Am I mad to but a 1.8 Audi A4 petrol?

mordeith

I'm looking at a 2008 Audi A4 1.8L t petrol. Am I crazy considering a petrol engine of this size in this day and age?

Ardennes1944

course not. depending on your mileage, your looking at a much more reliable engine with the potential to save money over the years had you followed the masses and been caught with dpf, flywheel etc problems most modern diesels have.

They're not at all uneconomical really, far from mad, may struggle to sell it on though.

coylemj

RoverJames wrote: »

may struggle to sell it on though.

+1 That's the reason I didn't buy one when searching recently. The problem is that from 2008 onwards almost all Audis are diesel so someone looking for a midsized petrol saloon probably won't even bother looking at Audis on carzone or donedeal.

If easy resale is on the list of priorities I'd be looking at a C180 or 318i instead. You'll have to pay more but the depreciation won't be half as bad.

mordeith

Thanks for the replies guys. I wouldn't be doing any mad milegae. The wife would be driving it most of the time. Most common journey would probably be a round trip of 12 miles a day. Probably once/twice a week a journey of 60miles and then the odd trip back home whcich would be a total of 110 miles

Anan1

mordeith wrote: »

I'm looking at a 2008 Audi A4 1.8L t petrol. Am I crazy considering a petrol engine of this size in this day and age?

What's your average annual mileage? And how long are you planning on keeping the car?

R.O.R

coylemj wrote: »

If easy resale is on the list of priorities I'd be looking at a C180 or 318i instead. You'll have to pay more but the depreciation won't be half as bad.

Not sure about the C180, but the 08 318's that we had back last year and this went for a pittance in comparison to the diesels. The 2 A4 1.8T's we had back went for more than the equivalent 318's, purely because the A4 is the fresher shape.


OP - if you are planning on keeping it for a long time, and can but cheap enough, it could be a good deal.

If you are only going to keep it 2-3 years, you will struggle to sell on a Petrol car if the market is still like it is now.

mordeith

R.O.R wrote: »

OP - if you are planning on keeping it for a long time, and can but cheap enough, it could be a good deal.

If you are only going to keep it 2-3 years, you will struggle to sell on a Petrol car if the market is still like it is now.

Not looking to resell in the near future. This car is being looked at for increased interior space as the result of a new addition to the family (2 kids now). I'm being given a price of €11,750 with my 2003 fiesta

Heroditas

With a combination of motorway and city driving, you'll get about 380 miles for a full tank.
Otherwise, if you're doing city driving, you'll get about 330 miles per tank.
I used to own a 2003 1.8T Audi and I got those figures with it. The newer models are probably a bit better though.
Don't mind all those who say you'll find it tough to sell on. There will always be an eejit like myself who wants a large-engined petrol car. :pac:
Not that a 1.8L is a large engine!!!!

Neilw

Be extra careful with the A4 1.8t engine, they like to build up sludge which blocks the oil pickup pipe and can starve the engine of oil. There have been a couple of posters on boards who have had the problem.

The car would have had needed oil changes every 10k kms with the correct to be fairly sure the engine is ok. Best bet would be to drop the sump and inspect the pickup to be 100% sure.

mordeith

Neilw wrote: »

Be extra careful with the A4 1.8t engine, they like to build up sludge which blocks the oil pickup pipe and can starve the engine of oil. There have been a couple of posters on boards who have had the problem.

The car would have had needed oil changes every 10k kms with the correct to be fairly sure the engine is ok. Best bet would be to drop the sump and inspect the pickup to be 100% sure.

Thanks for the tip. Must investigate further

bazz26

Only in Ireland is a 1.8 litre petrol engine described as large and crazy to buy.

L-M

Wait, isn't that the 1.8 tfsi that's 120bhp???

Neilw

Limerick man wrote: »

Wait, isn't that the 1.8 tfsi that's 120bhp???

