[V8] What was I thinking!

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Well, yes and no.  The color is good:  dark green.  The interior is not:  it
is light linen.  

The basic trouble for me is that for some strange reason, I cannot find the
best, and most comfortable driving position in the C4 body style that I
need.  This may be crazy, but the car simply doesn't seem to fit me right.
I am not overly tall, nor overly large, although I am stocky.  The Type 44
cars fit me perfectly but after a long day in my wife's 100CS I am really
tired, far more so than in the 200 20Valve.

Right now, I am leaning toward an S6 Avant.  These cars are around with
relatively low miles...in the mid to upper forty thousand range will be
about right.  I wonder how harsh the ride will be on Maine's rough secondary
roads, since the S6 sits lower than the A6 Avant from which it sprung, but
the combination might prove a winner, with the added benefit of buying a car
that will still be well supported by Audi for a long time.  I watch the eBay
auctions all the time, and it is surprising to me how many Audi dealers sell
used inventory on eBay.  IF I end up buying something as new as a 2002 or
2003 Audi, it will have to have the Audi Advantage extended warranty, which
of course, would be a big "advantage".  

If the granite business is huge this year, I might be able to convince
myself that I am buying something that I can depreciate...if I can convince
my accountant of that, of course.  And it would be true that the car would
be used as my sales vehicle most of the time.  Still and all, paying more
than twenty grand for an automobile seems obscene to me no matter what the
excuse.  

It is depressing to see so few V8's for sale anywhere.  A perusal of all the
usual sites...eBay, Autotrder, Cars.com and Audifans...shows very few V8's
and fewer still that seem worth going to look for.  There is a gray car out
in California, but that is a looooong way to go to look at one car, but it
isn't bad.  Then there is that green one in Washington, that came from a
used car auction, and was priced by a sales manager on steroids, and the
black/black car that is probably overpriced and overrated in New
Jersey..another auction car.  Sad commentary, but maybe the good '93-'94 V8s
are all clustered over the horizon, and at precisely the time that I have
decided to get on with it, there will be three or four within a 1500 mile
radius, and I will take a magnificent road trip in the Chevy 1ton, armed
with a bank sight draft.  Properly motivated, and after hyping myself for a
year or more (as I am doing now), I can be VERY dangerous to my balance
sheet!
Roger

-----Original Message-----
From: Kent McLean [mailto:kentmclean at mindspring.com] 
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2006 9:26 PM
To: Roger M. Woodbury
Cc: 'V8 Audi Fans'
Subject: Re: [V8] What was I thinking!

Roger M. Woodbury wrote:
 > Now, the C-4 cars would make a great V8 conversion candidate.
 > My mechanic has a '97 A6 that was totaled out by the insurance
 > company because  the ECU got flooded when leaves and junk was
 > allowed to fill up the cowl area.

You can pay me now or pay me later. Why wait? :)

You want a newer (and low mileage?) car, which the '97 is.
You want a V8, which it can be.  $3K for the car plus about
$5K for the conversion gives you a low mileage V8 for $8K,
and it has newer electrics and the prospect of better parts
availability. Sounds like a winner to me.

Is it the right color?

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