sam268

Hello Everbody,

This is my first time here. I am about to buy a used 2003 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro. It is automatic and has 115000 km mileage on it with clean status. The owner said he has recently changed the timing belt and water pump. Since he offered a reasonably good price, I am very interested in buying it. But, before that, I will need some help from you guys, especially who has or has had this type (or similar type) of Audi.
I have read different things including very good and very bad things. I know that Audi like other German cars would be more expensive than other Korean or Japanese cars to maintain including regular services, but I want to know what are the specific/common/bad issues that might show up with this specific car and what are the things I need to check before I buy, and how?
I am fine with $300-500 maintenance cost per year or so, but I do not want to end up spending half of the price of the car to repair it later on.

Thank you very much for any comments and information you could provide in advance.

sam268

Still waiting for your answers, guys. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

veedubb

Yeah. This forum is half dead unfortunately.

If you haven't already bought your car, then don't!!!

Only for the reason it's a tiptronic. If you don't know how to drive a manual, then I suggest you learn and get one with a manual transmission. It's easy and I taught my cousin in about 2 hours before he bravely drove his manual car from Toronto to Ottawa that very same afternoon.

sam268

Hi, Thanks. I am pretty fine with both manual and automatic transmission. But, I don't want to buy a manual one because of the hassle of taking care of the clutch and so on. What's the problem with the tiptronic? It's actually quattro not cvt, if that's you worry about.

veedubb

I was writing a few notes about the B6 but this site made me login again and it was all lost

If you're good with a manual then stick with it. It's way more fun to row your own gears and the tiptronic is not that reliable, though much more reliable than that POS CVT they used for the FWD.

I'll touch on a few issues here:

- Bad coil packs (relatively inexpensive and may be subject to a re-call)
- Rear coolant flange (mine was replaced by the previous owner)
- coolant temperature sensors (easy fixes and cheap)
- glove box has a tendency to break
- interior button markings tend to rub off
- leaking power steering rack (easy fix for me - I replaced mine in less than 3 hrs)
- complicated and expensive to replace suspension components (my front end is entirely new - 12 pieces. Handles like new now)
- weak HID light output (I'm thinking about replacing my HID projectors)
- autonomous HVAC flaps and sunroof (I did a write on the HVAC flaps on this site)
- Hydraulic engine mounts tend to leaks and wear quick (easy fix - I'm planning to replace mine with 034's Street Density ones this weekend, assuming they arrive before then because they screwed up my order)

There are more but they are well known and common issues with the B6 because of the age of them. They are well documented on this and other sites.

There's a large community of Audi enthusiasts in multiple forums that contain a wealth of information so you won't be stuck with a problem alone. And there's multiple vendors that carry genuine VW/Audi parts or high quality new/used replacement components for our cars. Just don't buy cheap knock offs from EBay, LOL!

I've had mine for over 3 years and is basically bone stock though I'm loving my car even more than ever now that I've done a mild Eurodyne Stage 1 ECU flash recently - more power . I've got just over 205,000Km on it and will likely add a lot more in the coming years. This body style is just so damn sexy to me. And the interior is very handsome as well.

Sure I'm biased and came from multiple VWs but I can tell you with a straight face that my car has never let me down - always started and got me wherever I needed to go. Besides, the Quattro is made for our Canadian winters.