A4 convertible buying guide

[essexplumber]

Hi everyone, my mate is looking for a car for his wife to drive a few miles to work weekdays and a few more at weekends.
It'll be mainly her and their two young daughters (boosters not required) and he likes the A4 convertible.
As I'm his most car savvy mate he's asked me to help him out, he's looking at high milers for about £2k (can't believe how many are around at that price) but I've never owned an Audi so my knowledge on them
Is limited.
I've recommended he gets the 3.0 petrol as they'll be doing so few miles but are there any obvious faults or problems I should look out for?
Cheers in advance

[PositronicRay]

Avoid multitronic.

[essexplumber]

Are all the autos multitronic?

[PositronicRay]

No, auto FWD are multi, quattro autos are ok.

[Cupramax]

The 3.0 is a decent engine but they are a bit prone to head gaskets going around 90 to 100k, so beware. If i had to have another one, and i would without hesitation, it would be a manual B7 2.0T just for lack of things to go wrong. As mentioned avoid fwd autos multi box like the plague.

[essexplumber]

We're going to look at a 55 2.4 manual tomorrow, it's either gonna be the 2.4 or the 1.8t to be honest as they seem to be the most common in his price range.
Thanks for the info so far though.

[Cupramax]

Cambelt and tensioners on the 2.4 is every 75k or 5 years, whichever comes first so a 55 should have record of two new belts if serviced correctly.

[PositronicRay]

The 2.4 is a lovely smooth flexible engine, albeit juicy. The 1.8T is lighter, just as quick and feels a bit sportier.

Both good cars though.

[essexplumber]

Thanks for the advise, got something to work with now.

We are now going to see a very well looked after (apparently)
1.8t on an 05 in the morning!!

[Cupramax]

1.8t's are also cambelt, water pump should be done at the same time. Only real issue on these is sludging in the sump causing the oil strainer to block, usually not till over 80k though and caused by not regular oil changes. should be done every 10k ideally.

[essexplumber]

Thanks for the advise, got something to work with now.

We are now going to see a very well looked after (apparently)
1.8t on an 05 in the morning!!