Early Audi A4 buying advice please.

Personally I would avoid the 1.8 and try to get the 1.9 TDI. I have had a few of the 1.9 versions and have been very happy. I am very fond of the Audi brand and the 1.9 in itself. Excellent economy, pokey and just generally a good engine.

The 1.8 in the turbo form at least suffers very badly with oil pressure issues. Small deposits of gunk get into the end of the pick up pipe and block the strainer and as a result cause a drop in oil pressure. Usually it's just a case of dropping the sump off and cleaning out the pick up pipe, however in the A4 it means either the engine has to be lifted out, or the subframe has to be dropped down, the way the sump is in the A4 it can not be removed because of the subframe. You can get at it from the front but it means rad and air con all has to come out along with the smal panel and everything else. If that is a problem with the non-turbo I don't know, but for that fact alone and having had to deal with it I would go for the 1.9TDI every time.

Also check the dash pods. Audi of that era are prone to having dead pixels in the DIS. They also suffer gauge faults with almost anything. I warned a good friend to check this when he bought his A3. He didn't notice the huge giveaway that the Rev counter wasn't working and once I had picked him up off the floor he told me the repair bill was over £300 although that was a few years ago.

Due to them suffering with dash faults people like to replace the clocks with clocks from another vehicle, when they do this they tend to buy lower mileage clocks so do check the mileage as a lot of the once I've checked in the past have got discrepancies with the mileage.