ADVICE please ...thinking about buying a Audi 90 quattro 20v as daily driver...

[Drazic]

Morning Gents,

It's been a long time since I've been on the forum and owned an audi (the 90 quattro which I sold to Karl and still miss and regularly admire the pictures of!)...but I'm back looking at audi's again, in this case the red Audi 90 Quattro 20v which Scott has for sale in your classified section and also on ebay.

As before this would be a daily driver, so was just wondering what one would be like to run and maintain. I'm not too bothered about fuel as I only do between 6 - 8,000 miles a year at very most, but am more concerned with availability of parts and maintenance costs, and reliability.

Be much obliged for your thoughts and expertise!

Thanks chaps

Doug

[David Small]

Go for it - thats a very nice car you've got your eye on - if its the one I'm thinking of user name Lotuscortina - it was in the concours at Audi Driver International in 2009 - I gave it a good going over and its a really good one

Partswise no different to any other Audi of the era - Audi are terrible but theres always plenty of folk here who can help and B3 parts are easier to come by and more plentiful than those of your old car.

Reliability is good and no different for the 20V than the 10 valve as far as I know although I've never had one. Both Coxy and Wildoliver on here have had and still do (respectively) use B3 20V as dailys - maybe have a word with them ?

[20vcqdriver]

Only downside of these engines as a daily driver is the need to exceed 4000rpm to reach the extra performance over the 10v and the mpg at present fuel prices....
Great cars though

[Drazic]

Many thanks chaps really appreciate your input. I was hoping for a positive response, as I get nothing but negative from everyone else, who drives modern tdi cars and can't understand why I want to drive something older even if it will cost me more in maintenance.

I assumed Audi would be crap on parts supply, but so long as they are not prohibitively crap and between them and the enthusiasts it can be kept on the road reliably that is all the convincing I need!

Anyone got any current experience of driving these or similar who isn't mechanic and do maintenance work themselves? I really need to learn to be a bit more handy myself, but not sure if a 20v quattro is a good place to start!

[Drazic]

PS Sorry just re-read your post Davallew and thanks, will drop coxy a line!

[20vcqdriver]

They are no harder to work on than the 10V. Just keep changing the oil using decent 10W40 synthetic and ensure non of the crankcase hoses have collapsed (I have a metal replacement if so). Also worth fitting the 034 EFi uprated injectors as the spray pattern out of the 4 small nozzles atomises better than the single original large one and so mpg goes up by 3+mpg when cruising

[Drazic]

Many thanks 20vcqdriver. If you don't mind me asking is your CQ (I love those 15 inch ronals by the way I had the same on my old 90) the uber low lileage one? I recall it being somewhere in the 40,000 ish region.

Last question couple of q's (Scot or Lotuscortina as Dave rightly point out) mentions that the speedo goes 'offline' is this the early signs of an electrical gremlin or likely to be something simple - as a daily I think having a working speedo is fairly paramount!!

[David Small]

Originally Posted by Drazic

Many thanks 20vcqdriver. If you don't mind me asking is your CQ (I love those 15 inch ronals by the way I had the same on my old 90) the uber low lileage one? I recall it being somewhere in the 40,000 ish region.

Last question couple of q's (Scot or Lotuscortina as Dave rightly point out) mentions that the speedo goes 'offline' is this the early signs of an electrical gremlin or likely to be something simple - as a daily I think having a working speedo is fairly paramount!!

Usually the speedo drive that goes in the gearbox - easy replacement - had one that was intermittant on an eearlierr B3

[b3robo]

I've had the issue with the speedo going out on my B3 Coupe Quattro for a year now, if you push the electrical check button under the fuel gauge it always springs back to life. Doesn't happen that often and doesn't bother me that much to want to rip out the cluster.

I'm no mechanic but own a 20v Coupe Quattro, to be honest some jobs can be a wee bit fiddly if you don't have a garage, I live in a flat with ample parking space but its no fun trying to repair a leaky sunroof in sub zero conditions, if I had my own garage it'd be great. Find a good VAG specialist to get it serviced at and you should be fine.

Scott's 90 sounds like a really lovely example, i'd get it bought as they're extremely rare and they look and sound bloody brilliant, if it was any colour other than red i'd probably have bought it by now :-)

There's a fellow by the name of Peter (aka Acidburn on here and over on s2forums) who has been brilliant for obtaining spare parts from, he's been a real life saver for me when various bits on my coupe haven't been up to scratch.

Hope this helps

[20vcqdriver]

Originally Posted by Drazic

Many thanks 20vcqdriver. If you don't mind me asking is your CQ (I love those 15 inch ronals by the way I had the same on my old 90) the uber low lileage one? I recall it being somewhere in the 40,000 ish region.

!

Er No! Mine had 65K on it when I bought it 20years ago, though its had a complete nut and bolt refurb since then as well as a few hidden upgrades