[V8] A V8 Avant in my future?

Sun Jul 3 10:55:54 PDT 2011

Roger,
 I've read a lot of your posts over the years and I'm of the opinion  that 
you should never consider any Audi newer than a C4. 

 The newer cars have enough nagging issues to drive someone like you  
insane. The front suspensions wear out regularly, something that would only  
happen faster on your Maine roads. With all the electronics something is always  
non-functional. 30v v6's tend to be oil drippers and when they start its 
very  frustrating trying to find the culprit. The 2.7's ductwork makes it even 
harder.  The heat under the hood tends to make all the plastic brittle 
after a few years,  leading to vacuum leaks and a well lubricated engine 
compartment. 

 I'm not quite as bad as you in that if something doesn't effect my  
driving it tends to become a backburner issue. With the newer cars, there's  
enough annoyances that I simply don't want one and consider them rolling swap  
doners. 

 Take a type44/c4, slide in a 2.7t. Swap to N/A heads/cams, and an RS4  
intake. Ditch the twin K03's for a single turbo of your choice.  Simplify the 
vacuum routing and use better materials. Create a W/A  intercooler using the 
bumper as part of the housing. 3" downpipe splitting into  a pair of 2.5" 
pipes under the car. 314mm front brakes  and factory vented rear brakes 
surrounded by factory 16" wheels.  Finish off with a custom tune by Tony Chick in 
CT. Do it right and you get the  simplicity and strength of the C4 chassis 
and suspension, the durability of  the 30v block, you eliminate 99% of the 
2.7's frustrations... and you have an  unassuming, stock appearing, car that 
will happily do daily duty in Maine,  has very good fuel economy, and if 
you're so inclined enough power to  humiliate all but the most radical of other 
street cars.... not that I've  thought about this or anything.... ;)

KT

 ps: of course you could also use the RS6's 4.2t if you  have a devious 
streak. ();-)

 In a message dated 7/3/2011 10:20:54 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
rmwoodbury at fairpoint.net writes:

Thought  about it.  When it first was announced I started to froth at the
mouth  heavily thinking about an all road V8.  I got over it.

I also got  over the all road in general because the added complexity serves
me no  purpose.  And all the other objections apply...considerably  higher
excise tax, insurance cost and naturally, the added sales tax at the  
initial
purchase.

As it happens I just spent my Sunday morning hour  perusing eBay used car
listings.  I included the A6 and all road in  this mornings perusings, and
found nothing, nada, zip of interest.   Worst of all, what was there was
really VERY expensive for what they were.  This is the trend that I have
found used cars generally following during  this recession.  

The most interesting car of the whole bunch that  I saw this morning was an
'87 Mercedes 300D-turbo wagon in Texas. This  particular example is an
extremely interesting one because it appears to be  a US spec wagon but with
cloth interior.  To my knowledge Mercedes has  not imported ANY MB's without
at least MB-tex interior for thirty or more  years, so this one is and odd
ball.  It also has heated seats, not  particularly common with MB's.

The 6 cylinder turbodiesel was in these  cars only one year, and was a
magnificent engine with a LOT of power and  terrific fuel mileage.  Plagued
by trap-oxidizer and thermal reactor  problems, Mercedes warrantied their
systems for the life of the car, and I  wonder if this car has had the 
"fix",
or if Mercedes would still honor  their original warranty.  I had an '87
300D-turbo sedan for a short  while and as a driving car for long distance,
they were just  wonderful.

Now, I would NOT swap the 100CS for the 300D, but I am  watching the 
progress
of the auction.  I know that such a car gives  away the huge Audi advantage
of Quattro, which for where I live is really  essential for our daily 
driver.
Still, I do love Mercedes  diesels!

Since there is no point of urgency in my ponderings (other  than when I have
NO V8 around, then I become absolutely manic), I'll just  continue to 
ponder,
and watch the market from time to time just to see what  is around.  At the
end of the day so long as my wife continues to love  to drive "her" Avant, 
my
ponderings are harmless.  But fair  warning:  she now has her new kitchen,
and that was a BIG stumbling  block over the past few years!

Roger

P.S.  Oh, yeah. She's  also got her Dyson, so I just may get really
rambunctious before  long.

-----Original Message-----
From: knitknacks at coslink.net  [mailto:knitknacks at coslink.net] 
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2011 8:41 AM
To:  rmwoodbury at fairpoint.net; v8 at audifans.com
Subject: RE: Re: [V8] A V8 Avant  in my future?

Before you go through all that dance, Roger,  consider an Allroad, V8 or 
dual
turbo V6. 

------- Original  Message -------
>From    : Roger M.  Woodbury[mailto:rmwoodbury at fairpoint.net]
Sent    : 7/2/2011  4:18:19 PM
To      : v8 at audifans.com
Cc     : 
Subject : RE: Re: [V8] A V8 Avant in my future?

I'll bet  the money is steadier and probably better than trying to be an
independent  Audi guru, Keith.  But I thought it might be worth a shot in
case you  were thinking, "Gee, wouldn't it be neat to get my hands on  
a....."
Sigh.  OK.  I'll forget it.

But I have had  numerous conversations with my mechanical genius guy about
doing an engine  swap.  He has two early A6 wagons in back of the shop,
either one of  which is in decent enough overall condition to make an
excellent  candidate.  My wife's 100CS would also.

Assuming a tired engine,  the biggest reason to consider an engine swap is
that the C4 is really a  very nice car, and there is nothing wrong with it
that an additional  seventy horsepower or so wouldn't cure.  I will even bet
that with two  more cylinders and that same seventy plus horsepower the C4
Avant would get  better fuel mileage overall....at least in my semi-rural 
and
rural NE  driving.

Right now I feel quite dumb.  It NEVER occurred to me to  try to source euro
parts for the conversation to make it in fact a Euro C4  instead of the
slightly emaciated but stolid US car that it is.

The  arithmetic argues well for a conversation.  The cost of ANY  
replacement
for the C4 or early A6 Avant approaches pretty respectable  dollars and most
other similar cars on the market have lots of miles.   When we bought the C4
it was seven years old and had 39,000 miles from new,  one owner.  I watch
the auctions a lot and anything similar with low  miles like that is well
into the teens.  About three years ago a  dealer in West Virginia had a 
100CS
Avant Quattro for sale with less than  thirty thousand miles on it, and the
dealer was firm at $10,600...the only  one I have seen since I bought ours.

So it seems likely that for less  than any reasonable replacement Avant, our
100CS could be  Europeanized.  The obvious advantages of low excise tax and
low  insurance rates argue in favor, given that we already have a  highly
maintained example.  

The next time this car goes to the  wrench is in the fall, and I think I'll
ask him to do a compression  leakdown test just to see what the health of 
the
V6 is ....then I'll start  to fantasize some  more.

Roger

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