A4 TDI - 100, 115 or 130 - Which to buy

[AliasOmega]

Seriously on the look out for a A4 Advant due to increase in family.

Budget is at a push about £8.000 for a car which leaves us without having to borrow cash. For this, we are not bothered about high mileage models, as the cash we save can pay to have it fixed if things get terminal.

An example, is a 2004 50,000model is £10-11,000, but a 120,000miles model is £7995. The difference will pay for the engine to be rebuilt.

As we are on a budget, it seams that a handful of 100 & 115 models are available, but not many 130 models.

At the moment, i drive a 180bhp petrol car, and an increase in MPG, would be beneficial to the family single income, with the commute to work of 37miles each way.

I ask..

What is the difference between the 100, 115 & the 130. What would you go for, and why.? And why not the other.

2.5 V6 TDI, 130 (6), and 130 (6) quattro are well over budget, as the £8000 is made up with a p/x of about £5500 plus cash.

Regards,

Alias

 

[samuelt]

The 115bhp is the older B5 model <2000 not the B6 (2001- early 2005) these come with either 100 or 130 bhp. The B6 has a euro encap rating of 4 the B5 was not tested but would be lower.

I have a 130 (5 speed/2wd) and it goes really well, though not as fast outright as as a 180bhp car the mid-range on the TDI's is really good. You may find the 100 a bit slow as there is a big difference in mid-range performance.

You should be able to pick up a nice 5 speed 100 or 130 with slightly higher millage for your budget. Just out of intrest how many kids do you have? when i have my 1 year old daughter and her 2 cousins (4 and 6) in the back, it is very tight due to the transmission tunnel. Audi did not make different floor plans for the 2 and 4wd models.

In my view an A4 is not the best car if you have 3 children. (waiting to be burned)

 

[andyccr]

Late model Mondeos / Octavias maybe a better buy for that sort of money. Of course the kudos of the four rings is attractive. But value for money the Mondy (shape just finished) or Octavias or maybe even Passats (as the shape has just changed) might be better buys.
It might not be what you want to hear but :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2006-FORD-MON...oryZ9844QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
55 plate Mondeo 2.0TDCi £8000 with 48k on clock

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2004-54-Monde...oryZ9844QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
54 Mondeo Ghia X 2.0TDCi 130 £7495 with 66k on clock

As you say, high milers A4 avants are still pricey for well over double the mileage of say a similar Mondy estate.

There's nothing wrong with high mileage cars, I wouldn't have a problem with a car with 150k on the clock at all, as long as its got a full proven history.

Andy

 

[AliasOmega]

Ah right, i did not know that they only made 110 & 130 models.

The cars we were looking at were..

2003 A4 Advant (Power Output not stated)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190162697490&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching

Price a little high, but you never know

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120201135783&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=002

Just an example really,

As to the Mondeo etc, dont like them.

Only cars on the list are - Audi A4, new or old shape Golf (5dr), New Shape Passat Est at a push.

Dont like the rest, if i can get anything ill prob just pick up a 5dr new shape clio instead and run with limited space for a year or two.

We have 2 kids, aged 4 and 11eeks..

 

[Macduff]

There was a 115bhp B6 but only in 2004. It replaced the 100bhp 1.9 until the B7 came along. I think it became a Euro4 compliant engine when they did that. They're probably out of your price range unless very high mileage.

As has been said, better to look at the 130 instead of the 100

No problems with 2 kids in the back of ours. We have a 3 year old and a 6 month old

 

[andyccr]

I can't see that if you have a 'old' (presume Mk4) Golf on your list why you can't consider the 'old' Passat - you'd get the engine output choice with loads of spec.

Can't see why you would want to waste a load of money on a new Clio though if you can't find the A4 you want, second hand Focus a MUCH MUCH better car

 

[Issac Hunt]

Buying a Clio if you cant find a decent A4 is a strange purchasing decisison IMO

Lots of goood value TDI130's out there, I wouldnt consider the other lower powered version unless they were very cheap.

