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Help Me Decide on a Car (Update: Car Purchased)

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Nice choice, welcome to the VAG family 🙂

GTIs just got here last month or so, the markup will be there for another month or two before tapering off.
 
Grats on the purchase! I really love how the new A4 Quattros drive.. drove one around Infineon last year during their driving event and it was a blast.
 
Bang and Olufsen makes really good stuff. I had one of the flat motion-sensing stereos back in the 90's. Amazing sound quality for such a little sucker.

You did it right, really checked your options. I'd have gone G37, but can see no problem with an A4. I hope it treats you and your wife right!
 
Arkaign said:
Bang and Olufsen makes really good stuff. I had one of the flat motion-sensing stereos back in the 90's. Amazing sound quality for such a little sucker.

You did it right, really checked your options. I'd have gone G37, but can see no problem with an A4. I hope it treats you and your wife right!
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Thanks man... that was really the big deal...this is my wife's car and this was the best choice for her. I probably would have gone G37 or a manual BMW if it was mine...but the Audi drove wonderfully, got good gas mileage, and the quattro is fantastic. We're definitely happy.
 
PhoKingGuy said:
Nice choice, welcome to the VAG family 🙂

GTIs just got here last month or so, the markup will be there for another month or two before tapering off.
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I have to say, I'm really enjoying this car...I think VAG puts together a high quality product...at least initial quality. We'll see how it holds up...I definitely plan on keeping it a while.
 
Imported said:
Grats on the purchase! I really love how the new A4 Quattros drive.. drove one around Infineon last year during their driving event and it was a blast.
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Thanks. I have to say, I'm really enjoying the planted feel the car has. It really does drive well. Definitely in the same ball park as the BMW. I would definitely have to spend a lot of time in both before I could say which is really better in all situations. We're definitely happy.
 
Congrats on the purchase. I have a G37 coupe and yes, the power is intoxicating and I love the car. But I think the A4 is a good match for what you were looking for.
 
Funny update, I just got off the phone with my insurance guy, and the Audi is $18 less every 6 months than the 6 year old Civic was...crazy. Sure the accident hasn't yet affected our rates (should take affect next renewall), so who knows how high the rates will go then...but in the mean time, the Audi is cheaper.
 
SSSnail said:
How much less is much less?
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I didn't do as well as I would like, but it was enough for me to bite. The dealer gave me $2800 off the MSRP up front after some back and forth. I wasn't happy with this number, but Audi is having a promotion on their financing which I wasn't originally going to do (I was going to just pay cash for the car).

With the financing, Audi pays for your first month's bill up to $1000 (really pays for it...so instead of 36 "payments", I would only have to make 35). So after they make that first $1000 payment, I can just pay the car off and we're good to go (I made sure there was no pre-payment penalties). So in the end I got $3800 off the car...this was enough for me to bite.

I could have probably shopped around for a better deal, but I really liked the sales group we worked with and will definitely work with them again. They really treated us right and to me that is part of the buying/owning experience...so we went for it.
 
PricklyPete said:
I didn't do as well as I would like, but it was enough for me to bite.

I could have probably shopped around for a better deal, but I really liked the sales group we worked with and will definitely work with them again. They really treated us right and to me that is part of the buying/owning experience...so we went for it.
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I'm nice too. Can I haz some of your hard earned cash?
 
KMc said:
Welcome to the A4 family! I have an 08 Avant and I love it.
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I'm jealous of your Avant...I wanted to go with that...but couldn't get my wife on board and this is her car... but I'm more than happy with the sedan. Loving the car more and more each day.
 
Update...almost 4 years later. We finally sold the A4 and bought a lumbering oaf of an SUV (2013 4Runner).

My wife and I still thoroughly enjoyed the A4, but it was no longer filling out needs. We are currently a single car family with the vehicle mainly being used on weekends to head to the mountains. On numerous occasions we were having to borrow friends vehicles because either we were going somewhere not accessible by vehicles with out substantial ground clearance or there was not enough room for people/gear in the small A4. After putting up with this for a year, we finally decided the A4 needed to be replaced (it didn't hurt that the warranty just ran out).

The A4 performed much better than we expected from a reliability standpoint...although there were a couple things that were starting to worth me as we approached the end of the warranty:

1) the transmission's uncoupling feature ( de-couples when at a stop) was getting intrusive and made the car occasionally clunky when driving around our neighborhood with a plethora of stop signs. Was not easy to repeat, so the dealership was unable to solve.

2) the engine was having a little trouble at startup. 90% sure the spark plugs needed to be replaced, but never got around to testing that theory out. The problem kept reminding me that there is a potential carbon buildup issue with this DI motor that would likely annoy me later.

3) the airbag sensor in the front seat was very temperamental when it came to my wife. Granted she is quite thin, but above the weight limit where it should be on. Often took her a minute or two adjusting the way she sat to get it to work. Unfortunately it was also not easily repeatable and dealership was unable to fix before warranty expired. Was never a problem for anyone other than my wife.

Other than those issues, the car was a champ and worked wonderfully here with the exception of trails that needed a lifted chassis. The interior and exterior held up unbelievably well and still look new. I already mid the B&O speakers.

The 4Runner should last us many uninspired years.
 
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Ah my fellow former b8 a4 quattro owner.

I would say my experience with the car was not nearly as good as yours seeing as mine had a few bigger issues though I'd say other than reliability it was the best car I had owned until my current one. Sold it 2000 miles before warranty expiration. 4runner will be reliable and fun in different ways. I guess part of it for me is my new car is more fun so I don't miss the Audi as much. You'll at least get to drive the new one to your preferred weekend destination
 
hans007 said:
Ah my fellow former b8 a4 quattro owner.

I would say my experience with the car was not nearly as good as yours seeing as mine had a few bigger issues though I'd say other than reliability it was the best car I had owned until my current one. Sold it 2000 miles before warranty expiration. 4runner will be reliable and fun in different ways. I guess part of it for me is my new car is more fun so I don't miss the Audi as much. You'll at least get to drive the new one to your preferred weekend destination
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Yes, I remember you saying you had a number of issues. I forgot one more... When the car first started up, the power steering motor took a few seconds to warm up. If you immediately backed out of a stop (turning)... There was an occasional vibration. Once the car was warm, the issue would not appear again.

All of these issues never caused us a problem, but I wasn't excited to find out post warranty. Luckily A4's have a pretty good resale in our area and we really had kept the car pristine.

I am jealous of you as I would love to be slinging around a new 3-Series... Just doesn't make any sense given out current needs. The 4Rumner has its own charms... but they do not involve driving pleasure or speed. I miss my old M3 even more than the A4 with respect to actually driving.
 
PricklyPete said:
Yes, I remember you saying you had a number of issues. I forgot one more... When the car first started up, the power steering motor took a few seconds to warm up. If you immediately backed out of a stop (turning)... There was an occasional vibration. Once the car was warm, the issue would not appear again.

All of these issues never caused us a problem, but I wasn't excited to find out post warranty. Luckily A4's have a pretty good resale in our area and we really had kept the car pristine.

I am jealous of you as I would love to be slinging around a new 3-Series... Just doesn't make any sense given out current needs. The 4Rumner has its own charms... but they do not involve driving pleasure or speed. I miss my old M3 even more than the A4 with respect to actually driving.
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actually mine had that weird power steering thing too. it would be really obvious if you had parked on an incline. i guess you could offroad in the 4 runner as its basically an FJ cruiser underneath and plenty capable if you are into offroading (im not, but i have a friend who traded an E46 m3 for an fj and i guess its a different sort of fun)
 
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