Our 95 Aero hits the dust

[jon_s]

Looks like the Areo is about to hit the dust! Just got back today from quite a long drive and the car pulled up making a bit of a racket. A quick trip to Saab and we got the good news.

The balance shaft and timing chains need replacing. This is an engine out job...that will be £2000 please.

The turbo needs replacing, that will be another £1750 thank you.

Final nail in the coffin, the CAT has gone. £500 That sounds like small change!

Oh, then add VAT.


Bit shocked re the turbo as that only had 20k on it before being put back on the engine. Not surprised about the rest, that is what you get for de-tuning an engine.

So, in Feb we may be getting a new car. A bit earlier than we wanted as the house went over budget and now we only have 23k for a new car.

We are looking at a 1.8T/2.0 S-Line Audi A4 Estate 55 reg. Any other ideas?

"only" 23k hmmm a few decent mini's anyway being serious you seem to be looking at more sensible options my dad was looking a legacy's as a bit of a sleeper, 3 litre ones fly! dunno what price you could get but they aren't exactly expensive new and seem very well built.

[antonioledesma]

daaaamn!! that thing sure is expensive. You can buy a good used car with that money they ask for the repairs
and "only" 23k?? what do you plan to buy???

[jon_s]

Ahh, the legacy! That is on the list. Although, having been hit with a £30,000 depreciation from the Saab (it is not worth next to nothing as the repair bill is the same as its value!) we are looking for a car that holds value a bit better.

When I say 'only 23k', in context it is a bit of a drop. The new RS4 was on the cards for next year. However, the timing could not be worse for all this, as the house as I said has just been done, it is well over budget and we don't have the luxuary of time to save some money. Therefore, we are cashing in some investments, but only enough to buy a sensible car, as an RS4 would make a significant dent into those investments.

Saab told us that is we continue to drive the car it could at any time self destruct, resulting in significan t damage to the heads et.c. :shock: - could be fun though haha.

As always in life nothing ever turns out the way you expect. But hey, a new Audi will be nice

Originally Posted by jon_s Ahh, the legacy! That is on the list. Although, having been hit with a £30,000 depreciation from the Saab (it is not worth next to nothing as the repair bill is the same as its value!) we are looking for a car that holds value a bit better. When I say 'only 23k', in context it is a bit of a drop. The new RS4 was on the cards for next year. However, the timing could not be worse for all this, as the house as I said has just been done, it is well over budget and we don't have the luxuary of time to save some money. Therefore, we are cashing in some investments, but only enough to buy a sensible car, as an RS4 would make a significant dent into those investments. Saab told us that is we continue to drive the car it could at any time self destruct, resulting in significan t damage to the heads et.c. :shock: - could be fun though haha. As always in life nothing ever turns out the way you expect. But hey, a new Audi will be nice

hehe know well nothing ever goes to plan, anyway have to agree on depreciation hence I won't be buying anything modern myself for some years Sucks about the Saab, I always thought they were very well put together, perhaps you were just unlucky to have such problems

[TransAm]

^ what he said. I always try and buy/sell privately and never buy brand new.

I lost $2000 on my Z3 in 12 months. Painful (as in nearly a months wages lol). If I'd px'd it I'd have lost $5000 or $6000 though so it's not all bad if you have the time and patience to trawl through Autotrader and pay for inspections of anything you look at.

Good luck in your quest. It is sad to hear about your 95.

BTW, if you want an interim vehicle - If you need a reliable estate car, get an old shape civic aerodeck - 170hp VTi, pick one up for 4 or 5 grand now... and it should be pretty reliable too.

[No.1]

Wow - huge repair costs!

The 23k budget seems fair to me, but i know what you mean when you sya you had your sights on an RS4 - thats double what you now have available.

I see that you are keen to get a new car, so i reckon an Audi is a pretty good deal. The 1.8T in my mates Audi A4 seems a bit stresses - the 2.4 we have tried is a bit less frantic, much smoother and quicker

S-Line may look good, but is it worth the premium over the base car? What extra kit does it add? You definitely need AC, SatNav, Bose etc...

I can't think of anything else currently, but the Legacy AL mentioned runs well in car magazines fleet.

An when you say "we" - is that you and a partner, or your parents?

Good luck! and hope to see a new topic in What you Drive section :good:

[jon_s]

we will not order a new car, but get a pre registered car, so a couple of grand saved there.

By 'we' I pretty much mean the entire family (parents) as London prices are too much for me to move out on my own I have put a significant amount of cash into the house and am also putting a 1/3 of the money up towards the Audi. Therefore it really is our car, rather than my parents car that I drive if you see what I mean.

Going to head over to Audi at the weekend. See what we can do.

[LotusGT1]

Volvo V70?

[No.1]

Originally Posted by jon_s we will not order a new car, but get a pre registered car, so a couple of grand saved there. By 'we' I pretty much mean the entire family (parents) as London prices are too much for me to move out on my own I have put a significant amount of cash into the house and am also putting a 1/3 of the money up towards the Audi. Therefore it really is our car, rather than my parents car that I drive if you see what I mean. Going to head over to Audi at the weekend. See what we can do.

yeah - pre reg is a good idea, even though you might have to make a slight compromise on spec

I know what you mean about London prices, so i guess until you make it big, a bit of investment with ma and pa won't do any harm

[jon_s]

For tax reasons when we moved into our new house, I became a joint owner with them, so any money invested is not lost so to speak.

Has anyone used the Audi web site? It is rubbish. The used car search is so vague that I get loads of cars that I don't want. When I try to build a new car there are hardly any options. I can't even work out is the S-Line come with a body kit as standard or if it is an option. Also, is there a 2.0 and a 2.0t? Christ, you would have thought they could do a better job. It looks nice, but when you are really trying to research, there is a distinct lack of info.

I hate going to a dealer not know just about everything about the car we are interested in. It means they have the upper hand.

[RC45]

Seems used car shopping is a royal pain in the UK.

Good luck.

[jon_s]

Cheers RC.
Found these:

link

linky
Looks fantastic in black!

[No.1]

Hmm.. nice find - though the 2.0 is slightly high on mileage for such a young car - the black/cream combo looks fantastic 8)

[1zippo1]

Those are real nice cars John. And Audi is IMO a pretty solid choise. My dads recently got the A6 2.0TDi and I love it. The only drawback of the A4 compared to the 95 is rear legroom but if that's no problem, I would say go for the 2.0TFSi 200hp if you can. Your dad definitly prefers petrol I presume? Also an A4 Avant with an S-Line pack is a reall good looking car.

Btw, the 2.0 TFSi, is it really an FSi engine? because I read that audi labelled some of their petrol engines with the FSi badge but they didn't really use that technology.

The other options: Merc break C320, Volvo V70, Legacy 2.5/3.0, BMW 525i break...