uncle buck

+1 on Audi Avants - Unique, gorgeous, and very utilitarian.

dak911

We have a 99 528iT 99000 miles.
I bought it privately 2 1/2 years ago with 65000 miles for $14,500.
It needed about $800 right away, sunroof motor, fluid changes, filters, and a bunch of oter little stuff.
It is a great car, on the road 75 mph 28 mpg, local (light foot) 17mpg on REGULAR.
I have heard that the 525 has slightly less power, the Auto in the 528 is more than adequate.
The v8's definately need more $$ per mile maintenance, watch for the dreaded coolant leak, and a new radiator. (make sure the V8 doesn't have the Nikasil problem)
I just changed the wheels, put staggered 17's from a 540 on it with Fuzon tires, nice quiet civilised vehicle..If it has o/e regular headlights they are probably "fogged" and need changing.,
Otherwise only problems were a new a/c compressor.
We (the wife) loves it and we'll probably keep it a few more years.
You can find nice ones for the $10000 - 12000 range
Look on Roadfly....E39...

Father of 3

I dunno, we all seem to assume that everyone needs to have strong pulling power at all times in all vehicles. If this is the Wifey's car, how much power do you need? That being said, the BMW V8s are torquey strong motors. Downside is they suck up gas as others have said. I wanted a Honda Element as a third car/kid hauler/wife mobile when she didn't want to drive the mini-van but she wanted an e38. Oh well. As for Audi's, I agree that they make some great looking wagons. Any of the new A4, A3 wagons look great. The old version S6 or Allroads look great too.

Garth S

Mike,
As you quest for the next Gonzilla-mobile, I noted that you are retiring a VW: We picked up a Passat Wagon with the 1.8T/manual as another DD, and it is a blast to drive: it does all the hauling chores and turns 30+ mpg ( converted to usg). I started looking for another BMW - or an Audi A4 Avant ( another Audi fan) .... but the Passat is really an Audi under the skin .... and while it may lack the cachet of a BMW,it may make your old Jetta feel better about retirement

gonzilla

Yeah, I actually looked at the Passat wagon. A little too familiar feeling for me, I think. My wife has an A4 with the same motor, and I donno. I think I just need a change. The poor little Green Torpedo will be missed.

Like I said above, my wife has a '01 A4 1.8T that we bought in '02 with 14K miles on it. It has been a decent car. No trouble at all... until 55,000 miles when the (plastic-impellered) water pump self destructed and took the timing belt and all the valves with it, requiring an "early" timing belt service and a fresh top end. Gotta love those Audi timing belt service intervals (I think they suggest every 125,000 or something ridiculous like that). More recently it started stalling (has a little over 75K miles now), accompanied by the EPC (engine power control) light. After a few weeks of head scratching I found that it was caused by the crankshaft speed sensor. Replacing that has solved the stalling problem... for now.

Aaron - thanks for the offer, but I think the miles are pushing it for me. Sounds like a cool car though. Sport package seems like a cool upgrade. Where did you get your warranty from and do you feel like it was worth it?

I think you're probably right. Most of the boards that I've looked at for these cars are populated by kids fresh out of high school with plenty of "kill" stories (one board even has a subforum called "kill stories"), and full of information on how to "slam your iT" Makes me really favor a low-mileage one owner car.