Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
So were I going to go through the effort to import a car from Germany, I’d probably be looking for an interesting ride that isn’t frequently seen here. Of course, I have a tremendous amount of love for the V8 quattro I just mentioned in my last posting, and Europe got some pretty cool options that never came here. Today I want to take a look at two unique – and very rare – D11s that are on offer in Germany. Despite being the proverbial hen’s tooth, they don’t need to break the bank, either:
Back when I bought my first Audi, there were two five doors available in the US; the A6 Avant and the S6 Avant. Other markets had more options, its true, but it’s also not like the cup overfloweth. Today? The story has changed. Right now, Audi markets 15 different five door models. FIFTEEN. How is that possible? Well, you’ve got seemingly infinite variants of just a few chassis underpinnings, that’s how. There’s the Q3, Q5, the ‘slinkier’ Q5 Sportback, then the S versions of both of those, the Q7 and SQ7, the Q8, SQ8, and RS Q8, the e-tron, the e-tron Sportback, both A4 and A6 allroads, and finally, the RS6 Avant. Wow, how times have changed!
Today I’m going to look at two of Audi’s most expensive products outside of the R8. Both share a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8, an 8-speed automatic, around 600 horsepower, sub-4-second 0-60 times, ‘track-tuned’ ability, and $110,000 plus starting prices. But what if you just can’t wait to get down to your dealership?
Often we ignore really modern cars on these pages. It’s not necessarily that they’re not exciting – often it’s quite the opposite. For me, it’s just that they’re not exciting to see for sale because they’re still effectively cars that you can walk into a dealership and buy. And I’m sorry, while they can thoroughly out-perform older cars in virtually every way, you can’t just walk into an Audi dealer and buy a brand new Quattro, can you?
But impressive these cars are, and if you can look down the road so to speak at having one as a potential special car in the future, you can balance a hefty discount from new with near-new status and have quite a savings over stock, too. When the F8x BMW M3 and M4 launched, they were loud, proud, and…well, large. Park an M4 next to an original M3, and you can nearly hide the entire older model behind the silhouette of the new one. But when the G80 was launched recently, well…suddenly meet the new boss had me looking at the old boss in a new light. And the S55 is still good for 425 horsepower – and it’ll still rip your face off. 0-60 is gone in 4 seconds and it’ll demolish the older generations in a straight line. So let’s check out the signature tone with unique interiors in two very different configurations:
After looking at a very shiny, and very expensive, S6 last month, two more very nice examples have popped up for sale with a few less questions – and a lot less in terms of asking price. What attracted them both to me, besides the more approachable asks, was that they represent opposites in many ways. We have a Pearlescent White Metallic with Black leather 95.5 equipped with Speedline Avus wheels, and a Black over Ecru 95 wearing Fuchs. It’s interesting to see them both appear at the same time – so which represents the better deal? Let’s start with the 95.5 first:
For some, the A2 is a religion and the GTI 16V is their prophet. Being that it’s the Christian Sabbath today (observed, at least – forget for a moment that it’s supposed to be Saturday!) I thought I’d take a look at a chosen few. The other meaning of sabbath, interestingly, is a meeting of witches with the Devil at midnight. Perhaps that’s more appropriate for these hot hatches, all of whom have a slightly evil temper and love mischief? Regardless, in the wake of the Rallye-inspired Golf this interesting trio of what were once original GTI 16Vs popped up, and all are worthy of a look. They range from mild to wild both in terms of mods and price. Are any of them winners?
