Hi everyone. I had signed up originally before I bought the car, in the hopes that somebody would scare me enough about the potential headache I was buying. As luck would have it, my profile awaited activation by the moderators. And I just couldn't contain myself - I had to buy the thing.
I don't have any photos as yet - managed to drop my DSLR lens first onto the concrete of my driveway just as I was getting into the car to take the photos. Camera body is fine but the lens is toast - and all I had available was a 200-500mm telephoto and a fisheye available... so, no pics until Nikon comes through. On second thought, I'll snap some with my phone when I get the car back from the valet this afternoon.
So, here's details: It's a silver 2003, around 100k miles, all service records. The suspension (and the acronym I just can't remember) was fully replaced around 70k miles. Water pump/etc done around the same time. Car was serviced with a local dealer for its whole term of ownership. Something that slightly troubles me is that I have no reference to the timing belt being done throughout the life of the car.
Torque converter is original - and, stupidly I passed on a pre-purchase inspection (the deal was just too good to walk from) - and I think I might have a Quattro or torque converter problem of some sort. The car runs great - after a good hard romp there's a slight whiff of coolant so something is leaking, but it runs just a teeny bit to the H side of dead center. Oil temps run around 180-190c.
Everything works - aside from plastic flaking off the interior console, and the original CD changer not working as expected - everything functions properly as expected.
To elaborate re: my quattro issue - I noticed a rather odd vibration which, up until this morning I thought only occurs under full power in 3rd or 4th gear while accelerating through 80-90-100-110. (All testing occurred in Tijuana). There was an odd thing that I thought was a tire out of balance - just a strange vibration. Didn't sense any slippage - power was definitely as it should have been. The car keeps pulling harder and harder the faster you go....
This vibration occurred again this morning - when I had the wheel cranked full left for a u-turn, and applied a fairly liberal amount of gas. As soon as I straightened out the vibration was gone - but it sort of has me thinking - perhaps its not transferring power properly between the wheels?
Records do state that the CV boots in front have been replaced recently (about 10,000 miles ago) and some assorted other suspension parts. The joints themselves have not been replaced - and I remember that CVs can sometimes act up in ways that mimic what I'm feeling.
I've put less than 300 miles on the car (slightly over half a tank of gas), so I don't really 'know' it yet... dash computer tells me I'm averaging 18.8 mpg, which, if that's the reality of it, surprises the heck out of me - especially knowing how I drive. I was able to caress a consistent 20 mpg out of my outgoing/sold 2000 BMW M5. If I can manage 18 with this car, I'll be super happy.
Next up: Establish a $5k emergency fund for the car before the warranty runs out!
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, i have also bought a silver one 2004 with almost 70k miles, i need to go and pick it up these days, i will also make a proper presentation 
Originally Posted by PixieVC
