So which one is better overall? I'm looking at under the $17k price range and am wondering what the major differences are besides the obvious body being different. Power seems to be the same but are there other big things I should look at that would make me get one over the other? To me the B5 looks a whole lot better but if the B6 is a much better performer I'd go that route.

Thanks for voting!

I have a B6 1.8T and I think it has looks over the B5 as well as performance. I just got mine about a week ago, 16 large '05 model with 50000 miles on it. I think I got a pretty good deal, I'd get a later model of either B5 or B6 just to avoid small issues with early model though whatever you do.

I have a B5 1.8t and I think it has looks over the B6, as well as performance.

The B6 has a stiffer chassis, and the K03s (pretty much equal to a k04), also it has a stiffer chassis (IIRC).

If you're staying with the stock turbo, the B6 will be quicker because there are more agressive chips for it (APR Stage 1+, GIAC has one too).

As for going Big turbo... You could buy a B5 A4 for ~$8k, have a full big turbo setup for ~$5k, suspension + wheels for $2500, then have 1500 to spend on maintenance and other things that go wrong (ABS control module, control arms, wheel bearings/cv joints and boots).

If you had a B6, you'd barely get the car and wheels before you had to start saving again.

I've never really looked into the B6 tuning scene, but manufacturers(sp?) are still coming out with new things every couple of months for the B5, so it's deffinetly still a growing platform to mod.

I would go with a 1999.5 A4 1.8t Quattro 5spd. 99.5 is the best year for the A4 modder, it has the 1998 style engine with the later style interior/exterior.

If you race a B5 and a B6 side by side with a chip the B5 will win just because of the weight savings.
The looks all depend on what you like.

you guys forgot 2MAJOR advatages to the b6...... MAP sensor and wideband o2. These two things alone will make tunes far better for the b6 than the b5 with equal mods. So i hope the weight savings is enough when the b6 is making more power on its BT (ko4 is NOT a BT and pointless for a b6 anyways) than a b5.

ok, fair enough but how many guys actually follow through with BT plans? I'd say that less than 1% of A4 owners on this board have anything bigger than a K04 in their car, B5 or B6. having the map sensor and wideband O2 isn't going to make a lot of difference when you're only doing mild mods like chip. of course having said that, the map sensor does enable you to do the diode mod. so an increase in power is theoretically cheaper to do in a map-equipped car, but it takes discipline to run a diode modded car.

B5 has better weight distribution!

B6 not an old POS

Again, there was a reason the B6 had such a short production run!

thats why all the girls all look at my B6 over your B5, girls like bigger things