Huskerbob

Make sure the heater blows consistent hot air. You do not need to be fixing a plugged cooling system. Common on older Audi models. Drive it until the oil temp is up.

Check for that burning oil smell in the cabin that would indicate leaky seals. Easy fix if you are DIYer but expensive for the dealer to take care of. Make them fix it.

Test all of the doodads and operate all of them to see if they work properly.

Good luck. Sloopjb is spot on for the price. $1500 should just about do it. $2000 if you get to feeling froggy. Then jump.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

If it's the one in Patterson NJ for $8K i'd roll over and die laughing.
I stand by the 1500-2000 price. Walk if they want more.

NYCaudi007

On what planet do you guys live on where you can buy any clean low mileage car for $2000? You couldnt get a 98 camry with beat interior but mechanically straight for 2k. You can barely get a running parts bmw, mec, or audi for 2k?

Am I missing something? Is there something with the c5 A6 that makes it worth a third of book value?

If you think I am full of it go ahead and ebay search 500 miles of with a budget up to 4000 and less than 50k miles


Which of these 17 would you buy?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Cars-Trucks-...C000%2520miles

NYCaudi007

Or maybe this one with only 8 more years of age and 120k more miles....or should this guy be asking $150

NYCaudi007

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho....php?t=2863594

BeOhBe

I feel ya. I just paid 6k for an immaculate '04 A6 2.7t s-line with 135k. Sure, I paid too much, but it's exactly what I was looking for. Almost, anyway. I would have preferred a manual tranny and a black interior, but I got a tip in beige, which is nice too and as I said, it was very well taken care of.

I checked KBB on your car for my area, came up with $5200 (good condition). I don't know anyone that would even sell a c5 a6 with that mileage for less than 2k, regardless of year. That's trade-in value. Granted, yours is the first year of the c5's, and they made some improvements in later years, but still.

I understand SloopJohn's point, a 16 year old car is going to have issues, regardless of mileage. Rubber, sensors, and plastic deteriorates over time, and you're sure to run into issues for that alone. As immaculate as mine seemed, I'm running into issues with brittle vacuum hoses on my SAI system and a failing PCV system which seems to be the cause of a recent cam plug blow-out. Not to mention the replacement of all my front upper controls arms and new brake lines. The new brake lines were probably unnecessary, but considering it was throwing an emissions code when I took it to my mechanic, and he passed it for emissions anyway, I'm not upset in the least.

Bottom line is you're likely going to have issues regardless of mileage. Things that could be cheap to fix if you catch it early turn into very expensive fixes if you don't. I wish I had done more research before I bought mine. Do I have buyer's remorse for what I paid versus what I got? Not yet. I love my car. I paid right around KBB for what I got, and my only issues thus far are minor and easily fixed by anyone that knows how to turn a wrench.

That said, I wouldn't pay more than 4k for a 98 a6 2.8 with that mileage. Actually, you could certainly find more for less if you have the time to look around. Not with 30k mileage, no, but mileage tends to be less of an issue beyond ten years. Timing belt replacement is recommended at 75k OR 7 years. 7 years because rubber belts tend to dry rot with age, regardless of mileage. Spendy fix on an Audi if you pay someone to do it for you. Time consuming if you do it yourself. And wayyy more spendy if the belt actually snaps and does some gnarly damage.

Huskerbob

I just ran the vehicle on KBB and got $2300 for good condition. It's your money. Make sure you are sure before you write the check. Good luck.

94CSI

I work for a car dealership and trade in in good shape would be over 2k. If anyone thinks they are going to buy one (in good shape) for $1500 you are crazy. I will admit we get plenty of people that think cars are worth far less then market value and make offers...and we kick them out. Let's stop giving the op bad pricing advice. I checked manheim and 2 with nearly 200k on them have recently gone thru and both sold for $1600. Of course he should only pay what he is comfortable with but if ANYONE knows where 30k cars in good shape with maintenance records and a clean car fax go for $1500-2000 you need to open a dealership and start selling them to the rest of us. Close rant

NYCaudi007

Thanks all.....I was a little worried but it seems there are some similar minded people here and I appreciate the advice. I am in agreement that despite the low miles (which could be a sign of trouble)a 16yr old car is still going to have some issues.

KBB and Nada book both put it at 5200-5400 based on good to better condition and the car is immaculate since its been dealer detailed but the real question is the mechanics. Ill let everyone know how things work out.

BeOhBe

Did you switch from FWD to AWD when you got to powertrain options? It's set to FWD by default. And did you pick "from a dealer" or "from a private party" when it asks you that? I still come up with nearly 4k for the FWD from a dealer in good or better condition in the NYC zipcode. Do you live in Germany or something?

Here's what I get when I run a '98 A6 2.8l sedan with 30k in the 10011 zipcode:
http://www.kbb.com/audi/a6/1998-audi...icetype=retail

To the OP:
Whatever you do, don't fall in love with her on the lot.
At the very least, bring a generic OBD2 scanner, you can probably find one at Wal-Mart or equivalent for like $30. Could end up saving you a good bit of money, and if it's code free, you can always return the scanner when you're done using it.
If the dealer cleared a CEL, it will reset readiness codes. There are certain things you can do during your test drive that may help you pop a cleared CEL, giving you bargaining power when determining price. Especially since you live in a state that requires emissions inspections, and most CEL issues seem to be emissions related.


In the end, I completely agree with HuskerBob. It's your money, and the car is worth exactly what you're willing to pay for it. Best of luck!