still looking at motors. my shoulder is on the mend and the snow is melting fast. the bike season is about to start. i need a motor soon.

this being Bavaria, the home of both Audi and BMW there are lots of each available 2nd hand. in fact there are pleanty of A4 & A6s around at under 6k with around or fewer than 100,00 miles.

i know the A4 boot isn’t massive, but nor is the 3 series (tiny, in fact), but the engines seem to be a safe bet. A6 boot is supposedly better/bigger than a 5 series.

i used to have an (2nd hand) Ibiza with the 1.9ltr D engine. never had any problems in over 80k miles, but there do not seem to be so many 1.9s around. however, lots of examples with the 2.5ltr V6 diesel motor. any horror stories? despite it’s size, it still delivers reasonable MPG. and no DPF, am i right?

not fussed so much about the sportiness, more the load lugging and mile munching and the ability to cruise at 120mph without any difficulty. oh, and the Quattro thing… i hate driving in snow so not a bad thing?

looking at:

THIS

THIS

or perhaps the newer shape…
THIS

If load lugging and mile munching are important, how about a slightly older E class?

The A4 and 3 series boots just aren’t big enough, imho.

The VAG engines were very reliable, but they went through a bit of a funny patch 2006 ish to 2008 ish. However most of the known issues should’ve worked themselves out by now.

German cars make good fast mile munchers of course, being intended for the autobahn. However in my experience driving at 110-120mph needs a very clear road or a car capable of much more. If you want to pull out to pass someone doing 80 the people doing 150 don’t give you much room, so unless you can really accelerate hard you might as well stay at 80!

PS I think the 2.5 TDI is a turkey.

Had a look on Autoscout24.de ? (edit, just followed your links) There are still 1.9 tdi around but maybe in another body type… did any of the 1.9 motors ever cruise at 120… ?

how about a slightly older E class

Estate. Got to be an estate.

Get the 2.7 and get it chipped. Was a passenger in one through France and driving up the Alps into Morzine was amazing – pulling off hairpins in third without batting an eyelid.

oh, and the Quattro thing

Bit rarer but BMW have made 4WD 5 series.

I’ve had about 4 A3s over the years (standard company car choice). the last one I had was the 165(?)bhp version with quattro.

Given the increased fuel consumption relative to the difference in performance (as observed on a day-to-day basis), I would say that it’s not worth going for the more powerful 2.0l variant (the 140bhp felt just a quick), or 4wd.

However – the quattro was quite useful for snow, might be more of an advantage in Bavaria?

I switched from the A3 to a 2 litre 3-series – and the BMW unit was noticeably smoother, felt just as fast, and the economy was far better.

1.9tdi Quattro won’t cruise at 120, it’ll get there but its working hard to do it.

Everywhere else it’s great.

I was expecting more responses tbh… This being stw I thought every third man was driving an Audi. 🙂

Any one able to comment on whether the seats fold flat and bike compatibility?

A3 owner here for about 2 years now it’s been a fantastic car lovely engine great economy and does big miles without trying. Not sure what you wanting to put in the boot but we can get our family of 4 loaded up with loads of gear for a weeks holiday so not sure why it would be too small.

@alpin I’ve had an A6 2.7 tdi SE Quattro auto since new in 2007, 110 miles – fabulous car.

Positives
Great mile muncher, effortless at the high speeds you quote, brilliant in the snow even with standard tyres (we lived on steep unadopted road and it climbs it effortlessly, has been driven in Switzerland in some very poor conditions and not once did we have any issues despite other cars sliding off road around us, drove up to chalet in Verbier once when only landies had been attempting the track climb). Very reliable. Easily carries 4 adults in comfort. Good fuel economy especially if you stick to 70-ish although that’s difficult if I’m honest as the car runs so well at speed.

Negatives
It’s not a huge load carrier, two bikes in easily whith front wheels off, more and you need both wheels off and maybe pedals, load length is good, height a bit restrictive. My experience with main dealer service is very poor, crooks frankly continually recommending work which isn’t necessary (the car is very reliable so they were inventing stuff), we found a very good non franchise specialist and that’s been great. Bit of a handfull in a city multi story, we have rear parking sensors but front also would have been useful.

BMW’s are particularly poor in the snow, our neighbours with BMW and Merc cannot get out of the road when it’s snowed, Audi goes up like a train.

Our car is worth sub £6k and makes some of those on your link look a bit pricey I think.

edit: with the steering wheel paddles it’s very easy to drop a gear to pass something including at motorway speeds. I’ve never maxed out the car top speed wise but it’s been sat at high speeds for extended period fully loaded with 4 adults and kit.

I will buy another Audi Quattro although smaller, an older a3 if I can find one. We got the 2.7 just as the improved 3 was coming out so we got a great discount. If I wasn’t divorced/had space for a big car I’d keep the a6.

Estate. Got to be an estate.

Erm, you do know that there are E-class estates available…

😉

Don’t get a Merc E if you want to drive in the snow, our neighbour was stranded anytime it snowed, the car would snake all over the road and fall into the curb if he tried to climb the hill. Audi just went straight up no problems.

there are E-class estates available…

Pretty sure you could fit belgium in the boot too.

@alpin – on boots the a6 is very long as I said, not sure you get more bikes in a 6 vs a 4 though. Given I was generally just driving with 1 or two bikes in the 6 made that a little easier than a 4 would have been but not huge difference. With rear seats down you can put 1 or 2 bikes inside a 3 with front wheels off, that’s partly why I’ll get a 3, easier to handle/park, decent on motorway but can still take the bike, it’s just tough to find Quattro’s which aren’t the 3.2 petrol. We got the a6 after having 2 shoguns as a change, kids where older so didn’t need 7 seater any longer.

5 series xdrive BMWs are much more common on the continent than in the UK so much easier to find

I prefer the 5 series over the A6 but that’s personal preference. Audis always seem to feel more inert than BMWs, but they’re still great cars. I think Audi and BMW interiors are the best of the more mainstream manufacturers, Merc never seems to get it quite right

I would agree with what BenP says re driving fun in general between Audi and BMW, however I would say an A6 Quattro is more fun to drive than an X5 on twisty roads. The A6 is the motorway mile muncher, a big comfy armchair really. To get the driving experience of a BMW you have to sacrifice the winter driving sure-footedness of the Audi for a estate BMW. The X5 you have the styling and ground clearance and they seem to go OK in the snow despite the big wide tyres.