Old Audi's worth keeping ? was:Dead Puppy

[Smeins, Larry]

I have been thinking of starting a similar thread as this for some time but
it appears now is my opportunity to jump in.

I started my Audi adventure by buying an 84 4ks two door repo for a
depressed price for a commuter vehicle.  I expected it to be worn out by
150k miles so promised it to my son, who would be turning 16 about that
time, when it turned 150k.  I fell in love with that car and when 150k
rolled around I went shopping for a replacement.  I drove numerous brands
and models and after a while told my wife that I would not be satisfied with
anything but another Audi.  We found two candidates.  An 87 5kcst with low
mileage and all records at the original selling dealer and a 5kq that
appeared to have been brought in from the east at a Subaru/Honda dealership.
I decided to forsake the quattro feature, that I wanted, for the much more
pristine turbo fwd.  I am not sorry.  The 84 has over 320k miles on the
clock , my son is still driving it, and the 87 280k miles.  Neither has ever
left  us stranded.  My wife has been stranded more than once in our
Japanese/ Japanese powered vehicles.  Yes, the 87 has needed some expensive
maintenance but when compared with the large number of trouble free miles it
has been a low cost means of transportation.  I can assure you the cost of
performing a repair on the Audis dims in comparison to the cost of doing
repairs on some of my other vehicles.  The 4k has been surprisingly trouble
free.  In both Audis most of the problems have been niggling little things
that a little tolerance will allow us to ignore.  When a large expense, such
as the gas tank that started this thread, the repair is a small investment
in the overall cost of good transportation.

My wife has been suggesting that we replace the 87 with a new car for many
of the reasons that are usually presented for replacing an old car.  I told
her it would be an Audi but we have been looking at many other brands.  So
far I haven't found anything that I want more than my 5kcst.  Yes, the new
ones may have more power, may be quieter, may handle better, etc.  But, I
haven't found one that puts all the features into a combined package, for
me, as well as my Audi type 44.  The first test my wife and I do is to slide
into the driver's seat.  That has turned us off of 90%+ of the vehicles
we've looked at.  What has happened to the seating in new cars?  The power
velour seats in my type 44 can be adjusted to fit me like a glove.  The
cushions have just the right firmness to support my body without being
uncomfortable hard.  They provide leg support all the way to the knee.  I've
never found this latter feature in a Japanese car and it seems to have been
designed out of the new German cars, too.  The new seats we have tried are
too hard, too short in the seat, and too close to the floor.  My truck has
better seats than the cars we've looked at.  If nothing else, the seats will
probably keep us in the old Audi.  So far only Volvo has come close to
having the seats I want.  Rather than buy a new Volvo I will probably take a
small amount of the money needed for the new car and put it into restoring
my classic German Sport sedan that will have little street value but will
have all that I want.

BTW: On the subject of seats, the 4kcsq, with heated leather,  that I
recently purchased has got to have the worst seats I have ever been in.
Within one week of starting to commute with it I began to have back problems
and the only way to correct the seating was the addition of formed cushions
to custom fit proper support and to get my rear off of the concrete cushion
of the seat.  At least I can walk without limping for the first hundred feet
after getting to work with this added padding.

Larry in Loveland, CO  87 4kcsq, 87 5kcst, son's 84 4ks and numerous other
vehicles.