[s-cars] Sports Wagons? Replacement for '95.5 S6: S4 Avant

[Thomas Rodriguez]

I will second Harold's suggestion of a VW Passat Wagon GLS with 4Motion and
manual tranny.  We bought this exact car new nearly 10 years ago for my
wife.  It's now at 152K miles it's still a great car.  Works well with
kids, the dog, the groceries, long trips, you name it.  In fact we just put
$2,200 into bodywork (minor collision damage, years of parking lot dings,
etc.) and we believe its worth the investment because the mechanicals are
still so strong. The 1.8T engine is incredibly smooth and free reving up to
the 6,500 rpm redline.  The stock suspension is on the soft side, which my
wife likes, but with some upgrades it could be quite a sporty handler.
There's probably a chip for the engine if you want even more power.

One problem with these cars, which resulted in a dealer recall, is that
sludge builds up in the engine even with scheduled oil and filter changes.
I'm not sure of the cause, but ours had this problem and three years ago we
took it to the dealer in response to the recall for some pretty major
repairs (to fix damage caused by the sludge) and upgrades (to prevent
further sludge accumulation and damage).  The repair bill was $5,000+ and
was entirely covered under VW's recall warrantee.  If you buy one of these
cars used, be sure to inquire about this recall and make sure the car
received the associated reparis and upgrades from a dealer or VW-certified
repair shop.

Tom Rodriguez
'95 S6 240K miles
'04 Passat 152K miles
'02 Forrester, 130K miles


On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 2:08 PM, Harold McComas <haroldmccomas at comcast.net>wrote:

>
> I would have suggested a 2004-05 VW Passat GLS 4Motion wagon, 1.8T. But in
> the manual version there were only about  516 made, so finding one will be
> a big problem. Then you would have to address the suspension and motor to
> make it "sporty". Sub 10k entry would leave money for upgrades.
>
> Harold
>
>
>  From: Keith Franchetti <skidfranc at gmail.com>
>> To: "s-car-list at audifans.com" <s-car-list at audifans.com>
>> Subject: [s-cars] Sports Wagons? Replacement for '95.5 S6: S4 Avant
>> V8?
>> Message-ID:
>> <CAGfhCbGDd55gML7T-**x78UMSG7obuMb-gEUOg4wAe6FJ-6==**now at mail.gmail.com<now at mail.gmail.com>
>> >
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>>
>> Hi Again-
>>
>> So now I need to figure out what to drive.  I've been dreading this day,
>> since there are precious few true sports wagons out there.  Actually, I'd
>> settle for a decent pretender--forget about "true."
>>
>> First, I'm going to look at a 2004 S4 Avant V8 today.  Guy wants $14.5k.
>>
>> http://burlington.craigslist.**org/cto/3761742307.html<http://burlington.craigslist.org/cto/3761742307.html>
>>
>> He's the 3rd owner.  Says "head gaskets might need to be replaced" because
>> they are "leaking." But he says the dealership's estimate for the repair
>> is
>> $450.  Can anyone translate that to something that makes sense?  And
>> assuming that alone isn't a huge red flag, does anyone know what else I
>> should be considering or worrying about with this car?
>>
>> Specifications for replacement car for '95 S6 Avant:
>>
>> Deal-breakers: manual transmission (with a clutch -- not paddles); wagon;
>> roof rack
>>
>> Wants:  big enough to be family vacation car (just one daughter); kick in
>> the pants to drive, but with creature comforts too.
>>
>> Cars I'm considering:  VW TDI Jetta; Mini Cooper (new AWDs); Audi?; BMW
>> (wifey has ruled these out, but I haven't)
>>
>> I'd love suggestions.  Thanks in advance.
>>
>> Keith
>>
>>
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