> old-ish entry-level German car... 2005 Audi A4
Funny... I just bought a new-ish German luxury sedan: 2004 Audi A4. It is newest and most expensive car I have ever owned.
Perspective is a weird thing...
Funny... I just bought a new-ish German luxury sedan: 2004 Audi A4. It is newest and most expensive car I have ever owned.
Perspective is a weird thing...
I love my A4. I'm glad I made the "compromise" and got it.
BTW, my primary reason for getting the A4 is because the B6 design is (IMHO) the only 2002-2005 family of cars that actually do not look even remotely dated. Non-car-enthusiasts would not recognize a B6 design as being 10 years old. Audi really did a great job getting ahead of the curve with that design, esp. when (today) you compare a 2002 BMW/Mercedes/Lexus/Infiniti to the 2002 Audi models, you see what I mean: the latter group is distinctly "older looking."
WRT the navigation: just get a 100 dollar Nuvi w/ realtime traffic. My B6 doesn't have the in-dash navigation in the first place, but the Garmin's a really nice product.
Plus, the internal inputs into built-in nav are a big plus; it works a little bit better than the aftermarket stuff, and having turns on the driver information display is worth it to me too.
What would really make sense is a Model S for around here, and then getting a TDI (I wish they sold the A4 TDI in the USA, but a VW Passat or A3) for really long trips. I get about 28-30mpg on highways at 75mph in my A4 (with APR chip, and about 100k miles), but that's with premium fuel. But I guess depreciation dominates fuel cost for a while longer.
What would make for a great long-distance car here in the States would be the 335d. If you get the Model S in 2013 or so, a 5 year old 335d should be around the right price for the taking. I got my A4 chip'd as well, seeing the same mileage. Four dollars at the pump seems like a fair enough tradeoff for me (15 gallons at ~25 cents more).
My real long-term (5-10 year) goal is to make enough money and have enough time to have a CH-801 (STOL piston, diesel engine) aircraft, about $100-200k, for flying SFO to Reno or Oregon, and then eventually a HondaJet to fly to Vancouver, central Washington, dive sites in Socal, etc.
My previous ride was a 1990 BMW 535I and before that a 1982 Mercedes. Both purchased when they were over 15 years old and both for less than $3k so paying closer to $10k was quite. Move up.
And I agree that the b6 is the pinnacle of Audi style (at least currently). The b7 and b8 front ends are uglo-cars IMHO. I'm hoping to keep this car for as long as I can. I'm even looking to pick up a spare motor in case mine blows up (I'm getting current one chipped next week).