What to drive daily?

[elaw]

There's a lot of good info here, but let me toss in my $0.02...

My DD is my AAN'ed 1990 80 quattro. In many respects I love it but there's one big issue: the "quality parts" thing.

I basically redid the whole car mechanically 3-1/2 years ago. Brakes and suspension in particular got almost all new components, an exception being the calipers which were rebuilt (by "professionals", not me). Since then I've had to replace all 4 calipers, the rear diff rear mount failed completely at < 1 year of age, and the strut mounts are now questionable. I've been lucky enough to score a few brand-new calipers as replacements but those are becoming rare or nonexistent. The diff mount I replaced with poly since I couldn't find a good rubber one - everything I could find is made-in-China junk. Other things like diff lock actuators are nonexistent new, and not always very rebuildable, even with a lot of creativity.

I will say that other than the above, I love the car and it's never even come close to leaving me stranded, unlike the 14-years-newer A4 my wife bought about a year ago. But knowing that when any given part fails I may have no choice but to replace it with one of much lower quality is not fun...

[dana]

so true! I'm having a lot of trouble tracking down good parts for my 90q. It is quite a lot different than it was 7 years ago when I built my last 90.

[lorge1989]

As far as the GTI comment goes, I have owned a MK2, MK4 and worked extensively on a MK5. I would probably never buy one not because of reliability, but rather its still FWD and similar to my TDI. I thought I was going to love it, but at this point I'd rather not drive something FWD. A big part of that is winter driving in Buffalo. AWD is SO much more enjoyable.


The point about long term reliabiliy and keeping car stock is so very true. The engineers designed these cars in a certain way so they would perform for a long time. I think we can all agree these older Audi's are overbuilit cars in general, especially by todays standards, but still. Keeping everything factory with good parts will keep your car running for a very very long time. To counter that, a clean 1.8T swap or a mild 07K, under 300 HP would be more fun than a stock V6, or even a stock 7A although I think I could suffer through the latter. I also believe that at 300 HP, with all maintenance in order I would not compromise drivetrain reliability. The biggest thing I would be worried about with dailying an older car like after all suspension, brakes etc are sorted, is the interior. Finding a clean interior is hard enough, but making sure it stays in good shape is also not easy, especially putting a good amount of miles on it. In my mind I would swap in a nice bluetooth headunit with some decent speakers. I think I have been spoiled by the OEM radio in the TDI, because that is one part of the car I love.

Still trying to find a clean one loca to me and if I do find such a vehicle I am certainly going to give it a shot.

[dalspaugh]

I think what kills me about DDing an older car is the fact that it is my ONLY drivable car. and this affects things in a few ways:

I'm afraid to tackle bigger jobs (because I have to go to work the next day...)
For example, my driveshaft is starting to make noises... and I had to pay a shop to do my rear wheel bearings that were screaming...
Things don't stand up well to the daily abuse - potholes, traffic, day in and out wear and tear... (dried out 90's plastic is a killer at times)
You have to be OK with hearing a new noise and rattle now and then and not knowing when you can tear into it and fix it
etc. etc...

That said, my 90 has never left me sit, but I've been through many summers now with no AC, a few weeks with no windows, a day here and there with no heat, no rear speakers for years, an antenna that totally blows, no driver heated seat for two years now, vents that blow disintegrating foam out at you, every week checking the oil level at fill ups... haha the list goes on and on... so you have to be ok with shit like that - day in and day out...

[elaw]

Heh... it sounds like you're describing my car!

I should have mentioned that my beloved 26-year-old Audi is not my *only* car... it's backed up by a 19-year-old Saab.

[lorge1989]

Good point. This would not be my only car. I have another 90 that is extensively modded, but could certainly handle the daily grind if need be. I also have a beater Ranger. The fact I have room for a few cars certainly help.

[dalspaugh]

Good point. This would not be my only car. I have another 90 that is extensively modded, but could certainly handle the daily grind if need be. I also have a beater Ranger. The fact I have room for a few cars certainly help.

Yes, multiple cars, I think this makes a DD older Audi much more palatable. Good luck!

[Grillage]

I daily drove the old audis for years before I got a new car as the daily when work required me to be 400 miles from home every other week.

