Re: Subaru or Audi List?

[Shaun Mullen <smullen@philly.infi.net>]

Roland Broberg wrote:
> Is this the Audi Quattro List or the Subaru list?
> Roland

Phil Payne answered your question better than I can, but let me take a stab at it, 
anyway: One of the joys of the list, occasional flames and all, is the breadth and depth 
of discussion, whether it's helping a member solve that unsolvable mechanical problem, 
finding that impossible-to-find part, or arguing over NASCAR or the geographical 
center of the universe.  There are people on the list who also have an interest in (and 
concern over) Audi's longterm health.  The only reason I am driving a '92 100CSQW, a car 
that in 1992 would have been beyond my financial grasp, is because by that time Audi had 
so thoroughly squandered its goodwill in the US (coming hard on the heels of VW's 
impressive self-immolation here), that Audi practically had to give its cars away.  I 
bought mine at dealer invoice with a CD player and full tank of the gas of my choice 
thrown in.  They gave me a nice bottle of wine, two coffee mugs and a fruitcake, too.  
Audi's halting attempts to connect with the US market in a substantial way since those 
dark days, including its half-assed TV and print ads, are a subject of concern and 
probably worthy of list comment in between discussions about wing nuts.  This concern 
can be neatly put into contemporary perspective when you compare Audi's uneven and 
seemingly halfhearted efforts to push its quattro system in the US with the efforts of 
puny Subaru.  Soobie arguably makes a decent but inferior product, but has done a much 
better job of conveying what is special it.