laudili

Hey guys,
I am getting a first car in a few months and I am interested in looking at an older Audi as an option. I know the B5 A4's are known to be problematic, but what about the 80 or the 100/A6? It's hard to find much recent info on them. A few older owner reviews of C4's compared them to the W124 in terms of reliability and over engineering, is this true? From what I've read the 80 suffers from some build quality problems but in terms of reliability they're is this also true? I'm looking at the 2.0 and 2.6 for the 80, and 2.8 and 2.6 in the A6/100. I'm also happy to do some of the work on the car like oil change or radiator replacements for example and anything that wouldn't results in a costly error 💵. Other cars I would be look at are the W124 E220 and C180/C200, Saab 9-5, Volvo 940 or 850, Hyundai Grandeur and Mitsubishi Verada (XG300 and Diamante in America). Thankyou, sorry if its a lil long I hope someone can guide me a bit.

Rusty Spokes

I think with any older car and in particular an older Audi you must have some basic or better mechanical skills. Knowledge of German electrical is needed too.

That said..the A6 C4 Audi and Audi B4 (80-90-Cabriolet) are not bad cars at all. The history and care of the car by the prior owner(s) is very important. Most of these cars have problems because they simply were not serviced..or serviced by people who had no clue as to what they were doing.

Rust can be a problem..more so on suspension and chassis parts..the bodies were galvanized..that helps.

Not much of a DIY community around these cars...here and Quatto world have some regular contributors.

I have two A6-C4 cars and one B4 Cabriolet..they are fine once I got them up to serviceability..new radiators..condensers..heater core(s) and so forth..like I said..you need to be handy with tools to own these cars. All my cars have the 2.8 engines.

I cannot speak to the W124, Volvo and the like. I've had a Saab..and don't regret selling it. The electricals were a problem without the Saab diagnostic computer..hard to find one

Best of luck

laudili

Thanks a heap RustySpokes, I'll definitely try and find one thats been looked after. The lack of a diy community does sort of make things a little bit harder but these forums seem to have a heap of useful information! Is it just me or does the C4 chassis almost seem forgotten a bit. Any ideas to why this is? I'm just sort of curious because e34's and especially w124's have a huge following. Even though Bimmers and Mercs of the day out sold Audis it still seems disproportionate that the C4 is so overlooked. The B4 seems to get more love than its bigger brother but still nowhere near as much as the B5, even though that car is mainly known for its patchy reliability.
Thanks

Rusty Spokes

Here in the USA we got the 2.8 12v Audi engine (AAH or AFC) in the C4s. I do really like the Audi 2.8 12v, but it was not a particularly inspired engine. The very cool "at the time" variable intake manifold on the 2.8 was a licensed technology from Yamaha (they used it on the tire smoking V-Max motorcycle) ..but most people did not know or care. The 2.8 is a long stroke, torque producing, modest horsepower, plain jane SOHV engine.

The C4 (and the Quattro) was/is a nice car..but here in the USA at the time..most people did not follow the racing heritage of Audi and it's Quattro technology.

Most C4s were sold to wealthy suburbanites or the county club crowd as a grocery getter who wanted a 4 wheel drive due to weather..with no clue as to any technology.

So the early base customers were (for the most part) not the automotive enthusiast crowd in the beginning..and as the cars moved from the original owners to the next generations..it got worse and the high cost or repairs and maintenance took the toll on the cars reliability and reputation.

The Audi C4s and B4s are now at the DIY level with the enthusiast crowd..who find the rewards of owning a very nice automobile, which can be had very inexpensively, that needs some work. An A6 C4 what has had some good maintenance..been driven by a thoughtful owner and is being sold reasonably priced is a real jewel..those cars are nice when they have been taken care of.

laudili

Thanks again Rusty, you've helped me so much and I'd be clueless otherwise as to these older Audis. It makes alot of sense actually and I think it would be a similar story downunder aswell thanks for the insight. I guess the whole rally pedigree was more of a European centric thing, and people who bought them outside of their home continent must've for the AWD and the fact that it was something different.
Thanks again man