 

[AliasOmega]

I can't see that if you have a 'old' (presume Mk4) Golf on your list why you can't consider the 'old' Passat - you'd get the engine output choice with loads of spec.

Can't see why you would want to waste a load of money on a new Clio though if you can't find the A4 you want, second hand Focus a MUCH MUCH better car

Dont like the old shape passat or the passat estate, driven the new one with work, and did not like the electronic handbrake option on that model, so if i got one of these, that would be a define no-no.

Dont like the Focus, well dont like fords, as too the clio, well stick with what you know. For the £8k could pick up a 57 plate clio, which in 3 years is worth no more than £4,000 but with the limited space and being a 'girls' car the wife would probably take it under her arm and ill be done with an old diesel 106 or something.

Buying a Clio if you cant find a decent A4 is a strange purchasing decisison IMO

Lots of goood value TDI130's out there, I wouldnt consider the other lower powered version unless they were very cheap.

Looked around, loads of 130's but over the £8k price mark that we have. The plan is to use the car we have as p/x, then what spare cash we have available, thats about £3600 in cash so far which gives up about £5000 - £5500 for the clio, then £3600 on top of that.

In an ideal situation we would put in the clio plus £2k for a car, and be happy with the high mileage.

We've had a look around auto trader and a few websites, we have a few cars which have caught our eye, one is a 54 plate Golf GT TDI for just under £8k with over 75,000miles, which has the spec, and in 2 years will still be worth something as the car wont do many miles.

Though we have till the weekend, and a new auto trader comes out on thursday, I just keep looking.

Thanks for the replies,

Regards,

Alias

 

[AndyMac]

People still actually buy a paper copy of autotrader?

 

[istoo]

have to agree with the first reply. i have two kids with a third on the way. i also have a C5 a6 avant and a B6 a4 avant. The a4 will be a really tight squeeze to get 3 kids in. Personally I would shift your attention to an A6 130 or 115bhp 6 speeder and get it remapped. The SE seats on the A6 i find dont really hold you, a sport would be ideal, but the SE does handle and ride really well tbh.

you will be looking at about an 5-6 year old one for that sort of dough.

 

[Amchlolor]

A friend of mine faced the same problem.
Wanted a 130, couldn't get one.
So he just bought a 115 and chipped it.
Problem solved.
FWIW, my A4 was a 130 sport.
It was nowhere near as hard as my A3 S-line.

 

[andyccr]

Is the 115 the PD engine though ? If it is then it will 'chip' / map very well

 

[Buck]

I have a 130 Quattro Sport Avant which IMHO is slightly underpowered due to the extra weight (still goes plenty fast enough but there is a noticable differnece compared to the 2WD version)

For my money I would go for the 2WD 130BHP - plenty of ex lease varieties out there - keep looking for a good spec and history - they're out there.


CM

 

[AndyMac]

If you can't find a 130 then you're just not looking hard enough, there's 75 of them on autotrader at the moment between £5k-£8k (03 upwards).

 

[SimonP]

We have a B6 130 Sport (2wd 6sp) as the family car and we've been pretty happy with it, I wouldn't want to go for the 100bhp version though - although the 130 pulls very well and is surprisingly quick, I drive a 225bhp petrol car and the difference is very marked!

It returns great economy and has good grip and handling. It also has great turning circle etc which is important for negotiating a cramped city.

Seats etc are great, it's an excellent long distance cruiser. It is on the small side however, 1 kiddy seat and 2 adults in the back is a real short journey only squeeze for example. We use a roof box for family holidays as the boot is definitely in the lifestyle bracket.

Our only complaint is the difficulty getting it going: first is so low geared that quick getaways out of side turnings on to a main road are difficult to achieve without neck snapping gear changes - but that's more a complaint about the black stuff it uses for fuel and both wife and I are probably confirmed petrol heads. In retrospect the 2.0FSI petrol version may have been a better choice for us as it's very frugal and has a longer rev range - being able to go from Bath to Aberdeen on one tank of fuel is good in the diesel but now we have a family the longer journeys occur less often.

