Audi 1990s Cabriolet - worth the buy? - future classic value?

[anonymousmoose]

Hello,

I may have the opportunity to buy an Audi Cabriolet from the late 90s with under 150,000km. About $6000-

Only reasons I'd buy the car are;

I've always wanted an older car that isnt classic yet but will be it in the next decade.
It will appropriate in value of looked after for the next 10-15 years.
Its a convertible for the occasional weekend trip. - Fun factor.



Do you think this car fits into the category? Also what I am getting into maintenance wise with a thing this old? I have a 2015 VW Polo and 2013 A4 Quattro so I havent to deal with old car repairs for a long time.

[brad]

I doubt it will ever be a classic but if you just want a nice, open top, weekend cruiser then why not?

Keep in mind that the service & spare parts costs don't go down, even if the car itself has depreciated 95%. So if something goes wrong with the roof mechanism, you may have to suck up 20% of tour original purchase price in repairs.

One of the reasons I sold my MK3.5 Golf Cabrio was because even though it had depreciated from $50k down to $12k (what I paid), several things went wrong at once and I was looking at:

Complete replacement / refurb of the roof hydraulics & motor/pump

2 engine mounts

gearbox leaking onto clutch through the clutch actuator rod

front struts

other stuff

At the time, nobody seemed to be able to point me at any cheap spares - the car was too much of a parts bin special. WHen the dealer offered $13600 trade-in on the Skoda I jumped at it.

Maybe if you are doing low mileage it won't matter...

[Matt86]

I doubt it will ever be a classic but if you just want a nice, open top, weekend cruiser then why not?

Keep in mind that the service & spare parts costs don't go down, even if the car itself has depreciated 95%. So if something goes wrong with the roof mechanism, you may have to suck up 20% of tour original purchase price in repairs.

One of the reasons I sold my MK3.5 Golf Cabrio was because even though it had depreciated from $50k down to $12k (what I paid), several things went wrong at once and I was looking at:

Complete replacement / refurb of the roof hydraulics & motor/pump

2 engine mounts

gearbox leaking onto clutch through the clutch actuator rod

front struts

other stuff

At the time, nobody seemed to be able to point me at any cheap spares - the car was too much of a parts bin special. WHen the dealer offered $13600 trade-in on the Skoda I jumped at it.

Maybe if you are doing low mileage it won't matter...

That being said if it's been well looked after and low kilometers it should make a nice car.

12v engines can be a pain though, trust me my 80 has one and it's a nightmare at times but tough!

Not sure if I'll get in trouble, but there is a lot of information over at audifans.net on cabriolets as they're quite popular over there!

[anonymousmoose]

Thanks both of you for your input!

I'm at that stage where I kinda want a car that has a good likelihood of becoming a bit of a classic. Like back 10 years ago a nice BMW E30 proper convertible was cheap, now they are appreciating in value when kept nice.

12v engines can be a pain though, trust me my 80 has one and it's a nightmare at times but tough!

What type of issues are common and have you had?

I dont want it to be a money pit but at the same time, I'm aware that some cash needs to be kept aside for expenses.

[Matt86]

Thanks both of you for your input!

I'm at that stage where I kinda want a car that has a good likelihood of becoming a bit of a classic. Like back 10 years ago a nice BMW E30 proper convertible was cheap, now they are appreciating in value when kept nice.


What type of issues are common and have you had?

I dont want it to be a money pit but at the same time, I'm aware that some cash needs to be kept aside for expenses.

It sounds like you'd be moreso after something alike an S2 or similar.. Can't say that the Cabriolet is going to go up in value, but it's tending to hold its value better then the saloons of the same era.

The issue as I've most likely found out the very long way is the speed sensor, head over to 12v.org as it explains a lot about the engine and a lot of part numbers, servicing routines etc. I usually reference stuff based off that.