to quattro or not to quattro?

[dansansome]

hi all,

im looking to buy an a4 this year, im pretty much set on the 1.8t engine, but im really undecided as to whether its worth getting one which is quattro or not.

i do a fair bit of motorway driving to work and back, and i do enjoy the odd bit of "sporty" driving when the roads are quieter and im on my own.

are the quattros much more fun round bends etc? do they eat tyres?

does it really effect the consumption by about 5 mpg?

all these questions....

cheers for any replies.

[adamss24]

Yeah, they are much more shure footed and fun to drive and- yes- the fuel consumption is higher and they wear the tires evenly ( you need 4 new ones when replacing !) but, the grin factor will be unmeasurable....what good is to have power if you cannot put it nicelly on the road ? The 1.8 TQ can....

[nickynibbles]

As above, the quattro really is more sure footed when your pushing hard. Mines the 3.0 V6 mind you and I wouldnt of had it any other way but in Quattro form! It does eat a little mpg which is something to consider on the 1.8T which dosent have the best mpg for a 1.8 engine anyway! If your mostly on the motorway it would be wasted, the fwd version may be better and dosent handle badly, just not a good as the quattro when pushed hard. Other things to consider would be to go for the 3.0 V6 as surprisingly they can be good on economy, especially on a cruise, I can get over 30 mpg on a mixed cycle 20 miles journey to work if I drive like my mum! Its obviously less when you boot it but it sounds a lot better than the 4-pot engine!! An even better alternative might be the 2.5TDi Quattro, the diesel will be more economical but also gives you sooooooo much more torque!

Simple answer is to test drive all your options and see what you like the best.

[dansansome]

thanks for the replies guys.

there was me thinking that i had my engine choice pinned down lol.

my original mindset was that the 3.0 was going to be too thirsty (i generally have a heavy right foot) and heavy on insurance (compared to the 1.8 anyway), the 2.4 imho seems a little pointless unless you want the V6 sound as it is matched by the 1.8T, and i was shying away from the diesels for no other reason than i love the sound of petrols it full chat. but maybe i should give all the variant a go before i start narrowing my options down. (including the multitude of gearbox choices)

also i am (or was) planning on getting a remap for the 1.8t, so maybe the quattro would be better at putting the extra power down.

...hi ho hi ho, its off to autotrader i go....

[nickynibbles]

The thing to bear in mind with the 3.0 V6 is that its kicking about 25% more torque than the 1.8T (190) so you dont need to use as much right foot to get it to go quick! It will of course drink more than a 1.8T if you really do boot it everywhere though! How many miles are you planning on doing? If its more than a 20-30 mile commute then for costs sake you simply shouldnt in my view rule out the diesels. Not that i've ever had one but reports are they're peaceful and refined under normal driving, and the 1.9TDi chipped up is a tyre shredder capable of up to 400NM of torque!! If I drove more i'd get one for sure!
On the subject of running costs, the 3.0 isnt bad on insurance, im 31 and paid £380 fully comp with full NCB, living in a low banded area though More Than. It wasnt much more than a 1.8T when I 1st bought the car 18mths ago which was another reason to get a 3.0!! Maintenance costs however do cost more, no arguements there! Look to pay 30-40% more for a cambelt change for example. It also uses more oil, bigger filters etc so normal servicing costs a little higher too. Its all worth it though just for the growl at 5000RPM!!!!

[dansansome]

im a contractor, so commuting can vary wildly depending on where i am working at the time. i would say i have averaged around 400 work miles a week this year, so the diesel would make more sense is suppose, but i just cant imagine not having that high rev petrol noise lol. i was looking at getting the 1.8t cab, which i believe only comes as the 163bhp version, but remapped can produce 220 ish bhp and a whole lot more torque.

can i ask on average what your yearly running/servicing costs are for your 3.0? tell me to go away of you dont want to disclose this, im just interested to test the waters. i know it can vary depending what time of life you aquire the vehicle (cambelt etc), but what sort of costs are replacing 4 tyres or a full service? ballpark figures are good enough ta

[nickynibbles]

No probs at all!

Tyres - I've got the common 17" 5-spoke Sport alloys fitted to many A4's fitted with Michellin Primacy tyres which were fitted new when I bought the car 18mths ago. I've only done 15k miles in the car and they've got about 1/3 tread left all round. They're regarded as great tyres for longevity & performance but more expensive at about £120 each compared to cheaper & also popular Good Year F1's at about £100'ish each.

Servicing - Im on the variable servicing interval so had the car serviced in Oct at a VW/Audi specialist. The original quote for just a service was £250'ish, but this rose to £750 in the end! They were very thorough inspecting the car and found the drivers-side rear brake caliper had partially ceased and that the rear anti-roll bar supports had started to show fatigue. The bill included the proper VAG long life fully synthetic oil, oil filter, fuel filter, pollen filter, new rear anti-roll car & support mountings, aircon re-gas, labour charge to overhaul the brake caliper & a set of new wiper blades! It hurt paying £500 more than i'd planed but it was needed! Cambelt will be due at the next service though! Audi quote near £1k to do the cambelt, tensioners, pulleys & water pump, less obviously at an independant.

On the whole the basic running & servicing costs are'nt much more than than a 1.8T, its only when you need major engine work like cambelts doing that the costs hit you! With your mileage the diesel will certainly serve you well cost wise. Consider the 2.5TDi which is a V6 so more refined than the 1.9TDi although not a tuneable. Still with 370NM torque as standard its not a slow car! People report 35-40mpg on average with this engine so better than the petrol versions and darn quick to boot!!

[dansansome]

yeah, i had a read around earlier and found that the 2.5 tdi can be remapped up from around 163 bhp to 190 ish, so would be a rival to the 1.8t, even after the 1.8 had been remapped.

ah crap...now i gotta make my decisions all over again. guess i'd better go and get some test drives...

your service bill sounded a bit scary, but then i suppose its not really any different to my escort that cost just over £600 last summer, to sort an idling problem. a bit of an "out the blue" bill that happens every few years i guess. the standard servicing costs on the audi dont seem too scary, especially considering the standard of the car it maintains.

thanks for your help. hopefully soon i will actually be an owner, rather than someone peering in and dribbling on the windows lol.

[nickynibbles]

The later model 2.5TDi was 180bhp out of the crate, tuneable to 210bhp'ish. Check the ad obviously & if you look at the inside cover of the service book it'll give you the power output in KW, cant remember the conversion rate off the top of my head though!

Happy hunting, post any further questions of course and soon you'll have your very own. Here's mine, i still dribble over her!!!

[dansansome]

very nice. thats one of my colour choices too...that and black.

thanks again