Found an Audi S4-good deal?

[NPloysa]

Found an S4 I am interested in. It's a 93. One of 500 made for that year. It is a sedan, 5-speed, 2. 2 liter, inline 5 cylinder. It is being sold be a reputable dealer that I know personally, and my brother and mom bought their Audis from him. He has maintained it for the last 8 years. It has an MTM chip pushing it from stock 227 to 270 HP. Has 5-spoke wheels, new tires, carbon fibre trim, heated front and rear seats, power everything, 10-disc CD and a vintage 1993 cell phone in the middle flip-up console! It runs strong and makes 18 psi in 5th gear. It needs a set of plugs which he is going to do if I want it. He is selling it for low $8000. Only problem is it has 155,000 miles. This 2. 2 is capable of 400 HP.



Suggestions, ideas? Would you do it?



Thanks, Nick

 

[KBennett]

I think you should buy a truck



Don't know much about Audi's but I think the car is overpriced. You could have a nice Dodge Cummins for that kind of money. There was a '92 1st gen for sale down the road from me this weekend... . loaded, 5speed, 125K miles, Ext. Cab, body in very good condition for $8500. I can check and see if it's still available if you are interested.

 

[Elite1]

I think you should buy a truck



Don't know much about Audi's but I think the car is overpriced. You could have a nice Dodge Cummins for that kind of money. There was a '92 1st gen for sale down the road from me this weekend... . loaded, 5speed, 125K miles, Ext. Cab, body in very good condition for $8500. I can check and see if it's still available if you are interested.

I agree with KBennet, My wife has a BMW 330ci, which is approximetely the same size as that audi. I hate driving in a car that small after driving a truck for so many years... plus I feel like I need to drink my coffee with my pinkie finger up in the air when you drive a car like that... I love driving my truck!

 

[NPloysa]

I think you should buy a truck



Don't know much about Audi's but I think the car is overpriced. You could have a nice Dodge Cummins for that kind of money. There was a '92 1st gen for sale down the road from me this weekend... . loaded, 5speed, 125K miles, Ext. Cab, body in very good condition for $8500. I can check and see if it's still available if you are interested.

Heck yeah, please check for me. I still want a truck but don't wanna spend over $9000. That truck would be a good compromise. I also found one in the Springs that looks pretty good. I will keep you updated.



Thanks Kirk.



Elite, I have never driven a Beemer. The reason I like the Audis is that they are AWD. Plus that little S4 hauls butt. After driving my brother's 2001 S4 Twin-turbo 2. 7 liter, I know they are a good car.



Nick

 

[NPloysa]

Kirk, I forgot you moved! "... down the road from me... " brings a different meaning. I was thinking sweet, down the road from you is still Wheat Ridge. Guess I will have to take a trip to Utah. If this goes through, should I bring my tent or will you let me bunk with you?



Nick

 

[HoleshotHolset]

The older Audi's (pre-A4 vintage) are very quirky cars. Parts are either really cheap or a lot of money. I came real close on several occasions to buying a early to mid '90s quattro. In retrospect, I probably would have made a great Audi owner because I don't mind working on cars that are maintenance intensive. They would have been money pits, though.



The newer Audi quattros are less maintenace intensive, but are still on the quirky side - they have funky little electrical gremlins and a slew of parts that normal cars don't have. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - but it does add to the complexity of a car. A few of the older quattros I looked at had blowers to cool the fuel injectors after and little electric water pumps to circulate coolant after you shut the engine down. All good ideas, but just more things to go wrong.



When you get those cars running right - they're unbelievable performers. If they're running poorly... just put on your patience hat and take it slow. Up until I bought the Jeep, I was pretty psyched about putting a 1. 9L VW TDI into an mid-late 90's vintage A4 quattro that originally had a 2. 8L V6. The bellhousings are the same and the 1. 9L TDI is offered in the Euro A4's... so parts to do the swap are out there. The 2. 8L cars also have a steeper final drive ratio in the transaxle - so this is what you'd want to look for if you like to cruise on the highway at a lower RPM.



I drove a '97 (?) A4 2. 8L quattro shortly after Christmas '05. I was VERY impressed with how that thing drove and handled (lightyears better than the '84 quattro and ~'90 200 turbo quattros I've driven... ). The cabin was very quiet and well layed out; the leather seats were really comfy but kept you planted during spirited driving with excellent side bolstering. It was a VERY nice sporty ~100k mile car and only brought $5500 at the auction - so my friend who is a used car dealer picked it up for himself. I would seriously consider owning an Audi quattro of that vintage and newer... they are fantastic cars, but you have to be patient with them when they get quirky on you. The newer quattros have electronics to control the AWD - older ones do not... keep that in mind too. Cars like that have souls - you can't say that about a Toyota Camry.



Matt

 

[NPloysa]

I agree with all you said, Matt. We (girlfriend) has an '01 Audi 2. 8 (see sig) that we drive since I only have my bike. It's a sweet little car. It handles the corners nicely, has plenty of power for cruising and lots of get up in the upper RPMs.



The '93 drove excellent also. It had a little glitch at high acceleration/high boost levels in 3rd-5th gear. It cleared up and pulled hard at higher RPMs. When my brother and I got back from the test drive I informed Larry, the dealer who is selling and has maintained the car for the past 8 years. He and Sean and I took it out again and said it just needs new plugs. They get fouled moving back and forth in the lot.



I don't know, I still like it but still want a truck also, can't afford a newer truck and a bike, so it will be bike/older car or bike/older truck, or bike alone. Hmmm... .



Nick

 

[HoleshotHolset]

Nick:



Do you have access to a shop/garage to do your own diesel conversion? If you plan it right and things go smoothly... you can have a kickbutt vehicle for relatively short coin.



I don't want to dissuade you from an Audi... but I do think you will be disappointed if you don't have a diesel. I don't drive gassers very often and whenever I do, I'm glad I don't drive them daily...



One of the only positive aspects of gasoline engines is that they lower (than diesel) thermal efficiency and heat up really fast in the winter. :-laf



Matt