eric strauss

… life is short, driving is a joy!

I am blessed to have a wife who also loves sports cars and spirited driving, so we are a bit of a hopeless case (thirty cars and counting).

Here's a suggestion for a car plan:

2015: M3

2017: New B9 S4

2019: Cadillac ATS-V (special Edition)

Below is a pic from a recent drive...

Happy Motoring

Eric

spicedparrot

Mind blown...drove the S4 first and wow...the 2016 S6 just blew it away. And so much better than the ATS-V. But its quite a bit more expensive. Then again, its fast enough that I won't feel the need to Tune at first (but I can't imagine what that thing could do tuned!! Yowza).

It's bigger so I'm hoping it doesn't give up too much handling on Road America - there wasn't an easy way for me to check the handling out on the Test Drive.

Thoughts?

djkyky

After owning a Cadillac SRX and then an Audi S4 I would never go back to a Cadillac. Any car can have issues but there was one problem after another on the Cadillac. Timing belt replaced, strut failure, exhaust rattle and it had towed three time for not starting. It was purchased new. Glad I bought the extended warranty.

spicedparrot

You might be in to something which could be why no one seems to know when the ATS-V will hit the ground. Then again they have been making ATS's for awhile so surely they have some kinks worked out.

Nearly every word written about the ATS is positive (less the CUE system, which seems fine to me).

Still it's RWD (less than ideal in WI but it does have a "snow" mode) and 10 k more. I'm just not sure if that 10K is buying that much more...but it's tempting.

Well the 2016 S4 wont come I until mid-July so I have time to mull it over.

bbbuzzy

"but BMW needs to step up their game soon, as competition is gaining as it is aging. "


??? The F80 M3 was released as a 2015 model. Hardly aging.

togatown

Since you are obviously a BMW fanboy, what exactly has BMW done with the F80, that puts itself a quantum leap back ahead of the competition?
Face it, the gap in class is narrowing each year, as all car makers in that class target the M3, and there will be viable choices sooner rather than later.
You can forgive BMW for going the way of the crowd and doing away with that great sounding V8, but even AWD is becoming a standard of entry for the future.

I also don't pretend that the stock S4 is in the same class as the M3 and stand by my original statement:

" The M3 is definitely still the benchmark in it's class, but BMW needs to step up their game soon, as competition is gaining as it is aging.
Had a 335 prior to Audi A5/S4 and love the interior of our cars over BMW, but would probably still jump ship back if they made the M3 in AWD."

spicedparrot

Figured I update these threads for others researching...ultimately bought a 2016 S6. All the luxury and the speed.

togatown

Sweet, post up some pics when you can.

eric strauss

... what a wonderful car!

eric

Dr Chill

As an owner of an S4 and S6, the car we plan on keeping for a long tme is the S6. If you really find it's more than you want to spend, a 1 year old S6 should be about $10g less expensive. The 4.0TT is an amazing motor. Yes, it's not about the handling on the S6, but it's an amazing highway cruiser that gets 25mpg at 80 mph all day long due to the seamless cylinder deactivation. Oh yeah, it's fast as hell too.