Any pre 2011 Audi Owners?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Cole

At least where I'm from, if someone else is listed as the primary driver of a car that you're driving the most, that's what is called insurance fraud.

Typically, when you're on your parent's insurance, you're not driving full time.

Yep!


Second Driver Insurance: Important to consider

Second driver insurance should be chosen only if the person is truly a secondary driver and drives the car only occasionally. Remember that insurance company can always investigate the case and deny the claim coverage if they find out the fraud (e.g. that the secondary driver is actually a primary driver or that a car was used for business although it was only claimed to be used for pleasure).
Secondary driver insurance is not a way to get a cheaper insurance policy for a younger driver. Insurance companies look both at the primary driver and at the number of cars in the household. In addition to that they also look at the number of drivers in the household. In general, it is not permitted to have one primary driver on two cars in the household, if there is another driver in the household. In some cases insurers can allow it, but will require a signed endorsement filed by a parent stating that another driver will not drive the vehicle.

https://insureye.com/what-is-second-driver-insurance/

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Yep!


Second Driver Insurance: Important to consider

Second driver insurance should be chosen only if the person is truly a secondary driver and drives the car only occasionally. Remember that insurance company can always investigate the case and deny the claim coverage if they find out the fraud (e.g. that the secondary driver is actually a primary driver or that a car was used for business although it was only claimed to be used for pleasure).
Secondary driver insurance is not a way to get a cheaper insurance policy for a younger driver. Insurance companies look both at the primary driver and at the number of cars in the household. In addition to that they also look at the number of drivers in the household. In general, it is not permitted to have one primary driver on two cars in the household, if there is another driver in the household. In some cases insurers can allow it, but will require a signed endorsement filed by a parent stating that another driver will not drive the vehicle.

https://insureye.com/what-is-second-driver-insurance/

In California in the US. All drivers in a household are covered under a single policy for all cars on the policy.

My wife and I have separate policies and we have to specifically have driver exclusions that are signed by each of us, stating that we are not covered under the policy.

There are no secondary drivers, just members of the household of driving age.

Jaden

Luckily both our children are too young to drive still, otherwise our insurance premiums would be much higher.

[krayzie]

Originally Posted by MRCA1ST

the maintenance of an older Audi

[funwheeldrive]

Originally Posted by krayzie

That's some Stephen King level horror right there.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Jaden

Secondly, You can be on your parents insurance if you live with them or are in college until you're 25, so who says he's committing insurance fraud?...

It may vary by state, but I don't think there is a limit of age for auto insurance, depending on the owner of the car. For example if I own a car but my 28 year-old son drives it, I can insure it, and list him as primary driver.

That said, everyone on here is correct on the "insurance fraud" part of listing someone as a secondary driver just to lower the rate on the car. If the insurance company can determine you are the primary driver of the car they can deny claims.

In fact some companies will not allow you to list someone as secondary driver unless they also have a car where they are listed as primary.

As the father of 3 sons, I've walked this tightrope for over a decade. The insurance costs for my FRS and MomHawk's Mustang is cut in half by having a car where our child was listed as primary driver. Not having a third car but listing them as secondary would have had almost no impact on the insurance costs.

As far as financing, well you can do whatever you want, but @Cole is right. Financing a $4000 car means you likely can't afford to support a $4000 car which will need care and feeding. But, admittedly I'm biased because I wouldn't finance any car so YMMV.

[Rampage]

I owned an V6 A4 Quattro. If you buy an Audi then make sure that all the maintenance is up to date. Most the engines are interference engines and they also use timing belts rather than chains which means that it is very important to replace the belt at regular intervals. For the A4 that was 60,000 miles and the job was very expensive because the whole front of the car had to removed to get to the timing belt cover. By that I mean, front bumper, grill, radiator etc.

Audi also has a relatively fragile front suspension system which is all aluminum. I had an a-arm and a bearing that needed replaced at the same time as the timing belt. Once the oil change, cooling system fluid replacement and the other repairs were done the end result was a tab in the area of 2 grand.

