Moviela

There are a couple of items mentioned in the thread that are not true. First is there is no frame on the car. Like most cars these days it has a unibody construction. The car is mostly VW. I know Audi has its own factory and engineering staff, but the A4 is heavily influenced by the availability of the VW parts bin to make the car.

This engine did have a problem with excessive oil consumption. This was caused by a problem with the materials used to manufacture the piston rings in many cases. The solution was to replace a lot of pistons and rings. They also replaced whole engines if the cylinder wear was excessive. In the real world they discovered problems with the pressures in the block that were corrected with proper valving and modifications to the ECU to keep block pressures in check.

Some engines had problems with non-specified oil causing carbon build up and coking intake valves. Use the correct oil and filter. Don't be miserly in this department.

There is no timing belt on the 2.0l engine (CAEB) It was changed to a chain. Using the wrong oil, or exceeding the mileage limit of the oil causes extensive wear to the plastic chain guides and then ruin your pocketbook.

The Audi parts are the same price pound-for-pound as BMW, Mercedes, Mini, or VW. The cost to maintain is excessive because of a tiny dealer network. LA is not a problem. Plenty of dealers fighting for your service business.

Be cautious when go to buy. Make sure you get a quattro, and that the car is "certified" with a warranty out to 100K. Dealers make more money on used cars than new, and are all about taking a young person for a financial pummeling. Use a broker if possible from a credit union or Costco to make sure you are protected from the snake in the finance and insurance office.

The difference in price between a premium, premium +, and pretentious (pun intended) are next to nothing in a used car. Get the equipment you want. The largest price differences will be seen in mileage, color, age, and time on market.

Good luck, and enjoy your ride.

mellowsean

this is the one I found...
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...gIndex=2&Log=0

Macallan21

I mispoke, yes it's a timing chain (it's on my maintenance list).

OP, the cars we mentioned, 2011 A4, 2009 A4 2.0T (with oil fix), 2009 A4 3.2.

snag, I have some things in common with the OP and PM'd him about it. Just trying to be honest with him.

snagitseven

Sean - That A4 3.2 is almost exactly equipped as mine was with the added ADS which I wish I had ordered. ADS gives you adjustable steering, throttle and gear mapping and most importantly, adjustable suspension. The B&O is a terrific factory sound system and I loved it. The Prestige trim is the A4 top of the line with all the toys and the 18" wheels were really nice and easy to clean (sigh). The price seems pretty reasonable and 40k miles isn't too bad - perhaps you can negotiate it lower.

The car is eligible to be CPO'd by the dealer and while it might cost more, it would extend the warranty out an additional 2 years or 100K miles. A really good idea on any used Audi. If the car is in your area, see if you can get it inspected by an independent shop, particularly looking for any significant body repairs or bring an expert with you to look it over carefully. Ask the dealer if the upper control arms were replaced and if the dual line power steering hose TSBs were done. There was also a revision to the spring loaded pop-up sunroof front air dam that included "pumpkin teeth" to break up the airflow making a noise at speed. Otherwise, no other issues I can think of for a 2009 A4 3.2.

Back in 2009, I tested both the 3.2 and the 2.0t extensively before I purchased. I found the 3.2 to be a smoother engine with overall better acceleration, particularly above 50 mph. The growl sound of the engine was superior to the 2.0t in my opinion. For me at the time, it was a no brainer - 6 cylinder won the day. You should have none of the reported potential 2.0 oil burning issues with the 3.2. I never had to add oil in between 10K services.

The only thing you would be giving up with any 2009 A4 is it has the 2G MMI which lacks a few Nav features of the later 3G MMI versions like scrollable map via the controller **** and more limited built-in Nav POIs. I wouldn't consider this a deal breaker though. Also, the 3.2 used timing belts vs. chain (on the 2.0t) so they would need to be replaced every 75K mi. Finally, the 3.2 gives up about 3 mpg on average over the 2.0t - a fair trade for the 6 cylinder performance in my opinion.

Since I lived with mine for 4 years and 50K miles, let me know if you have any other 3.2 engine questions. I'd be happy to answer them for you if I can.

SFV A4

Plus he'd get the split dual exhaust, which looks a million times nicer than the 90's VW set-up the 2.0's have.

bigdadi

To compare, you can goto www.kbb.com => research tools => compare, these 2 cars.

SFV A4

I believe the A4 is such a good car, I'd recommend it regardless of your age and possible engine issues. Hear this.... ***every car has issues.*** BMW's, Mercedes, et al. They all have a track record and they all cost a lot to maintain. Heck, even my IS250 is having carbon build-up issues. Crap happens to the best. To worry which one is better in the longrun is like worrying whether you should order prime rib or crab. Get the car you want and enjoy it. They are all about the same.

SFV A4

Looks great. Bargain some off that I think you have yourself a prime package and deal. PCH here you come...

fittan

Mellowsean,
I just got a used 2010 A4 premium plus last month so let me share what I've gathered so far.

Yes, the 2009 to 2012 is pretty much the same platform. One difference between 09 and 2010 is the back LED. The former doesn't have it which is a bummer for me. Besides, the price diff is not too much so I scratched out the 09. Between 2010 and 2011, the only diff is the latter has 8 speed transmission. Save you 2 or 3 mpg. Nice but it will probably save me $50/year. Not worth the extra cost. My price range is $20K to $22K so 2012 is out of the question. Obviously at such low price range, I was looking at higher mileage A4 in the 60k mileage.

The 09 to 12 definitely has some "engine oil burn" issue. If you read the manual, Audi delicately thread around this "issue" and suggest that you check the oil level occasionally and top off if necessary. How much are we talking about? Probably a quart every 4000 miles. Since a quart of synthetic cost about $5, it is about $20 to $30/year.

About the trim, you definitely want the Premium plus since it comes with bluetooth (very important for safety) and the LED lights. Hope these helps. Good luck!

gunsmoker

You need to get up to speed. It can be as bad as 400 miles per quart. So far Audi has been fixing the issue under warranty. Only a few people out of warranty have tried and the information is not conclusive. One said they gave him the boot, another said they suggested to split the cost. I think given some time they will end up extending the warranty and fixing these cars the way Lexus is handling the piston and rings replacement of IS250.
A very very small number of 2009 owners have not reported issues with oil consumption. As soon as 2009s started to come off the typical 3 year lease, you could see posts on audizine almost every day like "I got this car a few weeks ago, the oil read full at the time and now it's empty. What's happening?" It seems that there are less reports of excessive oil consumption with 2010 but since it deteriorates gradually we will know for sure if they are any better by the end of the year. I have not heard of excessive oil consumption issues (e.g. 1q per 2k miles or less) for 2011, but they do burn oil. Mine was at 3500 miles per quart when the dealer applied stage one of the fix and it seems that it is about 5-6k per quart now. 2012 are known to not have the oil issue, but it's not that none of them burn absolutely no oil. I have seen a report of half a quarter per 10k miles with 2012.