Just bought this today. Holy shit! The 10sp auto shifts fast
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Just bought this today. Holy shit! The 10sp auto shifts fast
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I had an '02 A4 1.8T Quattro for almost 8 years, and put just over 90K miles on it during that time. 4 quarts of synthetic oil & a filter every 5K miles was $70 or so between parts & labor. Doing that 2-3x yearly wasn't a tragedy. The real problem was that stuff on that car was always breaking or coming due for replacement, and it seemed like any time something broke or was due to be replaced, it was $500 minimum, and the sky was the limit. I finally gave up on it last summer in a "straw that broke the camel's back" sort of way when it started consistently missing on at least one cylinder only a few months after I had gotten a repair estimate that rivaled the KBB value of the car. (I declined to do any more than was needed to keep it on the road, but even so it was a big bill.)
The sick thing is that even with all of that crap, a lot of the time I spend in the new car, I spend wishing it was an Audi. Maybe they truly have some sort of automotive special sauce, but I think it's more likely that there's something else I could be happy in which would treat me better, and I just haven't learned my lesson.
This thread makes me career-ambitious. I love my 2016 Subaru Outback, but I DEEPLY want a fun car too.
State Government Attorney | Beretta, Glock, CZ & S&W Fan
I worked at GM Powertrain V8 Passenger Car Development (LT-1Y Car Durability) and Ford Scientific Research Lab, Powertrain Noise, Vibration & Harshness.
German cars are fantastic but they do NOT rival the Japanese when it comes to reliability.
One of the Brit weekly magazines published a reliability & customer satisfaction survey and it was abysmal for the luxury brands. Yes, Porsche was amongst the best of the Euros but still far behind Honda & Toyota.
I've always wondered what EXACTLY the Japanese do to get the reliability where it needs to be. It's DISCIPLINED FOCUS. Which involves testing and modeling and Quality Assurance.
The Germans seem to focus on R&D - my specialty. But they DO perform serious testing, modeling and QA on seas that seem to interest them.
One area the rest of the world seem to lag behind the Japanese is the quality of their automation. I *THINK* Japan has lead in Manufacturing Engineering and robust focus on Design for Manufacturing & Quality Assurance.
I appreciate the sound of the German car door closing, the coarse "bark" when a Ferrari or GT Porsche engine awakens, the solid brake pedal feel, the firmness of the seats - all a measure of quality (albeit a different facet of it).
I'd like to merge the two. Get Toyota and Honda into Porsche & Ferrari and refine the areas that need it. Ferrari has taken great steps to produce a car you can actually drive but it ain't durable - 35,000 miles and a new clutch for the F430. Now they are two models past that and hopefully that has drastically improved. $7k for new headlight assembly? "I'll pass, Tony. Just sell it..."
THIS is why I still adore my 2000 Integra Type R. And also why I'm quietly observing the Civic Type R. You get the same focus of the GT3, more quality where it matters to your pocket book, less quality where I'd like it to match the Euros and extreme reliability at a price we all can afford.
I'll keep fantasizing about me being worth $500 B and then purchasing Honda & Porsche and merging aspects to improve them to my satisfaction... [emoji41]
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Subaru takes a long time to make big changes. If they indeed do this, it will take years to make such an across-all-models transition.
The current 2018 models with available manual transmissions include the Impreza (5-speed), Crosstrek, Forester, BRZ and WRX (6-speed) and of course the STi (6-speed with Driver Controlled Center Differential). Though they are obviously hitching their wagon to the CVT transmission, I cannot imagine then dropping sticks from the WRX or WRX-STi anytime soon.
Congrats! I think my truck is that same color. It looks great when you wash it... something I don't do often enough.
Wife started with an '12 or '13 A4 and it was a great car to drive. I am a long time aircooled VW guy and loved her A4. Now she has a Q3 and while the dynamics and powertrain are worse (shifts are not silky, there is a weird lag on the throttle), its still a solid car to drive.
I can spend money on oil, no problem. And filters too. At one time I was a major oil snob, bought only German Castrol and visited BITOG forums. Just bought a case of AMSOIL for the truck and hopefully Q3.
In aviation & space we destroy the Japanese and Europeans, on all engineering fronts. I just don't get it sometimes. Am I biased, maybe a little? My buddy works for JAXA and says they still struggle.