1999 Audi Quattro 2.7T - information please

[nigelbb]

I have just bought a 1999 Audi Quattro & would welcome some advice. I know nothing about the different models. Whether I have got a good one. What the common faults are etc. I bought it because I need a cheap car at short notice & it seemed good value at £1800 for the (very nice) condition & although it's done 150K miles it's the best car that I have ever driven. It's smooth & quiet goes like a rocket sticks to the road & stops well. It was first registered in 1999 (V) & the engine capacity on the registration document is 2671cc. The badges on the boot say Quattro 2.7T & it is an automatic (5-speed box I think). I do have the owners manual but evidently there were a lot of optional extras available some of which I appear to have (like the 5-speed gear box). The midnight blue & cream leather interior is very fetching too.

I am just moving back to the UK after living abroad for years & even just 6 weeks of car hire would have cost me £1000. My calculation was that getting a car of this quality for under £2000 even though the insurance cost me over £500 for TPF&T (I have no NCB as I have been abroad) would save me money. Now that I am getting used to using it I really hope that I am going to have this car for a long time. My previous favourite was my much loved 1986 BMW 320i automatic that I bought in 1997 for the equivalent of £800 & that gave me over twelve years of motoring at minimal expense.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good place in Norfolk to get this serviced. The condition i generally very good but there are a couple of little problems that I would like to get fixed if it looks like this car is a keeper. The little joystick switch to operate the electric door mirrors has been snapped off (it looks to be stupid place to put a fragile switch right by the handbrake) also the glove compartment seems jammed shut & the handle came away in my hand (although there is evidence of of a repair with Araldite so I am not blaming myself.

Thanks in advance for any help or pointers. I am starting to read all the posts in this excellent forum to get myself into the Audi World:-)

Cheers

Nigel

[nigelbb]

Perhaps I asked too many questions & was too wordy in my original post? Could someone please give me a few pointers regarding this model? Common faults? The good things about this model? Any online links to reviews or descriptions would be welcome too as I cannot find anything.

[NickPicks]

If you look on the sticker in the front of the service book or in the spare wheel well, there's a 3 digit engine and gearbox code. This will tell you exactly which engine it's got. It'll also have a list of 3 digit option codes, whihc if you type into the decoder at igorweb, it'll tell you all the factory fitted options you've got.

The mirror joystick is indeed a silly place to put it (I snapped mine when I was vacuuming the car. I fished it out of the vacuum cleaner, drilled, pinned and glued it back on, and it's been ok since) You see them on ebay, and I don't think they were outrageously priced at the dealers.

As for reliability, so long as it's been serviced, then I don't think you should have many problems with it. So long as you understand that if something does go wrong, it's going to cost more to repair than the car cost you to buy (remember that the car would have been around £50k new, so the repair bills will reflect that complexity) As adamss24 said in your other thread, replacing the turbos would cost £2k if they ever need it.

The useful help and pointer from me is:
Open the bonnet
take the battery cover flap off
shine a torch down the side of the battery
if there's any water there, clear the drain plugs by following these instructions
or browse this forum for plenum chamber leak