many times my car has been in the shop. It’s always some stupid sensor or the damn tensioner

[Lambda13]

Run from that car man. If someone gave me a 2009 Audi A4 for free I wouldn’t take it. You don’t know how many times my car has been in the shop. It’s always some stupid sensor or the damn tensioner

Second. My advice is run. I have a love hate relationship with my car. I love it when it works. I think I had no CEL's or dash lights for like 2 years out of the 6 I've owned my car.

[Hamza1230]

I love Germans okay! When I purchased these cars I knew the maintenance would be high. Definitely didn’t think my Audi would be in the shop every other 3 months and now it need an engine. I have a Mercedes. Bmw . Jaguar Mazda. And my Audi obviously. Those are all the high risk vehicles and I haven’t had any issues. The bmw does drink gas tho. Out of my 5 vehicles. My Audi is by far the worst. Also ruined my beautiful driveway by leaking everywhere at 80k miles. I hate this car honestly and it’s sucks since they literally aren’t worth anything anymore since no one wants them. The most I’ll get out of mine is 7k. I know this is like a bad work on here but FUCK AUDI FOR MAKING THIS TERRIBLE CAR AND GIVING OWNERS A HARD/frustrating time. Never will I buy another audi🤲🏼

[Novarider]

If you hate it that much, sell it and move on.

[Hamza1230]

Can’t sell a car that need an engine. Even before it need an engine it was up for sales. 10/10 condition and it was price low too. No one was interested

[prkieffer]

kill yourself it will be easier


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[a4efforts]

LOL. I have an '09 with 141k miles. Have owned it the last 6 years, and yes, it literally has had everything go wrong that can go wrong on the '09s, but now that I've done all of the repairs, it is a wonderful car again and keeps me smiling. Maybe you'll be lucky on your search for one and find one like mine that has had all the necessary maintenance done by a diligent owner.

[Novarider]

Can’t sell a car that need an engine. Even before it need an engine it was up for sales. 10/10 condition and it was price low too. No one was interested

Of course you can, just price it accordingly. What was your "low price" before it died?

Could always part it out. Post in the classifieds section here as a part out. Many people here needing parts.

[Hamza1230]

I price it at 6500$ and the cars maintenance history was good. It was the lowest price in my area and I had a few mods on the car so it was a lil more special then the other ones. Most of them were priced between 7500 and 8500$ so mine was a steal

[Hamza1230]

After about a month of having it at 6500$ I dropped it to 6k. and there’s dealers in my area that have had 09 audis for a year and it still wouldn’t sell. On my way to work I see 3 dealers. All of them 09 none of them sold but one decided to take throw it back into auction.

[blgilles]

Agreed to not buy it. Good idea to ask here.

[blgilles]

Made the mistake last year buying an 09 with 55k miles on it, but my suffering has turned into a hobby as I fix everything wrong with this car. If your budget is only allowing for an 09, be ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that it has had the revised timing chain tensioner installed (full timing system refresh would be ideal) and has had the oil consumption fix done (stage 1 and 2). If you’re test driving it, put the passenger side window down when coasting and listen for a “baseball card in a bike spoke” sound. If you hear it, that’s the turbo’s wastegate failing, which will eventually throw a P0299 underboost code. All in all, I could’ve bought a much nicer Audi for the average amount per month I’ve thrown into this car, but I found a new hobby out of it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ha! I did the same thing. And it’s turned into my hobby as well! It does have the silver lining that I know how to do WAY more on a car now!

For example, here’s what I’ve learned via the car:

• How to replace the whole suspension
• How to replace the whole timing system
• How to replace the brake vacuum pump
• How to replace the high pressure fuel pump
• How to replace the fuel rail
• How to replace the intake manifold
• How to clean the intake valves with Walnuts
• How to properly drain/fill 6-speed ATF
• How to replace and seal GDI injectors
• How to identify failed injectors
• How to tell what various colors of smoke out the tail pipe means
• (White smoke billowing means uncombusted gas.)

So unless you want to own the most, or maybe the second most, unreliable Audi ever made (and keep in mind that even the most reliable Audi is pretty bad compared to an average Toyota), you’ll probably want to avoid 09.

[a4efforts]

Ha! I did the same thing. And it’s turned into my hobby as well! It does have the silver lining that I know how to do WAY more on a car now!

For example, here’s what I’ve learned via the car:

• How to replace the whole suspension
• How to replace the whole timing system
• How to replace the brake vacuum pump
• How to replace the high pressure fuel pump
• How to replace the fuel rail
• How to replace the intake manifold
• How to clean the intake valves with Walnuts
• How to properly drain/fill 6-speed ATF
• How to replace and seal GDI injectors
• How to identify failed injectors
• How to tell what various colors of smoke out the tail pipe means
• (White smoke billowing means uncombusted gas.)

So unless you want to own the most, or maybe the second most, unreliable Audi ever made (and keep in mind that even the most reliable Audi is pretty bad compared to an average Toyota), you’ll probably want to avoid 09.

