Audi A4 Diesel

thehamo

Hi all,

can anyone give me a piece of advice?

I was thinking of buying an audi A4 for around the €17,000 mark. I have seen a few 1.9 Diesels for this price range but the are all tiping the scales at the 100k miles mark. Would it be worth my while buying a car with this high a mileage? Ive heard that the german diesels seem to go forever but i am still a bit weary...

any advice much appreciated!

craichoe

thehamo wrote:

Hi all,

can anyone give me a piece of advice?

I was thinking of buying an audi A4 for around the €17,000 mark. I have seen a few 1.9 Diesels for this price range but the are all tiping the scales at the 100k miles mark. Would it be worth my while buying a car with this high a mileage? Ive heard that the german diesels seem to go forever but i am still a bit weary...

any advice much appreciated!

Holy high mileage batman !

Id try for around 40k miles

bucks

Import from the Uk !

Id prefer to buy an english car with 80k miles than an irish one with 40k miles.. due to our crap roads and most Irish not caring about their cars unlike the brits..

In this day and age 100k miles is not high, irish people seem to have a fear of anything over 100k miles but the truth is if the car has been looked after and maintained then you wont have any probs with it, the only prob will be trying to sell it when you want to upgrade, back to the irish fear of high mileage.....

fletch

My mate has a 1.9TDI '01 A4 and there isn't a rattle out of it!

JoeySully

Iv driven a 94 audi 80 1.9td with 260K on it. the engine still had loads of go in it overataking in fifth gear was no trouble - boot down and away she went. I think the engines still are as good as they used to be.
seen another audi 80 engein start after 2 years sittin unstarted. Started after a few turn with deiesel from a coke bottle.

their Turbos are OIL cooled and can go bad if the car runs low on oil.
I Have no fear of 100k that has a full service history.
obviously a ver smokey engine is not good.
on the test drive have a friend follow you to see how the smoke is. you wint see it as bad tickin over as there is no strain on the engine.
but i believe at the 120k mark shocks tend to go and you will need a new Timin belt.

craichoe

thehamo wrote:

Hi all,

can anyone give me a piece of advice?

I was thinking of buying an audi A4 for around the €17,000 mark. I have seen a few 1.9 Diesels for this price range but the are all tiping the scales at the 100k miles mark. Would it be worth my while buying a car with this high a mileage? Ive heard that the german diesels seem to go forever but i am still a bit weary...

any advice much appreciated!

I wouldn't be worried too much about the engine itself, they'll last practically forever if you look after them. Its the other bits you have to worry about.

All the bushes
Shocks
Springs
Boot/Door actuators
Timing belt , Tensioner s, water pump <--Yes yes.. this is on every car
Mass Airflow Meter
Steering Rack (Common failure on the A4)
Central convenience unit.
Exhaust
Everything, even down to the seats will have seen alot of usage

Lots of stuff.. but i definitely wouldn't put 17k into a car with 100k on the clock, its just costs too much in repairs and maintenance costs, on top of that it will depreciate further.

I agree with everyone here that the 1.9 TDI VAG engine is rock solid when looked after though

siralfalot

100K miles is easy for a Diesel, and most modern petrols too, service history is the all important key, I have a Toyota Carina E 2.0D sitting outside at the moment with over 360K miles on it, still running like new, My own Alfa 156 2.4JTD has over 102K miles on the clock and has never missed a beat, I imported it from the UK with 84K on the clock

siralfalot

craichoe wrote:

I wouldn't be worried too much about the engine itself, they'll last practically forever if you look after them. Its the other bits you have to worry about.

