[s-cars] For Sale, 1 Soul

[Al Streicher]

Why don't some people appreciate something as simple as driving a good car.
Better than going to Disneyworld, IMHO. Nothing better that the feel of the
road through your gluteus maxis, almost as good as flying your own plane.

Al

-----Original Message-----
From: quattro-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:quattro-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Kent McLean
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 2:31 AM
To: quattro; s-car-list; v8-list
Subject: For Sale, 1 Soul


I drove an '05 S4 Avant yesterday.  I want.

My boss and I had to drive from Manchester NH to Moosehead Lake in Maine
yesterday.  I drove so he could use his cell phone and laptop. We took
his S4 - a black-on-black Avant. Call it a 12 hour test drive. :) Here's
my opinion of the car.

Since it was 9dF when we left, I found the seat heaters really work. The
ones in my '94 100S make my buns warm. The ones in his S4 make them hot.

The 4.2L 340 HP V8 rocks. Power. Lots of it. Any time. Any gear. You put
your foot down and there is a shove in the back. No waiting for a turbo
to spool up.  Without doubt, it's the most impressive feature of the
car.  On the numbered back roads between I-95 and Moosehead Lake, we'd
come up on traffic doing 60. Even in 6th gear, I'd just press the
accelerator, pull out and around. The pass was quick, efficient, easy.
By the time we pulled back in, we'd be doing 80+. We passed a lot of
cars yesterday.

I got to test the quattro, too.  The last 10 miles of the trip were on
a dirt road covered in snow and ice. We were following a new Chevy
Tahoe. He had ground clearance and all-weather tires. We had no ground
clearance and Z-rate high-performance summer tires. On one sharp turn,
I could feel the car lose grip and start to plow to the outside. The
boss, unconcerned, said, "Give it some gas."  Which I did, and which
pulled us out of the corner.  The next time we hit a slippery patch, I
gave it gas, and dang, if it doesn't work. The third time, coming around
the air strip (privately owned), it plowed in the inches of snow. I gave
it some gas. Too much, apparently, as the car came around too far, and
I had to correct. Wheeee! I'll have to save my pennies so I can take a
Winter Driving School.

The Navigation system works. The boss fiddled with the controls in the
center panel. I got to watch the display between the speedometer and
tach -- it tells you miles to the next turn, miles to you destination,
direction, and a mini-map of the road showing side streets, etc. When
you approach a turn, a voice comes out of the audio system to let you
know. "Turn right in 200 feet." There is also a little red bar that
indicates how close you are to the turn. It shrinks as you approach the
turn, and disappears at the turn. It is spot on.  If there are two roads
next to each other at your turn (the two we saw were about 20' apart),
it is accurate enough for the bar to disappear at the correct turn.
However, it didn't have the 10 miles of private road in its database.
I can live with that.

The HVAC system did its job, too. His temperature set to 68dF, mine
to 70dF. I never felt the need to adjust it. It brought the car up
to temperature quickly and kept us comfortable. I just wonder how it
will hold up. :)

After getting up at 3:30AM, driving 12 hours in the car, and another
4 hours on the job, we got back to his house at 8:30pm. I was tired,
but not from driving.

I would love to own that car.  I would hate to pay a mechanic to fix it.
I would hate to be the DIY home mechanic facing a repair task.  But what
joy on the road.

--
Kent McLean
'94 100 S Avant, "Moody"
'89 200 TQ, "Bad Puppy" up in smoke
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