My car is ten years old. Shortly after I got it, I was going somewhere and had a good friend of mine with me. We were talking about the car, and when I told him it was a 1997, he didn't believe me until I pulled out the owner's manual. These are absolutely incredible cars, and I can't see myself ever owning anything other than an Audi for the rest of my life. BMWs are for pretty-boys, Mercedes are for octogenarians. Audis are for drivers with class.

Someone's gotta be the voice of dissent in the Mutual Admiration Society, might as well be me.

I'd like my fiancee's 2000 A4 2.8 a lot more if it wasn't constantly breaking. It's comfortable and easy to drive, great visibility, but compared to newer cars from other companies, the driving dynamics are very ordinary. It's stock as it left the factory - no sport package or Quattro, the only "mod" was a switch to Yokohama AV4s tires to replace the crappy Falken tires someone talked her into before I came into her life. Good fresh rubber, brand new control arms and bushings, new OEM brakes - it drives like new.

And it's really very ordinary. Not bad, just not special. Lots of pitch and body roll from it's very soft, US-spec springs, feather light steering without much feel or particularly good tracking, and the orange gauges are straight out of an early 1980's Isuzu, they give me a headache. Compared to other sedans from 2000 I'm sure it stood out but it's nothing special compared to newer, less expensive cars like the Mazda6 and even the Ford Fusion V6, both cars I've driven extensively. Heck, even the Toyota Avalon I rented a while back was every bit the "driver's car" this Audi is. Seriously, without the sport package or AWD, the B5 A4 is a very ordinary car, an unreliable one at that.

I will say in it's defense that it's timeless styling still looks great 8 years later, much much better than the current Audi's with their huge noses.
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You think a Toyota Avalon is a driver's car? GTFO.

The new Avalon drives surprisingly well for such a big car, especially a Toyota. The A4 I'm talking about drives well too, I'm just saying the difference isn't night and day; I wouldn't want to run either one on a track day.

Like I said, they're both just very ordinary cars from a driving perspective. I'm sure my perspective would be different if this A4 had the sport package and AWD, but it's just a base-level FWD 2.8L, with a chassis tuned for the average US consumer - soft.
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Ha. One of the chuckleheads that works in the dealership with me thinks his Avalon could take either of my cars on a track.

I am trying to sell my old ride...lol... It pretty much sucks compared to my new (to me) Audi. Solid $1500 transporation for a broke grad student though!

I'd take my 325 over my Audi for handling,acceleration,gearing,braking,reliability, ease of maintenceflywheel weight,clutch feel,power. My Audi has it beat on fuel efficency (23-24mpg stop and go city, 28-30mpg doin 70-90 on the highway),fit and finish,interior feel,attention to detail,QUATTRO BABY. My complaints on the Audi are,WTF were they thinkin on the 1.8s gearing,fly wheel weight(it feels like its made outta lead,why does the clutch engage so high on all of them wtf is the deal with that?,my dashboard display is terribly pixelated and so is the guy i purchased it froms S-4 as a matter of fact every single one and we're talkin over a dozen that center display was messed up on.

Well you did put your own point in perspective. In 2000, I also am sure that it was absolutely first-class. If it were STILL first class against new for 08' models, then either Audi would've done something inhuman in the world of cars, or the other manufacturers would've had to have been asleep for the best part of the last decade. I don't pretend to think that my A4, from 1999, is going to stack up against brand new luxury sports cars from its own league, but I can say that it still is a better drive than a lot of cars newer than it, and that alone speaks well of the car. Hell, even supercars like Ferraris from 99 and 2000 pale in comparison to the ones available today - no pricing tier is exempt from the simple laws of progress.

That's a pretty sweet Triumph man - I like it

Take him up on it and bet him a 12-pack of your favorite