I would like to find a nice '99 or '00 A4 to replace my current car. (Don't ask what I'm driving now.) I love the car and the way it looks. I've always thought it looked unique when compared to other sport sedans on the road. Unfortunately, '02 A4 looks too much like the A6. But I would like to know if there are any common problems I should look for or expect with preowned cars. Are the cars reliable over the long term? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

Just kidding, these are fantastic cars. What you will find by talking to people more and more on this forum is either you buy an Audi that is a complete and utter lemon, or it works and drives perfectly with no problems what so ever. You don't hear of too many in-betweens, but I think the same goes for any other car on the road. Things to check for during the test drive is go over a few speed bumps or make moderately hard corners and listen for any squeaks in the front suspension. This could signify bad control arms, which should get replaced under warranty if you are looking into a 99 or 2k A4. Also try running the cars VIN# online to check for any major accidents the car has been in. If your lucky you might even pick up some dirty horny college chicks with a ride like this. Although no one on this forum will admit up to it, I'm sure it's happened before.

 

For AMroz,make sure to get an extended warranty to cover your butt as you approach 50,000 miles.

 

Bless their tender loins =P

 

It seems I read something about control arms and one other thing that was a common problem with the car. Can't remember what it was though. The warranty sounds like a good idea. But this can only be had through a dealer. The model years I am looking at should have some factory warranty left over. Some I have seen on-line have the balance of 6 year/50,000 mile warranties on them. Is this right? I stopped the other day at a local dealer and drove a '98 A4 2.8Q. It had 48,000 miles on it. Seemed very solid. But I hope to find something with fewer miles on it. A '99 or '00 should. In regards to horny college chicks, I can always use the attention.

 

It was being driven by a salesman at an Audi dealership. I called there because there was another similar car (but a straight 99) I was thinking of buying and I was just checking for anything comparable. This salesman simply turned his car in a month early and I bought it. (He immediately replaced it with a 2000 Avant, and he's now replaced that with an S4 Avant!)

If you buy from an Audi dealership you'll be looking at an 'Audi Assured' car. That means that you get the balance of the factory warranty INCLUDING scheduled maintenance--that would be up to 3 years/50K miles for a 99, 4 years 60K for a 2000 I think.(?)

PLUS (and here's the beauty part) the warranty is extended to 5 years/75K miles from original purchase date, except for a $50 deductible per service.

So with a year-old 2000 car with say 12K miles you would be pretty well covered until fall 2004 during which you could drive 60K+ miles.

I love my car and I have had ZERO problems with it, unless you want to call a burned out headlight or a broken floor mat clip a problem. And both of those were covered under warranty. I look forward to keeping this car a long time.

But Audis are very technologically advanced and any problem they develop is likely to be expensive to fix. So it's nice to have the peace of mind of a thorough warranty.

Good luck hunting. You might try the used car search function on Edmunds.com. And be sure to run at least the basic (free) Carfax report. Online I found a black 99 A4 Avant up in Minneapolis that already had been titled six or seven times including a 'lemon law' return. It was NOT at an Audi dealer, let me assure you!

PS: I receive no compensation from AoA for these unsolicited remarks. Though if they're reading, I take a 'medium' jacket, I like the 'Tocatta' wheels, and my favorite color would be Pelican Blue.

Alan Thatcher
Chicago
99.5 18.TQMS Avant freshly waxed