Hi Everyone,

Well heres the story. Im a 19 year old college student and I currently own a Jeep Wrangler and am sick and tired of driving. (jeep has 124000 miles) So i put it up for sale and this guy offered to trade a 2002 Audi TT FWD.

Here is some info on the car.

-Currently has 102,500 miles
-Looks stock but who knows
-Current owner says the timing belt was replaced from the dealer he bought it from. (doesnt know what the mileage was when replaced though)
-The gauge problem that TT's have was fixed by the owner.
-The car drove awesome. Pushed me back in the seat and seemed to be real quick.
-Interior was in great shape and everything from the heated seats to the windows work good.
-Also insurance is only 30 dollars more a month than my Jeep.

A few problems i noticed were
-When i first started it up it seemed like it idled a little rough. Dont know if thats normal for a turbo'd car. But then after i brought it back from a test drive and checked the idle it idled perfectly.
-Also the radio was in SAFE mode but i guess i can fix that at the dealer?


Sorry for the lengthy overview of the car but i just want the best advice possible. Here are the questions i have-

-Are the miles too much and how are the 1.8t reliability. I have no intentions of modding the engine. Maybe some suspension and wheels but thats all.
-Since the timing belt was replaced should i get it checked anyways? and do i have to do it by 120,000 miles (60,000 mile intervals) or does the second timing belt go longer?
-Are the FWD models cheaper to maintain since i can swap parts with GTI's and other VW's?
-Does anyone use their TT as a commuter car?
-And finally should i worry about the rough idle at all? If so any ideas of what it can be.

Again im sorry for such a long post but its a big purchase since most of the money i saved i spent on my Jeep.

Thanks in advance

Chris

 

You don't own a TT, you support it. they're german, not japanese so they are costly to own. that being said,

the 1.8 is a very good engine. should last to 200K with no major issues.

TB needs changing ever 60/5yr. so, since it's unknown, you should change it soonest. 4-800 at an indy shop. over 1000 at the dealer. If it fails, expect 3-5K in repairs, so changing soonest is good insurance.

suspension upgrades are 1-2K depending on how much you do you self. at 100k miles, that one needs it.

no real savings over fwd vs quattro. the haldex/quattro system is also very robust so not usually an issue so long as the haldex fluid has been changed every 20K miles. ask the owner when it was last changed.

many tt owners use theirs as their DD

rough idle is not OK. something is amiss. take it to autozone or one of the other parts store that can scan it for you for free. any codes may tell you the issue, but otherwise have knowledgeable independent audi shop do it. they may charge for the inspection, but that would be 100-150 well spent.

do you have $3-5K available for maintenance and other stuff...if not, pass on the TT as you'll spend at least that much in the first 6 months of ownership getting it into proper running condition.

Remember, the TT is almost 10yrs old so it will need stuff (suspension, brakes, fluids, other unknown misc problems) just like any 10 yr old car would.

I spent just under $4K getting my 2-owner 2001 TT (w/67k miles) into dependable daily driver condition during my first 6 monts or so of ownership. Since then, less than $200 per year.

cheers and good luck.

 

Thanks for the reply and great information.

Any idea what the miss can be? i just thought it was strange that it would idle rough and the after it warmed up it idled perfect.

And thats alot of money to spend but over the past year i spend 1500 on maintanence parts for my Jeep and will probably be more if i keep it. But paying money is a price you have to pay when you want to own a luxurious fun car haha

have lots to think about

thanks again

 

The radio in SAFE mode makes me think it was throwing a CEL code and he disconnected the battery to clear the light and didnt have the radio code to unlock it. Maybe the rough idle indicated a misfire code or something along the lines. Have him get the car through a drive cycle so the computer can be scanned (OBD II)

 

Thats really interesting.

like when it idled it would sound as if all the cylinders would fire then it would almost stop for a split second and repeat that over again. And then when i warmed it up it stopped. Weird..

 

I know that my OBD II scan tool has three lights; green, yellow and red. When there are no codes, the car is emissions good and is through its drive cycle the green light is lit. Yellow will come on if there is a code in the history of the ECU and may risk not passing emissions/run correctly. Red obviously is a failed emission test and has one or more CURRENT codes (not stored in history). I know autozone scans for free AND if you have someone that knows what they are doing, they can use their scan tool (the orange one that all of them use) can go into options from the scan tool and select drive cycle readiness and see if its ready that way.

 

Alright thanks for the help. I decided that im going to pass on the TT mainly because i dont think owning a car with such high maintanence costs is right for me at this point in my life. But i will definitely keep all the information given to me in mind for the future when i get a little more money and can finally own an audi. Thanks again and take care.

Chris

 

always have a mechanic check it before buying. get receipt on the time belt and water pump replace. Make sure you floor it a couple a times and to see if there is no boost leaks or misfires, rev only to 5500rpm though cause thats where the boost ends and to be safe.

for the SAFE radio problem, look in the audi concert manual to find your radio code and hold the rds and fm button and input the code with the 1,2,3,4 buttons. if you dont have the code that sucks.

they have a rough idle at cold starts and goes away after a few minutes.

open the oil cap and check if theres any brown residue thats thick caked on. that could possibly be a sludge issue but still have a mechanic verify.

lastly, check the bottom for a splash guard and engine for missing screws and what not. thatll give you an idea if its had some problems or not.

 

The audi A4 is affordable and easier to work on with the longitudinal engine, keep that as an option for sure

 

on the audi concert, which my 98 audi a6 avant has, its on safe mode too, but when i tried RDS and SCAN, it didn't do anything...

the audi concert has a FM1 and FM2... so when you say push the FM and RDS button, which FM buttom you to talking about?