[s-cars] To Buy or Not to Buy

[Fred Munro]

It's a personal decision, Calvin. Something new is always attractive. You
know the faults of the old car but see the advantages of the new one. You
don't know it's faults yet.

It sounds like the problems with your '92 are mostly minor issues, but they
all take money and time to fix. The new car will eventually have similar
issues. I guess one question is which car you'd rather have with a screwed
up bumper cover, inoperable cruise control and seat memory, peeling paint,
etc.

I just went through the same decision process. My '94 S4 was the best car
I'd ever owned - rock solid reliable, safe, great performance, reasonably
easy to work on, only a few known trouble areas. I used it for my daily 150
km commute, it had 275k km on it, the clear coat was failing, but it was in
great mechanical condition. I did replace it - with a '97 S6. Nothing else
really appealed to me, probably because I wasn't willing to take a chance
that another make/model would be worse than the UrS. I figure the chances of
getting one with more basic issues are greater than finding one that's more
reliable, safer, easier to work on and better performing. Besides, I hate
that drive-by-wire crap. I don't need my car telling me what my throttle
position should be.  Again, it's a personal choice.

Good luck in your decision. The neuS4 sounds like a great car. You can't go
wrong either way. All cars get old and wear out, so the idea that the newer,
low mileage one is somehow better than rebuilding an old one is mostly
illusion. Ten years down the road both the "new" one and the old rebuilt one
will be old, high mileage, and have a low resale value unless the older one
turns into a "classic".

Just my rambling thoughts on a rainy Sunday morning.

Fred Munro
'94 S4 (gone but not forgotten)
'97 S6




-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of
calvinlc at earthlink.net
Sent: June 3, 2007 2:00 AM
To: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: [s-cars] To Buy or Not to Buy


I don't know how I could be contemplating this but I am thinking about
replacing the best car I have ever owned - my '92 UrS.

The following items need work on my present car:

Clear coat is starting to suffer in two places
Front bumper cover is screwed on due to the normal plastic pieces breaking
Door trim pieces - uppers are coming off due to plastic bits
Cruise control doesn't work - I have personally spent hours on this one and
replaced all the usual culprits, had a mechanic spend hours on it and he
couldn't find anything either...
165k miles with a couple of squeeks here and there
Overboost issue that doesn't look like it is going to be simple to track
down
Memory seat settings not working correctly

Replacement possibility:
2001 S4 - Sportec stage 3 installed by Autosport Werks with the usual -
K04's, RS4 intercoolers, injectors, exhuast, downpipe, etc  H&R coilovers,
stoptech 332mm up front, two sets of wheels/tires (18s/17s), aftermrket
swaybar, Euro HIDs, RS4 bumper, RS4 clutch and t-belt service done 23k miles
ago, one owner 88k miles.  The thing drives perfect.

Rationale:
To get the UrS into tip top shape we are talking about 6k, best guess.  I
can either put this money into the UrS or buy this other car, and reset the
clock so to speak.  I just don't know if I am prepared to dump 6k into a 15
year old car, but how can I give up the best darn car I ever owned.  Any
advice?  Thanks!

--Calvin

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