ehchang

I have a Stg 2 2004 WRX and I must say that I love the car and the subaru community. It's quick, reliable, and fun to mod.

That being said, being a new dad and a busy job have kept me away from the long hours (and sometimes frustrations) of car upgrades / maintenance. I have always admired the A4 avants for their styling, and got a chance to drive a 2011 A4 titanium sport (sedan) and 2010 S4 today (dealer did not have any avants in stock).

I am looking for speed, great handling, and luxury. I hope the 2012 A4 avant with sport package is the answer. The dealer had just received the updates on 2012 and seems like P+ (which I would want) has a power tailgate for this year, as well as S-line, and 18s standard. Unfortunately looks like list is also $1300 more too!

Anyone in the same boat. Any advice?

Sundowner

the avant is only available in the automatic, so I don't know if that matters to you like it does to me.

I had to make a choice between a 2011 A4 sedan with the Ti package and a stick, an S4, and an A4 avant with the tiptronic automatic. I have a kid on the way, so interior space was a real concern, and even more so when you add the 95 lb furbag drooling on my kitchen floor into the mix.

The S4 I drove was lovely. It had the red magma interior with the lava grey exterior and the 19" potato peeler wheels. I loved the car, hated the $8k premium over the A4 Ti, and was ashamed of the fel economy I'd get by way of thatthat brilliant 3.0L engine.

At the end of the day, I went the with the A4 sedan, mostly becuase I found the tip tronic automatic slow to respond to shift orders, and shifting though the 8 gears was onerous. the extra storage room of the Avant wasn't "that" much more than the sedan, so here I am.

All things being equal, I'd have rather had the avant with a stick, but Audl won't sell me one. I can't even get one with the slick dual clutch auto, which is just downright irritating since I can get that transmission in the more pedestrian Passat wagon, which is about $15k less than the Avant, similarly equipped. I had a 20008 version of one of these cars and I adored it. Unfortunately, the 2008 was the last year for the stick in that car, so replacing it after it was totalled was not an option for me, and finding them used is almost impossible.

Were I you, I'd actually look first to finding a leftover VW Passat wagon. They are larger, lighter, have the DSG tranny standard, AND get better fuel economy than the A4 avant. They also come with the power tailgate standard, which even the A4 P+ didn't when I was shopping last year, and that was another deal breaker for me. As a bonus, the Passat uses all the same widgets as the GTI, making upgrades a snap.

Audirings4

Coming from a 6spd B7 s4 I can't say I miss the manual transmission.
My 2010 Avant has the AT 6 spd trans that is definitely smoother than my gf's 8 spd AT Q5 but I don't think they're world apart.
The extra interior space has come in handy on more than one occasion. It might not seem like more room visually but you'd be surprised at how much more you can fit.
I love my Avant and enjoy driving it and I'm sure you will too.

quality_sound

Drive the auto before you decide. It's one of the 3 things I really dislike on the car. The seats and MMI are the others. Hindsight, I should have ordered a 328iT.

Esther and Eugene Chang

Wow... 8 speed tip really that bad huh? I was planning on APR chip, but I'm not sure that would change the shifting algorithm.

Hmmm.., I thought I would get much more positive responses on this site, but thanks for being honest! I'm now more on the fence than I ever was.

But, dealer did negotiate $40,180 for a 2012 P+ Avant w/ B&O and sport package. I hated the standard seats, but I really like the sport seats (adjustable up.down lumbar is nice.) I thought the MMI was a big sell on these cars?

Sundowner

Drive it. some people really like the Tip. One guy autocrosses his on this site. Personally, I couldn't stand it. The MMI and the 3D nav is very cool, but at $2000, it just wasn't worth it (to me). Others like it.

quality_sound

Who autocrosses? I know Qua77ro tracks but his is a 6-speed model.

For clarity, it's not the 8-speed specifically, but the auto in general. They REALLY should have had a manual option for cars that were ordered.

Sundowner

yep, I was talking about Qua77ro and his avant. I believe he does have the 6 speed tip.

And I agree about the ordered cars. I don't understand how we can't order cars and not get the options we want, esp. with ED as a side-step. I realize that there are some dingbat EPA rules to navigate, but there HAS TO BE a loophole in there for the allegedly 15 of us who want a stick wagon

QUA77R0

Winter Thunder at ThunderHill Raceway... If a pic is worth a 1000 words, nuff said.


6spd Tip = good
7spd Sport = Amazing (S4)
8spd Tip = joke's on you

Sundowner

I like the not-so-subtle hint that he should go with the Audi by way of you leading a WRX around the corner in that picture