I'm pretty much finalizing my first car choices, and its a battle between the A6 2.7T Quattro and the A4 1.8T Quattro.
I will be racing in AutoX this next season, so I need something nimble, but it'll also be my daily driving car, so it needs to be comfortable (and easy to do stupid teenage stuff in)
What are some low-key, low-cost mods I can do to either? Which would you prefer out of the two and why?
What should I do to either to keep them running good?
How much should I expect to pay for either, with how many miles?
Stereo sound good?
A/B Honor roll student with drivers ed insurance rates?

Thanks in advance

 

A4 will be your best bet smaller lighter and cheaper to mod.

Search mods or something of that sort and you will find massive amounts of usefull info.

 

my insurance is 250 a month, if that any indication

 

The 2.7 Engine is amazing in any car and definitely makes a lot of power. A simple Chip upgrade will give you around 320hp and remember that most engine mods from the S4 also apply to the A6. A6 is a lot bigger and although faster won't be as much fun.

The A4 is alot sportier and is really fun to drive. From a stop it isn't the fastest but from 10mph on it hauls. No matter what you do to an A6 an A4 is always going to handle better... unless you find a way to add about 500 negative ponds to it. Also the A4 holds its value better.

My first car was an A4 but originally I wanted an A6. As ridiculous as it sounds I wanted to drag race the A6 while still cruise around town in a full size luxury sedan. Then I asked myself, why would I give a damn if my cars comfortable? I want something sporty, because I can wait till I'm 70 to have a full luxury car. (pretty good sleeper now that I think of it) Anyhow then I opted for an S4 but with my price range, high mileage was the only choice and insurance was pretty bad for a 17 year old. Turbos, and timing belt become a problem and = lots of $$ and after 4 years of work I wasn’t about to dump my entire bank account into a car that would be breaking down on me. So in the end I decided to start off small and eventually upgrade to an S4 and carry all my existing mods over to it.


Go with an A4 if you want to autocross. At 17 I was paying $600 a semester for insurance. Not sure about your price budget but you can get one for $12-$15 with around 50,000 miles on it depending on year and condition.

When you make your descision make sure you get the sport package (suspension + wheels) and a manual tranny for the best performance.


Hope this helps

-Jon

 

a4 definitely the better choice of the two because its not a boat If you are looking for an autocross car try a wrx or evo because they are lighter and cheaper to repair if your going to race it. But if you do use the audi your going to want to do some immediate mods like a chip to get rid of the boost lag, and coil overs because you cant auto cross very well with stock suspension. Good luck and since the audi has a lot of safety features it should save you a bundle with insurance.

 

Yeah I was actually really interested in an STi, but insurance would have killed me. I'd like to stay in the stock racing class (forgot the exact name), in hopes of racing drivers as bad as I probably will be, but if it would really make a difference then I could pull off racing in the class above it. I'll probably save the chip for later, and focus more on the suspension for a while. I come from an ///M BMW loving family so I'm more set towards handling turns and stuff than flying. (however, both would be very nice). We've been with our provider for over 30 years and have nearly everything we own insured with them so I'm sure it'd be even cheaper. I was looking into a 24v Jetta for about $180/mo but if I can pull off an Audi for about that, then that'd be great.
How much should I expect to pay for a nice set of coil-overs? What size/tread of rims and wheels would you guys reccomend for AutoX?

If any of you guys have some spare time and live in the Southern MO area, check out somoeuro.com.

Thanks for all the help

 

Coilovers run from say $800-1200 depending on where you get them and what type. Check some of the sponsor links for good sites. As far as wheels go, I'd stay in the 17" or 18" categories anything larger is purely esthetic and can in fact hinder performance in some ways. First thing I'd advise you to buy is a good short shifter- I hear in terms of fun they dramatically improve the car (this is all assuming you get a manual, which is the only way to go in my book), not to mention they're dirt cheap in comparison to many other mods and can result in better acceleration times.

Good luck in your search!!

 

oh yeah, after driving the M3 and even a slow-*** GTI I'm only gonna drive a stick. I looked at short shifters, but for that kinda money, and the fact that I've driven an M3 since I started driving kinda puts that on the shelf to the coilovers and chip.