General Auto Chat

Ah, so Audi… I’ve a very long history with them, my first being a 1990 Coupe’ Quattro, also owned 91 Audi 80, 94 Audi 90, 99 A6 Avant, 2001 S4, and 2003 A6 Allroads, over the course of 20 years living in Massachusetts.

The long term costs of maintenance are severe on any/all. Yes, engines and trannies are mostly reliable these days, but the stuff that will get you is things like brakes/rotors, suspension parts, and exhaust systems, etc… if one plans to keep cars for their “useful lives” (e.g. our general approach), one fixes them until the costs outweighs the value.

In my experience, that occurs with Audis between 100K and up. They all have a MAJOR service at/around 100K (replacing timing chain, etc.) that can easily be a $4-5K job; and if not done, engine WILL go “boom” (only question is when).

I *love* Audis, don’t get me wrong. But, I can no longer afford them. In our family experience, you can get a cost-effective 120K or so out of Audi’s; Toyota/Lexus is good for well over 200K.

All that said, I’d snag a 6 speed S4 or S6 if I could find one at a reasonable price…

 

Just a slight clarification, the 335s have the N55 engine while the 340s have the B58. Both are good engines and easy to tune if that is your interest.

 

I do not want the connected, cloud serviced, $subscribed$, Digital Rights Managed vehicle:

https://www.motortrend.com/news/ford-hijacking-connected-vehicle-data-smartcar-recurrent-sdv/

Perhaps Harmon International will buy a car company and return them to their core competency like they did with Roon

 

That's why I removed the 4G modem and disconnected the GPS antenna from my Jeep. The built in GPS shows me in the Gulf Of Mexico last time I checked. I was shocked to see an "Updating" message on the Infotainment screen when I hopped in early morning before I even turned on my ride... Did a bit of research and found out Chrysler can do OTA updates and sell your GPS data as well. Unless they want to cut me in on the $$$, they can suck it, and pound sand.

 

I've not done so yet, but keep it open as an option. Compared to the amount of personal info my cell phone leaks to who knows where the car is less of a concern. I keep cheap burner phones and pre-paid sims as an option there as well.

This won't be an issue for "classic" cars anyway, a whole bunch of models recently lost their connectivity with the sunset of 2G service and 3G is not far behind. 4G will still be around for quite a while, probably the next decade, but it will inevitably go away too.

One thing I won't tolerate is subscription options. BMW thankfully seems to be backing away from that horrible idea. I think they have heard what we owners thought of it, at least my sales rep says they have.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/7/23863258/bmw-cancel-heated-seat-subscription-microtransaction

 

Yeah a phone is much worse in this regard, but it feels good to actually be able to do something about the intrusion. Other than the GPS grossly out in left field, everything else works absolutely fine, and have not lost any function whatsoever.

 

Subaru for (more likely) low total cost of ownership over the next X years. Change the CVT fluid if it's CVT and hasn't been changed after 50k miles (they say it's lifetime - not true). Maybe a bigger battery if your particular one ends up having problems / draining quickly. Starlink infotainment system isn't great if you care about that stuff but it's not too hard or expensive to change.

If you want something somewhat fun and are willing to pay more for it over time, then yes, I'd consider the F30 3 series or an A4 / S4 from around the same years. Which one IMO really depends on personal preference, whatever you can get a deal on, or whichever individual car will have lower total cost of ownership over the next X number of years. I personally don't think AWD BMWs are typically very fun to drive whereas the A4 / S4 is somewhat enjoyable. If you go BMW, the general consensus is that the average B58 engine is much more reliable, somewhat better performing, and cheaper to own long term vs the N55 (or S55). Anecdotally, my B58 powered car has had a much lower than I initially expected cost of maintenance after almost 6 years of ownership.

 

"The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes. New Euro NCAP tests due in 2026 will encourage manufacturers to use separate, physical controls for basic functions in an intuitive manner, limiting eyes-off-road time and therefore promoting safer driving."

HotDog! Score one for the regulators.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/new-car-interior-touchscreen-euro-ncap-safety-testing/

 

IMPOSSIBRU!!!!!!! gubbermin regulations making things better in cars???

Shouldn't need to be fixed via regulation in the first place and a sad reflection of things that it got there, but I guess that's a different story.

 

I just love how maps on iOS prompts you to push the button for a "Slow Down" "Still here" or "Cleared." I had a heated argument with Apple support over the phone asking them how to turn this off, because it's a hazard in itself. Not to mention it is a fineable offense in most places. They basically told to stop using their maps app if i didn't like how it worked, lol.

Don't get me started on alternatives like Wyze, because when I used it I would add hazards (floods/construction), accidents, and speed traps on my route to work before I left the house. In hopes it would help route traffic away from my path to work, then I was banned after a few weeks.

 

Now if we could only get FMVSS108 rewritten to allow for matrix LED headlamps. I mean, if Ford could get them to do a rewrite to allow chincy sequential tails, something that actually functions better, reduces glare, and is overall safer... should be a slam dunk.

 

As soon as the next great feature comes along they will allow the last great feature.

 

I once drove around Houston when the Google Maps lady was having a psychotic episode. Swear if we didn't know the main highways and where we were headed (Woodlands) reasonably well ourselves, we'd have ended up in NM - she kept wanting us to head west.