Alex,
As with any car, there are some great examples and
some poor examples. Sorry your experience with your
5k was so negative. But, if you bought the car used,
did you really expect to not have to do a little
sorting? After you did all that I bet the car would
have given good service. I challenge you to find any
used car that doesn't need, or would benefit from, a
little sorting. But then again, that's just me. I
got my 89 200TQ for a song because the previous owner
was told by the dealer that it needed a clutch and a
heater core and that it would cost $1900. Turns out
that all it needed was a clutch slave cylinder. I
replaced the heater core (which came with the car),
and having the experience plus a few homemade tools,
the next one, if there ever is another one, will be
fairly straight forward.
Also, parts for the Audi are about the same as a VW,
especially since the 80's vintage ones shared so many
mechanical components. And, unlike the "85%" parts
availibility of the Pug, virtually everything is
available for the 5000/100/200 cars. Maintenance of
the Quattro system consists of changing the rear dif
lube about every 100k miles as well as the rear drive
axles at about 150k or better. The driveshaft joints
will last 150-200k or more. And doing rear axles are
no harder than any other axle. And axles, btw, are
available rebuilt for about $80. But since the rears
don't experience very extreme angles (unlike the
fronts), they usually last much longer than the
fronts. I have replaced original factory units on
cars with well over 150k.
I'm not sure what you mean about "strange
engineering" and the engineers being rejected from
Saab. Last I looked, the engine/drivetrain was
relatively standard in design. The engine isn't
turned ass-backwards or sitting on top of the tranny
or anything like that. Audis, like any higher end
German car, tend to be overengineered, but not
strange. Certainly "standard" wrt fan/waterpump
drive. :^) And $50 waterpumps are a dime a dozen.
Also, of the 20 or so on-line sources for European
parts I have bookmarked, they all claim to offer a
full line of Euro parts, but when you look, there are
few if any of these places that carry anything
specifically for Peugeot. Audis, like all European
cars, can be expensive to repair if they have been mal
treated. Using the incorrect fluid in the
powersteering system can definitely lead to steering
rack hydraulic failure, which can be pricey to repair,
although the rebuilt replacement rack is about $300,
which, by comparison to BMW, Peugeot, M-B, etc, is
still reasonable if not cheap. And, steering rack R&R
is going to be pricey regardless of the logo on the
grille.
Don't get me wrong. I like Peugeots. I like Audis.
I like VWs, M-Bs, Renaults, Saabs, and Volvos,
basically anything European. They all have their
strong and weak points. However, when put into
perspective, the cost to maintain an Audi is CERTAINLY
no higher than the equilivant Peugeot, and usually
less. If you can turn wrenches on a Pug, you can do
just as well and save just as much money (if not more)
by turning your own wrenches on an Audi. And if you
don't do your own work, finding someone, even a
DEALER, is easy. Try that with a Peugeot.
However, all of the above really only applies to
Audis through the early 90's. After that they became
less and less mechanically friendly and I don't mess
with them much. My feelings are really directed
toward the Audi equilivants of the Peugeots.
Ultimately it boils down to what you love. And
whatever you have to tell yourself to maintain the
love, well, we just gotta do what we gotta do! :^)
Just my thoughts
Regards,
Ben Pender
some Audis
some VWs
some MGs
previously:
some Volvos
a Peugeot
a Saab
a BMW
- Alex Zepeda <alex.zepeda@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 5/4/05, Francois Dion <francois@hyperreal.org>
> wrote:
>
> > In the best case, the car is 14 years old (wagons
> made up to 91) or 16
> > years old (sedan to 89). Worst case it's 20 years
> old (first US turbo,
> > 1985, 5 speed only sedan). It's an aluminium head.
> Cracks will happen.
> > Typically, 505 turbos were not maintained very
> stricly. In what shape
> > would a Porsche 944 turbo be in the same scenario?
> Probably the same. I
> > dont think the heads were that bad, that is until
> people drive them with
> > no coolant and non functioning wastegate *and*
> disconnected overboost
> > switch. Then they have some shadetree mechanic do
> a head job with no
> > retorque, and tada, cracks yet again. Anyway,
> that's just a theory. One
> > of about 42 (it's the answer to everything,
> anyway) posted to this list...
>
> I disagree. Volvo, Saab, Audi, Mercedes have all
> built early 80s
> turbo cars without the reputation for cracking
> heads. The Volvos,
> Saabs, and Audis I'm thinking of were all aluminum
> headed motors.
>
> My current Volvo is the newest turbo I've owned
> (1989), and even then
> it's on its *second* head due to what I suppose
> is/was severe neglect
> (the 1st owner went through a transmission and a
> turbo under
> warranty). My 84 was bought with the hose to the
> wastegate rotted out
> (unregulated boost), drove it around like that for
> six months with no
> problems. I did a head gasket on my 85 (in 2003),
> but that was
> because some hamfisted mechanic stripped the spark
> plug threads for
> the #2 cylinder.
>
> My friend's 89 blew the head gasket, he drove it
> around for a bout a
> week with coolant gushing out the exhaust side. The
> head was fine.
>
> Yeah, I think that the N9T has a not so great head
> design by comparison.
>
> FWIW, I'd steer clear of the Audis too. In fact,
> I'd prefer a 505 to
> an Audi any day. At least the Pug will be cheaper
> to maintain. Audis
> engineers are quite strange. They're the type that
> were probably
> rejected by Saab for being too strange. Plus there
> are more 505s in
> the junkyards around here than 5000s. I owned a
> 5000 non-turbo for
> about 7 days. That was 7 days too many. Dang thing
> needed a brake
> bomb, shifter linkage, door handles, various other
> hydraulic (clutch,
> power steering) work, etc. Yipes. Even the Audi
> owners I've talked
> to have agreed that the Audis are expensive to
> maintain (I imagine the
> Quattros aren't any cheaper).
>
> For cheap turbos my (obvious) preference is for
> Volvo. Four wheel
> discs, and the proper wheels are being driven. Of
> course the Pug will
> be a much, much nicer car to drive.
>
> For the small parts, I wouldn't worry too much about
> availability. If
> you can't find it stateside, you can probably import
> it with a minimum
> of hassle. It's just the big parts, and thankfully
> there are still
> junked 505s to pick parts from.
>
> --
> alex
>
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Received on Wed May 4 17:37:13 2005
