[V8] I've been thinking....never a good thing!
Roger M. Woodbury
rmwoodbury at fairpoint.net
Fri Aug 1 05:43:57 PDT 2014
I got fuel in the 100 Avant yesterday. The car is getting around 24
miles per gallon through the summer and since we had a bunch of oil
leaks fixed, the oil consumption has dropped off considerably. It has
always used about a quart in seven hundred miles or so, and is now back
to normal and much drier than before. Runs great and realistically,
replacement is a foolish idea.
Although I really enjoy the V8, I need to think seriously about how long
I want to keep in service two of these cars, both of which are
relatively expensive by the pound, to service. I have NO idea what I
might get to replace either one of both of them. The Acura is a fantasy,
but my wife saw the photos and thought it was GREAT! Meanwhile I also
showed her another car in my "bucket"...I have never owned a Mercedes
300CD....the couple model although I did have a four door 300D. A
turbo-diesel coupe would be lovely and old school....I LIKE old school, too.
Guess I'll just hold onto what I have and await developments. I cannot
buy a Japanese car for the sake of having a new-er car...I don't want an
SUV as they offer no more real usable room than the station wagon
already provides and so long as the station wagon isn't rusting to
pieces beneath, it'll remain in service, I guess.
R
On 7/31/2014 12:06 PM, Ed Kellock wrote:
>
> I've been noticing the Ford 500 and the station wagon version a lot
> lately. Also the 1st gen or two of the Toyota Highlander. The rest of
> my family has all gone Toyota, 3 Priuses and a Camry. I don't mind
> driving them. I find that I prefer the 1990 v8 to the CGT and even the
> Avant. Getting older I guess. The 500 and the wagon cousin were
> designed ny a VW guy who jumped to Ford. The later versions are too
> Ford-y and have gone the way of ridiculously large tires/wheels.
>
> On Jul 31, 2014 6:24 AM, "Roger M. Woodbury" <rmwoodbury at fairpoint.net
> <mailto:rmwoodbury at fairpoint.net>> wrote:
>
> As usual, I have been pondering our aging fleet of Type 44 Audis.
> My wife's station wagon, a 1994 100 Avant Quattro is approaching
> 200,000 miles. It's beginning to look pretty tacky, the curling
> lower body rub strips peeling off and the paint generally needing
> refurbishing. But the car is mechanically near, 100%, only new
> struts needed in the late fall at inspection time, plus new tires
> to get it ready for another 30,000 miles. I just had the engine
> vacuum lines and top-end seals replaced. Now the engine runs as it
> did when it was new to me, 160,000 miles ago and it doesn't leak
> oil. Yesterday we drove to my wife's doctor and back, a round
> trip of just shy of 100 miles and the thing runs and runs. If I
> fix EVERY little thing, and have it repainted the cost will be
> around three grand, so I am not even thinking seriously of
> replacing it.
>
> The V8 is the other car in the fleet. I recently tried to sell
> it. It is arguably one of the best there is and with 80,000
> something thousand miles, it's still relatively young. Right now
> it is unregistered as I have no need to drive or pay to keep two
> cars on the road. This fall may well be different, as I have a
> new venture I may be involved with which will require me to be
> away during the day, and my wife doesn't want to be at home alone
> without transportation if I am away all day often. The V8 will be
> put back on the road if I need it, sometime late in the fall.
> Perfect: I look forward to driving it again.
>
> But I think about the 100, and have been looking around for
> something that we might get to replace both vehicles with one.
> Eventually, we will need only one at all, so I have been pondering
> something with some utility but not a SUV thing...something that
> would have the overall performance of the 100 AVant, with the
> room, but well, something a bit different.
>
> Oh, yeah. I have thought about an A6 Avant, and a Merceded E-class
> 4-matic wagon...about a 1999-2001 model before they became
> electronically unified and unrepairable, but no: I don't really
> WANT one of those station wagons again.
>
> When they first introduced them, I sat in a Volkswagen CC. It was
> small inside and cramped with huge, thick doors and NO rear
> visibility. Parts of it came from Japan, too, which really turned
> me off. I thought it was chintzy.
> I still do.
>
> A Porsche Panamera is out of the question, price wise, and I no
> longer have much love for Porsche anyway. I think my
> Porschedisease has finally been cured, now that the 928 is fading
> into history.
>
> The BMW X6 is an intersting thing, but the snouts are too cut off
> for me, and the price....well, they hype themselves up as the
> Ultimate Driving Machines, but any more, who can use an "ultimate
> driving machine" in a driving environment that rewards "ultimate
> driving" with speeding fines and unaffordable insurance rates?
> Besides, BMW has been recalling their cars because they are now a
> marketing business not a quality manufacturer...MY opinion!
>
> So, I dunno. Right now, I think we'll keep what we've got and
> await developments.
>
> Oh, then there this morning, somehow I stumbled onto something
> that I can't stop thinking about. It is a sickness, perhaps, or
> maybe I'm just losing it entirely, what do you think? I found and
> have been reading about something called an Acura ZDX. I didn't
> know what one was so I looked it up on Wikipedia, then on the
> Acura website, then other places. Finally I went to eBay and
> looked to see what was around.
>
> It's an odd thing. Four doors, fast-back roof with insulting,
> claustrophobic rear seating. Clearly a car intended for two people
> with occasionally, shoving two more in the rear, preferably two
> people you don't like very much and who you don't wan to ride with
> you ever again. Glass panel roof that opens, rear hatch and rear
> seats that fold flat to the floor. It struck me that it is
> probably the right size for my wife and I to drive the 50 miles to
> Sam's Club and back loaded.....about what we get when we make that
> trip. Neat interior....rather interesting dashboard, but like all
> Japanese cars, far to much going on in front that is electronic
> and probably will fail when it is six or seven years old andhas
> around 75,000 miles. But then, Honda stuff runs pretty good and
> for the most part, can be repaired, too. F uel mileage around
> twenty overall, which is about what the 100 Avant has always done....
>
> Horrors! For some reason, I rather like this thing! And the
> dealers can't sell them, too, and the thing is being discontinued.
> Sounds like soemthing that I might like....odd, but it might work.
> I am wondering if we should plan a trip to whereever they sell
> Acuras to look at one in the flesh? I don't know where that
> is....is there an Acura dealer in Portland....that's 150 miles
> from here, or else New Hampshire or Massachusetts, I guess.
>
> Or maybe, I should just go and lie down for a while.
>
> Roger
>
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