I'm looking for a new daily driver so the TT can be retired to fun/track only. It's got 140k miles on it, and I rack em up at about 25k a year, lots of local miles, i'm an IT consultant and travel to customer sites every day.

actual mpg isn't as important to me as a car that is comfortable and reliable-ish (hell, I drive a highly modded TT now, what would be less reliable-ish than that?)

I'm tall at 6'5" but not fat. I love the S6 sport seats. The TT is fine headroom wise. I want some space, so am only interested in Avant's

i've narrowed my options to the following:

03 S6 Avant
pros:
awesome motor
awesome interior
total sleeper
comfy comfy
fast
spacious
great styling
cons:
$35 large for the right car
will depreciate massively if I put 100k on this in the next handful of years (but I can write off almost 100% of my miles)

06-07 A4 Avant
pros:
great little motor in the 2.0
fairly comfy
fast enough
decent gas mileage
$25k for a nice example
newer, most likely in warranty
great styling
cons:
smallish (been there, done that, have a family these days)
more likely to mod the **** out of this car, as it's so easy, haha

03-04 Allroad 2.7T
pros:
bigger
fast enough
comfy enough
wifey loves the styling, so maybe I could pawn it off on her in a couple years
$25k
cons:
2.7 turbos are notorious
i'll chip it and make that even worse
air suspension woes down the road
Not in the least bit exciting to me as a car


So, what say you?

Am I retarded to drop $35 on a daily driver? (I only paid 22k for the TT four years ago, but my station in life has improved a bit...)

 

between the warranty and the better gas mileage, you'll probably save a lot of money over the other two

otherwise, can't you get an S6 for less than 30k? I think my friend sold his '02 for 28k

 

any Audi you get (except an R8) is going to depreciate massively. Starting out with a slightly older car gets you at least some of the upside on that (ie someone else has eaten a chunk of depreciation).

Warranty would be nice but I think the 4.2 in the S6 is a pretty solid motor. Maybe troll the C5 board for any really nasty issues (like our coilpacks, clusters, etc). I know the C5 A6 series is prone to the same FSU issues as the TT but I think they have a recall on the A6.

 

03 S6 Avant-

 

go check out an A3 - like a TT wagon you might be surprised with it!

 

I've driven it, and the other thing I can't abide is the fact that the 2.0 is frontrak only. meh. needs quattro to be an audi.

 

only talking about 3,333 bucks a year. You'd drop that on A4 mods, and possibly on turbo's/repairs on the Allroad. Love the 2.7T, but it is something to be feared (by the wallet) if you're gonna put miles on it. So..... true ownership costs, sans gas, should be about the same over 3-4 years.

You only live once, so for a small difference in $$$, drive the A6 you love daily and play with the TT on weekends. Buy the wife something more reliable later. WRX? Bought my wife a WRX limited "avant" (BEFORE SUBI HIT IT WITH AN UGLY STICK) with all the bells/whistles. Loves it and it's uber reliable.

Drive something you can dig. Hit the A6.

 

Last Honda cost me $1200/yr in depreciation and maintenance over 7 years. Besides, you're a Geek! Sell some advertising for mod money....:-)

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/13940/elementyourad.jpg">

 

torque. Evil man. ;-)

 

Heh heh.....3 x elements = 1 x C6........:-)