Repairs and maintenance costs are what steered me away from a used s4 turbo

Lot's of good advice here. Personally I've working in the auto industry since 1975, almost exclusively with German brands. The Audi/VW 1.8t has a bad reputation. Fact is if the oil is changed at the correct intervals and the proper oil is used the engine will last forever. Yes, that is a little finicky for the typical American consumer.

 

Bottom line is you cannot compare the fit, finish, ride and handling of German cars to anything else. The caveat, as many others have said here, is that repairs and parts can be VERY expensive. As for Asian brands, IMHO, Mazda and Subaru are nice cars. I do not have enough knowledge of domestics to opine.

 

chris

WRX

might be able to snag a nice Legacy Spec B/GT for that price range. you already know how I feel about my STi.

this journey has taken me in a total different direction..

 

I am starting to consider a mazdaspeed 3 because I really like the seats and interior.. coupled with the performance.. decent 1/4 mile time..

Lot's of good advice here. Personally I've working in the auto industry since 1975, almost exclusively with German brands. The Audi/VW 1.8t has a bad reputation. Fact is if the oil is changed at the correct intervals and the proper oil is used the engine will last forever. Yes, that is a little finicky for the typical American consumer.

 

Bottom line is you cannot compare the fit, finish, ride and handling of German cars to anything else. The caveat, as many others have said here, is that repairs and parts can be VERY expensive. As for Asian brands, IMHO, Mazda and Subaru are nice cars. I do not have enough knowledge of domestics to opine.

 

chris

 

VW had alot of problems with the tdi.. i also rebuilt the top end of a friends jetta and found out the lifters were soft and had to change them all along with the cam.. VW did have updated parts to fix the problem but they did not warranty all of them, if the car did get regular oil changes it would fail in the 80-110,000 mile mark..

this journey has taken me in a total different direction..

 

I am starting to consider a mazdaspeed 3 because I really like the seats and interior.. coupled with the performance.. decent 1/4 mile time..

 

If you can stomach a bit more. Check out the Ford Focus ST. It just came out this model year and is an updated platform of the current gen MS3. I'm currently looking to get one by the end of the year with the Recaro seat option.

 

That said, I'm coming from a 99 MK3 VW Golf. Aside from an issue with the distributor gasket and an ABS issue the car hasn't had any major issues. Its at 174k on the clock, and I've taken care of it with oil changes at 3k every time and all repairs have been done myself. Hell the timing belt was probably the easiest one I've ever done.

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this journey has taken me in a total different direction..I am starting to consider a mazdaspeed 3 because I really like the seats and interior.. coupled with the performance.. decent 1/4 mile time..

I had the ms3, great cars,  but the biggest issue with them was the Turbo, after a while it would burn lots of oil pretty quick, sold it and bought me a 2003 BMW 330Ci, got that stolen and I replaced it with a 1998 BMW M3. I love my German cars. The MS3 was my 3 Japanese car, other than that, I've had German cars since I was 16.

<p>I had the ms3, great cars, but the biggest issue with them was the Turbo, after a while it would burn lots of oil pretty quick, sold it and bought me a 2003 BMW 330Ci, got that stolen and I replaced it with a 1998 BMW M3. I love my German cars. The MS3 was my 3 Japanese car, other than that, I've had German cars since I was 16.

 

I just don't know.. the exterior of the MS3 is meh to me... but the interior is nice... the room is good.. and the speed in 1/4 is decent with more potential.. cost is extremely low compared to the other stuff I was looking at..

 

so I just don't know..