Huskerbob

Offer him $3200 and see what he says. It's a nice car but not $4200 nice in my book.

SmoothJimmo

Not sure of the "superficial oil burning off" comment. If the problem is leaky valve covers or camshaft plugs (and hence oil dripping onto the exhaust..smoke...smell) this is often the result of a clogged crankcase breather system (PCV). There is a small part called a "suction pump" or a "jet pump" that is integral to this system working properly. If this little plastic part ($35 aftermarket) fouls and stops working correctly the result is overpressure under the valve covers and you will be chasing leaks < 10k after replacing them every time. The pressure also leads to premature leaking. Lots of outfits sell the seal kits and it's a wonder why they don't include PCV R&R in their kits. sigh.

Continental, the manufacturer of the OEM timing belt, recommends a 6-year max lifetime. Since the car has lived in CA, it might last a bit longer with the milder climate but it is definitely DUE. Anyone buying a used Audi should do the timing belt service ASAP unless they have documentation from a shop that it has been recently performed. Included in the timing belt service is the water pump and assorted rollers. Again, they sell these as kits for a reason since they are well-known points of failure and in an interference engine like the 2.8, any one of these parts failing can be catastrophic.

4Driver4 makes a good point as the little niggly maintenance items required of this vintage Audi will add up over time and it can be cost prohibitive if you don't wrench on it yourself. For some of us, it is a labor of love (unless it's freezing cold out since your girlfriend decided to move from SF to NY and you still wrench on her car for some strange reason...but I digress

If you do decide to do some wrenching, you will find MANY, MANY helpful members on this site and the Tech Section includes step-by-step procedures for most all of the maintenance you will want/need to perform.

AND, definitely move on from that mechanic. Maybe 107k kilometers as the timing belt/water pump service, but not miles. I recall that Audi recommends 80k miles for that service but I never had a water pump last that long.

The oil pan replacement suggest that car hit something. It's not a normal maintenance item. It could have been as innocuous as rolling into a curb at the grocery store as these rigs ride fairly low, but tough to tell.

Good luck with your decision!

Chinkwop

Thanks to everyone that replied to my post. You all had some great input and were really helpful! I decided on an 2002 Acura RL with 130k and purchased it for $4000 I'm so happy to be finally done and hope I don't have to do it again for a very loooooong while (fingers crossed)!

Huskerbob

Good choice. You're better off.

Articus

Hahaha. Owning a B5 is a labor of love. Nothing less.