So it is, op can disregard my comment on the sludge issue :rolleyes:

A remap on that would transform it, some thing like 60bhp + 100torques extra :cool:

homer90

I would get late 30's mpg wise from the same engine in a passat.. Pretty good considering the size of the car.... One of the better engines vag has/had to offer IMO (once looked after naturally)

R.O.R

Limerick man wrote: »

Wait, isn't that the 1.8 tfsi that's 120bhp???

There were a couple of versions of the 1.8Tfsi engine (120 & 160), but knowing the Irish buying preferences, it's more than likely the 120ps. Still not sure how Audi managed to keep a 1.8 with a turbo down to 120ps.

It should be a good bit better on fuel than the older 1.8T models. Emissions on the 120ps engine put it in band D, so it can't be too bad on fuel.

We had a couple out with reps from early 2008. One came back with 170,000km and never had a breakdown. Other one only went to 117,000km and also doesn't have any breakdowns recorded. If only the BMW's that made up the rest of their fleet were as reliable.

mordeith

Really appreciate all the replies here. I'm being tempted more and more

stevekavo

The 1.8tfsi is a great car with a good engine.I have an 07 2.0 tfsi petrol and its not to bad on the petrol.If your going to do the milage you said youl be fine.PLus they are great for the long drives nice and comfy.My wife drives ours all the time and she wont change from the A4 now(this is our 2nd).

mickdw

Ive got an 08 1.8 T A5 and engine wise and reliability wise, its been pretty good.
Its €430 tax for the year approx. Depreciation has been shocking but that relates to having bought it new more than the fact that its petrol.
If you are not doing huge mileage, it might be a better choice than a diesel given the many known diesel specific issue. Depreciation wont be too shocking from here on I would hope.
MPG is not great. The Tfsi engines were suppposed to be much more efficient than the older 1.8T engines but having had both, I dont find this one any better at all. Average consumption over thousands of miles for me is 28 mpg driving it normally.

GavMan

Thinks Parkers list that TSFI engine as doing 40MPG

Probably achievable with some sensible driving

Walnutsink

I have a 1.8T A4 and I get about 420-460 miles to a tank so min of 30mpg, if you drive economically you will get the 460!

mickdw

GavMan wrote: »

Thinks Parkers list that TSFI engine as doing 40MPG

Probably achievable with some sensible driving

Not sure which bhp version you refer to but my a5 which is supposed to be 170 will not do 40 MPG. I carried out an experiment over a 100 mile return journey where I drove in a very fuel efficient manner, keeping a steady speed gentle acceleration and reading the road ahead to avoid braking at all and it got 37 MPG but nobody could drive like this under normal circumstances.

SpannerMonkey

mordeith wrote: »

I'm looking at a 2008 Audi A4 1.8L t petrol. Am I crazy considering a petrol engine of this size in this day and age?

yes your insane. thats way too small an engine to pull along a A4 id be looking at least at the 3.2 litre V6 FSI as an absolute minimum

Mister Dread

The expense of big engined cars in Ireland is more than offset by the savings you get buying it as the typical irish buyer runs a mile. Plus a 1.8 is pathetic.

166man

Mister Dread wrote: »

The expense of big engined cars in Ireland is more than offset by the savings you get buying it as the typical irish buyer runs a mile. Plus a 1.8 is pathetic.

1.8 turbo is hardly pathetic?

PARKHEAD67

mordeith wrote: »

I'm looking at a 2008 Audi A4 1.8L t petrol. Am I crazy considering a petrol engine of this size in this day and age?

No.Far from mad.Class car from a class company.

Matt Simis

166man wrote: »

1.8 turbo is hardly pathetic?

Blame the OP. Thanks to the way the OP positioned it, as some sort of extravagance, it makes it look that way.

heate

1.8t is a fine car - drove a friends nearly 300km on motorway and a mountain pass - albeit downhill with 3 passengers so no monkey business and he was in my car in front with his broken left ankle taking it 'safe'. His was the 160bhp version.
As for fuel consumption it's not a guzzler really (posters here saying mid 30's) mid 30's is perfectly acceptable in this class of car it's not a damn supermini.
Buy it you seem to be getting a good deal on it. The only question I would ask though is it the newer model?