For a 2 years it was my 93 90 Q, then the 95.5 URS but I always had a backup or two (the V8, the cabriolet, now the CQ). The cabriolet has been a backup since 2011 and I've even had two car seats in the back in the winter. That was miserable.

I can't imagine daily-ing one of the old cars without a backup

[vt10vt]

I think what kills me about DDing an older car is the fact that it is my ONLY drivable car. and this affects things in a few ways:

I'm afraid to tackle bigger jobs (because I have to go to work the next day..

And when you HAVE to tackle big jobs because you have no other way to work. Last winter the $500 5K of win had a few of those, conveniently all during the winter. Worst was I had to flare/splice/bleed brakes in 0* weather (with a serious windchill) to make it work the next day. I got some pretty decent frostbite from that job.

Also blew a HG doing pulls with my boss one morning when it was -20* out. At least it blew going the right direction and I was able to do that job in the shop. Then my former girlfriend (unrelated reaons ) smoked my clutch and it disintegrated a couple weeks when I lost the brakes (a second time) and had to engine brake home. Luckily it was a balmy 30* for that driveway job. All of these repairs were completed within 24hrs of happening so that I could get to work, so that's something to consider.


But how else do you get fun stories?
I'm serious, if anyone knows please tell me

[dana]

But how else do you get fun stories?
I'm serious, if anyone knows please tell me

let me know if you figure this out too please. One time I had to change a clutch in my 200q daily driver in the snow outside, the car was so drifted in (24" snow storm) that I tunneled under it and made a little igloo. It was pretty cozy, actually.

[dalspaugh]

But how else do you get fun stories?
I'm serious, if anyone knows please tell me

let me know if you figure this out too please. One time I had to change a clutch in my 200q daily driver in the snow outside, the car was so drifted in (24" snow storm) that I tunneled under it and made a little igloo. It was pretty cozy, actually.

Ha! only in Vermont...

On a side note, I bashed my exhaust on my driveway last night. the ice pushed the car into a deep rut that I normally drive around. So now my car is considerably louder... and it's going to have to stay that way...

[lorge1989]

Well I found one.



Drove down to Fairfax, Virginia to get it. About 400 miles for my place in Buffalo. More or less went on a whim and got very lucky.

At a glance (from the CL ad) the car was in good shape. But there were only two pictures and the owner was... interesting. It was a cheap enough so a friend and I hopped in the sportwagen, drove down and ghost plated it home. On the way back I hand calulated about 30MPG in the 90 and I'm pretty sure the interior is quieter than my JSW.

The car needs a few things, most obvious is a cleaning on the inside, plus the door panel leather is falling off even though its in really good shape.

[dalspaugh]

Wow, that looks like a really nice B4! Nice find!

[PRY4SNO]

Love me some good B4 action.

Do we get a build thread?

[lorge1989]

Thanks, like I said I was super fortunate to find this one.

And a build thread certainly is in order! My orginal motor swapping plan is sort of on the back burner just because I have so many maint. records for this one and it runs really well. For now I will be cleaing up the inside, repairing door cards and few random bits, some paint correction and whatever else it needs.

Like my other 90 this one also has these wierd scratches all over the paint. I'm hoping a good buff (after clay) will take care of that.

[Grillage]

Awesome!
I loved my pearl white B4 but it had paint scratching BADLY
http://forums.quattroworld.com/9080/msgs/26636.phtml

I miss that one

[WOMBAT]

I have found my silly/stupid/awesome Honda Element to be a loyal daily. Nothing to worry about. Decent stock stereo, super practical, 5spd, crappy 4wd but gets the job done.

[Grillage]

We had one of those once. I loved mine too but it's virtually impossible to put two rear facing car seats in the back of them the way the doors and back seats line up. We had to get somethings else

[Grillage]

I just reminded my wife about it and she said "those weren't suicide doors, they were homicide doors!"

[Mentosman42]

I drive the 20vt URQ ~8 months out of the year daily and the urS6 for the snowy salty months.



Poor s6 needs to be gone over, the winters are taking a toll.

[WOMBAT]

I just reminded my wife about it and she said "those weren't suicide doors, they were homicide doors!"

LOL! Definitely understand that hahha

[B. Rock]

There is definitely something to be said about stock and reliability. And also what 'daily driver' means to you...

