stop looking, buy Audi ... be a man :-)

 

I looked at both cars and opted for the Audi. My feeling that although the VW was slightly better looking, it would a white elephant upon resale. I do have a question for Auditech79, you mention that this year has many problems and you would not buy one. Knock on wood, I have over 85K on mine and it has been flawless. I absolutely love the car and find reasons to drive it everyday. It might not be the best car on the road, but I don't think there is a better one. What types of problems should I be on the lookout for?

 

What problems should you look for?
Well when i mean i wouldn't buy one, i didn't mean I (myself) wouldn't buy one, i was just putting myself into the position of the buyer and saving them a headache.
Its good you haven't had any problems yet but most of the problems on the 04 are minor and are just annoying.
Such as: MMI glitches which need re-flashing, MMI screen motors that fail all the time, trunk hinges are out of date which tend to bend, trunk motors that break because of bent hinges, and the worst of all of them is the coolant line that runs over the oil filter. The "pipe" that runs over it is just that, a pipe. It should be a flexible hose so you can get the filter out, you can't do it with an 04 (early 05). The dealer is supposed to replace it with a rubber line which isn't too difficult, however most techs are lazy and money grubbing ******, so they bend the pipe out of the way with a crow bar (myself included ) just enough to get the filter out. Most of the time thats just fine because it doesn't have to move much to get enough clearance, however if its bent over too far you can break a fitting that requires ENGINE REMOVAL to change it out, which would be super expensive unless you can prove who did it, when buying it used its almost impossible. So look out for coolant leaks on the passenger's side of the vehicle.