'04 Audi A4 130 TDi Sport Quattro? Worth Consideration?

[C.A.R.]

I started a thread a few weeks ago about wanting to get a bigger car and you guys put in some great suggestions.

The car in the title has come up for sale from a family friend which means I could bag a bargain.

- Recent clutch & service
- Used as motorway / pool car
- 168,000 miles
- Tax is about to run out...
- Lots of dings (has been driven to building sites)

It's about £180 more to insure than the current 306 too. But the main thing is that I could potentially get it very cheap, fingers crossed.

I wanted to ask whether this was something to seriously consider or whether to just walk away before showing too much interest?

Car in question-

[1616six]

Miles would worry me but epic cars all the same. I'm considering an a3/leon if I get a pay rise at the end of the year!

[devils_fuel]

These cars are bomb proof if looked after, fsh?? A neighbours got a cabby one and they are quick

[Curt]

Well it'll all come down to price really... but yeah, it's a nice car. Miles wouldn't bother me to be honest

[Toms306]

I'm currently looking for another PD VAG, and I'd say go for it tbh. Shame about the colour, but otherwise, decent cars!

Recent clutch and DMF is a massive plus point, as would be cambelt history.

On that sort of milage I'd want to know if it's had the cams/lifters changed though, as they fail around 140k if they're gonna go usually - but mostly on the longlife serviced ones.

[C.A.R.]

Yea it's a PD 130 jobby.

Just wondering about the Quattro system, surely it's just making he car heavier 95% of the time?

Because its family we could be looking at a very nice figure, AutoTrader values it at 2,800 with those miles. What I like is the Irish plates, nobody would know its an '04 lol.

I've asked about MOT and the £195 tax does expire in November which is a bugger. It just looks like a lot of car for the money and much more of a tank / safer to drive my daughter around in!

I actually like the colour, too many cars nowadays are grey or black, silver or white.

There are lots of little dents, mind. I've a feeling the worst one on the rear wheelarches could be pushed out, while a good polish might get rid of some of the other marks. Red is quite an easy colour to touch-up, from my experience anyway...

[Curt]

I've never owned a Quattro so can't really say... but remember it's Haldex, so 95% of the time it will be just FWD, only sending power to the back when there's a loss of grip/it's needed.

I actually like the red, it's much better than the usual silver...

[bingham123456]

Fire up the Quattro.....

[Niall]

It will be a boring but comfy economical barge with some nice toys and will be fairly safe. Providing the service history checks out ok (check for main things like timing belts not due as we all know Audis can be very expensive to repair!), id go for it for the right price!

[C.A.R.]

Well because of the situation I could get it for around half the price I got from the AutoTrader online evaluation. Will know more on Monday hopefully.

[1616six]

Fire up the Quattro.....

This also.

"Let's go, pass me the keys for the Quattro"

Huge lad points.

[Toms306]

Yea it's a PD 130 jobby.

Just wondering about the Quattro system, surely it's just making he car heavier 95% of the time?

Because its family we could be looking at a very nice figure, AutoTrader values it at 2,800 with those miles. What I like is the Irish plates, nobody would know its an '04 lol.

I've asked about MOT and the £195 tax does expire in November which is a bugger. It just looks like a lot of car for the money and much more of a tank / safer to drive my daughter around in!

I actually like the colour, too many cars nowadays are grey or black, silver or white.

There are lots of little dents, mind. I've a feeling the worst one on the rear wheelarches could be pushed out, while a good polish might get rid of some of the other marks. Red is quite an easy colour to touch-up, from my experience anyway...

That tax seems a lot tbh. My PD130 Golf was only £115 a year, obviously the Audi is heavier but I wouldn't think it'd create that many more CO2's!!

At the price you're hinting at, I'd definitely go for it tbh!!

Edit - Just checked Parkers and it seems you're right about the tax, also only 43mpg average according to them so that'd explain the higher emissions and tax I guess.

I've never owned a Quattro so can't really say... but remember it's Haldex, so 95% of the time it will be just FWD, only sending power to the back when there's a loss of grip/it's needed.

I actually like the red, it's much better than the usual silver...

Pretty sure that's VW 4motion Curt, part time 4wd. Quattro is permanent 4wd as I understand it.

[C.A.R.]

Yea that's the thing that struck me, whilst the engine was hidden beneath a plastic cover it was mounted longitudinally too. So methinks permanent AWD?

[Jimbo]

No all of the b5 / 5.5 platform a4 passats etc are mounted like this even fwd versions

[Toms306]

Pretty sure all the A4s and Passats are longitudinal so that won't make a difference lol.

