A couple of weeks ago I picked up a 2001 facelift D2 with 173,000 miles on the clock. I got the car cheap as it was due a cambelt change and needed a service and the front suspension sorting.
Car is going into a local specialist on Thursday to have all the above fixed then she should drive smoothly with no sound from the front suspension.
Only worry for me now is the 5 speed auto box, I can find no record of the box having been replaced or even an oil change, and its in failure terrirtory.
Very nice looking, thanks for sharing! We only had the 3.7L models here in the North American market for 1997-98 and those were all front wheel drive without tiptronic.
I'm curious, you say that you got the car 'cheap'. Can you put a figure to that?
A timing belt & control arms are going to be pretty pricey. Last time I checked if you were to have that done at a shop you could expect to spend $1500 for the belt job, and probably another $1000 for the front control arms (all 8 parts) to be replaced.