transfer case durability
 

Hi,

I'm interested in purchasing either a 95-97 A6 quattro or a 96-97 A4 quattro as a car for a vacation home in the mountains with a 1/4 mile steep uphill gravel driveway. I am looking at Audi and Subaru, but I've always owned German cars and would much prefer Audi. Since the Audi would have higher miles for the price (75-80k), how durable are the transfer cases in these cars? Are they the same for these years (A6 vs. A4)? I've decided against the 93 4Matic because when the transfer cases go with high miles (as a mercedes tech told me they do) it is a $3k repair. Also, I suspect the older mercedes system was not as good as Audi's.

Thanks to anyone who is willing to share thoughts on this, Jeff Walker

The cars you mention don't have transfer cases, they have Torsen differentials
 

That part appears to be bullet proof. THe rear end is a limited slip differential.

We just had a discussion about drive tran reliability over on the newer A6 forum. It's probably on about page three now. ONly two people posted Quattro specific problems. One seal (me) and some bad gears in a later generation Quattro than you are talking about.

Bottom line is , if you must have 4WD, Quattro is probably the best.

Good reference article here ...<ul><li><a href="http://www.eskimo.com/~eliot/awd.html">AWD</a></li></ul>

Re: The cars you mention don't have transfer cases, they have Torsen differentials
 

Another reason to purchase German cars. They tend to have smart owners that understand them. The reference article looks interesting. Thank you.

Yep, quattro is very reliable. VERY few problems... differential seals sometimes need to be replaced