I have an '02 coupe with manual transmission and 48k miles. I've had the car almost a year and put about 6k miles on it. I don't want to waste money, but I also want to take care of my car. I do drive the car almost every day.

What type of preventative maintenance should I plan on doing soon?

Any advice is appreciated.

Dave

 

-Tranny fluid change
-Rear end fluid change
-Coolant flush
-Spark plugs(check wires too)
-Check both serpentine belts for cracks, replace if they are
-Check brake pads

 

A lot depends on how its driven daily. If short trips, then more maintenance. Long trips seems to make life easier for the car, but then a second "depends" comes into play. Longer daily drives under what conditions? In my case, I put 317K miles on my '99 but it was mostly all daily freeway of 60+ miles one-way to work. For a while, it was 91 miles one-way. That's the easiest miles for any car. Rear-end lube, doesn't need to be changed that often, but the level needs to be kept watch on should you notice any seepage, you don't want it to run low. Trans fluid changes depend on whether you are running an A6 or a MM6. Coolant...look at it. If its turning brown, change it otherwise you can follow the manufacturer's advice. OIL, is the least expensive maintenance item with the greatest benefits to the engine. Do it as your DIC recommends. Its not needed to change every 3K miles as in the days of old. The DIC/PCM has an calculation to determine when to change it based upon lots of driving factors and use the oil specified. In my case, always used Mobil1 and my son is still driving the car now and it has over 330K. Plugs...about 50-75K miles. Wires...100K