Faults:

Vehicle was always very well serviced (through Audi dealership), however I have still spent an average of $3,000Aus per annum servicing and repairing it - and that's only relatively minor things like brakes, air con, CV joints etc. Imagine if the transmission or a master cylinder goes! Perhaps I was just being ripped off by the Audi service dealer?

General Comments:

Vehicle itself is a joy to look at and drive. Non turbo 1.8 relatively lively (quicker than equivalent year BMW 318i) but still doesn't live up to its sporty shape. Excellent interior and apparent build. But boy do those servicing and repair costs quickly add up! How does $2,000Aus for a major service at 90,000km grab you! I have friends with top of the range Mercedes Benz and BMW models (of similar age) who have found their cars far cheaper to run and maintain. My previous BMW cost far less to service and maintain.

Faults:

In the beginning (60.000Km) I did a large maintenance at a VAG garage to check if the car is in good shape. But the employee from the garage wrecked my ignition coil instead, and said it was already like this. Afterwords he gave a remark about my almost dead battery, how nice?!?

At approx. 80.000Km I had to change the whole set of brake dishes and shoes (at another VAG garage) because they were worn out, also they replaced one ABS sensor. Costs 450€,-

At 100.000Km I had some annoying rattling in front of the car. Nobody could figure out what it could be! First I thought it were the front shock absorbers, took it too the last VAG garage (good one) and they installed a new front suspension set. Costs 750€,- including replacing. (Working hour costs in Belgium are very high, but salary is relative low!!)

The last thing I had trouble with was the key socket starter. Due the worn out of the key socket, because of the transponder refusing to work many times, one day the key was stuck in the holder! And couldn't shut down the engine either!!! Quickly took it to the garage and they replaced it in a couple of hours for 100€,-.

Not any problems further.

General Comments:

I paid 10900€,- in 2000 and is probably still worth 6200€,- in 2003.

The Audi A4 96’ is, like you heard many times, a very nice looking car. And I can confirm again.

I really like the comfort of the seats, never had bag or leg problems when doing long trips, you can keep on cruising… Until you need to fuel up of course!

The 1600cc is not that fuel economical, but that's normal because the higher RPM’s it needs to do for higher speeds, especially in France where you can do 140Km/H or more if you like!

For the few problems I had with this car, the car is the most perfect one I have ever had, and probably will hurt my hart when I need to sell it someday.