I'm looking for tech support or other information on the A4 Vs. the 2000 Saab 9-3 2.0ltr High output turbo, 2000 BMW 323Ci, 2000 Volvo S40, 2000 Toyota Camry TRD Supercharged, and the Toyota Celica GT-S. How do you feel they compare to the Audi. I plan on purchasing one of these vehicles within the next month. Help me out with your thoughts on one or all of these vehicles. Thanks

Go for da A4 you'll be very happy

Eddie,
help us little bit. What do you need from these cars? Do you want the power? 2doors? 4doors?
Are you interested in aftermarkets?

But I must say, when it comes down to buying, it is going to be an Audi or BMW.

Uzanak
00 S4...4doors,power, and QUATTRO!!

Toyota Camry XLE V6 Supecharge TRD package is still very much a Toyota Camry. Its boring, blend, softly sprung and its a mom's car even though the Camry is an excellent car. Comparing a Camry to an A4 is like comparing Leica to Canon, completely different kinds of cars even though I think the redesigned nose looks much more classy than the old pointy nose.
IMHO, Toyota Celica is butt-ugly and as Car & Driver states its not as quick as expected. Once again, A4 is a sports sedan and Celica is a sports coupe.
Volvo S40 only has 4-speed automatic available and the interior doesn't look not better than a Daewoo Lanos. As with many European car magazines stated if you want an European car brand name and a car's main purpose is go from point A-B. Go buy a Volvo S40 immediately.
The closest contenders to Audi A4 are only left Saab 9-3 and BMW 323Ci.
Saab has always been a very quirky vehicle with character; however, the 9-3's reliability is still a major concern mainly because it just a NG900 with minor revisions and off the uninspiring V6 engine from 94-98.Saab's turbocharge engine is excellent but you have to learn to live with poor service networks and reliability on the 9-3 (9-5 is pretty reliable as I know).
323Ci is a looker; however, I found it pricey and its RWD. Even though 2000 BMW all standard with DSC3 system, the car still handles like a boat in a windy ocean during snowyand rainy weather. I mean very unstable even with proper snow tires.
The most balanced vehicle here is the Audi A4: excellent handling, Quattro, artistic styling inside and outside from day 1 to forever and cheap power upgrades on 1.8T. My pet peeve is only tight back seats (you won't feel tight if you have seated in a Volvo S40 before, frankly).
If you want to know more about competitors, you can go to news section and search July issue of "A4 vs competitors". I am one of them who created them.
Hope this help
Tom
97 A4 1.8TQMS
99 JETTA IV GLS 2.0
00 NEW BEETLE GLS 2.0 (ON ORDER)
98.5 A4 1.8TQAS WETTED

is a truly inferior car. The '94 model year GM/Opel change over was a disaster. It cheapened the whole car. The engine, the transmission, and the chassis aren't Saab. The drivetrain can't compare to Audi A4.

Okay..here we go.

Saab 9-3 nice car. Personal favourite is 4 door hatch. High strung engine that does not appear to be as refined as 1.8T. also build quality appears to vary from year to year..(how many '95's out there had no problem??). Also too many corporately shared GM parts make this less of a Saab than previous 900's...corporate platform strategy is not as nice a VW's

323Ci is a coupe as you undoubtedly know. Value choice in lineup is 4 door..but when you option up to what you want (leather, sports, sunroof, etc,..) you are now well on your way to $36K plus tax. Audi is more economical. Besides 323 sports wheel looks ugly and therefore you'd have to upgrade them again...more money

2000 Volvo S40 has many components shared with Mitsubishi. Part Quality and building Quality are questionable but Volvo tends to be better of than mitsu version. None the less, the model is aging (believe it or not..it's been on sale for a while in Europe) and is likely going to be changed in a year or two.

Camry TRD Supercharger is NOT WORTH THE MONEY. Yes it is Toyota and has the backing of factory warantee, however, output is not up significantly. Most of the money is apparently towards suspension upgrades which you can get outside for much much much cheaper. Supercharger kits ...they probably already exist in Japan...look for Greddy/Trust.etc,..in the end analysis, it is still a Camry...Chassis is no where near as nice as BMW or Audi.

Celica is a cool looking car. Smaller than A4. Also no news on the GT-4 Alltrack version..which means ot one for a while...if. The only version I'd go for is the higher strung 1.8L version. I like A4 more for its functionality.

choice obviously is up to you but I like my A4 for its functionality (above), space, quattro (sooobbb..too poor when I got mine...fwd), can go out on an evening with it, fits golfclubs and bike and snow board and ski, and a weekend or two, etc,...it is a really flexible car,plus it looks cool.

