RIP, and future family vehicle choices

[Brett Dikeman]

Well, after many years of semi-faithful service, the old 5000 
seriously failed an inspection.  It's mostly been sitting around 
doing nothing, only driven occasionally by my father since I bought 
my 200q20v.

After talking to my parents about the car, the list goes something like:
-alternator light came on this morning
-front tires worn
-ebrake and possibly caliper
-"brake booster"(I have no idea if he's referring to the bomb, or what)
-catalytic converter
-heater core (and? or?) fan

At this point, I think they're really interested in just getting rid 
of it(funny, he was offered almost $3k for it about 6-8 months ago 
and turned it down, my mother and I nearly killed him on the spot.)

   As my father put it today, "none of these things are more than a 
couple of hundred dollars but taken in total it's beyond the value of 
the car."  I feel he's probably right.

So, it needs a rest home(adopt-a-audi.)  Offers? :-)  It's an '87 
5kCST 5-speed, white with grey cloth interior, standard painted 
5-spoke turbo wheels; paint's in pretty bad shape except for a few 
areas where it was repainted.  Over the course of 13 years, it has 
been through a bunch of minor incidences(mostly in the hands of my 
parents, and not I.)  I'm not expecting much response, but I thought 
I'd mention it.

The second half of this post is that my father has presented the 
following plan.  Currently, they have a Volvo 960 wagon('94-95 ish, 
RWD, useless in the snow) which my mother drives; my father has his 
944T which he's now regularly driving at PCA events(how many people 
have a roll cage installed in their daily driver?)  And of course, 
the anemic 5000.

His idea is this:
-sell the 5000 or just junk it and replace it with a "small AWD or 
4wd suv" for winter-type driving, load hauling(Volvo-type duties), 
beaches(they're planning on retiring or at least spending a lot of 
time on the cape, and there are extensive beaches which are great but 
reachable only by 4wd vehicle; he's also a big-time windsurfer)
-when they replace the Volvo, and here is where he redeems himself, 
"it would be nice to go back to a comfortable sedan like the Audi"

Comments on possible vehicle selections, or this plan of action? 
Yes, an allroad would be perfect and do double-duty, if we hit the 
lottery(and the price of an allroad is not going to decrease 
substantially within a year or two, unless it never takes off 
sales-wise, which is unlikely.)

   Not really sure what else would fit the "small SUV" requirements; 
maybe something like a Grand Vitara, which has been getting good 
reviews and is reputed to be one tough cookie, the best built of the 
"baby" suvs.  But not much cargo room.  Hmm.

On the other half of the equation, however, possibilities look good; 
the price may be right on a used A6 V8 or 2.7tt in a year or 
two...aren't they 60/40 folddown seats in back now?  That would make 
my mother happy, as would a tiptronic(she always enjoyed manual cars 
and preferred them, until health reasons made the clutchwork 
painful.)  And of course, my father would be happy with a 
non-lethargic sedan(he really wanted the 850GLT, but my mother forced 
him to go to the 960; the cat was out of the bag on the test drive in 
the 850GLT when we hit an on-ramp.  "Oh.  I see why you want this 
one", was all my mother said.)  The A4 is too small for them, I 
think.  Hell, it's too small for me.  All three of us prefer a car 
where you can put our your elbows and not smack your passenger in the 
cheekbone.  An A6 avant, just not really an option...not enough oomph.

The A6 plan would require a year or two of waiting at least to make 
it financially viable; however, there are, from what I understand, 
boatloads of used A8's out there at rather attractive prices, so 
there's another, more immediate, solution.  No fold down seats 
though...


Comments?

Brett
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Brett Dikeman				Systems Engineer
ProAct Technologies Corporation		914-872-8043
(formerly CFN[formerly iClick, Inc])		914-872-8100(fax)
120 Bloomingdale Rd.			http://www.proacttechnologies.com
White Plains, NY 10605
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