Questions on buying a specific car.

[Joe826]

I'm thinking of getting this 2003 Audi A4 (http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=183361526&dealer_id=56391085&car_ye ar=2003&make=AUDI&distance=300&lang=en&max_price=2 6000&model=A4&end_year=2003&min_price=1&certified= &address=83843&search_type=both&advanced=&start_ye ar=2003&isp=y&cardist=287) and I was hoping people here who know more about this stuff than me could give me a couple of tips.

In general, what do you think of the car? I told him i'd give him $22,500 and he said he'd take 23k. Do you guys think the modifications are worth the extra money? That's about 1k over what the blue book has the car listed as. Also, I live in Northern Idaho and he lives in Portland so the drive would be a few hours for me. What sort of things would you look for when checking the car out? I was thinking I would probably get a mechanic to take a look at it just to make sure it hasn't been beat. Any other suggestions?

Thanks

[The Goober]

Did he mention what the "minor modifications" are? This could make a lot of difference - people do a lot of stupid things to cars, that could range from wastes of money that don't do anything to things that actually sap power from the car (some ridiculously oversized exhaust pipes will do this). In general, with a highly-tuned car like an Audi, most DIY performance mods aren't going to help much, and the mods that do help are going to cost more than $1000.

And you should definately look into the "GIAC chip". I'm guessing this is a performance chip that changes the fuel/oxygen mixture curve. Usually chips like these do get more power out of the engine, but often at the expense of making you fail emissions tests (or potentially causing engine problems down the line).