Re: A4QM Avant 20k report (long)

[Tom Van Ness <tom@reece.com>]

thanks for the review.  I have 2 questions:
1. How do you manage to drive 1000 miles a week?
2. You have a peacock?


At 1:31 PM -0600 9/3/98, Shaun D. Mullen wrote:
>Some observations and comments on my 98.5 A4QM Avant, which just turned
>20,000 miles:
>
>-- Bought the car new in mid-April, so I'm racking up miles at the rate
>of about 1,000 a week, roughly three-quarters highway, one-quarter city,
>a fair amount of twisty rural and mountain roads.  Gas mileage averages
>17-18 city, 28-30 highway.
>
>-- Only mods are (1.) Mobil 1 oil and filter (you can't find insurance
>this cheap), (2.) mud flaps (because of the dirt and gravel roads I
>drive), (3.) short Momo zebrano shifter knob (because the stock knob
>didn't feel right), and (4.) small 99-cent K-Mart plastic trash basket
>(in a blue eerily similar to the santorin blue automobile in which it
>resides).  Low beam upgrade is planned (any suggestions?).
>
>-- Complaints: (1.) Driver's side window control position too far back,
>(2.) right-hand mirror too small, (3.) low beams suck, (4.) tailgate
>sometimes doesn't latch on first try.
>
>-- Praise: (1.) Sweet, sweet engine-shifter-quattro-brake combo and
>seemingly limitless ability to handle any kind of driving situation with
>aplomb, (2.) drop-dead great looks (our peacock loves staring at his
>reflection in the paintwork), (3.) surprisingly large cargo area (the
>"sports car with a fanny pack" line is a little misleading).
>
>-- Problems: None. Zip. Zero.
>
>-- Other cars considered before/since: None. Zip. Zero.
>
>-- Sum-up: The 100CSQW wagon and A4Q Avant are rather different cars,
>but the lineage and shared values are obvious.  I loved my 100CSQW and
>reluctantly parted with it after a relatively hassle-free 206,000
>miles.  But I am struck, time and again, with what a vastly superior car
>the A4 Avant is to this predecessor in almost every respect.  It will be
>interesting to see if Audi is able to make the same quantum leap with
>the next generation.  (I suspect it will.)
>
>Shaun Mullen
>West Grove, PA