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I happen to own an Audi S4 Cabriolet- the RX is my wife's, as I mentioned in the previous post.
Fast enough for you?
Let us see, for the coupe, you can get either SLK350, or E350. For AMG, you can go for either base C55 or base SLK55 for 5k more, I believe.
I personally would go for C55 as you and your wife (the key point is you) will have a lot of fun with the car :P
I think you should have said, "I happen to own a 2006 BMW M5, fast enough for you?" :P
Most of us need some kind of "yard stick" by which to compare cars. Size and price are common ways to compare cars.
The A3 is a little tough to find comparisons because it is a hatch back and there are few hatch backs on the US market. So do you compare with small sporty sedans (BMW 325, Volvo S40, etc) or small sporty wagons (Volvo V50 etc)? A case can be made for either, though the added utility of a hatch makes me look more at wagons than sedans for comparison. Hatches provide cargo space more akin to wagons than sedans.
How you view the A3's price also depends on how you view the A3. If you view the A3 as a car with a lot of utility for its size as well as being fun to drive, then the car loses its luster as the price climbs with options because you could get an A4, for example, for the same price.
However, if you think of the A3 as a detuned S4, then fully loaded the A3 is still attractively priced because the comparison for you is probably not the A4, but a car like the BMW 325. But even viewed this way, size, performance and price are valid ways to evaluate the A3.
It's going to be less expensive than the A6 V8, making it a steal, and keeping it competitive with the $51,000 X5 4.4i.
E350 is what we've been looking for, but we're not sure if we want that or a CLS. I'd only be willing to buy a CLS350 if they eventually make one, but I could look at a base E500.
My most preferred choice is an E350 4Matic.
Like I said, I already have an S4 Cabriolet, so I don't need a car like the C55- and my wife drives slower than slow
Thanks again for your suggestions.
DL
Caliber SRT-4 with AWD should prove interesting comparison to Audi A3 Quattro.
Sorry, I don't see any Caliber ever being considered comparable to an A3. Two very different cars for two very different markets that happen to have a few similarities. What you've said is sort of like saying that a WRX or an Evo would be a good comparison with an M5. Not!
Best Regards,
Shipo
Yeah, it does get fuzzy wrt hatches and wagons. The A3 seems kinda in the middle. The GTI and Maxx are more hatchlike. The Volvo V50 seems more of a wagonette. What's nice about all of them is interior flexibility.
THAT would definitely be an interesting comparison to the A3!
Also, the Lex IS SportCross would be good if they still made it. Seeing Audi's success could bring at least the Mercedes-Benz B-Class and [possibly] the 1 here.
Now the difference between a small sport wagon and a hot hatch is that the hatch looks less like a wagon and is thus more comforting for those for whom a wagon doesn't fit their image. And I just may be talking about myself.
Sales aren't an indicator of anything. The Mazda6 continues to sell poorly and it's by far the most entertaining of all the family sedans. Only the legacy comes close, but that's a rough, unrefined car that never lets you forget it's a brother of the subaru wrx.
Spent some time in the a3 at the chicago autoshow. I think it's off my list, just a bit too small. My head's on the cieling and my cousin in the backseat behind me had the same problem. And with the AWD version starting at 34k--i'd just get a 330.
2018 430i Gran Coupe
Okay, your car.
It also shows how much money all imports potentially had made before the the currency change (look at prices when 1 euro was 0.9 US dollar) - their prices did not rise that much.
Is there a potential customer backlash, or rich guys simply don't care and the ones on the fence (financially) are not really favorite customers, anyway?
2018 430i Gran Coupe
Wouldn't make sense, seeing as all how these mfrs have seriously courted the "younger" entry-lux buyer who is typically bridging in the first place.
I can't peg Audi's US strategy at all. They want to broaden appeal and increase share, but struggle against exchange rate deficits and want their US dealerships to be more profitable. It's almost as if they never quite caught the tapes on the Nippo-lux invasion here, or are completely ignoring history, or simply think that, based on their Euro-rep, theirs doesn't stink and they simply aren't getting their props here for unknown reasons. :confuse:
Funny company. Great cars. Funny company.
2018 430i Gran Coupe
Loosing free maintanance in '07's a dis-incentive but if Audi can sell every A3 it has, why would they care? A bigger impact might be the (finally) new VW Golf, and its GTI variant.
The A3 3.2 comes pretty much loaded, but adding just a few extras like the moon roof and Xenon lights pushes the price tag to $37-38k, which is a lot for a car this size. The 2.0T is less money, HOWEVER, it does NOT come loaded and you can easily end up over $30k unless you are very careful about options.
This is complicated by the lack of US appetite for hatches, particularly expensive hatches and a price range that places the A3 up against some formidable competition like the BMW 3 Series. Then add to this the fact that Audis are not known for holding their value particularly well.
All this leaves me sitting on the fence, deciding whether the A3 is worth the money. As much as I would like to purchase the car new, I can probably save $5k or more by simply buying the car 1 yr old with low miles.
Even with the maintenance program, the pricing of the A3 does not make this car an easy sell. Unless they drop the price along with dropping the maintenance program, it won't get any easier.
So what were the details of your lease? (or, did I miss this in an earlier posting?)
I love the A3 for many reasons, and the DSG transmission, but the prices have got me thinking twice!
Wow...that's really saving you a ton of money.
