[V8] Ramblings

Tue Apr 17 08:29:40 PDT 2012

 It's the consumer that creates the demand for all this glitz Roger...  Active Noise Control is already in the 2012 S8 (to cover up the 4cylinder running mode sounds) and the Hybrid A8 gets it next, and why wouldn't you use it?  You could add more pounds to dampen the noise via insulation, or actively cancel the noise using less weight.  Infiniti has had ANC for a couple years, and even Ford has it in the LTZ lineup.  To a true high end audiofile owner, ANC is easy to understand and conceptualize (think apposed fire woofers, btbuiltt).

Anyone that speaks to service issues or problems, shouldn't be driving an Audi.  I've brokered a few v10tdi's and driven them extensively, and I'm sure there are POS within them in the market, as it's not a cheap vehicle to maintain (insert cough for all audis included).  I tow dead Audis with a TRD Supercharged Landcruiser that's a much cheaper vehicle to drive and maintain, but when Duprees v10tdi got better mileage towing a trailer than my LC empty, my mind wanders a bit.  But alas, try buying engine parts to rebuild an '01 S8 (hello just got that call), they aren't NLA, there were never 'A' to begin with.  Step 1:  Buy new motor.

C4 Avants?  My daughter drives one, great car.  But you can buy a low mileage 97 A6qavant for less than it will cost to revive yours.  And I enjoy my v8 as a fine road car, but not enough to buy another once my 92 expires.  Too many other machines (already built) that make the v8q an ego choice, not a rational one.  I've been around enough to realize being that stubborn eats the wallet faster than v10tdi ownership would.

Cheers

Scott J
92 v8 Auto 4.2 ABT Chipped
91 v8 Auto 3.6
95 C4 Avant Auto fwd

-----Original Message-----
From: Roger M. Woodbury <rmwoodbury at fairpoint.net>
To: CavalloGT <CavalloGT at gmail.com>
Cc: V8 <V8 at audifans.com>
Sent: Tue, Apr 17, 2012 10:06 am
Subject: Re: [V8] Ramblings

I agree with everything you said.  I know the younger generation accepts 
everything being foisted off on them as “must haves”, but like other aged, 
febrile old farts, I truly believe that true quality is being slipped away in 
the interest of slick, rapid turnaround of product, and glitzy, video-game like 
instant gratification.  

I drove a lovely new ToeRag a year and a half ago.  It was a diesel, of course, 
V-10, and I simply had to drive one.  My impression was of a lovely running 
engine in a lousy chassis, and at 75,000 miles it would probably still pull like 
a train but be falling apart, if it even could be run on the road.  When I heard 
some of the frightening stories about service issues and the involved nature of 
otherwise routine maintenance, I stopped paying even the slightest attention.  I 
fantasized having a Passat W8 at one point when first decided to at least think 
about the aging 100CS Avant my wife drives and loves.  Then I heard some of the 
horror stories about the W8 motor, and decided that VW was rapidly becoming a 
Japaneseee Metooer.  

Now with 175K plus on the Audi 100CS, I am looking seriously at putting three or 
even four grand into the body. The car runs perfectly and without error and even 
a new A6 Avant will not do one thing better than the 1994 Avant does.  And the 
body guys who work for the wrecking yards whose job it is to dismantle these 
cars have told me that the newer cars suffer from body rust much more severely 
than does the early C4 cars. 

I have been saying for a long time the best cars have all been built, and I see 
no reason to believe otherwise now, and not even the howling sound of a 
screaming V8 piped through the seventy three carefully toned speakers in the new 
HarmonBose system in the newest cars can change my mind.

Roger
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