Dakotadoidge

So I found this Audi Allroad on Craigslist and was wondering what you guys thought and what kind of maintenance should I be expecting at this mileage?

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/5795458577.html

raj99

The big question with any AR is how much are you willing to work on the car and how good a shape is it in, because these things can become money pits. BTW that price is insane, since the 4.2 isn't actually that rare and from a maintenance perspective can become even more complex to deal with.

MrKid

The important question is, WHAT regular maintenance was done. At that mileage, it needs a lot more than fluid changes...

ExDementia

Yeah, not a rare car by any means, but it does look pretty clean. As others have mentioned, that price is pretty high.

Also from what I have read, while the 4.2 doesn't have the timing belt replacement interval that the 2.7 does, the seals and tensioners definitely do need maintenance, and it's just as big of a job as a timing belt replacement.

Here's an interesting, if a bit frightening thread on the 4.2: B6/B7 S4 Timing Chain FAQ / Information / Discussion Thread

An interesting snippet:
The 2.7 has its own issues for sure, but the 4.2 seems like you need significantly deeper pockets and/or time to work and space to work on it. Plus, the 2.7 is much more tune-able, seems to have a stronger aftermarket, and can be had with a manual, if you're the sort who likes to row their own.

A6er

Hi All,

I'm actually in the process of buying this exact car (it's about 2 miles from me), but am concerned on the feedback about pricing. For the protection of the seller, I'm not going to comment on what price we agreed on, but here's what I know about the car - please chime in with what a fair price is:

SoCal car (no snow/salt), dealer serviced up to about 62k and subsequently at a local indy Audi shop. Seller (very nice/good dude) is second owner, clean carfax (where I got the service history from), car shape is a 8.5 to 9 out of 10 (very clean). Seller just dumped $2600 into it (yesterday) to fix an oil leak (valve cover gaskets and some other misc items). Indy Audi shop ( I called) signed off on the car and said it needs nothing right now. Has new Arnott system, VMR wheels as in pictures.

Given this, what is a fair price that you would pay, if you were in the market?

Thanks All!

transman

Ya hey man, those v8s can be a nightmare if you don't perform your own repairs. I've done a lot of big jobs on them, and timing components are SUPER expensive on those engines. It is inevitable to eventually need timing components replaced. When it comes to the V8, what you buy is what you get, but when it comes to the v6, you can really pick up power a lot easier.

X2 on the responses above, and I agree with it being a high price. Tax value has to be somewhere around $6000.

ExDementia

Do you know if they have done a timing service recently? That is the main concern with these, as parts are very expensive, and labor is horrendous.

transman

X2 on that statement of it being expensive. The timing kit is close to $1000 for the parts, and the labor is somewhere around 30hrs. One of the few jobs labeled as "skill level A" on ALLDATA