Looking at B6 A4 TDi 130 Avant - found one and would like advice

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sparco

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Hi, looking to join the Audi A4 fold as I have a baby on the way and need a more practical car than my astra coupe turbo

I'm off to look at a 2004 A4 avant 1.9 tdi sport next week assuming its still for sale and wanting some advice please

Its on 180,000 miles and hasn't got full service history, had Audi services up to 2007 then further history up to Oct 2009 at which point it had the cambelt done. Only had 2 owners from new and states motorway mileage.

What would you be interested in wanting to know and what I should look out for? Its quite a lot cheaper than similar ones with FSH & lower miles so it is reflected in the price and its has all the spec that I want really, tints, full S-line kit, decent colour, parking sensors (for the wife - her stipulation)

Would you try to push that they pay for a service/MOT before buying? They have a very similar one at around £1500 more with 107k and full history so that kinda makes me think I can't push too much further with money off or am I being soft?

Any help, advice appreciated
 
If it's a garage selling it then I would expect the price to include MOT/service if required.... personally for £1500 I'd take the one with 70K less miles....
 
I aren't sure they offer garage services, I think they just sell the car, it is a registered business so it is trade.

My thoughts are though that yes the engine's done 73k more and it could be 6 months or there abouts older but for £1500 I could get clutch/DMF done when needed and also have money spare for any other faults it may develop. My usage will only be 6k a year so I aren't really going to be putting much on it and I'm used to getting oil changes done every 6 months so I'd probably continue to do that with this car.

I'm thinking spend less now on the higher miler, as the other would be very top end of my current budget, and then save money for when/if things are needed.
 
If you're only doing 6,000 miles per year, then why bother with a TDI?

Yes better economy, but much more to buy outright.

You could probably get a similar petrol one for 2/3rds the price, put the money saved into petrol etc.
 
If its been well maintained the mileage may not be a problem .I know of a Passat with this engine that did350k before the owner changed it but it was care fully driven by a mature businessman who replaced it with a later version.It used to be hard to sell anything with over 100k and I bought a 1986 Honda accord very cheap with this mileage and it lasted me 5years until the rust won but the engine still used no oil and ran as good as new
 
Cheers for the replies.

j033y - I think I'm more interested in the 1.9 Tdi as I know its a solid engine and so less to go wrong, also, in the budget I have, there really isn't a huge difference in petrol & diesels, the diesels seem cheaper to insure which did surprise me and they pay less road tax. I am taking on board though what your getting at, the main prob though is there's not as many petrols to choose from either, everyone seems to have bought the tdi's...lol!

Mike B - Yeah, thats why I aren't worrying to much about the mileage as I know the engine is good for another 100k if its well maintained....that's the downside though with this one, there's a gap of 1 1/2 years in the history where I don't know whats been done with it, my thoughts are how much damage could be caused by say another 6 months of driving after a service should have been done and if I get straight on with regular oil changes would it matter to much in the scheme of things.
I've got a baby on the way so don't intend to be wragging it around and my wife's going to be driving it a lot and she's no girl racer either so the car will get an easy time from us I'd say :)
 
to be fair mine has a gap in the history and is now on 145k drives like new im the 3rd to own it the way i see it is it must be a good car to have got the high miles and also just 2 owners shows it was a good car or it would have gone though a lot more hands i think not to say it will not let you down mind as its a car lol can i ask how much your looking to pay out
 
When the cambelt was done did they do the water pump?
It should have had 2 cambelt changes and is now due for a 3rd (depending on when the others were done)
If its been on variable servicing (longlife oil, short life turbo) then you need to budget for a new turbo on that mileage
I'd insist it has a new MOT, wouldn't worry too much about a service as you can buy the filters & oil for around £60 from GSF and do it yourself.
I just bought an almost identical 130 sport saloon as a trade sale, 6 speed manual, s line in black, one previous owner with full Audi history and only 130k miles on a 54 plate. Just had second cambelt and water pump and I got it for £5k so your one is way overpriced with that mileage, needs to be under £4k I would say.
 
I've asked about the water pump but awaiting a reply, the cambelt was done in Oct 2009 so is it a milage related thing or an age as I guess they're done every 4 years or so many miles?
I have thought about turbo and asked about, my own car would be due a turbo sometime soon so I kinda had to factor in that cost regardless.
Interesting about the price, I must say I have seen another more or less identical one with 99k on the clock and thats up at 5k as well which did make me think this one is definitely priced to closely to that.
 
Cambelt is every 60k or 5 years.
I'm totally not scared of high mileage, but only if its priced correctly. I prefer a high mileage car that's been cruising motorways than a suspiciously low mileage one that would have been used for school runs all its life, with all the additional wear & tear that puts on the mechanicals. I just went through exactly what you are going through, looking to spend no more than 4k, but found for some reason that by spending a little more you get a much much better deal.
 
So as its a 7yr old car its kinda out of sync with cambelts as it should have had one done in 09 based on age but on mileage it should have had 2 and a 3rd about now as you say.
The most frustrating bit is that car is exactly what I want....its just the history thats putting me off, oh, and the price now.
 
