Used Audi AllRoad -vs- New Subaru

[Rick Courtright]

It was Nixon, and I'm now officially admitting in public for all to see that
I'm an old fat bastard.

If it makes you feel any better, I was in college during Nixon's first
term, so as you might imagine, I followed his Presidency rather closely
what with Viet Nam and all... graduated a coupla years before he
resigned.

You're just a kid! I can't help with your exercise regimen nor your
legitimacy, but you've still got a way to go until you reach the "age of
dirt!"

Rick

 

[k. ote]

As I said, I know that VW & Audi won't be as reliable, but unfortunately

I'm just a bit too old these days for hoods that I have to prop up using
the stalk, hood scoops that shake and shimmer at 70mph, center consoles
with a lower level of plastic quality than I tolerate in my 4 year old's
toys, and a trunk lid so thin that I'm afraid to close it over a couple of
tightly
packed golf bags for fear that it will dent. All that stuff reminds me of
the seventies, and of the cheap 70s at that.

There's a reason for that: weight savings. A good example of this is the
fact that the BMW M3 CSL has a trunk with a cardboard base. Do you consider
one of the fastest cars in the world to be poorly constructed? There's a
reason for all this. Cars in the 70s didn't do 0-60 in 4.6 seconds, run the
quarter mile in the 12s, and handle around curves better than 99.999+% of
all other vehicles on the road.

My 18 year old MB 190e 2.3-16 (a spiritual ancestor to the sti) is as
sound as a new WRX, runs like a top, and STILL has a tighter, higher
quality
interior than a brand new sti. To be fair, it was a $40,000 car twenty
years ago, but it's modern M3 & S4 equivalents are so much better built I
would have thought that the sti & evo might be at least have caught up to
the "initial" quality of a twenty year old MB 190.

You've already answered your own question: the STi is $48K CAD, brand new.
That's only a few K over the luxury tax line. Knock of a few K from the
price and you have a car that is no longer considered a luxury purchase.

$40K twenty years ago, adjusted for inflation is.. what? $75K or so? That's
up in the M3 range. Your concept of quality is a bit.. off, and certainly
unrealistic given the intent of the car manufacturers.

The STi is NOT the spiritual descendent of your MB. I consider it to be more
the spiritual descendent of the Roadrunner, which provided no frills: just
pure road-destroying power. This is what you buy when you purchase an STi:
a car which is concentrated solely on providing superior handling, speed,
and torque, with nothing but an inperceptible nod to creature comforts.
They've read their market demographic with great adeptness, and *you* are
most certainly not part of it.

So I guess the question becomes: why do you care whether the STi is your
kind of car or not? Something about it must have piqued your interest,
otherwise you wouldn't even be wasting your time thinking about it. I'll
tell you which cars *you* should be looking at: The BMW M3; the Carrera 4S;
the Mercedes SLK class. Leave the STi to people who don't need a car to
wipe their ass and talc their bum. Leave the STi to people who find
creature comforts almost distasteful; who find the idea of a car that
caters to the driver's whims and talks to its passengers in a sexy voice
somehow wrong--somehow against what a car was meant to be.

S4. What I want is the modern version of the old Saab 900 turbo from the
eighties, a fast, fun, innovative, safe, well built car that isn't
ludicrously expensive overkill in any arena but the performance.

Then look elsewhere and stop expecting Subaru to manufacture your dream
vehicle. Go bug Saab. Go pester Audi. Test drive a BMW. If your old-school
age-"refined" sensibilities play tricks on you and make you think that
thick, heavyweight materials are equated with quality, that's really not
Subaru's problem now is it? It's a question of a realistic outlook on the
whole car manufacturing industry, to be blunt. Most people think that all
car manufacturers are somehow charging double, triple, or quadruple what
the cars actually cost to build and if they just charged what we think is a
"reasonable" price for their vehicles, we'd be paying a tiny fraction of
what cars are currently priced at. Wake-up call: the conspiracy theorists
would welcome you into their fold.

If only the sti had better "initial" build quality. Alas, we can't always
get what we want.

So.. uh.. you want the STi's performance in a heavier, thicker vehicle, or
one that uses rare, advanced materials that cost vast amounts of money and
expensive elements to produce, at the STi's price point? Shya, dream on.

 

[Eza Gadson]

Have considered, but I doesn't look like I'll have that kind of dough.
We'll see as the year progresses. Garage space also becomes a problem with
the 1 fun + 1 practical solution.

 

[tom klein]

Someone in the neighborhood is selling a 2000 Audi AllRoad. It retailed
for $47K US. It has about 80K miles on it and looks cherry. The info on
the side window says it has been carefully maintained and detailed.
Most of the miles are highway. It's a 2.8TT. He wants $21K for it;
that's the blue book price.

Now is it worth it compared to a a new Subaru? I'm on my second Subaru
so I'm somewhat satisfied with them. But I keep drooling about the Audi.

It's been sitting in the driveway for a month now and hasn't sold. Is
there something I should know about it? Are the twin turbos ready to
go? Are the boots almost shot?

Comments please?

Al

my only comment is that *every* single audi owner i know has been
sorry! apart from the marketing hype, and the "image", they are
overpriced and unreliable. and they depreciate like a lead balloon.

i've known half-a-dozen audi owners, and the only one that bought
another audi only did so because that was the only economical way to
offload the stupid thing - the cost of repairing the little sucker
(just out of warranty) was about the same as its trade-in!

you should have your head examined if you pick up a used audi for the
same bucks as a new subaru.

at least in my humble opinion...