[s-cars] Replacement car for urs4

[Jerry Scott]

My wife has a 2010 Subaru Outback  3.6L, and so far it has been a great car.
In the flats around town, it gets 25 mpg and 29 on the road. The new 3.6
engine has plenty of power and the 5 speed auto seems to work very well.  I
will probably get one when the S4 is gone.  We had a 02 WRX before the
Outback and that was also a reliable and fun car to drive.  I might consider
that car again.  You just can't beat the bullet proof reliability of a
Subaru.
Jerry

-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Wayne Dohnal
Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2011 7:17 PM
To: S-car list
Subject: [s-cars] Replacement car for urs4

I must not be the only one thinking it's getting less and less practical to
keep the S4 going.  It has 216,000 miles on the clock, and needs a new
steering rack, new wheels, and with 100k miles the clutch probably won't
last a whole lot longer.  The original fuel pump must be close to the end. 
I won't do the rack or clutch myself, so I'm looking at probably $4k to $5k
over the next year or two that could be spent on a replacement car instead. 
I'm noticing that a lot of things like water hoses and vacuum hoses have 
turned hard and brittle.   I'm afraid that the age-related failures are 
going to be coming more and more often.

I "love" the S4 for its comfort, convenience, and solid feeling.  And I
can't figure out what would make for a good replacement.  I do a lot of
winter and mountain driving.  A good AWD system is mandatory, I don't want
one of the brain-dead automatics that's always doing the wrong thing, and
I'm afraid of the maintenance exposure with a German automatic anyway.  I'd
maybe take a CVT or DSG if I had to.  The A4 is too small.  An A6 or A8
would be great, but I don't want the maintenance exposure of the twin turbo,

and all the others have the slush boxes.   I think I just eliminated all of 
the USA Audis.  The 2012 Passat looks good, but it doesn't offer AWD. 
There are some BMWs with AWD.  I don't know if the AWD system is any good,
and I don't have an unlimited budget either.  After weeding out everything I
don't like, I think all that's left is Subaru.  Is there another good
alternative that I'm not seeing?

Wayne
1994 S4 

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