jakko

Hi folks. Haven't been to these boards since I sold my '99 a4 2.8Q a few years ago.

I swore then that I'd always come back to audi and the time has come. So I had a chance to test drive the a3 2.0 and a4 2.0Q. The a3 felt much livelier and was altogether more fun to drive. For some reason I felt as though the new a4 has lost some of the character it had back in '99. Can't really explain it but I actually prefer my old '99 over the '06.

Anyway, back to business. My wife is pushing me to get an a4 but I want the a3. The a4 is the more practical choice for the following reasons: great lease deal going on right now (no need to shell out tons of dough from the get-go), quattro, nicer interior.

The a3 had me at hello because: it looks hot, fun to drive, unique. The biggest downside is the lack of quattro and the large down payment for financing (we all know leasing is a no-no for now).

I need to convince my wife (and perhaps myself as well) into getting the a3. As of now the resale value cannot be predicted and could be horrible as far as any of us know. If I had some assurance that I can sell this ride for a decent dollar three years from now then that would help justify the purchase.

Have any of you gone through similar considerations? How did you finally decide?

Timmay

vehicle determine my personal choices. As stupid as this may sound, it sometimes annoys me when people constantly talk about resale value. It's almost as if you're giving up on the car before even buying it. It's like when people order a sunroof on their car simply because it will be worth more in resale terms. It will add maybe a hundred bucks or so more to the value after a few years but that's it. (this is just one example) As you said, we don't know what the resale value of the A3 will be so that's kind of a moot point now. Secondly, what does your wife think? Why does she prefer the A4? Who's actually going to be driving the car most of the time? Where do you live and do you absolutely need Quattro?

What specs are you considering if you were to pull the trigger on an A3? DSG? If so, there's none offered on the A4 and speaking from my own experience, it rocks! A3s get way more looks than an A4 but that's probably a given. I've only seen a few of them to date and I live here in Socal.

Paris UK

I swapped an A4 (Cab) for an A3 because it's more practical to have a smaller car here. I think in the US it's generally the other way round! Exclusivity - wise there are probably more A3s than 4s here, but I would say there's not that much in it/

jakko

Didn't get a chance to really put DSG to the test during the test drive but it shifted very quickly, almost instantly. Much faster than the tip on the '99 a4. Exclusivity is one of the major perks as I have not seen even one a3 on the road here in queens, ny.

Since I'm married with 2 kids, the resale value is important since there are always finances to worry about (college tuition and other misc children's expenses). It's not the end of the world if the car doesn't resell well but it makes me feel irresponsible to make a decision based purely on emotion. But I guess it's those cars that really fuel your passion that you get the most enjoyment out of.

To answer some of your other questions, we had a very white winter last year and the quattro could come in handy if jack frost comes back for an encore performance. The 3.2Q coming in january is a bit too much for our budget. Too bad audi won't be releasing a 2.0Q in the states. I'd jump on that in an instant.

We just bought an odyssey in may. She's been driving that kid hauler while I've been chugging along in a '99 altima (was there ever a blander car?).

Thanks for your response. The scale has tipped towards the a3 side a bit.

jakko

Not that it has any bearing on the US market but how does the value of the a3 hold up over time in the UK? It's definitely more practical to have a smaller car in nyc but I don't think the a3 is that much smaller than the a4 right?

markmark206

... so I didn't have to shell out ANY dough at the get-go.

radcoup

riding the bus You've paid your dues, get something fun to drive.

You said you didn't want to buy a car for emmotional reasons. I don't think buying a nice car is very rational. For me it is an emmotional decision. Sometimes a rather expensive one

TT Karl

Apologies to the females on the board, but I think the B6 A4 became a "chick" car. Nothing like the B5 platform at all.

I trade cars in about every 1.5 - 2 years. I purchase because I put too many miles on for leasing. I always take a hit on the resale, but I consider it part of the investment. Spread a couple/few thousand dollars of loss over the time period the car is owned and the daily investment to have a car that you love to drive is relatively minimal.

Of course, I don't have future college tuition or kids to worry about.

April

what the car might be worth at the end of the term, which means crappy residuals. The one upside of a low residual is that you have a chance of making money on the car as you get closer to the end of the term. If it's worth more than the residual, you can either sell it yourself and pocket the difference, or trade it in to a dealer, and pocket a bit less.

In the end, you're going to have to live with this car every day. Break down the cost difference between the A3 and A4, into daily chunks. Say if it's $100 delta each month, that's $3.33 per day. Then decide if that amount is worth it to you to drive what you really want, or if it is a close enough call between the cars that you'd rather pocket that money and buy and extra latte.

Get some good dedicated snow tires for winter, and you should be fine. QTR is really nice to have, but then it does cost you in fuel economy over the long term as well.

alibaba

Same here: no money down...