My first post so before I start.. awesome forum you got here with lots of knowledgeable (or so it seems) posters, very glad I found it J

ok.. Got few question regarding buying A4, I did some research and the model I'm after is 2003 or 2004 1.8t. could you guys advise me on what shall I look for when choosing A4 and all that. In particular I would like to know

1. What is the reasonable number of kilometres for this age group. I saw some cars with below 50000 and that's what I'm hoping to get. I simply want to buy and not put too much money in it, just keep changing oil and doing usual maintenance, but not any major repairs. Is A4 with below 50000km safe buy or it might have some major flaws, assuming that odometer hasn't been modified.

2. How easy it is to modify odometer and how can I possibly spot odometer fraud? Is there anything else could do then just taking overall look at how worn out the seats are and all that? I'm no mechanic for sure, but have general (very limited though) knowledge and I guess I could tell when oil should be changed but not much more than that.

3. What would be reasonable price for this car, redbook.com.au for 2003 private sales gives ~24-27k. 2004 is ~3k extra.

4. would you recommend to buy from a dealer? If so, any in particular (prestige cars or sth?) or rather privately? Also what I should make sure and watch out for when buying? Check oil, history, transmission fluid but anything else I should pay attention with this particular model?

5. How can I make sure that car is not stoles/written off and there's no money owned on it? I found bunch of websites with few phone numbers to rta etc. but if you could guys tell me the best way to make sure i wont have any legal troubles later that would be great.

6. Insurance.. been fishing for quotes and in general I found comprehensive options pretty expensive 3k+. found one cheaper though at bingle.com.au, in fact way cheaper as only ~$1300. Can you recommend any insurance companies I should check? Is bingle.com.au ok as insurance company or anyones had problems with it? Again, what shall I watch out for and what would be reasonable quote for this kind of car. Its for my wife, red p driver with 2 years experience driving, getting to 30 next year, and no drivers below 25 driving the car.

7. Maintenance costs.. can I maintain it with local mechanic or rather audi place somewhere? As I said I want to keep car going and use it everyday, however I'm not interested in modifying it in any way.

8. How it compares with bmw 3 series, merc c classe or lexus.. these seems more expensive, however even if prices were the same I would personally go with a4. Simply looks way better, but is it better/worse to drive, maintain etc.?

9. As I said the car is for my wife for day to day drive around the city, and probably once a year holiday travel across Australia, probably douing 5k+ in ~2 weeks. Would a4 be good for this kind of usage? At the moment I drive Mitsubishi magna 2003 (series 2) and its not a bad car, especially for long driving, but how audi would do?

Well that's a lot of questions and I'm still doing my research, but if anyone could help me with questions above that would be very much appreciated. I love audis and a4 seems perfect size for me and if any of you could help me so I wouldn't get a lemon that would be great. O yeh and expect more posts from me here, hopefully as (very?) happy audi driver