Buying a used A4, any advice please

[rubix]

Hi all, I am looking to purchase an A4 2ltr Saloon approx 4yrs old after trying to decide which car I like. Couldn't decide between a VW Passat and an Audi A4. The Audi is now looking favourite and I need to know what I should be looking for before purchasing, especially servicing and running costs. I have a Fiesta at the moment.....no laughing!!! so you could call this a nice upgrade. Can I expect something nice for around £8000, cheers for any info you can give me

[2.0TDISline]

Hi Rubix,

You will get something nice for that money, probably be a B6 A4, there are a few B7 shape A4's for around 8K but to be honest I'd stay well clear of the very cheap one's, they will either be very high miles, or basic models that have not been looked after. There are quite a few very nice B6 version A4's on Piston Heads and Auto trader. Obviously depands what your looking for, but a 1.9Tdi will be solid and economical, where as the 1.8T will be nive to drive and tunable. I really like the B6 A4's with the GMBH Audi Body Kit. look out for one of them. I'd go for a Quattro or Sline, just because they get better body kit's and are slightly lower. The SE is a bit soft and bouncy for me.
TO be honest mate when buying an Audi the main things to look for are service history and mileage issues. If it's done 80,000 plus check things like the cam belt and tensioner have been done. Check the suspension for slight knocking noises when going over bumps at slow speeds. This can be the suspention top arms, which can be a nightmare to change.

Good hunting, hope you find a nice one.

Mark.

[Lateknight]

Petrol or diesel ?

If you have kids, the A4 is the smaller car compared to a Passat.(esp. rear leg room).
If your buying an early B7 2.0 tdi - probably with a BLB engine code, see if you can find out whether its had any major engine work done. This time major engine work done should be a good thing if it involved replacing the balancer shaft module (about £700 worth). Its a fairly common item affecting this engine code. If its not been done either walk away or negotiate a reduction in sale price. - it might never fail, but a quick look in this forum for "BLB failure" or BLB oil pump" (or similar) kind of tells its own story -

[Tim1111]

Hi everyone. I've just joined this forum and was about to ask a question when I realised Rubix has already asked it for me! He could almost be me in disguise - torn between passat and A4, verging towards the A4, £8k budget etc - only difference is I don't have a fiesta!!

Anyway, back to business. Is there anywhere to view pics of the B6 and B7 shapes to see the difference? I see some A4s I like the shape of and some I don't but don't know which shape is which - be easier if I could get to view them side by side. What are the years for each model (i.e. is it up to '05 for the B6 and '55 on for the B7) or is there some overlap there?

[Lateknight]

Basically the same over-all shape between B6 shape (2001-2005) and B7 shape (2005-2008). The B7 is a facelifted B6.
The first and maybe obvious difference is the front grille with the later B7 having a full depth grill which is now synonymous with all the latest Audis.
Around the back, B6 versions have single piece tail lights, B7 models have split tail lights with the inner parts mounted into bootlid/tailgate.
Interior was largely unchanged.
Engines became a bit more intersting in the B7 with the introduction of 2.0 and 3.0 Tdi's and the 2.0Tfsi petrol.
There was a carry over of 1.9 diesel with only 105hp (B7) instead of a choice of 100hp or 130hp (B6).
2.5 V6 tdi carried on in B7 for only a year or so. replacement 2.7 and 3.0 common rail Tdi engines killed that old boy off.
2.0 petrol -130hp , survived a year or so into B7 before a quiet death.
1.8T petrol - only available in 160hp output in B7 - in B6 it came in 150/163 &190hp 'flavours'
I've purposely left out the 1.6 petrol because (IMO) its just plain old **** in the A4. Gutless, raucous and not very economical. Avoid!

B6s ran from 2001 (Y'reg) until 2005 (05 plate for Saloon/Avant)
B7s ran from 2005 (54 plate - note some overlap of plates here) until 2008

Just google (or Bing or WHU) 'Audi A4 B6', 'Audi A4 B7'.
Theres plenty of images on the net.

