jd_1

Right, so I went test driving two certified S4s today. I'm struggling to choose between them and hoping you guys here can sway me one way or the other.

Both cars around the same price, both cars have a very similar spec. Both are premium plus. Neither have the nappa leather which is disappointing, but I can live with it. Both have the sports differential and navigation package.

1) 2011 Audi S4 Premium Plus / Sprint Blue / 26k miles

A lot of people may not like the color of this... but I must say I really like it. My concern is would it impact resale value. It being a bright color.
Secondly, it only has 18s. It's not a deal breaker, but the 19s definitely look much better.
Major pro going for this is the mileage. Gives me a lot of leeway to put up the miles via a couple of road trips without worrying about resale.
The con was a bad salesman. He just didn't seem to be making an effort. He didn't know much about the car. He wouldn't budge on the price. As in, said the absolute best he could do was come down $100 ;-/

2) 2011 Audi S4 Premium Plus / Deep Sea Blue Pearl / 37k miles

Beautiful car.... also love the color of this. It's a little bit tidier looking on the inside. The carbon fibre trim is really nice. I honestly didn't think I liked it until I was sitting in the car. It has the 19s, which I think look much better.
Major con against this is the 11k miles over the other one.
There was, however, a much better salesman. He knew a bit more about the car and rang his audi specialist for any questions he wasn't sure about. Came down in price a little. Not massively so, but a more reasonable amount than the first guy.


So, what are your thoughts. I really liked both cars.... which would you go for??




ps: I'm so excited!!!

GRMick

For about the same money, I would, without hesitation, go with the Sprint Blue one. The other one appears to be a two owner car, has higher mileage and, per the CarFax reports, has been involved in an accident. The 2nd owner only had the car for a month? Go with the blue one and don't look back.

I love the sprint blue and, IMO this color would not be an issue for resale. This car has been on the dealer's lot for 2 months. They may get a lot more flexible on price if you go in there, tell them you will buy the car today, right now, but only if they knock off whatever you think is a good price for the car. If they won't budge, stand up, and tell them you are heading over to the other dealer and buying the other car and walk for the door.

Regarding the wheels, If you really like the 19 inch wheels, Hartmann makes very high quality, reasonably priced aftermarket wheels that look like the OEM Audi wheels…"peeler" or many other styles available. You could save the 18's for winter tires, and get 19 inch Hartmann's with nice summer tires.


Best of luck to you with your S4 purchase.

jd_1

Noted. Cheers.

Hmm, they showed me a carfax report that said it was only one owner. Could the transfer of the title to the dealer make it look like two owners on whatever you're looking at?

Ya, I do two. There seems to be less and less bright colors on the road, but I like a car that stands out a bit.

I pretty much tried that today and he wasn't budging in any way. He knows he's got a rarity in the low mileage.

That's true. And I was thinking of picking up 18s with all season tires for the other one anyway. But with the sprint blue I'd have to get 19s with summer tires and a set of 18 all season tires. So it does add about 1k to the price. Maybe I could sell the summer tires from the 18s... not sure.

Thank you.... I'm really looking forward to it.

GRMick

I hit the free CarFax link on the Autotrader site. http://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistory...&partner=ATD_8

Sure could be a dealer thing, but it looks like the dealer got it back and then sold it, and then got it back immediately…only 8 miles difference. However, the second registration is for "personal" and none of the other dealer transactions added to the number of owners. Strange.

There's also something a little weird when the car was originally sold…dealer offering it now had it for sale new, then it went to a dealer in NY, then it went back and was sold by this dealer. Maybe just two franchises with the same owner or perhaps it was traded to the NY dealer and the deal fell through at the last minute.

For the sprint blue S4, even if they won't come down much, I don't think the dealer is too far out on pricing. Took a quick look on Autotrader on what other similar S4's are around and then what Edmunds and KBB had to say.

The S4 is a fantastic car and I'm sure you will love it.

RickFLS4

I would eliminate the deep sea blue one, particularly if you have any concerns about resale value. I would not spend close to 40K on a car with an accident, but that's just my opinion.

I also like the Sprint Blue and believe it is a rare but popular color. The sales person may have been an *** because he knows the car will sell itself to someone (even though it has been sitting there for close to 2 months). You may have better luck with negotiations towards the end of the month if no one else buys it before then.

However, that car's CarFax doesn't show routine maintenance, so when I see that I always wonder about the extent of work done to the car, since they are getting things done somewhere that does not report regularly to CarFax. Certified or not, I would have an independent inspection completed on it before purchasing and try to get whatever service records you can from the dealer. If they don't have any service records or won't let you have someone inspect the car, I'd keep looking.

If it works out, it is a beautiful car in a great color and you can get aftermarket wheels if you don't like the 18s. If you don't want to spend that much, I'd keep looking rather than accept a lower priced car that has been in an accident and has higher mileage.

jd_1

Ha, I can't believe they were there. I think when I was first searching for a car I tried clicking on one of those links and it just brought me to the very basic car fax info and tried to get me to purchase the check. I thought they were just adds from then on and never tried again!

So first thing to note is that thats a different carfax than the one I saw. The last "owner" or whatever the situation is, wasn't on it.
By the way, I do know that the other dealer its the same owner. I'd say they transfer cars back on fourth regularly. But yes, the last one looks like a sale that fell through somehow. I'll try and find out more information on it tomorrow.


It's not really.... its just slightly above my budget. I was hoping to get everything done and cleared for 40k, but maybe that's a pipe dream

jd_1

I tried to find out more about the accident, but the salesman just said they didn't know. They couldn't find any information on it and gave some reasoning that the damage must have cost less than $500. I can't recall exactly.


I was wondering about that too. Its actually the same with both cars. The both go what looks like 20k miles without a service.

Seriously? I was really assuming spending the extra 3/4k that a certified costs would mean sure fire safety in that regard? I know the warranty doesn't cover every little thing, but car has to be in perfect working order to pass as certified right?

jd_1

Oh My God! Hope its some form of mistake, but the sprint blue one just jumped 5k in price on auto trader!!!
Not sure how that's possible, considering the place is closed today.

jd_1

Yep, it's on their website as well. They've also changed prices on a few other cars they had as well. Very strange.
Well, there goes the sprint blue option

GUEST123

Maybe they figured out that the Sprint Blue was an exclusive ($2500) color option for the 2011 model? As suggested above, I'd offer a fair price and be prepared to walk away. Base the offer off the originally listed price, not the current one.