Looking for a B5 A4 - are they getting rarer?

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Tom_B

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ASDA delivery driver reversed into my Passat and its been written off. It still drives ok but because I have been paid off what I paid for it two years ago I am looking for a new (to me) replacement. I would ideally like an Avant 1.9 TDi which is not too knocked about and has good evidence of maintenance. I am not sure if I got lucky with my other A4 Saloon (which I bought after drowning the V6TDI and needed to buy something within a few days), but it has run well for two years and done 40k miles faultlessly.

I have been looking for a couple of weeks (ebay, autotrader, gumtree) and B5s seem to be getting rarer and those that are for sale seeem to be more expensive and higher priced with higher milage than when I was looking two years ago.

Do you think that this is happening generally?
 
Not sure about diesels, but when I was looking for a 1.8t quattro it was nearly impossible to find one in a b5 shape but i did. Don't rush to buy a car it wont be worth it.
 
there has been an incline of them coming up for sale Tom.
Im not in the market for another one but I have a habit of searching for them.

my thoughts are there getting to an age where folk are either running them to the end of there tax and test then scrapping them or there in the hands of folk that dont want to part with them.

have you thought about another Passat? I loved my old 110bhp passat sport estate..
but I do prefer the shape of the A4
 
It was a 1.8t sport estate. Served us well, two years of fault free motoring for £36. I have had a hankering for a matched set of A4s but might in the end go for another VW if the right one turned up.
 
Passat 1.9 tdi 130 Sport estate is a King of cars.

Audi A4 Avant is a bute , but looses room in the back especially legroom.
 
Gazwould said:
Passat 1.9 tdi 130 Sport estate is a King of cars.

Audi A4 Avant is a bute , but looses room in the back especially legroom.
Click to expand...
I always thought my 110bhp was a better pulling car and better on fuel than the 130bhp I had

in fact being honest... I would say my 110 quattro is still better on fuel than my 130bhp passat ever was

I did love the extra space in the passat estate though. I was tempted to buy an A6 1.9tdi avant before I got the quattro

the A6 is styled the same as the A4 just it looks to have the space of the passat inside
 
1.9 TDI Avants are rare in B5 shape, and nigh impossible to find in quattro form. I know you didn't ask for quattro, but that turns it into a workhorse for all seasons. Don't let high mileage put you off. These are old cars now, but simple, tried and tested technology, that will run for years if you maintain regular oil changes.

Look at this one on Autotrader. Looks good enough, has recent cam belt change too. Front wing N/S has crease or could be light, but that's fixable. Nothing a good interior steam clean and body rotary polish wouldn't sort.

Audi A4 1.9 TDi Quattro 5dr

I'd replace lower door blades all round (the metal strip inside corrodes), say £200, and upgrade to later facelift one-piece headlights. Couple on Ebay just now. They're halogen projector and not great, but event Bosch up-rated bulbs improves things somewhat. Only other thing, and this would be more a wish-list and source aluminium roof rails.

Audi A4 B5 Headlights Drivers Side | eBay

Audi A4 B5 Headlights Passenger Side | eBay
 
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that quattro looks a good buy.
as you say the 1.9tdi quattro is hard to find. I was lucky to find one local to me.
I wasn't even looking to buy another car but at the price I couldn't let it pass me by.
 
jbh said:
that was my thought just its a nicer styled car to the passat.

the Passat is square where as the A6 has the style of the A4 shape
Click to expand...


How is a Passat square ?

A Volvo it is not.

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JuWyBtG
 
Gazwould said:
So do I but we choose estates for their rear room and the A4 seriously lacks it.
Click to expand...

Ive had a few estates that to be honest have lacked in space in the rear.. my E30 touring I would say was worse than the A4 Avant for rear room.

I did love the space in the Passat but I fancied an A4 avant as to be honest I prefer the style of the A4 and IMO the Avant is a nicer looking car than the saloon :undwech:
but then I also think most cars look nicer in estate form

the A4 is practical for my needs. Ive managed to move washing machines, tumble dryers and even a double bed with it.. it may not have the boot room of the passat but it fills my needs.

my only gripe is the loading area is not flat. but then at least its not like the E30 touring where you had the rear lights in you're way
 
Not sure why you'd specifically buy an estate for rear leg room?

The estate version of most cars has no more rear legroom than the equivalent saloon/hatch model. The estate just gives you a larger load area.


My mate takes the **** quite often that the A4 is the "smallest big car in the world". They some how managed to build what is essentially a car that shares the same market segment (in terms of size) as a mondeo/vectra/passat etc etc, yet somehow manages to have no rear legroom and a estate back that looks huge but nothing actually fits in due to the tapered sides and shape of the opening.

What is odd, is that VW chose the A6 platform to build the Passat. The A4 and Passat are both "D segment" cars. That segment being "large family or small executive car" Whereas the A6 is an "E segment" car. Theres ended up a sort of fragmentation in the market where the more prestige manufacturers like Audi and BMW are producing cars in both D and E, but the likes of ford, vauxhall and VW are producing D segment cars that are almost E segment in size. I guess VW, competing more with ford and vauxhall, decided they too wanted a larger D segment car, and hence based it on the A6.


C5 A6 TDi is a decent car though, bit newer, has the nicer PD engine, but they didnt offer a 1.9 quattro afaik.
 
B5/B5.5 passats are proper quattro like the A4/A6.

The B6 onwards passats switched over to the transverse engined golf platform and so got haldex.
 
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aragorn


My mate takes the **** quite often that the A4 is the "smallest big car in the world". They some how managed to build what is essentially a car that shares the same market segment (in terms of size) as a mondeo/vectra/passat etc etc, yet somehow manages to have no rear legroom and a estate back that looks huge but nothing actually fits in due to the tapered sides and shape of the opening.



Apparently the A4 Avant does have space :uhm:



jbh said:
the A4 is practical for my needs. Ive managed to move washing machines, tumble dryers and even a double bed with it.. it may not have the boot room of the passat but it fills my needs.
Click to expand...
 
yeh i've had a washing machine in mine too, but it does manage to some how be less spacious than you'd expect given the type of car.

Someone turned up to pick up an old TV of mine in a Golf estate, and that thing was cavernous compared with the A4.
 
I bet it was, a Golf Mk 3 hatch with the rear seats down has such a good offering that would explain for the rare sight that a Golf estate is.
 
ive had washing machine in my mk 4 golf gti means nothing, another estate with no room subaru impreza owned 1 terrible for load space.:laugh:
 
aragorn said:
did they do a 4motion passat with the PD130?
Click to expand...
Yes, they did: awful interior and dated looks, nothing like a a6 ! The pd130 is slouch in standard form and quite stressed to haul 1700Kg curb weight...
 
IMG 20161005 124057

Audi A4 Avant 1.8T Quattro Sport 180bhp
SPECIAL EDITION

Can someone tell me what mines worth then
Looking to sell to someone who will appreciate her like i do.

AUDI A4 AVANT 1.8T QUATTRO SPORT
169k Miles
Full service history from new stamped every year!
Cambelt changed
Brand new clutch with receipts
12 months mot!
Low owners!

Contact me Jonathan_westbury@hotmail.com
 
Johno Westbury said:
Can someone tell me what mines worth then
Looking to sell to someone who will appreciate her like i do.
Click to expand...

£1,250 to £1,400 tops in my opinion. The fact the timing belt has been done will be bonus, but you'll get the usual time wasters who want it for under a grand. At the end of the day it's an old car and an even smaller niche group of people who are looking to buy it.
 
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