Re: V8 or not to V8

[Eliot Lim <eliot@u.washington.edu>]

> I'm tired of
> getting reamed for the little 'audi' things that go wrong with them. 

mine may be a freak, but it's been damm reliable for the past 2-3 years.

>      The REAL dilemma, is that it's an Automatic. Yuck yuck and double yuck.
> Any audi driving purists want to temp me in either way? Stick or auto? My
> heart says to forget about the Auto, and keep my 100Q 5-spd. but the auto
> can be shifted sort of like a 4-speed manual w/o a clutch. Hmm.. 

the v8 with slush will be faster anytime compared to the 100Q 5speed.
why don't you test drive it and decide for yourself?  the fact that
it can be driven like a semi-automatic should not be ignored.  for
one thing you can make gear changes a lot faster.  

i have beaten many amber traffic lights because of the transmission's
ability to downshift 2 gears in a snap, without even me making a
conscious decision to downshift.  the old tranny software probably
wouldn't have this ability.

if you want to use the car in a real racy style the slush is probably
not for you, but for more mundane commuting it is fine.  just don't be
shy to use the revs.  1st is good for about 50mph and 2nd is good for
85, so you can always use 2nd as a power gear for driving in the US.
with enough revs there is more bhp available than most other cars out
there.  i have no complaints about the car's performance.  its
overtaking ability is far better than its 0-60 ability.

the only time it can be really slow is when taking off briskly from
rest, but that can be partially compensated for by brake torquing.
left foot on brake, right foot building up some hydraulic pressure and
then release it for a pretty good blast off.

>      And then there are the little (expensive!) things - UFO brakes? The
> sunroof needs about $300 of work. The drivers side key-lock/unlock needs
> another $100 or so. 

if the price of the car is low enough like $13K these items should just
be looked at as part of the purchase price.

>The radio changes station over any (_ANY_) little
> bump...

that's why i replaced mine.  just go out and buy any DIN sized
replacement with preamp out and it will work.  getting rid of
the alternator noise is the biggest challenge.

> and of course, it's an automatic. Yuck. 

why don't you look at 20 valve 200Q's instead?

eliot