Want Audi estate for my wife -- please advise

[Adrian E]

Originally Posted by notorious

Thanks Adrian !!

>> I'd steer clear of a manual on tax and driving experience grounds.

Are you saying that manual attracts higher tax?

Also what 'automatic' is bullet proof? There are many options our there now...

The manual S4 avant is in the over £500 bracket, whereas auto is £300ish - they also sold in TINY numbers as a result, before Audi dropped the manual option completely. They also suffer with clutch release arm and bearing problems as well as dual mass flywheel....

The s-tronic is reliable if the car isn't re-mapped and thrashed to death with lots of launch control starts or too much torque. Ours (2011 model) has been perfect. You need to learn to drive them to be sympathetic to the drivetrain (avoid creeping, let your foot off the brake and allow drive to engage before going near the throttle in stop-start traffic) but it's all about being smooth with it. My wife gets it, and she's not mechanically sympathetic at all!

The 6 speed ZF requires less maintenance, but as the conscientious person I know you to be, I know you'd end up getting the gearbox serviced anyway. The s-tronic requires an oil and filter change around every 38k.

If you went for one on sensible wheels (18s or 19s on the S4 - our S5 is on 20s, which weren't an option on the S4) and if you can find one, adaptive damping, it'll ride really well. Even on standard suspension with 18s it rides perfectly well.

They don't do a Golf GTI estate, but as an idea of what the 2.0T in the Skoda is capable of achieving, we did a road trip recently with 3 people, boot full of luggage and a towbar mounted bike carrier with 3 bikes on it, cruising at 85-90 and some local work while away and got 32mpg on a tank average. It's relatively easy to get 35mpg.

If you're down Gatwick way welcome to have a ride and see what you think?