I have a Sport Cross and I an thnking of getting the A4 Avant. the question (s) are should I and which one. I hear that the 1.8 turbo is easy to mod with a chip and makes some pretty good power. what about the 2.8 or the 3.0?

 

I say go with a RS4 Avant, tons of fun there. Otherwise I would say go with the 1.8 as you can get lots of turbo mods

 

RS4 is out of the budget but yes that would be the car....I'm looking for a slightly used under 20K miles version

 

What's the price-point you're looking at?

 

The 2.8 is torquey and fun since it has the 6 speed (at least in vw's it does), but if i could do it over again i would get the 1.8t because of gas mileage alone. In my 2.8 i get a little over 20mpg with cruise control set at the speed limit! Plus the mods on the 1.8t can be fun too.

 

BTW, where can you get a RS4 Avant in state? The only RS available is only RS6. People in Europe are the lucky ones. Anyway I used to have a 98 A4 2.8 Quattro. Own it since new, later on discovered oil leak problem in the engine.. Almost any seal in the can leak. At that time engine only have 40k miles, no track, Mobile 1 syn. all times. Very disappointing.
Friend of mine got another 98 A4 2.8, have same problem, plus, the main seal leaks also.
However, another friend own a 1.8T Passat, almost 100k, only replaced water pump once.. other than that, no problem at all.

 

This might be out of your price range but the new IS350 was tested by C&D and ran a 13.7 quarter mile. The engine is rated a tick about 300 hp...306 I think.

Too early to tell what mods are available for it, if any.

 

True, you would have to import it and that raises the price-point a bit. I knew a guy with an RS6 avant, it hauled ***

 

Is the RS4 Avant the one they recently tested in C&D? If so, the estimated price was in the low 80k range. They didn't know how much it would be if imported to the U.S.

 

RS4, what-a-car, they imported very limited number of them to Us, I know a guy from Mexico here owned one. Good luck locating one, but if you can afford it, go for it.

1.8T is ok, lots of potential and the motor is bullet proof, can take abuse. 2.8 V6 is more refined, but yet the 1.8T feels sportier. 3.0, is a derivative of the old 2.8. For an Avant, 3.0 is better, gets as good gas mileage and of course more low-end torque.

But again, it depends on what kind of purposes the Avant is going to serve.

for the Lexus, really don't care about them at all, raher buy a WRX STW.

Berk

 

http://www.fast-autos.net/audi/audirs4.html

only $65k!!

 

What's wrong with your current Lexus??

 

That's true, if you don't care about the luxuary feature provide by the Audi, and you just need a station wagon to do the job. WRX Wagon is a really good choice.. you can get a used one for less than $15k. and a brand new one for around $20k. That is a very reliable car, and very easy to getting more power out. Their AWD system is one of the best in the market... did I tell you they have real LSD on the rear axle.

 

Wrong year..I don't think they imported 2000 into the U.S.

C&D has another article where it's a 414hp v-8 and it's priced at 55k(without options, whatever they are). But a more recent article stated 80k. So when it actually comes here we'll know the price.

 

Actrually the Lexus is fine......it is a sport cross wagon. I need a small wagon and I don't think the new Lexys will be available in wagon format. I like the idea of the Audi...quattro and all. I bought it right and it runs great. It can be modded up to well over 300 hp pretty cheap. i actually saw one dynoed at 400 hp. Just a wild hair