Well it's really just at what mileage it was last done that matters as timewise it's fine. It's whatever comes first, so on a high mileage car it will always be the mileage
 
Seller got back to me and said nothing to say water pump was done when cambelt was, said there's little receipts for work carried out in last few years as it was company owned and no doubt receipts were kept for account purposes. He said I was more than welcome to contact the garage where the work was done and find out if any additional work was carried out. He did say it'll get a 12mth MOT when a sale is agreed as it ran out in April 2011.
I also told him that it did seem a bit overpriced considering its lack of history and mileage so I'll see if he gets back to me, I don't think he will lol
Seen an SE 2005 plate facelift model now with 155k on the clock, full Audi history and 1 owner, £5295 which I think seems a good buy, only prob is that its over 100 miles away :(
 
Out of interest then, did you sort out a deal before you even saw the car as I presume you didn't go see it twice?? Did you offer them a price over the phone based on you then getting down there, test driving it and being happy with it?

My thought is I don't want to travel 100 odd miles and then them not take the offer I put to them and then I've basically wasted my money if I walk away or I pay the price they dictate to me i.e screen price

I'm working on cash buy as I have a buyer for my car sorted already
 
nope turned up with the cash, as the price was to good to turn away, viewed the car test drove it, did hpi check gave him an offer there and then and he took it, home wards I went happy days but I suppose thats the gamble you take. I kept the car for three years and sold it last sep 10 to go to an Audi TDI as I am am doing 400 miles plus a week now and the subaru was getting rather expensive on fuel.

Why dont u get a mate to go with you chuck him or her £20 for their fuel or buy them a few drinks then at least you got company on the way up and a good catch up too.

If its a no no then at least you spent some time with your mate too always pros and cons :)
 
ops ment to say I contacted them sounded them out first to explain I was coming a long way and just wanted honest, you can generally tell if they know the car or not, if its well I don't know or hmmm will have to come back to you, then you know they dont really know the cars history
Hope this helps
 
That's real good advice mate, I will bare that all in mind. I did wonder about phoning them and saying I'll give you X and I'll come get it this weekend and assuming it drives as well as you say I'll buy it and see what they say, then at least I'd know if they'd take my offer before even getting there....or is that a little too premature making an offer first??
 
They'll never take an offer over the phone, don't even try. If you're happy with it then wave the cash at them and I'm sure you can come to a decent agreed price. You can say you've got another one to see not too far away etc etc so they don't feel they have you over a barrel.
 
Cheers, I'm new to all this haggling business, never done it before...lol!
 
If you approach with the "just browsing, but genuinely interested" then they're less likely to think they have you over a barrel... make an offer - say you need to go and sort out cash, insruance etc (which can be done same-day) and then pop back.... agreed a 100 mile road trip is nothing :)
 
i bought my november 2003 avant sport with full heated leather, fash, 122k, 12 months mot and tax, 4 new viederstien tyres for 5k back in november last year which is the same colour as the one in the above advert, but a local car sales pitch had an identical car at the same time but an auto without leather for just under 9k !!!!!! the prices vary sooooooo much..... just follow your heart chap ;);););)
 
I remember that car its been for sale for quite a while I came accross it when looking for mine, it was up for £5995, off the top of my head it was about 8/9 months ago but the price against the milage put me off think its a sensible price now If you like I can ask a mate who is a trader to see if he knows the garage its only 4/5 mile from me
 
Dsport said:
I remember that car its been for sale for quite a while I came accross it when looking for mine, it was up for £5995, off the top of my head it was about 8/9 months ago but the price against the milage put me off think its a sensible price now If you like I can ask a mate who is a trader to see if he knows the garage its only 4/5 mile from me
Click to expand...

That'd be good if you wouldn't mind asking as I still really like this car, I did say to the guy that I'd been advised it was a little too much considering its mileage and history, I then saw last night its on Ebay at £4495 which is lower than on his site and Pistonheads.

Just been doing some more digging of this car and it turns out it was bought from a guy on Ebay in Jan 2011 for £4495 so its odd that he's offering it on Ebay at the exact same price 4 months later, not a great buy for him I guess as he'll be making a loss on it by the looks of it if he sells it at that price as he's already told me it'll come with a 12mth MOT when a sale is agreed.

Cheekily I've also emailed the seller to see if he'll give me any more info about it.....a long shot but we'll see, will be great if he gets back to me!

Bless the internet...lol!
 
Last edited:
Good work
Best to do the home work

I too have been keeping tabs of the prices of these as would like to upgrade wife ford ka for one. Seen a few 190 1.8t which look good, but obviously mpg not as good
 
sparco said:
That'd be good if you wouldn't mind asking as I still really like this car, I did say to the guy that I'd been advised it was a little too much considering its mileage and history, I then saw last night its on Ebay at £4495 which is lower than on his site and Pistonheads.

Just been doing some more digging of this car and it turns out it was bought from a guy on Ebay in Jan 2011 for £4495 so its odd that he's offering it on Ebay at the exact same price 4 months later, not a great buy for him I guess as he'll be making a loss on it by the looks of it if he sells it at that price as he's already told me it'll come with a 12mth MOT when a sale is agreed.

Cheekily I've also emailed the seller to see if he'll give me any more info about it.....a long shot but we'll see, will be great if he gets back to me!

Bless the internet...lol!
Click to expand...



Seen trader pal tonight and he dont know him sorry
 
Cheers anyways for trying

Another twist is the car's now reappeared on Autotrader at the lower price of £4450 but is suddenly sporting full service history when he only told me a week or so ago the last history went up to Oct 2009...lol!
 
well that says it all then mate keep looking a
 
Yeah, seems so :(

I just need a car exactly like that one but with full history and lower miles....lol! Keeping my fingers crossed one comes up soon!
 
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