Some people quiver at the thought of buying a car already tuned and make a blanket decision to say no way. I think it takes a little more thought, research, and investigating.
R's were not designed and built to be your cheap economy daily driver. They have stronger internals, more horsepower, and scream to go fast. So what if the previous owner went fast, drove hard, and launched the car like it was designed to do. If these are things you would never do, then maybe an R isn't for you. If it is, read on.
Try to find out who owned the car, find more history on the car, and do a thorough inspection including a very spirited drive. Hook it up to VCDS, check it out. Bring the VIN number to a dealership and ask them to look up warranty information. See if has been TD1 flagged and what warranty work has been done on it. Look for any sign of maintenance neglect. Look for signs of ownership love. If any of that doesn't steer you away, read on.
My Used R Story: I found mine at a dealership for $3k under private party blue book value with 4k miles on it. I did a little research and found out it had $5k of upgrades including DP, intake, intercooler, stage 2 tune, & dsg tune. Is this a unicorn or a trap? I dug around a little more. The previous owner was a 60 y/o senior production engineer who traded it in for a Mustang GT350. Everything checked out though, no warranty issues, drove great, excellent condition, tires were stock with no signs of track use, and passed CA smog.
Try to calculate cost of mods done, blue book value, the cost of mods you would have done to a stock R, what everything is worth to you, and worst case scenario if something happens not under warranty. If the turbo goes and you need a new one, was the deal you found worth not having a powertrain warranty and buying brand new turbo? If you were already planning on tuning, chances are you were willing to replace the turbo if need be. In my case I believe my mods and KBB positive equity were worth around $8k. That was enough for me to buy the car and so far it been a great decision.