As said above though, I'm pretty sure Quattro is permanent 4wd, unlike the VW equivalent.

Edit - Beaten to it haha.

[devils_fuel]

Quattro is perm 4wd on these from what I understand, love the fact they make the car nose heavy but it still handles very very well when given abuse

[Tom]

Looks good to me, could do with a good detail but if its cheaper than average get it!

[Ruan]

Watch the PD130s, they have a tendancy to munch their camshafts and DMFs.... Make sure it's been WELL serviced and has always had the appropriate oil, PDs are notoriously picky on what oil they have shoved in them.

They're also rough as bollocks lol - it'll make your HDi feel like it runs on double cream and caviar.

All B6 based cars are Longitudinal mounting - i.e. all Passats and A4s of that era are, however they use a Torsen centre diff - they are permanent AWD, normally 50/50 but can transfer up to 75% either way. They don't have the locking rear diff of the older generation stuff, instead using EDL (pulsing brakes on one wheel across the axle to give the same effect) - so yes, they will waste more fuel than most other cars due to their AWD system.

Annoyingly I can't find the PDF of an RS6 with the usual Torsen diff - but from memory it was 420hp at the fly, 232hp at the wheels. You're pissing away power for something that you may require just once every so often.

[Toms306]

Even the right oil and full service history doesn't make a difference lol, mine had full VW service history on longlife oil....still shat the cams and smashed a lifter at 136k... Personally I think it's the thinner longlife oil that has something to do with it though, and several from the Dub forum agree. Which is why I'll be avoiding longlife for the next one. I know my old silver one is still running well at over 150k on PD oil (time and distance) instead of longlife.

I wouldn't say they're any rougher than a 306 HDi though, both clattery. The CDTi in the Vec is much smoother than either of them tbh lol, shame that's its only redeeming feature lol.

[samass]

It will be a boring but comfy economical barge with some nice toys and will be fairly safe. Providing the service history checks out ok (check for main things like timing belts not due as we all know Audis can be very expensive to repair!), id go for it for the right price!

Wait, what??? You hate Audis!!!

[C2K]

Meh, I'd drive that.

[Niall]

It will be a boring but comfy economical barge with some nice toys and will be fairly safe. Providing the service history checks out ok (check for main things like timing belts not due as we all know Audis can be very expensive to repair!), id go for it for the right price!

Wait, what??? You hate Audis!!!

Correct. With a passion. 90% of people who drive them seem to think they are better than everyone else abd can drive like twats because of that. But, if it's cheap, it will be fairly reliable and safe. And it will have the same engine as my old skoda and you can't deny that wasn't a strong engine! Lol

[samass]

Lol that is true the engine took a lot of a abuse!

[C.A.R.]

Insurance will increase by circa £200 having spoken with them this morning. I'll try and get some more quotes as they said they would happily match a like-for-like quote...

[THE_Liam]

Check the DMF, and check it's got 4 matching tyres. Sounds crazy but Quattros really don't like mismatched tyres...

[C.A.R.]

Recently had all 4 tyres replaced, only Avons but they're all new. And DMF I imagine was included within the recent clutch change.

Really interested now, it's a lot of car for the money!

Sale thread for my car put up now - http://306oc.co.uk/forum/thread-17543-po...#pid331947

[Danny2009]

DMF isn't automatically done with a clutch mate if double check that

[smartgun]

If there's some Service History, I would go with it at the right price, very good engines (1.9 TDi), the 2.0 not so good.
Good Luck with it.

I started a thread a few weeks ago about wanting to get a bigger car and you guys put in some great suggestions.

The car in the title has come up for sale from a family friend which means I could bag a bargain.

- Recent clutch & service
- Used as motorway / pool car
- 168,000 miles
- Tax is about to run out...
- Lots of dings (has been driven to building sites)

It's about £180 more to insure than the current 306 too. But the main thing is that I could potentially get it very cheap, fingers crossed.

I wanted to ask whether this was something to seriously consider or whether to just walk away before showing too much interest?

Car in question-

[Piggy]

big, boring and heavy. imo.

its also a poor engine to match with the AWD system imo...the v6 tdi gets similar if not better mpgs iirc

[C.A.R.]

V6 won't do 50mpg I don't think. The OBC indicated 53.1 - these are always out of whack though, but even if its 5-10% out that's still good for a bigger car. It's heavy cos its laden with toys and has the Quattro system, which I think makes it more interesting / a bit left-field. It's never going to set the world on fire but its big, practical and safe and as a young dad those are my new criteria for a car really.