Audi and VW also share the problem of the perpetual Check engine light. Fix one problem to get it out and another one crops up in a week or two. They are nice cars but like many if not most German engineered cars, they can get expensive to own once they are out of warranty. It is like the cars should be sold with an expiration date.

[Luftwaffel]

The cam follower thing @krayzie posted is real. My Golf R eats through cam followers for breakfast. I've had to replace them on the order of 20,000 miles untuned and 15,000 after tune.

It's a real pain in the ass, too. You have to bleed the fuel pressure, unhook the lines to the fuel pump, bleed the remaining fuel from the pump, then pull the pump just to examine it.

VW/Audis aren't quite as unreliable as everyone says they are, but they're a little expensive to fix sometimes, depending on how common the parts are and where they're coming from. In more recent days it's been a lot easier to find equivalent replacement parts that don't have to come from Germany and work just as well.

If you're dead set on it, I recommend trying to find someone on Audizine or the Vortex that can help you with a VCDS scan to see if there are any underlying problems that don't necessarily pop up on OBD-II. It's much more comprehensive and will show you failed electronics.

Hope this helps.

[krayzie]

Originally Posted by Luftwaffel

My Golf R eats through cam followers for breakfast. I've had to replace them on the order of 20,000 miles untuned and 15,000 after tune.

By the time they started to phase out the EA113 2.0T the dealer told me the engine has had its warranty coverage extended to 7 years / 191,000km due to a lawsuit for this flat tappet cam follower issue. I think EA888 is shit too but I digress.

Also good advice on getting VAGCOM/VCDS. Best $300 bucks I've ever spent for my Golf GTI.

I forgot to mention that I always kept a bottle of oil in the trunk parcel shelf for top ups.

[Luftwaffel]

Originally Posted by krayzie

By the time they started to phase out the EA113 2.0T the dealer told me the engine has had its warranty coverage extended to 7 years / 191,000km due to a lawsuit for this flat tappet cam follower issue. I think EA888 is shit too but I digress.

Also good advice on getting VAGCOM/VCDS. Best $300 bucks I've ever spent for my Golf GTI.

I forgot to mention that I always kept a bottle of oil in the trunk parcel shelf for top ups.

Yeah I would have been surprised if that didn't happen, truthfully. The motor frustrates me but I still can't call it a bad motor. Also, fucking coil packs. I never did have an issue with oil, so that sounds like a case by case thing.

I really do love VCDS, you can do so much with it. I think the only thing that might be more versatile is BMW's system. I'm actually a bit pissed off right now... I have an RS3 on order and just found out today that I need a new cable because the HEX-CAN ones are no good past 2017. Of course.

[redfred]

Before my BRZ I had an 2006 A4 2.0T At the 120,000 mile mark it started to nickel & dime me. PCV, fuel line, HPFP cam follower, and other common problems all over the forums. At the 154,000 mark, the engine lost oil pressure on my commute. I sold the car to a guy who's dad was a tv repair man and could fix it.

Likes were the interior, 6-speed gearbox and it was fun to drive. Dislikes, like other German cars I've owned, is durability. They just don't last like Japan cars. They also don't handle as good as the hype either.

If you have to have one, buy one with low miles and learn to do maintenance. Best of luck.

Kevin

[fitcious]

Hmm... $3,999....let’s say from experience, anything under $7k for a used car USUALLY (not all the time) but USUALLY requires you to fork out close to double what you pay for on maintenance items (I.e. brakes, tires, oil change, tranny oil)....a used car that cheap is never that cheap.. just a thought.

[Luftwaffel]

Double the price for universal maintenance items? I'm confused what you're trying to say here. Maintenance should still be happening on a pretty standard schedule, just more random shit is likely to break because everything is older.

When I was a kid, I had the shittiest 15 year old $600 Ford Explorer that somehow found its way to Nevada all the way from Canada. It must have been run through the saltiest roads on Earth and was rusted like you wouldn't believe. It was mechanically sound though. I changed the ATF, brake pads, cleaned the air filter, and just followed a proper maintenance routine on it and everything was perfectly fine for two years. Well, except for having to math the KPH to MPH in my head.

Just get it looked at properly before you buy, that's the main takeaway from all this.