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Tag: Avus

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Double Take: 1995 Audi S6 Avants

Published September 27, 2014 by Carter

There are plenty of special cars in the realm of classic German automobiles, but one of the most capable and affordable is the S6 Avant. Only a few hundred of these special wagons made it to U.S. shores; denied the S4 Avant, enthusiasts lined up for the U.S. replacement for the fabled 200 20V quattro Avant. It was worth the wait, as great styling coupled with even more power for a truly luxurious sleeper wagon. It was unique on U.S. shores, too – BMW and Mercedes-Benz didn’t really offer any competition to these cars. Most have been pretty used by this point, but thanks to eagle eyes from our readers John and Jack, we can enjoy two great examples today – from mild to wild. Which would be the one you’d want?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Audi S6 Avant on craigslist

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Rare Tres: Audi S8 Roundup

Published September 18, 2014 by Carter

I’ve made no excuses about my personal favoritism towards the Audi S8, but I think it’s reasonably justified. The E55 v 500E post from the other day reminded me why; sure, the E55 is a pretty cool car, but as one of the comments noted it looks a bit like a Kia. Park it next to a S8 and that’s brought into even starker contrast. Audi just got it right; the right amount of sport, a great engine and soundtrack, all-wheel drive and a gorgeous and luxurious interior. Today I’ve got three more rare-to-see colors; Avus Pearl, Andorra Red and Pearlesant White. Let’s look at my favorite first:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2003 Audi S8 on Hemmings

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1995 Audi S6

Published August 23, 2014 by Carter

We’re a fickle crowd, automobile enthusiasts. We’ll sit around critiquing cars all day long; what we would or wouldn’t have done, and where the current seller has stepped up or fallen short. Without knowing the whole story, we’ll question motivation, driving habits, cleaning regiments or part choices. Piece by piece, we’ll pick apart what often isn’t an unreasonable asking price for a used car, spending money that isn’t ours and making bold claims about how little we would pay for such a ride. But for those of us who have gone through attempting to rebuild a vehicle to a high standard or return a car to stock form, it’s a little easier to be objective when viewing an asking price on what is a pristine example of a rare car. Simply put, there’s a balance between buying an example that fits the “wants” – you “want” a perfect, pristine, low mile, low owner count maintained car, but you “want” to spend as little as you can. Let’s take a look at a car with a serious fan following in seriously good condition and break it down – in this case, it’s a pristine 1995 Audi S6:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Audi S6 on eBay

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2001 Audi S8

Published August 14, 2014 by Carter

I’ll admit that I probably have rose-colored glasses on when I look back at my V8 quattro ownership. I had enough issues with it that my wife refers to most catastrophic failures in life as “like your Audi V8” incidents. Sure, it tried to kill me a few times; but then, look at it. It’s a great looking car. And that was what kept me going as I dumped money into an example that I paid far too little for initially. Today, I find myself looking back and saying “Next time, spend a little more and get the right one”. This is something that really should extend to the rest of my car purchases, frankly – and when the opportunity to purchase a replacement Passat, I didn’t cheap out. I found a 1 owner, lower mile and fully maintained model, and I paid a premium for it. Could I have gotten one for less money with a more dubious history? Absolutely, but learn from my experiences – buying a budget Audi/Volkswagen product with the intentions of fixing it along the way as things break will certainly cost you as much as buying the nice model would have cost you. I continue to longingly look at D2 S8s with the same balance; pay for a lower mile, nice example with maintenance history versus the many that pop up for budget prices. One Ming Blue example just surfaced near me for $4,000 with the check engine light on; another for $2,500 with 200,000 miles with a blown transmission. I could get one of those, but it’s probably smarter to spend more than double that for an example with less question marks:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2001 Audi S8 on eBay

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10K Friday Performance Edition: M3 v. 944 Turbo v. CLK500 v. S4 v. GTi

Published July 18, 2014 by Carter

Well, I hope this will stir some interest, as I think this is a bit of an interesting comparison. What level of performance can you buy for $10,000 (give or take) these days? Surprisingly, there are a lot of options – and those options vary pretty seriously in their execution and packages; there’s a wagon and a sports car, two sedan-based coupes and a hatchback. Engines range from a 2 liter turbo to a V8, with a bit of everything in between. Yet, what appears to be a very strange comparison linked only by price is revealed to be much closer when you look at performance figures:

E36 M3: 240 hp, 0-60 6.0 seconds, 3,200 lbs
944 Turbo: 220 hp, 0-60 5.9 seconds, 2,900 lbs
CLK500: 302 hp, 0-60 5.7 seconds, 3,800 lbs
S4 Avant: 250 hp, 0-60 5.6 seconds, 3,700 lbs
GTi: 200 hp, 0-60 6.6 seconds, 3,200 lbs

The range is much closer than you’d expect – especially when you consider that these figures could easily be equaled in margin of error, driver skill and reaction time. In the twisties, the lower powered cars like the GTi catch up to the higher power CLK and S4. All are, in one way or another, practical choices. Some are destined (or already) classics, while others will likely fade away. So what would be your choice? Let’s start with an M3 we’ve already seen:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1999 BMW M3 on eBay

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