What should I look out for on a 2002 Audi A4?

Audi A4 2.5 quattro, 2002 model: anything I should look out for?

Very interested in buying one of these; it has 130,000 miles on the clock but is a local family car and well maintained in the local Volkswagen garage. I don't drink myself so I am willing to let the Audi do the drinking! And I know about tax and tyres etc but I love driving so I don't mind that, just wondering if there are any majorly costly pitfalls with these cars as the one I had nearly purchased last week blew its fan before I arrived to drive it and that's going to cost the guy €1,300 - so I had a lucky escape!

Cheers guys

Adrian Lynch (Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim)

Sep 2012 Filed under: reliability

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Expert answer

Hi Adrian,

There's no doubt that premium cars of this age can come with costly repair bills. The older they get the more likely something will go wrong, no matter how reliable they are in general. The example you're looking at already has quite high mileage so we'd say budget for a grand or so of repairs a year just in case.

This generation of the A4 was reliable enough. Most problems seem to have stemmed from heating and cooling systems (in particular the air conditioning) and electrics so thoroughly inspect the car - preferably with a bit of professional help. Ensure that the gearbox (assuming it's manual) is smooth and noise-free and that there is no clonking from the front suspension.

Hope that helps

Shane O' Donoghue - Complete Car Adviser
@Shane_O_D