Picked this up Friday for her to have a nice cheap fun daily. 2002 Quatro 225 1.8 liter turbo with a 6 speed.

Needs some odds and ends but we started with a wash, claybar, and wax. Previous owner got it from a dealer so all mods are unknown but it clearly has a front mount and seems to be running slightly higher boost than stock. Definitely has some lowering springs and a strut tower brace which may or may not be stock.








If anyone knows much about these I am all ears as I am a complete noob to the turbo game, especially on Euro cars.

 

Thats a cool car, just clean those headlights up lol.

 

That's after we tried to clean them by hand with some compound, going to need to hit them with something with power.

Looking at some pictures of the cars online I'm not certain they are supposed to be ultra clear/shiny. Someone might have tried to smoke these too, they seem kinda gray.

Going to hit the whole car with some compound and stuff at some point, this was a quick once over. Hand wash, clay bar, and wax. She wanted to go drive it while the weather was nice.

 

BTW, what the **** are all the car magazines smoking when they say German cars have such great interiors that make American cars ****?

Not very ergonomic, full of as much hard plastic as anything American, the leather that's there doesn't seem any better than anything else, and there are little panels and doors that open/close which while cute are nothing but another thing to break.

(google photo that matches her car)





Everything is plastic but the center section inlays in the doors and the seats. The climate ***** are not really ***** they are turn switches that spring back to center, turning them is kinda like pushing a button.

I realize this wasn't any kind of top of the line car even in it's day, but the way writers bitch you would expect it to eclipse the interior of say a 2002 Trans Am. IMO it does not...they are in the same ballpark but the Trans Am rear seat is at least usable. I can ride in the back of an Fbody uncomfortably, I cannot ride in the back of this thing...

 

I used to have a Jetta GLI 1.8T. Those motors are high maintenance and even more so when you throw power mods at them. They're very finicky. Make absolutely sure the timing belt gets changed every 60k miles, it's an interference motor and it will snap taking the valves with it. Ask me how I know haha. Also, keep a spare coil pack or two at all times as it's not uncommon for them to die making it sound kind of like a Subaru and running like garbage.

It was a fun car... when it was running properly. My advice on the car... get some spacers for it and some front lower grilles to hide the intercooler/piping. The wheels look like cheap multi-lugs from what I can tell, a set of OEM 'Fat Fives' look great on TTs and can be had for cheap. Also, if people tell/ask you what the TT stands for (they will) it stands for Tourist Trophy not twin turbo. The VWVortex forums have an endless amount of info on these cars. Enjoy it!

 

Timing belt was done at 60k and already planning the next one (car has 99k). A buddy has a set of coils we can use if we need and mentioned a cheaper set that is an "upgrade" from some other engine. Also he told us to start using the huge oil filters for the old school VW Rabbit diesels. It needs some vacuum lines replaced and I need to pull the ECM and see if it is marked as aftermarket. Pretty sure the MAF is bad right now so that's first on the list...it goes flat over 3k rpm with it plugged in and runs better without it.

The wheels are kinda knock offish, plan is to paint them charcoal as we won't be doing anything but maintenance until it is paid for. We both hate the fat fives so if we buy anything it will be something a little nicer.

I will look into the lower grills if they are priced reasonable but not sure if they will fit over the aftermarket cooler piping.

Thanks for the reply!

 

I get to work on $100K+ Mercedes along with $60K BMWs, Audis, etc daily. Their interior materials are no better than their American counterparts. The fit is sometimes better, but not by much. Euros are JUNK, and VW/Audi is THE worst.

 

This ^

Cute car, I will always love Audi's, I owned one for a few years. But there was a point where I just could not deal with the maintenance anymore! I owned my S4 for two and a half years, I bought it for 17k, ended up putting over 20k into it over the two and a half years just in maint alone. I hope you got a good one haha!

 

I got a Jetta for dirt cheap a while back. While not 100% the same, it ruined me for the cheaper VW/Audi cars for life. That car was so picky, like others have said. Ide fix something, and another thing would break.

One word of advice on keeping spare parts. Im not sure exactly how the cooling system is on that motor, but, if its anything like mine, there are lots of plastic elbows and 'Y's and other funky looking things. Any of them can snap at any time. I was moving some hoses around, gently, and a nipple busted off this really ugly looking connector spewing coolant everywhere. You think I could find that part easily? Ide go through, and grab the coolant parts, and just keep them on hand. They arent super expensive, and you'll be glad you did if it starts to leak. They all seem to be really hard parts to "rig" too. Like, no amount of elbows or fittings would have faked the connection enough to drive it around.

Oh and I agree on the interiors. The soft touch coating (not sure if that has it) is the biggest PITA. Other cars use it, but on my VW it was terrible.

For parts, I REALLY liked germanautoparts.com. They were always awesome, fast shipping, reasonable prices, and stood by what they sold. Actually most of the dealers I went to were also good. Way better experiences than at the GM dealers I use haha.

Good luck with it!

J.

 

Thanks guys. Honestly we bought it for her to have a fun to drive daily. If it starts looking like a train wreck or constant tinkering machine it will leave my house unless she wants to pay someone to work on it.

I think we seem to have gotten a decent deal on it ($7k on a book value of $10,500 according to my bank). Not amazing but decent IMO for the shape it's in. Her plan is to pay extra on it once maintenance is done and her tax refund will go on it too.

 

id have it tuned properly for damn sure. everyone has already said its a picky engine, and with unknown mods and potentially more boost you could be in for a disaster

 

Got the stuff for an oil change today. Need to replace the vacuum lines and try cleaning or replacing the MAF to get that all sorted out and then log to see where it stands. Also check the diverter valve and try to see if its a tuned ECM or stock.

 

Welcome to the 1.8t club (Im assuming you have the AWM in that thing), I recommend no tinkering. As much fun as these cars can be to drive, working on them takes the fun out of it.

Where was the car originally from? If its anywhere that puts salt on roads youre going to have lots of fun with suspension bits.

 

Don't intend to tinker for that reason, just fix and maintain what's already there.

It was from Ft Smith and looked clean under the bottom when I was changing oil. Dang thing took just shy of 6 qts with the big honking filter my buddy gave her for it. Filled it up with Euro spec 0w-40 Castrol Syntec.

 

lulz. That was 2002 and had the same design from when it came out in 1998. Look at an Fbody/Corvette/Mustang interior of that time and tell me the TT doesn't look better.

 

Looks are subjective but I would take a T/A, Mustang, or Corvette interior from 1998-2002 over it. Camaro...not so much.

I was referring to the constant ragging for using plastic and crap materials for everything. This car has more plastic and what little leather is there is nothing better either.

 

Sometimes its not so much the material as the overall fitment. How many rattles squeaks and creaks does it have comparably?

 

plastix by hand worked for me even after sanding. car looks good. enjoy it.

 

I wanted to tinker with mine (02 Passat) but all my money went to maintenance... 2x timing belts, 2x timing belt tensioner, water pump, CCT, motor mounts, tie rod ends, CV axles, refreshed head due to a couple bent valves (thats what 2 teeth off on the CCT gets you....), and Im sure there is more that I am forgetting.

If you do tinker, I wouldnt go any further than an ECU tune. Best bang for the buck in that world (Ive always wanted APR's switchable tunes but damn theyre expensive).