Yeah Right!

My question is: How can such unemotional, under-styled, under-engineered cars stay on the market when there are such fine autos as the A4 for sale?, Why isn't everyone driving one? Is it the long wait for delivery? Is it the fear of high maintinance costs? I will never understand.

My list of "how do they still sell those" cars:
any Buick
the Metro
Ford Escort
Hyundai Accent (ok, ANY Hyundai, or Daewoo, or Kia)
Mercury Grand Marquis
any Oldsmobile
Pontiac Bonneville
Suzuki Esteem, Swift

I believe I could make a wiser choice for anyone prospective buyer of any of these cars, and to me, it all seems so obvious. Bless their poor souls.

-Michael Formisano

However, I still try to answer your interesting question!
My sister always asked "how come they still buy a Taurus while they can get a Passat V6 for that price" has the same meaning as your message.
They want a Chevrolet Metro, Daewoo Langanza or a Hyundai Sonata cause they are cheap. Metro (or Pontiac Firefly) are fragile, they can go 73 mpg no matter where you go but don't take it on the freeway cause it feels like an aeroplane over 90 km/h. They want it cause its cheap, fragile and its a town roundabout. Who cares if it has character or not. Same story as Suzuki Esteem, Swift, Escort, Crapalier, Sunfire or even old Tercel.
Now up to those American landyachts. They want to buy a Grand Marquis, Crown Victoria, Town Car or Continential cause those people want some "soft" machines because they are getting tired of those taut sedans or sports cars. Its almost the same price or more expensive than the A4 or even Volkswagens but they like soft feeling anyway.
Why people want to buy an extremely crumsy Ford F250 Super Duty while they can buy an A6 2.8 at that price? Because of the goddamn "tough" truck image. That's why lots of personal users haul nothing but AIR in the goddamn BOX. Same for trucks. They are underhandled, overpowered (V10s, Lightning), underbraked and overpriced.
Tom
97 A4 1.8TQMS
99 JETTA IV GLS 2.0
00 (OR 01) NEW BEETLE GLS 1.9TDI (ON ORDER)
98.5 A4 1.8TQAS WETTED

.

Do you really think that the buyer of the American "landyacht" is aware of the german offerings? Have they test-driven any of these imported offerings, or have they written them off as non-options for another reason?

My father owns a late model Buick Century. He loves it. He claims that is the best car he ever owned. He likes big american cars. He needs a big car, because he is not very flexible, and can't bend cram his way into a low, small car like the A4. He likes the fact that he floats down the highway not feeling the road at all. He (and many others) equate this feeling with luxury. He doesn't want to feel the road, and would actually see any road feeling as a negative aspect. He just wants comfortable, reliable transportaion. And he gets that with GM cars. He has owned many GM cars and has had very good luck with them, maintenance wise. I hate to have to break this to you, but German Cars aren't the most reliable things in the world. And they cost a lot to fix when they break down. He likes that he spent less than 20,000 for this car. He would not spend 40K for an A6 even if he was a billionaire (which he is not). He would also not buy any non-american car. He was around in world war 2, and still has a very strong need to support American companies, even though today things aren't as clear cut as they used to be. There are also a lot of people in the world like this. The Buick is the perfect car for my father right now. You could probably more easily talk my father into jumping off of a bridge, than to talk him out of buying a GM car.

I own a 99.5 A4 1.8T, and he respects my decision, as i respect his. Some people just have different priorities. You may not understand now, but someday you may feel differently.

If they are not aware we should leave them alone. I mean next thing you see, everybody is driving an A4. LOL :)

From what I know. Some people before they brought their Contentialr or DeVille, they shopped around for Mercedes E-Class or Audi A6, than later on they think the A6 and E-Class to firm to drive, not softly sprung enough. That's a truth which my previous Audi sales specialist told me when some people went into the showroom compares the Contential to an A6 because its the same price. Some people just comparing their landyacht to landyacht; however,some people did test drive the imports and think they are overprice compare with the landyachts. Not all of them, but there are some elders think so.
Who wants to buy a Contential if they have driven an A6?
Tom
97 A4 1.8TQMS
99 JETTA IV GLS 2.0
00 (OR 01) NEW BEETLE GLS 1.9TDI (ON ORDER)
98.5 A4 1.8TQAS WETTED

just hate to feel any bumps in the road while driving. (Over 60 A4 owners relax, I did say "some.")

My father-in-law sounds exactly like your dad. Just bought an Olds 88. Loves how it floats down the road. He thinks my 1.8Tqms has a "pretty damn hard" ride. He actually said, "Why the heck would you want to feel the road, anyway?" He could never be comfortable in a car like an A4. Plus, he loves that when he's cruising at 65 mph that low-tech but stalwart GM 3.8 liter V6 is only turning about 1,600 RPM!

BDW

My cousin's friend owned lots of excellent vehicles before: Porsche 911 Carrera, BMW M3, Audi RS2 , Mitsubishi Galant VR4, VW Corrado G60, Acura NSX, Volvo 850 T5R or even Peugeot 205GTI hot hatch in Hong Kong, he is a very low key middle man who done well on business. He is a mechanic for the race driver on the track or tune the race cars before track racing.
One day he brought a Cadillac STS and we asked "what the hell is happening with you" last time I backed there. He says I was getting tired of those taut handling, firm riding, crumped sports cars (or some sports sedans). I want some soft handling, comfortably riding American luxury sedan.
STS is not that soft compares with Grand Marquis and Olds 88 but compares with all those sports spirited cars that he has owned. Its pretty damn soft.
Some people really love those soft feeling of American landyachts, I don't understand why?
Tom
97 A4 1.8TQMS
99 JETTA IV GLS 2.0
00 (OR 01) NEW BEETLE GLS 1.9TDI (ON ORDER)
98.5 A4 1.8TQAS WETTED

Consider this...a new A4 costs (at a minimum)
26.5K. Not just older people, but many middle
age and younger folks can't afford the nearly
30 thousand dollars it would cost to purchase
an A4. You can't recommend buying a used one
(parts/repairs are not even close to cheap),
so these people will buy a car that #1 is within
what they can afford, and then, #2, what they
want in a car. A Civic (or Jetta...) can go for nearly $17K, and it may be a reliable car, but
it's not too entertaining to transport the family
in a midget RICE-mobile (especially considering
you could get a Century for nearly the same price.)If resale price, driving feel,
german/japanese engineering, etc. is important to you (less than 3 kids and under the age
of 65), then the A4 is amazing, but if you're
35 with a family of 6, or a 70 year old grandma
living off a meager pension and SS, then the A4 is just too much.

Al
99.5 1.8tqa (I paid 27K)