Have done the same! LOL. Luckily my car has always broken down in a well populated area. . and I have lived to tell about it. The upside is, when you've taken care of all of those, you have a brand new car, basically.

[blgilles]

Have done the same! LOL. Luckily my car has always broken down in a well populated area. . and I have lived to tell about it. The upside is, when you've taken care of all of those, you have a brand new car, basically.

Right! And I take it as a badge of honor when I drive the car. Kind of like 'Ya, world, that's right, I own one of the least reliable cars you can reasonably buy - and it's running!'.

Oh, and to the breaking-down in populated areas point - exactly! Mine happened to strand me ~0.1 miles from my house (when the injector failed open). So I was actually able to get it into my garage, of all places, purely under existing momentum.

Bradleeleslie - If you do get it, and if the injectors haven't been replaced yet, below is what at least one will soon look like. This is what typically happens when an injector fails; it gets stuck open. So then whenever the low pressure fuel pump activates (for example, any time you open the driver door), it dumps fuel into the cylinder of the failed injector.


And you can read about it here, if curious.

Another upside is that everyone who owns these cars is SUPER knowledgable about them (because either individually, or at a minimum, between us, we've had every part on them fail already) so they/we can help you when every part on your new car fails. ;-)

And I'll finish with my summary of what owning a VW/Audi means:

Buy a Toyota, and you get a reliable vehicle. Buy an Audi, and you get a reliable hobby.

P.S.: My sunroof is failing. But since it doesn't prevent the car from running, I'll leave it, as I'm sure something that prevents the car from running will soon happen. (In other words, gotta save the money to fix the future reason that the car won't drive/run; I'm sure it will happen soon.)

[Hamza1230]

The only thing I love about this car is I can change the alternator under 45mins which is great. In my Benz it too me hours

[blgilles]

True. So have you replaced the starter? I've heard that you have to actually remove one of the motor mounts to do so. That it's a huge job. Hoping mine never dies.

[a4efforts]

This is all too funny and sad. I had a special case where the brake booster failed on mine (apparently Audi changed the part # for subsequent models).. and poof no brakes. Luckily, our parking brake works even in Emergency situations! Needless to say, my car is basically a sexy Frankenstein and has everything swapped or upgraded.

All jokes aside, I would take this car over a yota or slonda any day. Yes, it breaks down (shouldn't do it much nowadays), but she still turns [some] heads and is fun to drive.

[blgilles]

Ya, that's true. It is still fun to drive. My B7 was awesome in that regard, and a lot more reliable. Unfortunately I lost that one to a texting-while-driving monster-truck that literally ran over it. So then I bought the 2009 B8 thinking 'well, it's newer, nicer and the same 2.0T; it'll be as or more reliable'. Nope.

[Hamza1230]

How are the new audis with reliability. Not a 2018 can’t afford that but a 2016+

[blgilles]

So I’m not too sure, but I’ve heard pretty good things about 2014+, unless you live in a hot climate, where the B8.5 water pump is likely to overheat.

[Hamza1230]

So there still having problems. Ugh. These cars are crazy in sport mode. Always loved that in my audi

[JD23]

The B8.5 is supposed to be quite a bit more reliable, but I remember when I bought my 2011 many people were trumpeting Audi's improved reliability, yet we all ended up with an engine that led to two class action settlements. Quite impressive actually.

[Nano909]

I live in Southern California, during the Summer there were temps up to 118 and over 100 for months at a time and nothing happened to my water pump.

[blgilles]

Was just judging based on this:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cne...e-water-pumps/

I had run into it the other day googling an issue with my 2009 A4. Like I said, not sure; just saw in passing.

[LGHT]

If it's under 75k miles and under $7500 it's a good deal. If not don't bother. Heck I only bought my 12 avant because it was under 55k miles and under $5500.

[BeerBrent]

I only bought my 12 avant because it was under 55k miles and under $5500.

Wow. You got a great deal.

[JD23]

How so cheap? I'm going to be trading in my low-mileage 2011 in less than a year and I know that the trade-in value won't be great, but based on what I've seen it's not $5500 bad.

[blgilles]

Ya. How/why so cheap?

[Novarider]

If it's under 75k miles and under $7500 it's a good deal. If not don't bother. Heck I only bought my 12 avant because it was under 55k miles and under $5500.

If you got a 12 avant for $5500 you stole it.

[Hamza1230]

If you got a 12 avant for $5500 you stole it.

Anddd it only had 55k miles

[if6ws9]

I'd advise against buying a 2009. I had a FWD '09 A4 that I bought with 25k miles on it back in 2012, it lasted two years. It was my first Audi and I put a shit ton of money into mods, both performance and aesthetic. I really loved the car but it had an oil consumption issue that Audi wouldn't rectify because of the mods. I got rid of it when it started using a quart of oil every 100 miles. If you're going to buy it, look into the car's oil consumption and have a good mechanic check it out. Good luck.