I question going 15k miles on a single oil change anyway. But if you're leasing a car, I guess it doesn't matter and you won't care.
BMW's are quite over-priced just as MB's are. So if you buy a car and don't lease it, you're not saving near as much money as you think you are.
Nothing is for free and you're paying for it somewhere, and that's a higher MSRP to start with.
Wow...that's really saving you a ton of money."
I don't know where you got that idea; however, it is a gross oversimplification at best. If you were invest a few minutes and actually research the truth of the matter I believe that you'll find that BMW's "free" maintenance program includes the following items:
- Oil Changes (including filters) at either 1 year or when the OBC (which contains "Condition Based Service" logic) says so, whichever comes first
- Brake Fluid flush (every 24 months)
- Service I (usually coincides with second oil change)
- Cabin Microfilter
- Brake pads and rotors as necessary
- Wiper blades, belts and hoses
- Fluid top-offs (i.e. washer fluid, coolant, oil, brake fluid...)
Basically everything but gas and tires are covered.
Hmmm, thinking about this a little further, and in an effort to keep everybody both honest and on the same page of the song book, I looked it up myself. So, what does the source say?
As part of BMW's complete commitment to your driving pleasure, we include Full Maintenance on every new BMW purchased from any authorized BMW center in the U.S. or Puerto Rico. The BMW Full Maintenance program provides superior service by expert technicians at all authorized BMW centers in the U.S. or Puerto Rico for 4 years or 50,000 miles, whichever comes first.
Full Maintenance includes items that need replacement due to normal wear and tear, provided wear and tear exceeds BMW specifications. This includes items such as brake pads, brake rotors, and wiper blade inserts that are not covered by the original New Vehicle Limited Warranty.
Any adjustments required due to normal operating conditions are also included. For exclusions and limitations, refer to the Service and Warranty Information booklet that came with your new BMW or see your authorized BMW center for details.
Now, to the point of Personally, I wouldn't consider any German car without maintenance, hmmm, maintenance is nice, and I've certainly benefited from it to a certain extent on my two BMWs (I did interim oil changes because I'm fairly certain that my first dealer wasn't using BMW/Castrol fully synthetic oil as well as my own brake jobs because I wanted low-dust pads), but for me at least, "Free Maintenance" isn't a show stopper as I'd almost rather do the work myself anyway. ;-) With that said, I am a little annoyed that Audi might drop maintenance for their 2007 models. Why? Because I'm sort of hoping that the A3 will be blessed with SP/Convenience Package & Bluetooth/Xenon configurability in 2007 (as opposed to the 2006 version which makes the Convenience Package and Xenon headlights mutually exclusive), and sometimes I'm just too busy/lazy to do it myself.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Seriously, I got my AUdi for 250 UNDER invoice.
ANd I totally love it!!
So, what does this mean? Hurry, and get your 2006 A3 while you can!
I'm not getting a BMW- too much brand loyalty to Audi.
someone asked me about lease deals...I mentioned it on the 3 series forums here that with ED, the 2 year lease ends up being silly cheap - like sub $400 a month for a 330i.
Just heard on the drive home that Audi (at least in LA) is finally offering a good lease ($399) for the A3. Maybe i misheard? Fairly sure they said A3.
36 months, $359/mo., 10K miles/ year, .25/mile over (are they nuts?). I don't remember exact drive off figures, but it was around $1,750. Its an OK deal, but the excess mileage charge is ridiculous.
I thought Mercedes and BMW is 20-25 cents as well.
Sacramento Newspaper (Sacramento Bee) Lease Advertisement on the Audi A3:
1)$359/Mo. 36 Month Lease
2)Downpayment $999
3) Refundable Deposit $0*
4) Acquisition Fee $575
5) First Month Payment $359
Therefore, amount due at inception $1,933.
*36 month closed end lease offered to qualified customers by Audi Financial Services, Inc. Must take deliver by 4/3/06 and rate based on $28,040 MSRP of 2.0T with DSG, Opensky, and destination. Purchase option at lease end for $15,702.40.
6) $0.25/mile over 10,000 miles
7 Dispostion Fee of $350 due at lease end.
Couldn't you get/lease a better car for this much money?
If thats true, I suggest paying cash for a GTI with 18" wheels :P
DL
SO, not horrible, but not amazing either,
DL
Looking at this another way, given the crazy driving profile that developed for me last summer (as in having driven nearly twenty thousand miles in just six months) has eased a bit so that I'm now only driving about 90 miles per weekday and sparingly on the weekends, which in turn means that I'm only racking them up at the rate of about 25K per year. With that in mind, I'm fairly reticent to buy/lease a new car and then obliterate its value in just a few short years with so many miles. So, as long as the 1998 DCG keeps running as flawlessly as it has been running (107K miles and only $200 in unscheduled maintenance), I'm going to be hard-pressed to justify doing anything until I drop my yearly mileage back below the 15K mile threshold.
As for what I'm going to do next...
While I'm considering MANY cars (kind of fun really), the only two that I'm really serious about looking at are the A3 2.0T 6-Speed Manual and the 330i (nee. 335i) 6-Speed Manual. Given my own personal yardstick, there are many points that both cars have in common, and points (both good and bad) unique to each. What will I do in the end? Who the hell knows? ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
After relocating last year and doubling my mileage I questioned my purchase a little. But what can I say ? Good times
DL