Happy new year to me :(

My dad backed into my Audi last night :(

You can't tell but it is probably a good couple inches pushed in, its basically hooped. At this point, I'm done. Since I bought the car, it needed a new clutch slave right away ($700 as I didn't have the time to do it myself!), new ignition coils and plugs ($650, audi aftermarket parts ain't cheap!), I've gotten two flat tires, and the passenger rear shock absorber went from fine to banging (not clunking, BANGING, so I think it seized) in a couple days.

So I'm throwing in the towel. The car is getting sold for whatever I can get for it as its not worth the $1500+ it'll cost to fix the door on top of everything else I've done (and the pearl white will never match on the door).

As a bonus, things are looking up...

My buddy owns this beauty, a rhd 1993 wrx wagon. I helped him buy it... probably 4 years ago. He's bagged on it pretty good, but also maintained it well and we've done a lot of work to it. Larger td05 off of the STi versus the teenie td04 on the wagons, new injectors + tune, big 3" turboback exhaust, newer sti seats, etc etc. Its in amazing shape. Only problem is that it finally toasted a ring land (after 60,000+ kms of 5000+rpm launch control full boost clutch dump, spinning tire awd launches and many pulls to 4th gear redline). Not as big of a problem as it seems, as the ej20g motor is a dime a dozen around here. I have a line on a couple for ~$600-$800. So swap motor in a day and I am back rolling! Hopefully it pans out, the Audi has been a nightmare (an oh-so-good nightmare, but a nightmare nonetheless.)

I'm not in Canada and I'm broke but what the berkeley-info on Audi?

That sucks- sorry man!

And I agree- deets are in order on the Audi, despite being broke and to far away too.

I live not too far from you at all (visit a few times a summer to run at Westerner), and I'm curious about the Audi. Definitely want details on it.

I have a grab bag of Impreza parts too (unfortunately no spare motors), so maybe we might be able to help each other out.

HiTempguy wrote: My dad backed into my Audi last night :(

And now it's an innie. Thank you and remember to tip your waitresses, they have to listen to my act everyday.

Somebody tell me again how German car maintenance and repairs are just like other cars.

I'll bet that eventually most Audi experiences end in a similar way.

amg_rx7 wrote: Somebody tell me again how German car maintenance and repairs are just like other cars.

VAG stuff is a class onto itself.. it's what drags all the Europeans down as it the euro car most people have experience with

It's an old Audi, it can't possibly be that bad.

Said no car guy ever.

Geeez, I tell you, these Audi stories really scare me. Please raise your hand if any one here has ever had a completely reliable and painless Audi? Do they even exist?

Nope. Dad's 98 A4 has been off the road for one thing or another for nearly the entire time he's had it.

My dad smashed my 350Z with his harley davidson and a ton of garbage in my garage when I was in basic training, he fixed it though

If my dad didn't pay to fix my car after crashing into it I would do an insurance claim against him because that is a total dick move. If it doesn't pay to fix the car he should "donate" money to you on your next one.

Also I would be afraid of abused WRXs. They hold up when when not abused. When you abuse them (5000rpm launch sounds like he does that all the time) the drivetrain will be a massive headache. I never launch my WRX that ridiculous ever, even if I autocross it. A regular "launch" out of boost would still be faster than RWD cars.

I'm amused that the answer to a problematic 20yo Audi is a beat on rhd 20yo Subaru(needing an engine). Only on grm.

In reply to moparman76_69: Yes, my Audi experiences have been pretty good. Two brand new A4's that both had more than 120k on them when I traded in on something else. Our old 5000 was fun but it did have an intermittent cooling fan, but overall was good for 30k of cheap driving with no major repairs. And finally my A6 2.7T purchased on Ebay with 89,000 miles provided me with 100k miles of reliable driving after putting in the required $3,500 of maintenance at 100k. I sold it at 187,000 miles as I did not want to do the $3,500 maintenance again even though the body and interior were excellent for the mileage. It did have a coil pack issue at 160k but it still drove me to the shop. My brother's A4 has 260,000+ miles on it and is on the 2nd clutch. Overall they are excellent cars but do have expensive required maintenance to keep them reliable. Most people's experience is with used examples that have not been maintained properly so the 2-3rd owner is stuck with all the problems.

amg_rx7 wrote: Somebody tell me again how German car maintenance and repairs are just like other cars.