When we were selecting the car the only car we liked more was the new shape Octavia, it was a better drive (the 2.0 FSI diesel) and the seats were fantastic and it's very roomy with a simply huge boot. We were put off by the depreciation as it was only just out at the time, but that could be your win here buying used, and we were put off by the attitude of the local dealer - if he couldn't be bothered to sell us a brand new car, would he be bothered to fix it if it went wrong. I think it's well worth a look you might be surprised just how good a car it is.

Agree on the mondeo front, it's totally outclassed by both the A4 and Octavia, drive and performance wise it's just stodgy. The other option at the time for us was a mazda 6, but the seats were so crap I couldn't finish the test drive.

Like the others on this thread I can't get my head round the choice between the A4 or a Clio...

Good luck in your search.

 

[AliasOmega]

Thanks for the replies,

Still looking, plan to go see the Golf GT TDI 140bhp thing on fri / sat.

Seen a 54 plate one for £7500, which would suit us, just would like a bigger boot.

After newer as possible.

 

[Slinger]

Not sure what part of the country your from but up here in the North West every Avant we looked at was a 130 tdi. In fact there was that many I ended up buying one on the very first day we looked as I found one with a fantastic spec and a complete service history which was just what I was after. It was rather fortunate to be the very colour my wife wanted too

 

[AliasOmega]

Hi all, im from the humberside area, no sign of any local to myself, just a few near sheffield, leeds etc.

i am from the north west myself, just never over there to swap the car.

at the moment, as i run 130 TDI in auto trader, for under &#163;9000, only 10 cars appear, which all but one are on a 03 plate.

an A4 advant would be nice, but in reality im probably better of going with the 05 / 55 golf for the same cash.

regards,

alias

 

[Slinger]

Is waiting a while whilst saving some more cash not an option? When the new A4's hit the market I'm sure there will be a significant price drop in the B6 version's.

 

[AliasOmega]

when does the new A4 come out then,

i can manage at the moment with the clio, just not knowing when the car is going is causing hassle, its about 7-8,000miles off a cambelt change, which is about £600 i think (72,000miles), only recently put some cheap tyres on it to p/x it, not alot of confidence in these.

If i were too keep the clio for another 6 months or so, or even till may 1st (car insurance up then) then i would be closer to new tyres again as these are poop, also does not help the commuting costs with the 2.0ltr petrol engine.

Whilst the daily commute of 80miles per day is great fun, the fact does not change that when the wife passes her driving test, she wont be able to get insured on it, and thats its no good for a family car.

Its one of these -

 

[18 stoner]

Hi all, im from the humberside area, no sign of any local to myself, just a few near sheffield, leeds etc.

i am from the north west myself, just never over there to swap the car.

at the moment, as i run 130 TDI in auto trader, for under £9000, only 10 cars appear, which all but one are on a 03 plate.

an A4 advant would be nice, but in reality im probably better of going with the 05 / 55 golf for the same cash.

regards,

alias

I know of a black one 03/53 on a forecourt near beverley for £7k.

PM me if you want to know more....

 

[18 stoner]

Sorry, i was talking of an avant a4 to save any confusion...

 

[AliasOmega]

yea sure, just over the water.

let me know..

 

[18 stoner]

yea sure, just over the water.

let me know..

Ive sent you a PM with the details

 

[tdineil]

hi there, been reading this thread and just thought i would mention that my car is for sale, on here and on auto trader, im looking for 6950 it. need a quick sale so im open to sensible offers. it silver 128,000 miles and in sheffield. see for details =

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/AUDI+A4/Ne-2-4-5-6-7-8-27-44-49-53-61-64-67-103-133-146,N-21-85-4294966653-4294966997/advert.action?R=200807303742205&distance=2&postcode=S8+8SY&channel=CARS&make=AUDI&model=A4&min_pr=6000&max_pr=7000&max_mileage=

please email me at neilfrewerdesign@hotmail.com.

thanks:icon_thumright:

 

[tdineil]

cr@p, should have read the opening post! doh, i see you are after an avant, oh well. but the saloon has a very big boot!

neil