A New Car!!!!!

[S4_SAT]

As some people may know, I am on the hunt for a new car to replace my dearly departed A2. I was offered a 330bhp '99 S4 Avant, an '04 A4 1.8T Avant(now not for sale) and a '94 Porsche 968 CS in white. Well, another contender has appeared in the form of an '06 A3 2.0T Quattro S-Line Special Edition in red. Will be checking insurance for this one today and checking running costs and servicing cost etc. Anyone got any experience of any of these cars to help me make an informed decision unlike the jump in and buy it approach I had with the A2?

[derdle]

If you are thinking of the A3, you could consider something like the Golf GTi either as the 2.0 4 cylinder FSI (197 bhp stock) or the 4 wheel drive R32 (250 bhp stock)?

Paul

[StuH]

The 330bhp '99 S4 Avant will probably have standard KO3 turbos. My 310bhp 99 S4 will soon need new turbos,(£3.5k fitted) this is possibly due to the extra work theye are doing, If you buy that car your turbos will be working harder still, make sure they are not whistling at all from cold. (the engine must be loaded, parked and reved will tell you nowt) If i had my time over again i'd have bought either an already done KO4 turbo'd S4 with 370bhp or a comprehensive warranty. Either way unless you are an expert i'd get an inspection

94 Porsche 968 CS in white. Fab car, one of the few that can carry white well. lovely driving possition, great build quality. My like my long term 944s2 (its predecessor) it has a fabulous ride/handling compromise and beautiful steering. Engine failures again can be just as expensive as with the audi and they tend to cenre around the cylinder heads. Must be inspected and/or warrantied. Less grunt than the s4 but the lower weight and lower drive train losses mean that its only a bit slower than the audi between 10 and 70mph

I dont really know about S4 depreciation but I bet the 968 will be worth 90% of what its worth now in 3 years if you maintain it and keep the miles down.