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Author: Carter

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2004 Volkswagen Passat GLS 1.8T Variant

2004 Volkswagen Passat GLS 1.8T Variant

Published May 15, 2022 by Carter

I sold my 2002 Passat – the first of the B5.5s imported into this country – almost a year ago with the best part of 175,000 miles, and it had to undergo some resulting maintenance. Some was general maintenance; OEM coil packs, spark plugs, and filters throughout, but the person who bought the car also sunk some money into doing the clutch and timing belt before purchase.

In retrospect, he could have bought a whole other Passat for the amount just sunk into this one.

But in part it’s a testament to how great the B5.5 is. It’s comfortable, capable, fun to drive, and it was completely reliable the entire time I owned it. Part of that comes down to my particular example’s history – I had every receipt going back to day one and I bought it from an enthusiast who only had the dealership maintain it. But part of it also must be attributed to the stoutly built Passat itself.

It’s not unusual to see them kicking around with the best part of 300,000 miles these days. While nostalgic brand ambassadors insist it was the cars of yore that would run forever, the B5 seems on par with the best longevity of earlier Audi-chassis products like the B2. The other reality is that my Passat – built in 2001, so now 21 years old – still looks reasonably new. Though it’s not without idiosyncrasies it’s a pretty amazing car as “cheap” cars go.

Despite that, there was no denying that mileage is mileage, and today’s B5.5 has shockingly little.

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2011 Audi A4 2.0T quattro 6-Speed

2011 Audi A4 2.0T quattro 6-Speed

Published May 14, 2022 by Carter

Back in 2021 I took a look at a bit of a rare package – it bordered on “didn’t know you could still get those” level. Strange, but true – manual gearboxes were being phased out of Audi’s lineup much more quickly than BMW. So it was a treat to find an A4 with a 6-speed manual:

2011 Audi A4 2.0T quattro 6-Speed

As I explained in that post, by 2011 you could get the A4 in either Avant or sedan, front-drive or quattro, with only the 2.0T rated at 211 horsepower. Like the 2021 car, today’s example is also a manual and also has the 18″ Sport Package, which gave you eponymous 18″ wheels, sport suspension, and front sport seats. This one also has some go-fast goodies, and it still looks pretty modern for an 11-year-old car:

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2013 Volkswagen Golf R

2013 Volkswagen Golf R

Published May 8, 2022 by Carter

Following on the heels of the R32 from yesterday, one other issue I personally have with paying big money for a Mk.4 Golf is that you can get a newer, faster, and more practical model for around the same money – or much less. Take, for example, this 2013 Golf R.

In 2012 Volkswagen brought the U.S. the spiritual successor to the Golf Limited – the Mk. 6 Golf R. Gone was the VR6, replaced by the more potent and tunable 2.0T that could now be specified with a manual and all-wheel drive, and importantly in 4-door guise. Did I buy one? Nope, because this German wonder rang in at a shocking $36,000 with options. For a Golf, mind you. But once they started hitting the used market, to me they became more appealing. Unlike the R32, they dropped in price. And they still came in great colors, like today’s Rising Blue Metallic.

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2004 Volkswagen R32

2004 Volkswagen R32

Published May 7, 2022 by Carter

The Mk.4 GTI lineup got progressively better from its introduction through the early 2000s and culminated with the U.S. finally getting the Super Golf. All-wheel drive was nothing new to the hatchbacks, as they’d had it in the normal run starting in 1986 and it was offered pretty much straight until today. But for U.S. customers, models like the Golf Rallye, Golf Limited, and VR6 Syncro models were forbidden fruit until the fourth generation of Golfs.

In late 2003, the model with so much promise was finally added to the U.S. lineup. The underpinnings were shared with the Audi TT, which meant a transverse engine utilizing a Haldex hydraulic controller to drive the rear wheels. Power came from a double-overhead cam 24 valve narrow-angle VR6. Displacing 3189 cubic centimeters, it generated 237 horsepower and 236 lb.ft of torque and for the first generation it was mated solely to a 6-speed manual transaxle. Outwardly there were a few clues that it was more potent than the contemporary 20th Anniversary GTI; revised front and rear bumper covers with dual exhaust and gaping intakes. The wheels were the same 18″ OZ-made Aristo wheels from the 20th, but the calipers were painted blue and matched with rotors a full 1.3 inches larger than the GTI. As with the signature model for performance in the hot hatch category, the R32 received larger anti-roll bars and 1BE sport suspension, good for a 1″ drop. Tires were meaty 225-40-18 ZR-rated rubber. All of these things helped to keep the weight of the R32 in check, and there was plenty of that to manage. The addition of heavier-duty running gear, two more cylinders and all-wheel drive meant that the R weighed in a full 3,350 lbs – about two full-sized adults north of a GTI. It was more powerful, but it wasn’t really much quicker in a straight line. Of course, it had great torque and even greater noise, along with the mystique of being the head honcho around the VW scene. Consequently, the R32 has maintained near-cult status since new and examples still demand a serious premium over the rest of their contemporaries from Volkswagen:

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1991 Audi Coupe Quattro

1991 Audi Coupe Quattro

Published May 5, 2022 by Carter

This B3 sold for $4,150 on May 13, 2022.

Time to consider another Audi icon – the Coupe Quattro. Of course, it was quite hard to follow the original act, but in Europe alongside the RR Quattro 20V was the all-new B3 generation S2. Performance was about par between them, but they had intensely different characters. The new car was safer, quieter, more round, and a lot more practical – while the original Quattro had always looked like it had a hatchback, it was the successor that actually had one.

Of course, in the U.S. we didn’t receive the S2. The Coupe Quattro made due with a thoroughly upgraded 2.3 liter DOHC 20V motor – the 7A. Deep in the middle of the recession and not fully recovered from Audi’s 60 Minutes debacle, the very expensive Coupe Quattro sold slowly. A total of approximately 1,700 of them were imported at over $30,000 each. Considering the cost, the performance was rather soft; the heavy Coupe sported only 164 horsepower and though it was smooth and reasonably quick on the highway, off-the-line performance was lackluster at best. Still, though the internet fora would have you believe otherwise, performance between the U.S.-spec Coupe and original Quattro was pretty similar.

Options on the Coupe were limited to the Cold Weather package, 8-way power seats, and Pearlescent White Metallic paint – two of which are seen here on this Tornado Red ’91. ’91s also had the upgraded glass moonroof rather than the early steel panel, though they lost the infamous “Bag of Snakes” tubular header early models carried. ’91s also gained rear sway bars and are the rarest of the bunch, with only 364 sold in the model year and a further 58 traded as leftovers. This one is probably more of a project than most would want to take on, but let’s take a look:

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