[Buzzoff]

B6 Audi A4 tdi 130 is a good car, go for a sport or se model and you will be on for a winner easy 50+ mpg, however beware of the ones that have done longlife oil services as it increases the chances of worn camshaft & or knackered turbos.
Camshaft can't be inspected until you remove the cam cover(been there done it paid for a silly repair bill).

Oh they eat MAF's too, buy a genuine one instead of a Euro jobbie.

Cheers

Dan

[Lateknight]

B6 Audi A4 tdi 130 is a good car, go for a sport or se model and you will be on for a winner easy 50+ mpg, however beware of the ones that have done longlife oil services as it increases the chances of worn camshaft & or knackered turbos.
Camshaft can't be inspected until you remove the cam cover(been there done it paid for a silly repair bill).

Oh they eat MAF's too, buy a genuine one instead of a Euro jobbie.

Cheers

Dan

B6 130 is defo a good car. Probably a better bet than an early B7 2.0tdi (just look on this forum for BLB engine tales of woe)

Not sure about your line about longlife servicing causing premature wear. Cams wear out generally when the wrong oil is used. These Pd tdis need a high shear rate oil approved to VW505.01 / VW506.01 or VW507.00 and NOTHING else. Its when people cut back on the quality of the oil like putting in 10w/40 or 15w/40 (just because it says diesel on the can..!!) that the problems start.
A local taxi company with Octavia 1.9s -all about 06-57 reg's - has replaced the camshaft, bearings and followers in 4 out of his 5 cars because he uses **** 10w/40 oil instead of VW505.01 approved 5w/40 that he's been told to use. Still tends to use 10w/40 because its also suitable for some Renaults he has. Madness!! He's also done a few injector wiring harnesses, so maybe the oil is having an effect on them too. (The harness is inside the engine)

M*** Air Flow sensors (or Air Mass Meter) certainly were a common problem. If its had a genuine one fitted it will (should) cause no further problem. They are sometimes cheaper from Audi than they are on the pattern market.


Ha, just noticed they've censored the word mass = soft

If I wanted to say *** I would have typed it as A55

[Buzzoff]

My Audi B6 A4 1.9tdi 130 AWX engine code did have fully documented Audi main dealer service history. I carried on using genuine Audi Castrol longlife oil that cost around £17.50 a litre and my engine still suffered from worn cam lobes (the cam lobes that opperate the PD lifters).

My engine suffered from oil sludging up causing a tappet oil way to block up resulting in the tappet to run dry and explode in the head knackering the complete top end of the engine(this happened within in 1K miles of having a longlife oil service done).

I will also have to point out that all of the other tappets were dishing on the top with cracks present on all of them too. The tappets were the correct black hardened items that were supposed to eliminate the issue of the tappets from breaking up.

So speaking from my own personnel experience even if a car has had the correct expensive oil used you can expect this oil related problems.

I would not buy a vehicle that has had the longlife oil servicing done because as far as I am concerned you cannot un-do that damage that has already been caused by keeping oil in the engine for up to 20K miles.

I will not dispute the fact that if you do not use the correct Pd engine oil that will cause problems, but when a engine has always had the expensive Castrol longlife oil used and there are still major component failure you can only come to the same conclusion as me. More frequent the oil and filter change the better it is for the long life of the engine.

I believe in years to come more and more people will suffer from what I have experienced, basically paying the bill for previous owners who saved money by using longlife oil services.

When oil is replaced with fresh oil you would expect the oil on the dip stick to be clean, however when my oil was replaced the new fresh oil was black only from the engine ticking over on the ramps. This is because the sump collects up sludge from running the longlife oil services and all you are doing is stirring up the crap and sludge that collect up in the sump with new oil. Hence that is why I would advise to use a good quality engine flush to clean up the sludge, then when the new oil goes in it will still show clean on the dipstick at the initial change of the oil.



You have been warned.