In keeping with getting myself a new job in Boston, I have bought myself a new car (as my 2001 VW Jetta/Bora VR6 for B-school completely broke down and basically stopped working - I think it decided after the 110,000th mile that was it). Some of you may remember my new car thread from a few months ago. I decided not to go for the RX-8 as the dealer himself told me that it was akin to trying to control a hockey puck on an ice rink.

So I went for an Audi A4 - got a fantastic deal on a 2005 model, 12000 miles, 1.8T quattro manual with 2 years/38K miles to go on the factory warranty. All for a price around $20K (including $4K trade - I was amazed my Jetta was worth that much after all the crap I went through with it.

It's still pretty stock at the moment but I'm planning to upgrade to 17" wheels (these are 16"s and are running on Pirelli 215/55/16 all season tyres) and maybe get a bigger exhaust. I'm also considering remapping the ECU but I'm guessing that will void my warranty, so I might hold off on that.

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Hopefully this will be better than the Alfa nightmare - while the driving experience was excellent with Alfa, the ownership experience (maintenance, customer service, etc) was terrible. I've been pretty happy with Audi so far. I'm so looking forward to driving this Quattro around in winter here. :D

Quattro's kick ass, pure speed demons. An old friend used to drive one, it goes from 0 to 100 kms in a matter of seconds. This will definitely make you forget your Alfa woes, you'll be driving "Deutsche grundligkeit" now. :D

That's a pretty nice car Memnoch, as johnny said Quattro's are a beast.

Odd comment about RX-8's mind you, my dads old RX-8 PZ stuck to the floor like glue ;)

That sounds even worse! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Was this driving on normal tarred roads or on ice/snow?

Better luck than with the ol' alf alfa pimp mobile Memsy [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img]

Normal roads. Did have a problem once when it was *really* icy on getting the revs to get traction to get up our road (it's a slight hill) but apart from that it's more than fine.

Congrats! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Unfortunately the roads around Boston can get quite icy more so than snowy in winter - that's really what dissuaded me. I know some mates of mine who have had RWD cars (BMWs, RX-8s, etc) - they basically drive them in spring-summer-fall and then buy a $2000 FWD winter beater to get through the winter. My new apartment is on top of a hilly region and I doubt that my roadside assistance would be too impressed having to tow me up the hill every night...