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Tag: 2008

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Two Turbos or None? BMW 335i v. M3

A few months ago at a gathering of friends, two BMWs were present – my friend’s E46 M3 and his acquaintance’s E82 135i. A bit under my breath, I mentioned to him that I still couldn’t get over how unattractive the 135i was compared to the M3. I may have said that the E82 looked a bit like a really poor quality bodyshop repaired a E46 that had been both in full frontal and rear crashes – poorly. But my friend countered that if anything, that 135i was faster and more fun to drive than his M3. Looking back, I paused, and thought “Could I?” The answer remains no in my book, but it does raise an interesting question – with E92 335i prices dropping within reach of the higher E46 M3s, which is the better choice?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2008 BMW 335i on eBay

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Soft Top or Hard Top? 2005 BMW M3 Convertible vs. 2008 BMW M3 Convertible

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The M3 Convertible. A rather curious beast, no? Especially if one considers the M3’s original purpose of a tool by which to dominate DTM racing. However, there has been a drop top version of every M3 since the original E30, even if we didn’t see that one officially on US shores. With the change in nomenclature, we now have the M4 convertible to compliment the M4 coupe and M3 sedan. Each new iteration has debuted more powerful engines, advanced gearboxes and we even saw a new folding hardtop on the E93 M3, carried over to the M4.

These two M3s are for sale in New York and represent a definite split in approach to the fast convertible formula. First up, we’ll take a look at this 2005 E46 M3, which is armed with the rev-happy S54 inline-6 under the hood that everyone knows and loves mated to a good old row-your-own 6-speed manual.

Click for details: 2005 BMW M3 Convertible on eBay

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Wagon Week Avant End Of An Era: ’08 S4, A4 and A6 Avants

At the risk of sounding a bit like a grumpy old man, I really miss the days of Audi yore. Audi did things differently for such a long time that it’s a bit disappointing to see more designs that mimic their contemporaries. I realize part of that has resulted from a realization that the market dictates what is popular, and Audi’s huge sales successes in recent years are no doubt the product of producing more mainstream vehicles that sell. But the result of that is that Audi has stepped away from part of what made them such a fan favorite; starting in 1986, Audi began offering fast wagons. At the time, that was unique to the market – BMW didn’t even offer a wagon stateside until the E34 Touring, and most of the Mercedes-Benz models didn’t really fit in with the fast motorsport enthusiast crowd. Audi furthered its reputation in the early 1990s, expanding the fast wagon lineup from just the large wagons with the introduction of the 20V Turbo version of the B4, the S2 and later RS2. Refining the 200 20V into the S4 Avant in C4 form, Audi broadened the engine range to V8 and turbo 5 offerings – continued in the C4 S6 Avant. There was a brief lull in sport between the death of the C4 and the introduction of the B5 S4, but Audi rebounded in style; the B5 A4 was a popular sporty small wagon and the S4 Avant turned that package up a notch. Then Audi simulatenously offered 4 versions of the C5 platform wagon; regular A6, A6 Allroad (with both twin-turbo and V8 options), S6 and RS6 Avant. The RS package revisited the small wagon in the RS4, and suddenly Audi had no less than 8 different sporting versions of wagons in the early 2000s – the height of their power, they were the undeniable fast wagon kings. While we didn’t get all of those cars, we still got a respectably large amount of fast 5-doors; but slowly, over time, Audi killed off its offerings one by one. First to go was the S6 Avant – slow on sales and not as much of a favorite as the C4 had been, that made sense – the similar sized B6 S4 4.2 Avant was, after all, available with a 6-speed and it was silly to offer both. So we soldiered on with a new C6 platform, and I was glad to see the Avant continue on. The C6 was larger and sleeker and certainly a looker; but no S6 Avant made it to the U.S. any more. Audi also killed off the Allroad soon after; a huge sales success, it nevertheless decided to pursue the SUV market instead of bringing the larger C6 Allroad over here. But we still had three different engine choices in the B6 and B7 platform Avants, right? Well, then Audi started killing them off – with the end of the B7, the S4 Avant was pulled from these shores, along with the larger engine A4 Avant. That left us with only the 2.0T A4 and 3.0T A6 Avants – Audi added the A4 Allroad recently, but in exchange we lost both of the last normal Avant holdouts, too. Drive down to your local Audi dealer, and you can no longer buy a normal wagon. They’ve got 15 different “SUV” options, but wagon fans are limited just to the 2.0T automatic Allroad. It’s a shame.

So, for the swan song to Wagon Week, I’ve selected not the best year or best models for our sendoff – but it’s the last stand of when we were offered three sporting options; 2009 would see that number down to two and then one shortly thereafter. Don’t shed a tear, but remember the good times:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2008 Audi S4 Avant on eBay

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You Thought It Couldn’t Get Worse: 2008 Porsche Cayenne 185″ Limo

So often with modified cars we decry the loss of a prime example of a highly desirable car in stock form. Of course, there are exceptions; original Ruf and AMG cars, Alpina and Hartge BMWs and even the occasional Treser is pretty neat. But generally outside of that the modifications don’t do much in terms of desirability to the market at large; people really seem to prefer stock examples. Despite that, when it comes to a generally unloved model, I’m willing to bet that no one will cry much for the loss – witness today’s 2008 Porsche Cayenne. While the facelift generation Cayenne is generally perceived as a visual improvement over the original design, I can’t say that there are a tremendous amount of enthusiasts that really get super excited about them. That’s especially true of the entry level 3.2 VR6 model; whether it’s true or not, it feels like it’s a lot more Volkswagen than Porsche, and I for one think the Touareg is better looking. Consequently, I let out an audible laugh and cheer when I stumbled across this 185″ stretched limousine version of a 2008 Cayenne:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2008 Porsche Cayenne Limo on eBay

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2008 Audi A3 S-line

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For the several years I lived in San Francisco, the A3 was a ubiquitous but understandable yuppie choice. Good luxury, decent utility and speed with a good measure of the all-important parkability make it a great choice for cityfolk. My college girlfriend had an A4 2.0T that I very much enjoyed wringing out, even if it wheezed a little at the top end. The quick and available tuning options would be very tempting for me, and a dark-grey dart on RS4 wheels sounds like a killer commuter. A well-explained fender-bender knocks this one’s history but helps bring the price down to a level where, with just over 50k miles, it should move very quickly.

Click for details: 2008 Audi A3 on eBay

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