New Legacy GT Wagon vs. 2 y.o. Audi S4 Avant?

[crapy]

God, don't get an Audi for any reason. They will ruin your driving experience. They might look handsome, but the reliability and resale value is awlful. Although this might not be Audi's problem, my 03' A4 1.8T front-right tire "exploded" itself for no reason when I was doing 35 in my local street.

[Mike]

Having owned several Audis in the past, including 2 B5 A4's, I'd suggest getting the S4 only if you can find one with a warranty. Right now you can find a 2001-2002 avant for around 20k--prices have dropped lately. It's a ton of fun to drive, even stock, but the suspension is floaty and the shifter is vague. Power mods are easy and get you big numbers, but as others have mentioned the turbos often grenade due to oil starvation and excess heat (big turbo motor crammed into tiny engine bay). There are several other common issues that tend to go wrong like TBB's, BPV's, synchros, etc. To replace the turbos you really need to pull to he motor. If you are anywhere near NJ, forget it, these cars are stolen daily especialy near newark. If you want the more reliable ride get the GT, if you want something more luxorious with better power/mod potential get the S4. Check out [url="http://forums.audiworld.com/s4"]http://forums.audiworld.com/s4[/url]

[agctr]

I have to say that the S4 Avant is a weapon and a serious one at that. The GT is as well but the S4 is a lot more sportier and is totally backed by Audi Sport where the GT is not backed by anything else that Mr Fuji. The S4 IMHO is a great car and should be given a serious look but against something brand new, well its a hard decision. All the best Adam.

[bbbradley]

My wife has a 2000 A4 sedan we bought with ~30k miles, while she loves it, it has not been very reliable. Nothing major, but just a constant hassle. The CEL light has been on more than it has been off. Fix it, and a new problem pops up. The airbag light has now joined the CEL as a constant dashboard illumination. :rolleyes: The connection under the seat is corroded...from what I have no idea, but it is pretty absurd in a 4 year old car to have an INTERIOR part corroded! Oh, yea, Audi also redesigned the wheel bearings for the 99.5(?) and on cars so that they grenade every 50-60k miles...$$$$$ The problem is she has been spoiled by the Audi interior, we've shopping for a replacement and after driving a new A4, and the new S40, she's still hooked on the current A4. The Volvo was closest, because it looked, and drove like her current car. :lol: I would not touch a used S4, maintenance will kill you! If you must, find out if it was ever chipped, or the boost was played with. IIRC one of the reasons Audi went to a NA V8 was because many biturbo owners chipped and cooked engines. A friend of mine just bought a V8 S4 Avant, it is a blast to drive, but I'm glad he gets to maintain it...and let me drive it. :D /bill

[RidinLow]

I had the exact same dilemna last weekend. As some of you may know, I had a pretty cool 1997 Legacy Outback wagon with WRX parts (motor, brakes, susp, seats, etc) until someone ran a stop sign and T-boned me a day before Thanksgiving. The wife and I narrowed down a list of cars to two possibilities... a new 2.5GT wagon or a lightly used S4 Avant. We test drove both this past weekend so the experience is still fresh in my head. The new 2.5GT is leaps and bounds ahead of any previous Subaru in terms of refinement and interior. It's really quiet, pulls very hard, and handles nicely. Plus, there's a lot of room in the back... not quite as much as the older Legacies, but still noticeably larger than the S4. The S4 Avant also pulls hard. I'm not sure which one was quicker because the S4 has much taller gearing, but I'd say stock for stock they're close enough. Even though the S4 had 35k mi on the odo, it still drove like a new car. I was really torn between the two cars, but my wife liked the feel of the Audi better, so we went with that. We purchased it from an Audi dealer so once the car's original warranty runs out next year, it gets bumped out again for another 2 years or 100k mi, making it about the same as Subaru's 3 year warranty. Plus, the S4 was a bit cheaper than the Subaru. $25.5k plus tax. Of course, on the way home from the dealer, the CEL came on. It turned out to be a cracked BOV (plastic on these cars for some reason). Good thing it's still under warranty! :p [img]http://garrickgoh.com/iclubdls/S4day2a.jpg[/img]