Hi everyone, new to the Audi forum.

I am currently debating purchasing an '06 Quattro. The car has 105k miles and is in good shape, although the wheels are a little road-rashed from curbs. The car would be my first car, as I am 17 in two days - and I would be purchasing it on my own.

The only real knock I have on it is that the timing belt has not yet been changed, which leads me to my hesitation. The car is priced at 7200 and that is the lowest the guys who are selling it will go - they were keen at selling it for 7500 and would list it for more on eBay Motors or Craigslist.

With that said, is it worth it - in your opinions - to get the car as is, and then change the timing belt on it (My dad and I would change it, and my dad is extremely mechanically sound, and I am a younger version of him), or am I better off waiting to see if another A4 comes up that has already had the timing belt changed.

Keep in mind, my funds are limited, so I am not looking to dump a huge amount of money in to it, especially within a month of first buying it.

 

Might want to check Kelley Blue Book to get an idea what the private party value is. When I checked for a car in very good condition the average was $6800 and good condition was about $6300. Not knowing much about the car I would say you could probably find a better deal somewhere else.

If you change the belt yourself it should run about $300 to $500 dollars. With being able to work on the car yourself any little items that come up you should be able to handle.

Some will tell you it cost a lot more to own an Audi than other brands (Honda, Toyota, Ford, etc...). I myself have not seen that. The most expensive part for me (not counting the timing belt) is the oil changes. Having to use full synchetic doubles the cost (about $90 if you have it done at a shop compared to $45 for regular oil).

 

There are a lot of factors that we don't know, but I agree with rhodes. This is pretty much my car with higher miles (mine only has 89k), but I have no clue as to the condition. I think you can do better. I might consider that a good price if they'd serviced the timing belt, but the fact that they let it ride until well over 100k miles tells me they weren't all that great about keeping up with the service. I'd keep looking.

ETA: I also see you're 17 and money is limited. Not to discourage you, but you probably shouldn't be looking at Audis with 100k miles. I think I've put about $3k in just over the last year into my 2006 A4 quattro and I still need a vacuum pump and coolant flange (common failure points and about $600-1000 worth of work depending on where I take it). At that mileage, you're likely to need new upper control arms (just cost me about $800) as well. I love my Audi, but I don't think I could ever recommend one as a first car for a teenager unless it was a hand-me-down.

 

Bingo!

 

Appreciate all of the advice. My dad talked to one of his buddies that deals with used cars frequently. He said to steer away from Audis and instead go for Honda's or Toyota's. Obviously, I was disappointed to hear that, but I can see where he is coming from with that statement.