Audi A4 2.0 FSI 2004 - am I crazy?

[casualdriver]

Hi,
looking for cheapish reliable runabout, with few possible 500+ miles trips per year. My garage has odd cars for sale, and I trust them and they have this Audi A4 2.0 FSI - manual. Its quite cheap, but I am afraid it could became a reliability and last think I need is car that I need put money to. Its half of my budget though, and very well looked after... Should I get Auris, Civic etc instead and be responsible adult?

[broadspeed1]

It's just a run of the mill car, I don't see why it would present any problems. VAG must have used that engine across a hundred other cars, if they're flawed there should be plenty of information about it.

[Xcore]

Old direct injection vag car? No thanks

[DickyC]

Notorious users of oil.

Search a bit longer for a similar age 1.8T.

1.8T quattro better still.

[ChattingWham]

Check for ULEZ/LEZ/CAZ compliance if you're ever likely to drive it into a city. Off the top of my head... Bath, Bristol, Birmingham, London, Glasgow from 1 June, (plus Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee from next spring), Portsmouth, Bradford and Oxford.

[anonymous-user]

DickyC said:

Notorious users of oil.

Search a bit longer for a similar age 1.8T.

1.8T quattro better still.

I had a 2003 Audi A4 1.8T and that used oil as well, I was VERY pissed off when it came on 2 days into my ownership and I had to stop at the nearest petrol station to buy some oil. From that point on it was easily using 1 litre of oil every 1000 miles if not more.

It has really put me off any VAG cars as I hate the idea of cars using oil. My last two cars have been sheddy Renaults and they have used marginal amounts of oil, maybe 250ml every 6K miles.

[DickyC]

Joey Deacon said:

DickyC said:

Notorious users of oil.

Search a bit longer for a similar age 1.8T.

1.8T quattro better still.

I had a 2003 Audi A4 1.8T and that used oil as well, I was VERY pissed off when it came on 2 days into my ownership and I had to stop at the nearest petrol station to buy some oil. From that point on it was easily using 1 litre of oil every 1000 miles if not more.

It has really put me off any VAG cars as I hate the idea of cars using oil. My last two cars have been sheddy Renaults and they have used marginal amounts of oil, maybe 250ml every 6K miles.

That's a shame, Joey. You had a duff one.

1.8 good, 2.0 bad is the consensus. It's certainly what I've found. I've just given my most recent 1.8T to my daughter. No top ups between services. It replaces her slightly newer 2.0 that used oil like it was on commission. The 1.8 is getting scarce now, unfortunately.

Off Topic Even Further: when I pressed Transfer to complete the purchase of a 1.9tdi A4 quattro ten years ago the vendor said it used a lot of oil. I was sure I'd asked him. Anyway, I'd done the deal and took it away. The engine and surrounding area was very oily but disguised by the undershield. The first job was to put it into a garage for a steam clean and investigate. The garage rang later to say it cleaned up lovely and they couldn't see a leak. Their best guess was the previous owner couldn't pour oil in cleanly. It wasn't easy, certainly. After four years or so I gave it to a mechanic who had looked after it. He still has it. It's on 245,000 miles.

[Glosphil]

I had an Audi A4 1.8T Sport (163hp) as a company car from October 2002 until March 2003 & covered 9k miles. The oil level on the dip-stick dropped less than 1/2".

[fuzzymonkey]

19 year old Audi, a paragon of reliability...

[stogbandard]

Our 1.8T Passat was bought in 2004 at 85,000 miles and sold in 2019 at 285,000 miles, using fully synthetic. Over the years it always needs a top up but nothing alarming usually 100-200 ml every 10,000 miles. Looking at the positives it had a little bit of fresh oil to circulate.

[DickyC]

fuzzymonkey said:

19 year old Audi, a paragon of reliability...

Ye of little faith. I've had six old Audis, five reliable, one dodgy. The good ones I kept for ages, the duff one I moved on quickly. Not bad in shed world.

[LeoSayer]

I wouldn't buy another after owning a 2002 A4 Avant 2.0 CVT auto for a few years.

The engine was wholly unremarkable in every way. Used loads of oil, 35mpg max, sounded dull and not very powerful.

[DickyC]

LeoSayer said:

I wouldn't buy another after owning a 2002 A4 Avant 2.0 CVT auto for a few years.

The engine was wholly unremarkable in every way. Used loads of oil, 35mpg max, sounded dull and not very powerful.

Mine were all manual. CVT just doesn't seem right to me.

I haven't been able to find one this time and am considering going to a C Class Mercedes.

The problem with the A4, for me, is after the 1.8T - about 2004 - there was a succession of ropey engines until about 2012 or 2013 which is out of budget for a shed. While I'm dithering, I bought a 2.0tdi Golf for £900 which has turned out to be really good. Really good in the sense that it starts, goes, stops and keeps the rain off.

This does contradict what I said about ropey engines as there must be 2.0 diesel A4 that would fit the bill between 2004 and 2013. Except I would prefer petrol.

It's a shed problem.

You're waffling.

Yes, I can hear myself waffling.