Audi 80 2.8 V6 - help!

[davidspooner]

Hi All,

I'm looking for a cheapo barge-thing and spotted this in the classifieds.

Had been thinking more along to BMW 525 route, but this looks clean. I don't know anything about the cars though. I take it is FWD, fine for pootling up and down the motorway. Anyone else got more info?

http://pistonheads.com/sales/1391083.htm

Cheers!

[JKY]

Looks unusually clean but having owned a few 80s and 90s it appears a fairly genuine example and unusual (or reassuring!) in such base spec. Very solid over-engineered cars so if it is as honest as it looks then yes, will make a good motorway cruiser. They are not the quickest, or particularly good on fuel, but so long as it shows good oil pressure, does not leak or smoke and everything works then they are great cars. Brake warning light is a common issue on these but so long as it goes off after a few seconds it should be ok - just the pressure accumulator not holding pressure when sat. Twin cats can rattle and cause MOT failure and very expensive to replace!!!. Front suspension bushes go and any knocking around straight ahead can be rack wear.
Grearboxes not usually a problem and rest is simple, even down to a plain beam rear suspension.
In summary they are great but very expensive if you need to do too much and some parts are getting very difficult to source nowadays..

[T89 Callan]

I had a 200+k mile Audi 80 for a year, it was a great car, very comfy and quiet. Also solid and reliable.
That looks like a nice car although I would look at for a 1.9tdi or an SE.

[istoo]

great cars, i had a quattro variant as my first Audi. The 2.8AAH is a very overbuilt engine, can be a bit leaky, tappety on start up but not a lot to go wrong really, replace with good oil can shut them up. Belts nbeed done every 60k along with all the tensioners and pulleys, so check for that.
Fuel lines are mildest steel on earth so can leak.

The engine is 174bhp and actually quite revvy for a 12v.. see here www.12v.org

Very smooth power delivery, not the fastest but my 2.8q's would return 35mpg on a motorway run.

Had a saloon then a coupe both in quattro form and combined served me for four years with no issues what so ever other than general consumable costs, oil/ filters.

I bought my first one for £900 with 168k on the clock, sold it 5 years ago now with 187k on the clock, DVLA site tells me its still going!

[davidspooner]

Brilliant, thankyou all. I notice that the ad has been up for a while so it is probably gone. However I have dropped the chap a mail because like you say it looks like a good example (though you can't tell until you get close).

I would set aside money to cover anything that went wrong of course.

[istoo]

I find the velour seats as itchy as hell!