joshmc

I was wondering if anyone can help me out. I'm looking at buying 1998 A4 2.8 AWD w/ 75K miles on it. I've been doing some research on edmunds.com and carpoint and there are a lot of customer reviews bashing that model b/c things are always breaking on it. I wanted to see if this is a common theme or if it's just a few pissed off people and not representative of the rest of the Audi population. I would appreciate any help.

Thanks,
Josh

#169

where are you looking at this car, is it a tip??

qfrog Ti20

any audi is a fun car to own & tune, especially Quattro w/ Manual transmission. This is a very addictive hobby/ownership experience. Once you've had a taste of what an A4 can be... you will buy one simply on the grounds of the car's potential in stock form.

People that go on those rating sites and post pissy messages is to be expected because they are probably VERY dealer/mechanic reliant.

Parts arent really as expensive as they are at the dealership... we've got several very good sources for parts.

If you have your own tools good, if you dont then get some and become mechanically inclined. A lot of us love to tweak/tune and service our own cars... because the dealerships arent as meticulous as you can be!

Things do break/wear out... but if you care for the car (like it was really meant to be) then its not going to be unreliable. These are reliable cars, they always start, they always go and stop/ do what they are supposed to... but they do have things like wheel bearings that make the trip annoying (when the bearing goes bad)

There is some responsibility involved in owning an audi A4, you will have to spend money on the car, its NOT a honda or a toyota... these are NOT automotive appliances, do not treat them like automotive appliances either. A properly tuned Audi is enough to scare the shi+ out of yourself/ most other motorists.

STTASH

I have a 99.5 2.8 tip and the car is just as reliable as Mercedes or BMW. The 2.8 30v is a very strong engine (virtually bullet proof), however, it is recommended that you change the timing belt and water pump every 60,000 miles. If the car you are interested in has not had a timing belt change use this to negotiate the price down and get it done right away. I am having my camshaft tensioner done under warranty right now (I have 58k miles) - have a mechanic check this out before you buy the car as it is very easy to spot.

The A4 2.8 is a very nice car overall - decent power, good handling and nice interior. If the chain tensioner is done you should have a very good car on your hands.

Also, you did not mention what options (other than quattro) are on the car - sport package is the most important option followed by premium package (I'm in socal - I am sure colder climate residents like the winter package which includes heated seats).

qfrog Ti20

they rarely have catastrophic failures.

the 1.8T if not maintained properly (lots of them arent) will experience a catastrophic timing belt tensioner failure at 70K miles. Cost is about $3.5K or more to fix the damage. Cost to prevent this from happening... $200 in parts and an afternoon of hands on instruction by some fellow audi nuts.

Our control arms go bad, its the bushings and ball joints that fail and they are not replaceable (in most cases). The arms at the dealership are HORRIBLY expensive, at some of our favorite parts places a set of front ones will run you $550 for all 8 of the front arms/links. At the stealership you would be in for about $2K.

wheel bearings just wear out, they arent too expensive and only fail once in a while... but they do go bad eventually.

1.8T has stupid ignition parts that fail, they are all easy to replace, like 10 mins and not even that expensive... but they do go bad.

the 2.8 has a seccondary air injection pump that fails, some valve cover gaskets that fail, and the ever fun cam tensioner seals that fail. Oh and the waterpump will eventually give out... but thats at high mileage, any car will have that problem tho. So thats why you replace it when you do the timing belt, which costs about $240 or so in parts for all the goodies that should be done.

audiski

I absolutely love it. My only mistake is stumbling upon this forum and being "forced" to mod it. Only problems, which have already been mentioned, are TB around 60k and control arms. Other than that it has solid power (not as quick as a 1.8) and handles great in the snow. I have not regretted buying my Audi for one second, and I had to sweat 14 hours shifts in a kitchen on the weekends my senior year of college just so I could have it.

joshmc

The car comes with the winter sport package, and since I ski every weekend it is very important. It is a manual as well.

I am not mechanically inclined so I won't be doing any work on it myself. I also read that you have to take the car back to the dealership b/c they are the only ones who know how to work on it. And I was told it is expensive to maintain.

It's also worth noting that I won't be driving it everyday as I take a bus to work. I'll only be driving it on the weekends so I'll probably put less than 15K miles on it per year. With that being said, how much maintenance should I expect per year?

SundanceA4

I have never had anything go wrong except the headlight switch and the turn signal relay in the hazard switch. Those are A4 specific problems though, I think. My car has 71k on the clock and I got the car with 37k. Reliable as hell so far.

VandyA4

Same model as yours with Sport, Cold Weather, Bose. Only 34k + change on mine because I'm from NYC, and usually use public transportation.

My family has had many great experiences w/ Audi's. Being from Manhattan, Quattro is absolutely invaluable when winter comes a-knockin' (this year, however, winter opted to just smash the door down). When the recent blizzard hit, my Dad called me and moaned that he wishes he could trade my A4 for his 740i. Quattro is THAT GOOD (with winter tires).

My car has been...ok. It is a GREAT car when it doesn't have a problem. It has way more problems than it should, however, even for a german car. *Since the summer* I've had my AC blower die, lower right front control arm wear out, power steering hose leak, and my transmission "whine" like a siren even after the car has warmed up. Before the summer, the list goes on. My father paid to have the entire front suspension redone to the tune of $2k, and this week, as I mentioned, a control arm wore out, according to the dealer.

I am not hard on the car. I'm not a grandma behind the wheel but I don't treat it badly, ever. Maybe my car is unique in the number of problems it has, but I don't know.

Despite all the problems my car has, my faith in Audi remains unphased, and the 2.8 A4 is a GREAT car in almost all cases. When summer rolls around, I'm going to sell my A4, but I will either be upgrading to an '02 3.0 manual A4, or a biturbo S4, depending on $$$.

If I were you, I'd look for an A4 2.8Q starting MY1999.

Chimpzilla

Find a good mechanic in your area, don't worry about the dealership to much.