1990 Audi 200 Quattro review from North America

I had to replace all the engine breather hoses, the airbox cap hose, and the intercooler to manifold hose.

One wheel is bent. I will have that straightened, since used wheels are too expensive.

Both front drive shafts have been serviced, with one needing a new CV joint, ($275 for just the CV joint).

The idle sensor switch was no good, which was cheap to replace, but very expensive to determine that that was the problem.

Transmission mounts needed replacement.

Hydraulic pump and the high-pressure hose needed to be replaced.

The Bose stereo was only marginally functional and was too costly to repair, so I replaced it, which means that the whole system needed to be replaced since the Bose stuff is not compatible with anything else.

Replaced the brake line flex hoses, since the originals were starting to go.

Replaced all the coolant hoses, the coolant reservoir, the heater valve, and the turbo coolant pump.

I have repaired the radiator connector.

The heater fan is going out, and I am going to replace that myself since the mechanic wants $600 for just the labor to do that job.

I replaced the glove box light that had been glued back in place after it broke.

I replaced the very noisy though functional fuel pump. By replacing the fuel pump one gets a new check valve which is necessary for quick starts. The car still doesn't start quickly, so the fuel injectors also need to be replaced.

At 155.000 miles. my transmission suddenly started to make a "scraping noise" and when the oil was drained, there was a lot of loose metal in it. I finally found a rebuilt transmission with a decent guarantee for $1650 + $125 shipping + $250 core charge. The labor to replace it is $600. At that point one doesn't stop there or one will be sure to have profound regrets. Another $525 gets the clutch. Another $700 gets the steering rack. Finally another $150 gets the clutch slave cylinder and the flex hose. All these parts are only accessed with the transmission out of the vehicle, and that's why one includes them at this point or takes a big chance. That's a total of $4000!

I love driving this car.

Economically it is a disaster.

Only buy one of these if you know that all the mechanics who have worked on it are Audi experts. My transmission probably failed because the oil had never been changed at 145,000 miles. The Audi owner's manual says that it is not necessary to change the manual transmission oil. The good Audi mechanics know that that is nonsense. My car had always been taken care of by competent mechanics, but because they were not Audi experts I got stuck with these horrendous bills.