All the bushes
Shocks
Springs
Boot/Door actuators
Timing belt , Tensioner s, water pump <--Yes yes.. this is on every car
Mass Airflow Meter
Steering Rack (Common failure on the A4)
Central convenience unit.
Exhaust
Everything, even down to the seats will have seen alot of usage

Lots of stuff.. but i definitely wouldn't put 17k into a car with 100k on the clock, its just costs too much in repairs and maintenance costs, on top of that it will depreciate further.

all of those apply to every car, BUT, a car with a full history should have had those issues seen to

craichoe

siralfalot wrote:

all of those apply to every car, BUT, a car with a full history should have had those issues seen to

All the bushes <--not covered by service
Shocks <-- I've yet to see them change unless they fail
Springs <--Same thing, a split spring was the only time i've seen this changed on a service
Boot/Door actuators <-- They don't change these on a service
Timing belt , Tensioner s, water pump <--Yes yes.. this is on every car
Mass Airflow Meter <--Nope, same again, unless its comes up in a fault
Steering Rack (Common failure on the A4) <--NO way to check for this, you'll only know its happened when its p*ssing fluid into the boots
Central convenience unit. <--Same again, changed when it fails, common on Seat, Skoda, Audi and Volkswagen
Exhaust <--Again changed when it has a hole or is rusted
Everything, even down to the seats will have seen alot of usage

I'm not saying he shouldn't do it, i'm saying be prepared for alot of extra cost. TBH i wouldn't spend more than 4-5k on a 1.9 TDI with 100k on it.

Turbos do go aswell at between 80 and 120 k depending on how regularly its been serviced.

BrianD3

Yeah I agree with the last post. Engine should be fine if well maintained (only real worry would be the turbo) But other parts will be worn at 100k and could need replacing soon. Bushes, wishbones, clutch, shocks, brake discs etc. This is a normal part of running a fairly high mileage car, you replace things as they wear out. How long parts last will vary a lot depending on how the car was driven by previous owners

Knowing this, it seems mad to pay 17k for a family saloon with 100k. Don't be under any illusion that Audis are "bulletproof" because of their "German engineering". They are no more long lasting than any other European car and probably worse than some jap cars. 17k for a 100k Audi = several grand spent on a badge.

siralfalot

aw come on, seriously, do your mechanics not check every mechanical part of the car at service?? to me a service is not just an oil and filter change, its a complete audit of the cars mechanical parts, if anything is not up to scratch than its replaced during the service, to me this is how a car should be maintained every 9k miles, its always been how its done with me

craichoe

siralfalot wrote:

aw come on, seriously, do your mechanics not check every mechanical part of the car at service?? to me a service is not just an oil and filter change, its a complete audit of the cars mechanical parts, if anything is not up to scratch than its replaced during the service, to me this is how a car should be maintained every 9k miles, its always been how its done with me

No, the point is that there parts you cannot check for failure. Steering rack for example, you'd have to dismantle it and inspect all the seals inside it. Or the turbo, again it would be a dismantling job to check the state of it. Air flow meter is the same !

You tell when these parts are going to fail until they fail ! Any mechanic will tell you that.

siralfalot

craichoe wrote:

No, the point is that there parts you cannot check for failure. Steering rack for example, you'd have to dismantle it and inspect all the seals inside it. Or the turbo, again it would be a dismantling job to check the state of it. Air flow meter is the same !

You tell when these parts are going to fail until they fail ! Any mechanic will tell you that.

I'm talking about worn bushings, suspension struts, Brake Disks and Pads, consumable parts, a decent driver should be able to judge when a bushing is on the way out and a decent mechanic will point it out come service time.
I've seen Turbos go in BWM and VAGs at less than 20K miles, so to be honest I'm never surprised to see them blow. AFM is easy, its either working or not working, the loss in power as a result of its failure should be a sign to someone somewhere that all is not well.....

Homer J Simpson

Hello thehamo,

I've just sent you a pm regarding an audi A4 tdi.

Regards

Ice_Box

The 1.9 TDI A4 can go up to 30000 miles or 3 years before it needs a service. A little display on the dash tell you how many miles are left.

A good tip is to let the car tick over for a few minutes before switching off. This allows cooled oil to flow around the turbo resulting in a longer life span. Or you can keep the revs low for the last few miles home ie dont use the turbo.