SOT: Daily driver shopping, German car content Options

[BigDBass]

I'm shopping for a new DD. Depending on who you ask, it's time to either put the trusty 84k miles '96 Cherokee in someone else's hands (my queen), or to supplement it with a new DD (her jester).

I'm rather enamored of the Audi A3 Quattro. I've been doing a lot of reading and I'm sort of leaning towards a ~2007 3.2 V6 over the 2.0T or 2.0 TDI diesel (only available in FWD).

Other vehicles on the fringes of my mind are Mazda 3 hatchback, Mazda CX-7, VW GTI, Infiniti M35 or M37. Not a big BMW fan (plus my wife hates bimmers).

I thought it would be dumb not to inquire with my car buddies here who are far smarter and experienced when it comes to these four-wheeled hunks of metal that drink fossil fuels.

Comments, criticism, donations, and hijacks are hereby requested!

[bfrymire]

I'm shopping for a new DD. Depending on who you ask, it's time to either put the trusty 84k miles '96 Cherokee in someone else's hands (my queen), or to supplement it with a new DD (her jester).

I'm rather enamored of the Audi A3 Quattro. I've been doing a lot of reading and I'm sort of leaning towards a ~2007 3.2 V6 over the 2.0T or 2.0 TDI diesel (only available in FWD).

Other vehicles on the fringes of my mind are Mazda 3 hatchback, Mazda CX-7, VW GTI, Infiniti M35 or M37. Not a big BMW fan (plus my wife hates bimmers).

I thought it would be dumb not to inquire with my car buddies here who are far smarter and experienced when it comes to these four-wheeled hunks of metal that drink fossil fuels.

Comments, criticism, donations, and hijacks are hereby requested!

Audi Experience here:

I have a 2007 A4, and bought it used. In one year of ownership, three coil packs died. Got a recall letter for the coil packs and took it in.

We'll see if will still have problems...

Love the car otherwise. Got good at replacing coil packs on the side of the road.

-- brett

[Andyrew]

I'm shopping for a new DD. Depending on who you ask, it's time to either put the trusty 84k miles '96 Cherokee in someone else's hands (my queen), or to supplement it with a new DD (her jester).

I'm rather enamored of the Audi A3 Quattro. I've been doing a lot of reading and I'm sort of leaning towards a ~2007 3.2 V6 over the 2.0T or 2.0 TDI diesel (only available in FWD).

Other vehicles on the fringes of my mind are Mazda 3 hatchback, Mazda CX-7, VW GTI, Infiniti M35 or M37. Not a big BMW fan (plus my wife hates bimmers).

I thought it would be dumb not to inquire with my car buddies here who are far smarter and experienced when it comes to these four-wheeled hunks of metal that drink fossil fuels.

Comments, criticism, donations, and hijacks are hereby requested!

Audi Experience here:

I have a 2007 A4, and bought it used. In one year of ownership, three coil packs died. Got a recall letter for the coil packs and took it in.

We'll see if will still have problems...

Love the car otherwise. Got good at replacing coil packs on the side of the road.

-- brett

Yup, They switched brands on the coilpacks ~ 03 and have had problems ever since. There are some non Audi brands (read Jap) that the performance guys use that are better and cheaper. However for most, the recall covers it.

Personally, I havent had coilpacks go bad on me yet. Had the car (sig) for 40k miles, 125k-165k. Only thing I havent replaced yet is the rear diff and the motor itself. However the rear diff needs to be replaced. The trani got eaten up from AWD burnouts and launches or else it would still be in it (in fact, I only replaced it because the syncro in 1st was bad due to the burnouts).

Extremely well designed cars, Working on them is no more difficult than working on my Honda. Its just a little more time consuming. Parts on the other hand are 2-3x as much.

But just ask me which car I prefer driving. Ask me which car i'd keep if I could only drive one car for the rest of my life. (I'd say 944 turbo.. but thats not in my garage at the moment). Ya, the Audi is a much better and well designed car.