People coming from Audi, BMW, Merc
#31
03-25-2005 | 11:05 AM
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 24
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Originally Posted by CT_Texas
I was coming from a B5 S4. Car wise, I didn't have too many issues, but the car was beginning to show its age. On the last visit I had one of the 02 sensors on the pre cat go out.... but Audi covers those for 8 years.
Didn't have any other issues other than that. My Audi dealer was really good. But the idea of turbo replacement, repairs on an out of warranty Audi etc. just worried me. Turbo replacement is about 7-8k with labor and alot of pple had turbos blow after 50k only to have aftermarket warranties cover them. The aftermarket warranty firms started to be leery of insuring S4s lol.
I actually did try to lower mine, that was a nightmare. With the Miltek exhaust that I was trying to squeeze in, I would barely clear anything lol. So I took them off and sold them. That together with the bad depreciation that I was taking... 4 yrs and already at about 50% residual, I decided that I wouldn't keep it.
Actually considered the M3 very very seriously. Had a used one in my garage for 2 days. It is an awesome machine, I could swing it but...(1) owning a used 9 year old M3 after a 5 year financing loan wasn't attractive (2) S54 engine is highly tuned....reliability? who knows? esp with the exploding engine fiasco with the 1st 2 years' models. (3) Beemer dealer wasn't dealing straight with me. But don't get me wrong, the M3 is an awesome machine. One downside I felt is even on 18s, it felt harsher than the 19s on the Gs.
Didn't have any other issues other than that. My Audi dealer was really good. But the idea of turbo replacement, repairs on an out of warranty Audi etc. just worried me. Turbo replacement is about 7-8k with labor and alot of pple had turbos blow after 50k only to have aftermarket warranties cover them. The aftermarket warranty firms started to be leery of insuring S4s lol.
I actually did try to lower mine, that was a nightmare. With the Miltek exhaust that I was trying to squeeze in, I would barely clear anything lol. So I took them off and sold them. That together with the bad depreciation that I was taking... 4 yrs and already at about 50% residual, I decided that I wouldn't keep it.
Actually considered the M3 very very seriously. Had a used one in my garage for 2 days. It is an awesome machine, I could swing it but...(1) owning a used 9 year old M3 after a 5 year financing loan wasn't attractive (2) S54 engine is highly tuned....reliability? who knows? esp with the exploding engine fiasco with the 1st 2 years' models. (3) Beemer dealer wasn't dealing straight with me. But don't get me wrong, the M3 is an awesome machine. One downside I felt is even on 18s, it felt harsher than the 19s on the Gs.
#32
03-25-2005 | 08:52 PM
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 108
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Originally Posted by greekzilla
CT_Texas, I second your comments on the B5 S4. My lease is coming to an end with my B5 S4. I considered buying the vehicle, but its near impossible to get an extended warranty (even though the car has only 30K miles). The best deal on a warranty was $3,100 USD (2YRS/24K). The car has been trouble-free but with 3 mos to go on my lease and NO warranty, it has been sitting in the garage until it goes back to AofA. The G35C 6MT is high on my list for the next car.
. I had about 6 months left on my lease but decided to bail early if I could swing an awesome deal i.e. basically breaking even. Look at it this way, if you not keeping the car, like I wasn't, you're basically dumping money (payments) into the drain. One might as well put it into something you'll keep. Another reason not to lease lol (learnt that from this lol). Got an awesome deal, bye bye S. The aftermarket warranties on the car suck now. In fact, some of the companies have gone out of business, leaving some pple high and dry on the beach.I loved my S. With stage 2, the car pulled like a freight train and looked stealth. Stage 3 puts you about 370hp/370 ft-lbs of torque. But the turbos (K03s) were the Achilles heel of the car. Audi has since gone pretty much non turbo (see new S4) or put stronger K04s in (see RS6). The S4 was painful for them too (turbo replacements).
#33
03-25-2005 | 09:12 PM
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 583
Likes: 0
From: DFW, TX
just want to note that the G is the entry level car of Infiniti, so they can't really price it much higher than it is now... the M has better interior because it should. If you look at the Q, now thats a good interior... although its a bit old manish for me, you get what you pay for... IMO the 05s interior is good enough for the money we're paying.
My gf has an 05 Mercedes SLK350 and the interior materials are definitely a step above the G. Everything inside feels rubbery and no hard plastic. Not really sure why hard plastic is a sign of cheapness but ok... But the interior isn't perfect, climate controls for example, use buttons like the 03-04 G interior instead of a ****. Steering wheel controls are ok but you can't switch presets on the radio with them, only seeks to the next station available, oh and you can't switch folders on MP3s with the steering wheel...
you can't make everyone happy, no matter what they do to the G interior, someone, somewhere won't be satisfied... just gotta accept things for what they are... and expect the "grass is always greener" syndrome to happen...
My gf has an 05 Mercedes SLK350 and the interior materials are definitely a step above the G. Everything inside feels rubbery and no hard plastic. Not really sure why hard plastic is a sign of cheapness but ok... But the interior isn't perfect, climate controls for example, use buttons like the 03-04 G interior instead of a ****. Steering wheel controls are ok but you can't switch presets on the radio with them, only seeks to the next station available, oh and you can't switch folders on MP3s with the steering wheel...
you can't make everyone happy, no matter what they do to the G interior, someone, somewhere won't be satisfied... just gotta accept things for what they are... and expect the "grass is always greener" syndrome to happen...