[gatotom]

Bought my wife a new 98 A4 avant quattro 2.8T in 98. She drove it for 170 thousand miles and the only real pain in the ass problem was leaking oil, the motor ran like an Elgin watch.

As Red Baron pointed out the problem is really a pcv valve problem causing the cam gaskets to leak. I had this car repaired twice only to have it leak in about 3-4 months after fixing. The front suspension struts were replaced as the rear wheel bearings and also the ABS needed a re-solder job.

Since then have replaced with a 05 A4 quattro 1.8T avant and I drive a 06 A4 quattro 2.0T and both have been reliable. To my knowledge the 1.8T was a problem with sludge buildup due to not changing the oil enough, run Mobil1 with no problems.

I do the timing belt replacement and its actually a nice project for a rainy sat., have plenty of beer to keep your wits. The 1.8T is easy the 2.0T is easy too except for the thermostat, what a total pain in the german engineering design.