[200q20v] V8 vs old S4/S6 in reliability and handling

[Tomsaudi200 at aol.com]

If I may lend my $0.02 here on the matter....

I would strongly advise that you keep the V8. You have obviously poured a lot 
of time and money into to make it right. By selling out now, you lose all 
that money, plus loss of intial resale value on the V8 itself as you have 
driven it, and as it has aged. By buying an S4 or S6, you inherit all of the 
minor problems and gremlins the PO decided to forgo, since they knew they 
were going to sell it, they would naturally opt to not spend the money.

Other considerations include what do you use your car for on a regular basis? 
Do you commute on the highway to work and back everyday? Do you live in a 
metropolis, or is all your driving done on twisty backroads? My point being, 
would the thousands of $$'s you would be sacrificing make up for the 
performance/handling gap between these two cars. 

My advice to keep the V8 is based on my own experiences, although it did lead 
to the ownership of my 200 20V Quattro. Last spring I bought a Range Rover, 
strictly as a second car that would see only occasional use. Forces beyond my 
control made the car my daily driver. As such, I bit off more than I could 
chew, and I spent an embarassing amount of money on it, which I am still long 
from paying off. To make matters worse, I was spending a small fortune in gas 
to get me from work and back in my traffic-clogged 50 mile commute. I sold it 
for much less than I paid for it, and am pretty much black and blue from the 
whole experience.

But, given the cost of gas around here, and the further impending problems on 
the Range Rover, I was essentially forced to dump it as fast as possible.