Considering a 2000 or 2001 A4 avant

[Wallace White]

On 10/12/05, Tony Hoffman <tfh400036 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> For starters, what year is your 5kcsq? I've never heard of an automatic in
> these.

Right, all 5kcstq's were manuals, mine included. I was referring to
the turbo lag. Our next car will be an automatic, though, because my
wife will be the primary driver.

Thanks for the information on the 1.8T sludge. Interesting about the
S4's heat problems too.

Lee Levitt wrote:
> Wallace,
>
> If you want a nice car that's less expensive to maintain than an
> A4, more reliable and probably as safe, look at a '95-98 C4 A6
> wagon or '95-97 sedan.

You know, I still like those cars better than the following A6. I'm
glad to hear they've held up well. But while they have great front
impact ratings, I don't see side impact data, and looks like there are
no side airbags (let alone curtains).

If an A4 avant isn't big enough for us, it seems a Passat 4Motion
wagon would better fit our bill. They have more cargo space than the
C5 A6 avant--it's huge back there. I wonder if the Passat has been any
more reliable than the A4.

And if we're looking at these less exciting cars anyway, I again see
the reliable Legacy wagon... We drove some 2005s. The turbo models
have tons of power and a pretty good level of refinement (certainly
not to match a recent VW/Audi), but are thirsty. The pokiness of the
non-turbo is just barely okay in my book, but the non-turbo is stuck
with a 4-speed automatic instead of the turbo's 5-speed, and that
boxer gets noisy on the highway without another gear.

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone.

- Wallace