No need to defend that decision.

[four.rings@MCIONE.com]

"kendriq 87.5gt" <kendriq@hotmail.com> wrote:

>   Here's a message from a friend of mine.  I helped him pick up his
> passat, and although I have never driven an A4 or a Passat, I was along
> for many test drives, and discussed the differences between the two cars
> with him repeatedly and at length.  I think he made the right decision.
[...]
>Lets look past the badge
> and look at the TRUE heritage and engineering of this car before we
> dismiss is, shall we?

Had your friend read my post attentively enough he could've noticed that by
talking my friend into buying a Passat over a Camry/Accord/Maxima I was
promoting it rather than dismissing.

> Just think of the mods one can do with the $6000 difference in price.

Last time I checked $6000 could not buy quattro in a 1.8T Passat or a manual
transmission in a 2.8 Passat quattro.
We are still talking real performance mods here, not the poser performance,
right? So no stick = no performance. End of story.

Also, by extrapolating this logic why not buy a Saturn and spend all of the
$16,000 difference on performance mods. One could only imagine a thrilling
performance level that could be achieved :-)

> It isn't as luxurious as some, but
> cretainly can hold its own against the 5k series as far as build
> quality, and is far nicer than the 4k series.  Lets look past the badge
> and look at the TRUE heritage and engineering of this car before we
> dismiss is, shall we?

We certainly shall and in doing so many long time listers would recall that
yours truly was never on a quest for luxury, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten
rid of lacquered wood, leather upholstery and soft stock suspension in his
'89 200TQ (see EC, March '98 issue; also for a longer description of that
particular "luxobarge" see Quattro Quarterly of the same vintage).
Said individual had also chosen spartan 1.8TQ A4 riding on harsh Sport
suspension and by delivery time had already gotten a set of cloth racing seats
from England (Cobra Daytona S) with slits in the backrest through which his
4-point racing harness fits so nicely.

>  Otherwise are we really any better than the
> yuppies in A6's that don't show us the brotherhood that we like to think
> we share?

Well, technically speaking I am still reasonably Young (38), Urban and judging
by my education and occupation certainly a Professional. Inspite of my obvious
belonging to this despised category, many a lister could attest to my affection
with Audi cars and the brotherhood of Audi owners alike. A quick search of the
archives will reveal several thousand technical articles posted by yours truly
over the years. 
So who are those awful yuppies and what's their crime anyway?

OK, let's go back to that original post:

> >From: "Io Skellington" <io_europa@hotmail.com>
> >To: four.rings@mcione.com
> >Cc: kendriq@hotmail.com
> >Subject: In defense of my decision
> >Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 01:47:17 PDT

> >...I didn't notice anything more special about the Audi...

That's where my desire to argue evaporated in a thin air.
I did receive his private post to me a week ago but did not bother to reply coz
he's not a list member and obviously not an Audi guy.
You're right, the fellow did make the right decision. Passat is indeed a great
car and if he didn't feel the difference between it and the Audi, why indeed
should he waste his money?

> >yes I miss the extra gauges, but I would also like a boost gauge
> >and.....on another note, the all red color of the A4 causes everything
> >to blend together, whereas the Blue/red on my Passat provides wonderful
> >contrast to keep track of those all important needles, besides what the
> >numbers say is unimportant, it is where the needle is point and how
> fast it is swinging that matters...

Too bad he's not on the list coz he would've noticed my earlier post where I
_praised_ the blue illumination of the Passat over the traditional red in the
Audi.

> >I was not about to spend more money just to get AWD in a car that
> >overall I liked less, especially since the FWD has traction control

The fellow probably never owned an AWD sedan before. Having owned two quattros I
must say that if Audis were not available in the U.S. I would've chosen a Volvo
AWD over any VW/Asian in a heartbeat. Or a Subaru if money were tight. Also it
must be noted that no traction control comes _even_close_ to AWD in performance.

> >The
> >1.8T A4 Quattro also felt slower (seat of the pants) I am assuming due
> >to the extra reciprocating mass of the quattro.
> >It could be the Demo
> >was beat on too much and was a slower Audi example....or something,

Hmmm, my '98 A4 1.8TQ is a_lot_quicker than my friends '98 Passat 1.8T.
OTOH this is an incorrect comparo: mine is manual, his is a Tip. Also mine has
been carefully broken in (10kmi) and his has not yet. 
Heck, I remember how ridiculously slow my A4 was for the first 3kmi of it's
life. Plus the added weight of quattro. You might be right in this assumption.
This should be easily correctable by chipping to TAP Stage IV (by this year's
end, keeping fingers crossed). 

[on the Audi Automatic Climate Control]
> >would be nice, if I could've figured out how to use it on my test drive
> >;)

I didn't either :-). Had to call a salesman to help me switch off the A/C
compressor during the test drive.

> >[...] the seats even fit funny, the side
> >bolsters were moved so far to the side that I felt like I was sliding
> >all over the place on the inside, like they were made for fat people,

Yep, that's why I ditched mine in favour of the true racing seats.
Evidently the A4 that you tested did not have the optional sport seats
installed. Too bad coz they are quite good.

[from my post]
>>>>Like the well known saying goes: if she has to ask, she probably 
>>>>should buy the Passat.

> >Don't go assuming genders, if it weren't for this blunder I wouldn't
> >have written.

My post was a reply to Dan's request, quoted once again below:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
dan_masi@mentorg.com (Dan Masi) wrote:

A friend of mine is looking at buying a new Passat, and she
asked me what the difference was between it and an A4 1.8T.
Besides "a few grand", "the potential of adding Quattro",
and "it's longer", I didn't know what else to say.  Especially
in response to the "why would I pay a few grand more for
essentially the same car with less rear-seat room?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It clearly shows that Dan's friend is a female hence the addressee's gender in
my reply. No blunder on my part here, fellows.
Quite honestly, folks, I have no idea why two of you have jumped on my case
here. I suggest that Io hangs around the List and listens for awhile and gets
the impression of the spirit around here. It will help to avoid many an awkward
situation in the future.

Also Mark, the tradition of the List calls for trimming the posts when quoting.
Please do so in the future.

Regards,
************************************************************
Igor Kessel
'89 200TQ -- 18psi (TAP)
'98 A4TQ -- mostly stock
Philadelphia, PA
USA
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/8949/homepage.html
************************************************************