Looking at buying a A4. What to look for?

Christian gale

Christian gale

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Hi all i currently own a skoda fabia vrs 1.9tdi 130pd and to be fair its been a great car iv had it over a year and not a single problem and its on 117k. Now iv always had a massive love for the A4 b7 sline and im looking at the tdi models due to me doing 35 miles a day for work. Iv been looking at a 2005 2.0tdi 140pd sline a4 with 99k with full audi service history and 1 former owner. I see there is a few problems with these can people please help me on what look for and what they think of the description iv gave on the car iv found or would it be best to find a 1.9 tdi. Hope you can help cheers.
 
So by the sounds of that report the 2.0tdi has alot of problems compared to the 1.9tdi. My 1.9tdi vrs is awesome never had no problems at all and goes well but cant seem to find any decent b7 a4 slines 1.9tdi about all nice ones i find are 2.0tdi
 
Christian, imho I think that is a fair assessment but the later engines were much improved. Be careful with auto boxes too.....for peace of mind stick with a manual gearbox. Happy Shopping.

BR
A
 
The earlier 2.0 TDI's seem to suffer from issues with head castings being porous, injectors etc and are not as reliable as the 1.9. As you have found 1.9 B7's are low in spec . It's always a pain buying used cars as it's a minefield, I think the advice above to steer away from multitronic autos , or indeed autos in general is also good as they just add to the possibility of getting something unreliable.
 
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So would the 2005 2.0tdi sline model iv found be ok then. It has full audi history 1 owner 99k has all the top spec half leather xenons etc or will this engine suffer from problems
 
Christian you could start searching by engine code Matey. There are certain engine codes which are known troublemakers eg: BLB, some are less troublesome....you won't get that from the private owned or dealer ads am afraid...you would need to ask the owners. Not sure if you can trace an engine code in the UK by vehicle registration number either. Maybe a UK forum member could confirm. Even then, you are not g-teed that that code will be trouble free. A Full VAG service book means almost nothing too. Those notorious long service intervals f'@ck up most Audi engines. High mileage with regular oil and filter changes would be my preference over and ex company car with a fully stamped Audi book on those long service intervals.

A
 
Cheers for the heads up i. I dont think the 1 i found was a company car or anything the ad says its immaculate and really looked after and from the pics it looks amazinf eapecially in the dark grey. So only way id know is to find the engine codes and somehow find out the code of the engine. I really like the spec of the s-line
 
Christian gale said:
Cheers for the heads up i. I dont think the 1 i found was a company car or anything the ad says its immaculate and really looked after and from the pics it looks amazinf eapecially in the dark grey. So only way id know is to find the engine codes and somehow find out the code of the engine. I really like the spec of the s-line
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Yes, Christian it's only way to identify....it will be by the prefix engine code in the service book or V5 document ( I think? ) Again, not sure if there is a UK website that has engine codes by reg number. Don't be hasty, there are 100's of A4's out there. Take your time and bag yerself a beauty.

BR
A
 
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Yea i have been looking for awhile and this 1 popped up seems has loads of extra good history awesoke colour very tidy as long as the engine code is ok then i think could be a good buy.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to finding out the engine code or anything that will help me find out anymore about it
 
i waited and waited and waited for a 1.9tdi b7 to come up with my spec, wanted leather, black or dolphin grey, mfsw, double din concert at a minimum, and must be s line - i settled eventually for dolphin grey sline with mfsw, double din but no leather! I bought the leather second hand though :D

The 1.9s are beautiful (if incredibly underpowered engines)...they also come at a premium for having generally lower specs than the 2.0tdi, normally due to dealers being savvi with the issues with the 2.0 :)
 
if you want to wait for the right one, i highly recommend setting a custom search on autotrader, and get it to send daily updates to your email, thats what i did and how i found mine...1.9s in good condition get snapped up SUPER quick
 
This is the description of the 2.0tdi i found online
Image
 
My mates a top technician at audi hes finding me out all the information on the car also told me a few of the problems hes come across over the years with them
 
Very few "company cars" these days - most are leased. Is that "one owner" a private individual, or a lease company?
 
If your Mate works for Audi he should be able to rip all documented work done on the vehicle by a VAG dealer. It should all be there on screen. There not suppose to give you it, but all service work, parts supplied and warranty work should all be kept on file relating to that car.

A
 
audi upgrades
Around £5500 really found a couple and iv just found a 1.9 tdi sline in grey but its ages away from me
 
1.9tdi every time due to your budget and years your looking at. Absolutely bombproof of you get a good one. The 2.0 is fraught with issues such as leaky heads and oil pump problems. More refined than the old pd 1.9 but will hit your pocket big time if you start having the common issues with them.
 
Spoke to my mate who works for audi he seems to think the 2.0tdi aint to bad he said ok they have there issues but he said every car has there issues he said the stuff that goes wrong with them are mostly not to hard to fix and only happen most the time on right dogs that hasnt been kept up together hes a top mechanic at audi
 
Christian gale said:
Spoke to my mate who works for audi he seems to think the 2.0tdi aint to bad he said ok they have there issues but he said every car has there issues he said the stuff that goes wrong with them are mostly not to hard to fix and only happen most the time on right dogs that hasnt been kept up together hes a top mechanic at audi
Click to expand...

I hope your Mate is right.....then there must be freaky load of unlucky dog owners on this B7 Forum.

Best of Luck and bag yerself a good one.
BR
A
 
Molnboman said:
I hope your Mate is right.....then there must be freaky load of unlucky dog owners on this B7 Forum.

Best of Luck and bag yerself a good one.
BR
A
Click to expand...
Couldn't agree more. The oil pump drive issue would have put me off one of these right away unless it's had the chain drive modification done.
 
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