Have fun choosing
Mike Kwok

i personally don't find the new celica shape palatable. and i will never buy a camry. no personality .. like a witness protection program on wheels(said about the acura tl). if you really want to compare the a4 to a toyota. compare it with the lexus is (the toyota altezza by another name).

rwd, ~200hp(?), 6spd manual, 4doors, aimed straight at the a4/3series market. they should be here around mid y2k. a tedious wait yes but i think a worthwhile one.

i didnt get a chance to snap any pictures while i was in japan because my 1 week old digi-cam fritzed out. :( it's a beautiful car and i'm glad it wasnt out when i was car shopping 7months ago. it would've been that much harder choosing the a4. :)

as for the other cars ...
-i just can't appreciate the saab styling. :(
-the 3series are nice althought a bit overpriced. imho. but the new ones are a tad 'bloated' imho also.
-i really like the s40 but how are the aftermarket options? the 160bhp is a tad low for my tastes.

and you don't get quattro with any of the above. :)


-jasyn
99.5 1.8tqms apr

It's interesting that you bring up the GM platform sharing. I would like to add that the reason VW/Audi platform parts sharing is nicer is related to the mergers of the four companies.
VW/Audi in 1963 made a lot more sense than Swedish Saab being bought by American GM and merged with German economy car maker Opel. VW/Audi and Porsche have been similar companies who have shared technology and management. Apparently, a grandson of Porsche now head Audi, Porsche invented Volkwagen, Volkswagen and Audi have been merged for a long time, and so on. Saab on the other hand was very unique and well like for being different. There is no benefit for it to be "like" other cars let alone to be other cars because of its history IMO.

I am very impressed with both of your opinions on platform sharing on Saab and Volkswagen/Audi AG.
GM should be ashamed of how they mismanaged Saab for the last decade. They first decided to push Saab to introduce the NG900 in fall 94 as a replacement for the so-called "dated" Classic 900-series. There were no 95 NG900 that were reilable especially the V6 version.
Take a look at how Volkswagen AG managed Audi in the past decades. VW gives Audi plenty of development budgets on investing on new and exciting models like TT and RS4 while still keeping the Audi personality a bit different than the Volkswagen personality as a whole.
GM while designed the NG900 as very Saabish in styling, the performance and exection are completely GMish. Very similar to other GM products, say an Opel Vectra and Saturn LS-series. The current NG900 V6 owners should feel themselves driving a Saturn LS2 right now, what a sad story? :< Classic 900 is different as did the previous 99. The 9-5 really backed to the Saab route in terms of character and execution. 9-3 Viggen and 9-5 Aero show GM knows something about Saab products but when will GM starts to learn some lessons from VWAG on handling Audi/Skoda/Seat after merging.
Rumors told GM wants to put their new engines in Saab in order to replace the tried-and-truel 2.0 liter and 2.3 liter 4-cylinder LPT series. What is GM thinking about? Blending Saab in with Buick and Saturn? Not really differences after all! I felt very sad for Saab fans, engineers and designers! :<
I hope I can get a Classic 900 turbo SPG Monte Carlo Yellow Convertible now!
Tom
97 A4 1.8TQMS
99 JETTA IV GLS 2.0
00 NEW BEETLE GLS 2.0 (ON ORDER)
98.5 A4 1.8TQAS WETTED
Family owned a 92 900S 16V (R.I.P) and still owing a 88 900i 8V

when I was choosing which car I wanted to buy. I finally decided on the A4.

Though I really like the exterior design of the 9-3, after sitting in it, I decided against it. I really did not like the interior design. The power window controls are in the middle, which is not bad, but they are too far back and behind my reach. I also didn't like the wood trim. There are also not many options to choose from in the Saab. There are only 2 interior colors (grey and beige). The one thing that I thought was really cool was the night display button.

I decided against the Volvo S40 almost immediately. The door handles are made of cheap black plastic, and the interior is not much better.

After sitting in the A4 I fell in love.

Just my 2 cents..
-Kuthair

Toyota - most reliable and therefore lowest cost of ownership, Celica is a blast to drive but it is a 2-door with a small back seat and doesn't carry the 'prestige' of a 'European car'.

Volvo/Saab - least reliable, softer ride than Germans but probably harder than most Japanese 4 door sedans (Maxima SE excluded, don't know about the new TRD Camry)

BMW - most performance oriented, RWD sucks in rain and snow, you pay through your teeth if you want fully loaded, has the image of prestige, slightly more reliable than Swedes, but high ownership costs because parts are expensive

Audi - best balance of performance, safety, image and reliability. of all the criteria, reliability and long term ownership cost would be my only concern. the 1.8T is STILL excellent value because for $2000 (or less) you can get a 7 year warranty that will ease any reliability concerns

In short, Toyota - best value, BMW - best performance but at a price, AUDI - best of both worlds, Volvo/Saab - alternative

The camry does lack styling straight out of the factory, though, with the Toyota Racing Development Aero kit, lowering springs, race tuned suspension, and a supercharger that pushes total horsepower up to around 260 horses the camry could conceivably blow the A4 away so we shouldnt bash the Camry it does have a lot of potential, with a few more additions I could have a Camry pushing over 300 horses. Could that be so bad?

You CAN have 300hpPlus A4 no problem. Then you have all wheel drive good looking sedan that feel good to sit in it.
A4 with bunch of mods look awsome especailly with suspension and bigger wheels, I am sure you have seen them.

Uzanak
00 S4

For me it is the A4 1.8tq sport hands down.
When I was replacing my VW Passat VR6 I test drove a Saab and almost bought it that day. I decided to go back with Audi, something I have'nt done since I owned an Audi 80.

I bought the A4 1.8tq sport and put a "WETT" chip in it. The chip is great. It gave the opportunity to expiernce under stear to the point of smashing a 3 week old car into a gaurd rail.

Having said all that, it brings me to the point that for the last three weeks I have been driving a rental SAAB. The driving expierence does not even come close to the Audi. If you really enjoy driving (I hope you are better at it than I am) go with Audi.

One side note. Last weekend I brought home a 50 gallon water heater in the SAAB. Don,t think I could do that in the A4.