Am I mad? (Audi purchase)

sports_brah

sports_brah

sports_brah

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I've had my license a year now and I'm in my early-mid twenties and have a normal car which I use.

I've been given the possibility of buying a Audi A6 (1998) 1.8t.

At least it's not a hire purchase scheme right?!

I know very little about them, except that they are meant to be comfortable (a big plus), can carry stuff and do average mpg (30 seems to be the average, which whilst pretty poor in the grand scheme of things, is comparable to my current car).

This particular one has done 180,000 miles (ouch!), but the owner has owned it since new and has changed the oil every 6000 miles.

It's in great condition, good tires, a years NCT (MOT). Tax is expensive at 600+ a year. (Euros).

The car is for a peppercorn price of sub 600 euros.


What could go wrong?! Is this car unreliable (owner says he's never had any faults, and is an honest guy), or is it likely to throw up massive bills in the near future? Truth be told, if I could get a year out of it, I'm happy. :)

Insurance is a bit of a bugger, but hopefully can sort that out.


Basically this gives me a chance to have a reasonable car without having to go to finance options and just use existing cash.


Walk or buy?
 
The notion of paying over 600eur per annum to tax an old thing like that is one that i cannot relate to at all. I dont think i'd take that car in your country even if it were free :p
 
Mr. May said:
Buy at that price and run it into the ground
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rodenal said:
For 500 quid I'd take a punt.

Drive it, wait for it to die, bin it
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These are my thoughts, I just wondered if there are any obvious pitfalls that might be heading its way?!


Jez said:
The notion of paying over 600eur per annum to tax an old thing like that is one that i cannot relate to at all. I dont think i'd take that car in your country even if it were free :p
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That's life unfortunately! It's done by engine size up to 08 reg.
 
The multitronic boxes are known to be iffy. If it's a manual, get it and run it into the ground as has been said. If it's a multitronic, be wary as the reason he may be looking rid of it now for such a low price is because the box has started to throw up problems.
 
Possibly, or he's had his monies worth out of it at 180k since new, and has decided it's time to do it again.

For 600 Euro, I'd buy it.
 
£500 a year for a 16 year old car? lol. If it is in good enough nick though and you think it will last a year or two then £500 per year is a pittance really. And if tax is set by engine size then it's not like any other car will be cheaper anyway.
 
ElliottJames said:
Cars 16 years old, car isn't even new enough to have an 0X plate.
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Not that it'd have a UK plate anyway since he's clearly in a different country. Doesn't matter if it's 16 years old as long as it works. A3 of that era still looks pretty much the same as any other A3 anyway.
 
Assuming everything 1.8 and up will be hit with the same tax I just can't see any downfalls other than the fact I'll be slow.

If you're going to buy an old banger you will rarely, if ever get on that's had one owner you can interrogate the history on.

It could last 6 months and be worth buying. Let's assume its a car worth say 4k with a similar engine. You could buy it, run for 6 months and have the clutch go.....let's say at this point you just want rid, nobody will give you 500 quid less than market value meaning you'll instantly be down vs the a6 you're talking about
 
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