For the past 3 years, I have had an 84 mile round trip freeway commute 5 days/week. And usually a 30 mile round trip up the canyon on the weekend for skiing or mountain biking.

This equates to roughly 22.5K miles per year which I initially started putting on my 90K Pearl urS4 (now 150K), but have since switched over to my 245K Silver urS4 (now 250K) to keep miles down on the minty Pearl car. The silver car is a high mileage 'beater' with some minor dents and rust, and I bought it to use as a test bed for parts I make in my spare time. Currently nothing more than a 17Z BBK*.



Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that both of these cars are stock*, not even chipped at the moment. Manufacturers leave power on the table so that reliability is maximized and warranty claims are minimized. I believe this era of Audi has a very large margin here (and hence why these cars can get modified to significantly high power levels, with minimal hardware changes) and results in a very, very reliable. car.

I bought the pearl car after it had been sitting for a year plus with a stripped spark plug thread in the head. Fixed it for $30 and proceeded to drive it 50K+ miles in 2 years with nothing more than routine maintenance and just two unscheduled replacement parts--a coolant reservoir and a fuel pump. That's it. I parked it because it needs a timing belt change (not sure it was ever done) and I wanted to keep it clean and low mileage.

I recently switched over to the Silver car after it had been sitting in my driveway for 1.5 years, and have put 5K+ trouble free miles on it. With 250K, I have no reservations about just driving the shit out of it. I really like not having to worry too much about it getting beat up, salty, more rusty, etc. I like that aspect a lot, actually.

And I love driving these things around, even in stock form. That may or may not be acceptable to some of the folks here, but I believe that is a big part of why I have had great reliability.

Project and modified cars *can* be reliable, but it certainly doesn't come easy. Any added power will put more stress on many components that were originally designed to have a finite and calculated lifetime under less stressful conditions. That is fact and should be considered carefully when looking for daily driver reliability.

HTH...Just my $.02 worth...

I have 2 cars in my driveway right now that I'm torn between: a B6 A4 1.8t with 176k miles on it and an ever-growing list of new parts, or a UrS6 with 236k on it that would need some love but I have a suspicion is built to last, as opposed to the A4 that keeps needing not insignificant parts every month or two. How often are you having to work on a daily driven UrS with 250k and climbing?

[scubagli]

Daily nozzles, tune, clutch, suspension upgrades....fun, economical, utilitarian lol...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

[Wheeljack]

How often are you having to work on a daily driven UrS with 250k and climbing?

Well, not much so far, but it could certainly use some suspension overhaulin'. In the 65K miles on the two cars, I've really just done two things (after initial purchase maintenance). I put a new fuel pump in the pearl car this past summer after driving it for 50K+ miles.

On my way home from work the other day, I noticed my battery light coming on when coming down to an idle sitting in traffic. I pulled the voltage regulator off the back of the alternator to find severely worn brushes (left). I happened to have about 5 around on random cars/spare alternators, one of which was much better, but still not great(right). Installed and been fine since. Free fix and 10 minutes later I was done. It would have been 5 minutes but I stopped and took some pictures. Now I've got almost 10K on the 253K car and that is all I've done to it, outside of nsimps doing the majority of a timing belt change last spring.



These cars are ultra reliable when stock because they are so overbuilt. Now the penny pinchers sap all of the extra margin from the cars, so the last just long enough for the warranty to expire.

Did I mention I 'found' a 6 speed transmission in the silver car on my way down to BBQ this past year? Now that's a funny story...<Me>Hmm why is this revving so high in 5th gear...<Dave P>Maybe you have 6 speed? <Me>I doubt it...<pushes clutch in and pulls shifter back into 6th>...<Me>Well holy f%&^!!!

I only had the car for a year and half at that point, but mostly wasn't driving at freeway speeds to notice. lol...

[Mcstiff]

Did I mention I 'found' a 6 speed transmission in the silver car on my way down to BBQ this past year? Now that's a funny story...<Me>Hmm why is this revving so high in 5th gear...<Dave P>Maybe you have 6 speed? <Me>I doubt it...<pushes clutch in and pulls shifter back into 6th>...<Me>Well holy f%&^!!!

I only had the car for a year and half at that point, but mostly wasn't driving at freeway speeds to notice. lol...

Nice find!