If i remember right, this thing has quite a few miles on it. None of the repairs or incidents listed are specific to German cars by any strange stretch of the imagination.

The prices on the other hand, sound berkeleying awful.

Feedyurhed wrote: Geeez, I tell you, these Audi stories really scare me. Please raise your hand if any one here has ever had a completely reliable and painless Audi? Do they even exist?

My 1991 90 Quattro 20v was painless. But it was also maintained properly by the PO.

chandlerGTi wrote: I'm amused that the answer to a problematic 20yo Audi is a beat on rhd 20yo Subaru(needing an engine). Only on grm.

Ha! I thought the same thing. Isn't that the proverbial out of the frying pan into the fire thing?

I would take the Audi over the subi that the OP described. Thst subi sounds like it has been hammered on. Better count on replacement of most of the entire driveline. Also when budjeting costs on a new car you don't count previous expensis. The proper way to do it is starting at zero for both cars now and adding up what it will cost you to end up with a good running car. In this case you have to include the cost of the subi less the sale price of the audi.

If the OP must go subi I would look for a low millage unmodified one that has not been beat on and mod it as time and money allow. Trust me on this.

After the huge amount of "my subaru blew up" threads on GRM in the last couple years, that car gets a huge HELLLLL NO from me.

At least, if i had to rely on it as a daily driver. I think it looks awesome, so i like it.

Subarus are certainly easy to work on, but the parts aren't all that cheap, and one that has been abused with a blown engine doesn't really seem like a step up from an audi with a dent in the door lol

Swank Force One wrote: After the huge amount of "my subaru blew up" threads on GRM in the last couple years, that car gets a huge HELLLLL NO from me. At least, if i had to rely on it as a daily driver. I think it looks awesome, so i like it.

The problem with used Subies (WRXs/STis) is that they typically have been hugely modified, and poorly done at that I might add, then had the hell beat out of them. So when the next owner tries to beat on them and they blow up, suddenly they are all pieces of junk. I was at an autocross this past summer. One of the participants in an STi would floor it at the line so the engine would be bumping off the rev limiter, drop the clutch and run the whole course in first gear with the engine screaming. It would literally make me cringe at the sound of it. The point is, Subies seem to be prone to getting the snot beat out of them more so than just about any other car.

I have had five Subarus, all purchased new and all have been completely reliable and complaint free. More so than any other brand of cars I have owned. I am waiting to get the 2015 WRX/STi in the spring when they finally make it over here.

But yes, stay away from that Subaru mentioned in the original post. Bad choice.

I think you're just being dramatic with your $1500 number. If you want out of the car, that's cool, but you dont have to embellish your justifications. We would have been just fine without the 'i pay too much for simple things and flat tires and bad shocks make me hate my car but motor swaps are no problem' story.

The Subaru looks cool.

chandlerGTi wrote: I'm amused that the answer to a problematic 20yo Audi is a beat on rhd 20yo Subaru(needing an engine). Only on grm.

This was precisely my thought.

In reply to Feedyurhed:

I've got 2 of them - an A3 & A4 Avant. The A4 had a steering rack leak @ ~10K and the A3 needed a master cylinder @ 30K. Both under warranty no problem. No complaints here.

Vigo wrote: I think you're just being dramatic with your $1500 number. If you want out of the car, that's cool, but you dont have to embellish your justifications. We would have been just fine without the 'i pay too much for simple things and flat tires and bad shocks make me hate my car but motor swaps are no problem' story.

the Suby scares me more than the Audi. Aside from the door, it does not seem like the Audi needs all that much at the moment. You did all the expensive bits. And While pearl white is hard to match, as you will be doing an entire panel (the door) it will not be that noticeable