I am looking to get rid of my 2006 B7 A4 Quattro and I have found my dream car, a 2008 B7 S-line A4 Quattro but with 94,000 miles. I know the 100,000 mile point can be a death sentence especially with the high cost of Audi parts. Soon after finding this 2008 Quattro i was looking through the dealer's inventory and it just so happens he has another 2008 S-line A4 same price but with only 70,000 miles! There is one problem, the ladder has FWD instead of AWD and through research and personal experience I have found that hands down AWD is the way to go, but is it worth 20,000 miles?

 

If you don't like the mileage, keep waiting and looking. I much prefer the quattro in every respect. Plus, if the FWD is an auto, it has a CVT which I would avoid.

If it's well maintained, you shouldn't be scared of the 100k mile mark. You can always try and talk them down on price because of that.

 

My quattro has over 100,000 and has been almost totally trouble free in its' older age. I've driven both FWD and quattro, and there is no comparison. If you are in an area with winter weather, you WILL regret getting the FWD. I had a FWD A4 loaner during a stretch of crummy weather once, and missed my quattro like you wouldn't believe. The FWD handled rotten compared to my quattro in the snow. It was an 08 with wide 18 inch rims. I also had issues on dry pavement with the FWD front wheels breaking loose with little throttle. I can floor the AWD from a stop and no spin, just a hint of lag then the turbo kicks in. The kicking in of the turbo, around 1800 rpm was what kept causing the FWD to break loose, which was very annoying. I had to back off the gas when that rpm approched to stop the breaking loose. I drive a manual, and the CVT in the FWD took getting use to. If you don't need it right now, wait for another quattro to become available. I've heard many say that if you don't get a quattro, don't bother with an A4. Get a Jetta instead. Similar room and handling, without the big price.

 

I'd avoid CVT transmissions like the plague! Awd all the way!

100k is most certainly not a death sentence.. 100k is where a lot of the general maintenance needs to be done.. Which you can usually haggle that into the price..

On that same note.. All of the cars you are looking at are due for their timing belt soon ($1000-2000 job) .. You might actually find that the higher milage car has already had it done and is good for another 90k..

 

PS.. If you really thought that 100k was a death sentence why would you be looking at a car with 70k? Were you just going to throw it away in 2 years? For all intensive purposes 70k might as well be 100k

 

Not trying to be a dink or anything but....

1) it's latter not ladder.
2) it's "all intents and purposes" not "intensive purposes"

Yeah, I'll take the hit. I know others were dying to do it but just didn't want to get skewered.

I'll be the sacrilegious lamb.

 

I don't know how much snow PA gets compared to my home state (NH), but I can tell you this; I'm not buying a car based on 7 days out of 365. Yeah, 7 days. I counted last year how many times that I would have cared whether I was driving a Corvette or an A4 quattro and it was 7.

FWD is just fine for me. Quattro doesn't make a bit of difference when it's comes to the most important aspect of ice/snow driving(stopping).

 

It's not just ice and snow. I live in Georgia. We get that maybe once every 2-3 years. The quattro just handles better all around. Much better--especially in the rain/wet, slick roads (of which we get a decent amount). And, at the age of vehicle we're talking about, we're not talking about multiple thousands of dollars price difference. My quattro was actually cheaper than some of the FWDs I found for sale in the same year/mileage range.

Keep looking--they're out there.

 

quattro does make a difference when the alternative is CVT.. I'm not sure how many miles you have on yours but once you hit about 100k you should plan on your transmission going out..

 

I live in the Lake Effect Snow Belt in West Michigan. We get dumped with lots of snow. The quattro really shines in that. Now I agree about braking being the most important thing in winter. That's why I bought dedicated snows for my car. Virtually no wheel slip during take off, and much shorter stops than the all seasons. The performance biased all seasons just aren't the greatest stopping. It doesn't matter if the car is AWD or FWD. You also have to remember these cars are really heavy for their size. Almost 4000 lbs. without passengers. The extra weight is harder to stop.