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RE: Why *I* drive an Audi...
I can see some of your points Jeff ... it turns out that I'm pretty much
in the same boat. I kinda lucked into Audi ... my first new car was a
'78 Audi Fox GTI ... as I've stated before IMO this car was a shining
star in the automotive wasteland that was the late '70s. I fell in love
with the urQ the minute I saw it, and although I would have never
realistically considered getting one new; a young single engineer with
stock options could get one that was a couple of years old. Perhaps I
live a charmed life as I've owned two Audis that are apparently
notorious on this list for unreliability and have had very good luck
with them.
I too look at the current line offered by Audi and don't see much for me
... but I must say that the 1.8T in the A4q (Avant) has piqued my
interest ... and I think it is for the same reasons as before. If it
were only available with a manual transmission that spark might actually
become a flame. When one's newest car is 10 model years old, and one
has a growing family, it is probably a good idea for one to consider a
new (or at least newer) car ...
Another interesting note ... I really like the lines of the Audi Fox ...
AAMOF I still do today. I really disliked the lines of the 4000, as it
was so squared off as compared to my Fox. I have found that over the
years the lines tend to grow on me ... it is to the point that I really
like the lines on my '85 4kSQ! I'm seeing the same thing happen to me
with the newer 80/90 and Coupes also.
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)
> ----------
> From: audidudi@mindspring.com[SMTP:audidudi@mindspring.com]
> Sent: Friday, April 10, 1998 9:37 PM
> To: quattro@coimbra.ans.net
> Subject: Why *I* drive an Audi...
>
> Well, I've received quite a few responses directly and have browsed
> through
> many more indirectly and it looks like there are some common
> denominators as
> to who we are and how we came to drive Audis...
>
> In my case, the two primary factors are 1) they're German and 2)
> they're
> cheap, especially when you take into account the "tweek potential"
> they
> offer. Truth be told, as much as I like my '89 200q, I doubt that I
> would
> have purchased it had the price been $12,000 instead of the $8,200 I
> paid
> ... yet that's about what a similar vintage BMW or Merecedes
> equivalent
> would have cost me at the time. Audi's depreciation woes of the
> mid-80's
> set the stage for me to drive cars that I wouldn't/couldn't otherwise
> afford
> and I've taken full advantage of it, thank you very much. Heck, the
> 1985
> Ur-Q I bought in '96 cost me only 20% of what the original owner had
> paid
> for it out-the-door! Try that with an '85 911 or 308 or...
>
> The reason I brought this up in the first place is because it just
> dawned on
> me the other night that I've got nowhere to go with Audi from here ...
> NONE
> of their cars from '92 forward appeal to me! All the ones with V6
> power are
> slugs (sorry, but it's true); the S-series cars are a) out of my price
> range
> and b) more luxury car than performance sedan, which is exactly the
> opposite
> of what I prefer, and even the new A4 doesn't ring many of my bells --
> IMHO,
> it's too sluggish and too soft. Besides, with Audi's increasing
> popularity,
> they appear to be holding their value too well and given my limited
> financial resources, this is moot regardless.
>
> So here I am, the consumate Audi enthusiast, and yet nothing the
> company has
> offered since 1991 interests me; what's happened? Is it just me or is
> it
> Audi? And what do I replace my 200q with should it be stolen (yeah,
> sure!)
> or totalled? About the only thing that comes to mind is a 1991 200q
> 20v
> and, frankly, even those cars have taken the first few teeny-weeny
> steps
> down the path toward luxo-barge status...
>
> I'm serious about this. It seems to me that when somebody who owns
> five
> Audis, as I presently do, is looking *backward* and not forward when
> it
> comes to choosing their next car, then something has definitely gone
> wrong
> somewhere, regardless of the many accolades the press has bestowed
> upon
> Audi's latest efforts. Do the tastes and preferences of people who
> buy new
> Audis -- Audi's actual customers -- differ that markedly from those
> who buy
> used ones? And while I'm at it, how important is the secondary market
> to a
> car manufacturer, anyway? Do they even concern themselves with such
> things
> or are they focused solely upon selling new cars? How valuable an
> asset is
> the installed base of customers? Do we have any clout, other than
> voting
> with our feet?
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
> __
> _ _
> / | _| o | \ _| o Jeffrey Goggin
> /__| | | / | | __ | | | | / | | audidudi@mindspring.com
> / | |_| \_| | |_/ |_| \_| |
> http://www.mindspring.com/~audidudi/
> ______________________________________________________________________
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>