Ryan Howard

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here and was hoping to hear your thoughts on a possible purchase of a 2003 Audi A4 1.8T. 110k Mi.

That's the information I have for now on it. It's a good friend of mines car, who agreed to sell it to me for $1500. The reason for this being so cheap is that the car is currently unmovable due to something with the transmission. My friend had it towed to his apartment where it has been sitting for a couple weeks. There is also a possible exhaust problem, when you open the air vents it will sometimes start smelling like exhaust. Again, I still need to get under the hood to get more info on it exactly, I'm just looking for general thoughts at this point, as well as what kind of information I can grab to help us asses it all.

With my stepdad being a mechanic I want to pursue this as a project car, but I want to make sure I can asses all the costs associated with it, and make sure I am getting a decent deal. I would be happy if I broke even with the value of the car in the end.


Are there any special tools I need to complete this project, tools that are very specific to Audi's that he might not have? I also want to figure out what kind of transmission I should be putting in, where a good place to get one from is, a good place to find a how-to manual for a project like this might be.

OR if this is a completely stupid idea then let me know that as well.

uberwgn

Ryan, welcome aboard!

Has the subject car lived in the Rust Belt for the majority of its life? What sort of shape is it in?

Have you priced a rebuilt transmission??

Ryan Howard

It's in really good condition. It's been in California for most it's life, then the last few in Washington.

I've seen a rebuild around 1500$, I'm not sure if that's average or not.