imchriss

So far I've bought some ngk platinum spark plugs, a new fuel filter, and k&n air filter.

Car is 02 with 165000 miles, its my first car and I want it to last as long as possible

What are some maintenance parts, or things for looks that are affordable

Diztek

cheapest place to buy parts is:

autohausaz, ecs tuning, 034 Motorsports has good stuff and USP Motorsports.

Without knowing what has already been done to the car maintenance wise, its hard to answer your question.

Redd

For the long term?
Check/change ALL the fluids in the car. Brake fluid, transmission fluid, differential fluid, coolant. Very few people realize it causes long-term expensive damage not to change these. Also try to get a manual for your car (often free access by subscription that your local library has) and see if there are any oxygen sensors, mass air flow sensor, other parts that actually are consumable and should be regularly replaced.
You can buy a brake fluid tester for $25 on Amazon and elsewhere, to get an objective answer to "do I need..." and you probably should send out for a baseline oil analysis (Blackstone Labs, online, may be the #1 guys) to find out how healthy the engine is, and how often your oil really needs to be changed. Another $25 or so.
If there's a timing chain or timing belt, find out when it should have been changed. Often every 50k miles, but often simply not done, and on many engines that can do a lot of damage if it breaks while they are running. That's not a cheap one--but something to be VERY wary of.
Shock absorbers and water pump also would be things to check carefully with that mileage.

Pothole5000

It's a timing belt, change it and the waterprump every 70k. Don't cheap out on these parts! Unless you want to buy a new engine.

Be careful with that K&N, lots of people have ruined their MAF from the oil in them. The stock Audi air box is proven to handle up to 400hp, and as far as I know only Carbonio intakes actually improve over stock, the rest of the aftermarket intakes all loose power. (Though they do let you hear the turbo more if you have a 1.8t)

Check the upper control arm bushings, along with all the other rubber bits in the front suspension. Buy now they might be splitting and making some growning / clunking noises. These are pretty common to go out.

Really these things are pretty reliable as long as you replace things when they start to go, or when Audi says to replace them. If you let it pile up German cars can get expensive fast.

This list only goes up to 105k, but you can see what needs to be done and how often.

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/ima...ance.sched.pdf

Redd

K&N: Impressive ads, but when I called them to ask directly how many hp I could expect to gain (on the last car) they said they had no real idea, they couldn't guarantee any numbers since they had never tested it. I offered to take my car and their filter to a dynamometer on their dime, but they weren't interested in objective numbers. And then, someone actually tested the same car (factory equipped with a "high performance" engine and air intake system) with a manometer to compare the K&N with the factory. Zero additional airflow with the K&N. Airflow can be a subtle art, laminar versus turbulent flow and other considerations. So even if you have no worries about oil contamination, K&N can be like Spinal Tap's amp: Goes up to "11". Must be louder, right?(G)
I figured, with an enthusiast community that could have bought fifty or a hundred of them, hands down, for even a small proven gain, K&N must have been very aware of what the dyno testing would have shown, versus a GOOD factory design, for a stock engine.

imchriss

Thanks everyone for the advice, you hit the nail right on the head as I do hear some rattling and I expect it to be the control arm