I had the same dilemma, and the A4 is better by far. The E36, by now, is just plain old. And not even classic old like the E30 (it'd be wicked to own an E30 M3), but just plain old. Interior and exterior styling, when compared to the A4, is night and day. Plus BMWs are overpriced imo. They're definitely very very solid cars, but still overpriced.

 

Just as a comparison between BMW's x-drive and Audi's quattro...

I live in CT so I've seen more than my fair share of snow driving. My dad had an '03 BMW 325xi and I have a 2001 A4 1.8t quattro. Here's my thoughts- believe it or not I think the BMW performs just as well as the quattro in the snow, however it doesn't feel the same. The A4 is much more fun to drive in the snow, it almost feels at home in the snow, where as the BMW you can tell you're on foreign territory. The problem with that is you can easily get a false sense of security in the A4 where as the BMW you get a little more cautious.

Either car is a great car, in my experience the BMW was more reliable but it was also a newer car and my dad was the first owner so that's probably not a fair comparo. Either way good luck and drive safe!

 

I have a friend who's really into those old M3s... Man does he go through them fast, though. He has like 4 without engines sitting in back of his house and 2 or 3 that actually run, but while he used to restore them and sell them lately he's just been keeping them. [shrug]

But anyways, I'm not buying any car with 150k miles on it, I'm looking at a car now with a bit under 100k, I'm just thinking about how far the car will take me into the future.


It sounds like if I just take care of the car and take the preventative maintenance route and make sure it's clean off the bat than all will probably be alright, which would make sense.

 

the 96-97 2.8 12V are relible but not built for speed by any means if anything I know you said you did not want performance but get a 97 1.8T and put a chip in it and sounds like that will be enough for you as for the BMW over Audi defiently if you are driving up mountians to go skiing you will want Quattro don't get me wrong I love RWD but not so much if you are driving in bad weather all the time

 

Driving in the snow has been takled about a lot but I definitely feel that quattro feels better in the dry and even rainy if you are the agressive type. The xi just doesn't feel as smooth when all four are biting. Just my personal feel. Plus I got the A4 after the same decision process

 

wow things have moved on, it used to be FWD - V - RWD and the FWD won now its who drives the car ( you or the computer )

 

.... And the computer is usually better.

 

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because you only get lag if you have a turbo lol