Not a minivan decision... But anyone have an early 2000's Audi wagon?

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

I returned my leased car I used for business before DD was born... I am looking for a 2000-2004 wagon/SUV. Must have room for Britax and 2 dogs, one is almost 6 feet when on his back legs, so they are large! I prefer leather, power everything, and MUST have AWD/4x4, as we get on average over 110" of snow per year. So the Subie Outback, Infiniti QX4, Lexus Rx 300,and the like have come up a few times. We found an 2002 Audi A6 Avant (a good price), and want to know if anyone has one, or knows of someone who has one...We are looking at cars in the 50,000-100,000 mile and $10,000 and under category.

Any words of wisdom? The 2001 Audi has bad ratings, but the 2002 seems good...

TIA!!! I need a car soon, I am going NUTS without one!

[ha98ed14]

No advice on the car, but a question: Where in Arizona do you get 110 inches of snow?

[kransden]

Flagstaff gets lots of snow! Here in Phoenix not so much. A couple of years ago it snowed enough here on a Sun. that you could see a few pinhead sized flakes on a leaf for a few minutes. That was ALL the kids talked about the next day at school. You would think a blizzard had hit. It was pretty amusing. :)

BTW Honda is having some fantastic deals until the end of the month. Maybe you might want a van after all. ;)

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

Flagstaff is at 7,000 feet. The 8th snowiest city in the US!
The Ody isn't AWD, and we are really looking in the $7,000-$10,000 range....

[Momof3Labs]

I have a 2002 VW Passat wagon and it has had far too many issues (just turned 80k miles) - electrical, in particular. There is also the engine sludge issue. We are waiting for the engine to blow and the car to be worth nothing. Fun. Did you check Consumer Reports' reviews of used cars? You can find out if the 2006 Audi is plagued with the same kind of issues as the older Passats.

[daniele_ut]

We live in Utah, get similar amounts of snow, and drive a Subaru Outback Sport and a Chevy Malibu. I've honestly found that the Malibu with traction control drives almost as well as the Outback in the snow. Now, if you live at the top of a steep driveway, maybe you do need AWD, but I've been surprisingly pleased with both of our vehicles.

That said, of the cars you listed, I would definitely get a Subaru. Ours is 8 years old, has over 150k miles on it and has been unbelievably reliable. We would buy another Subaru in a heartbeat if we could be sure we could fit 3 carseats in it.

I have a coworker who drives an Audi and every repair he has had done has been quite expensive. I drove an older VW for 10 years and had an excellent mechanic who only worked on VWs and Audis and he was worth his weight in gold. If you go the route of the Audi, make sure you have a skilled mechanic to work on it.

[o_mom]

Just to be devil's advocate here... our Subaru Outback died with less than 100K on the odometer. It died just slow enough over 2-3 months that we sunk $4k into it before calling it quits. On top of that Subarus are one of the most horrible cars to install carseats in.

On the Audi... DH had a 2001.5 Passat (same as the 2002) and we traded it in because it was giving us bad vibes... the electrical never was right and it would do odd things, but they couldn't find any issue or it wouldn't do it for them so we could never get it fixed. We traded it in for the van thinking the Subaru would be the more reliable car to keep. :ROTFLMAO:

[BabyMine]

Don't forget this program by our government. You could qualify to get 4500 dollars for a new car.

http://www.reuters.com/article/earth2Tech/idUS216228605420090619

[AnnieW625]

I'd get an Outback, Toyota Highlander (like the first model year, can't remember exact year though, think it's 2001) or a Volvo XC70 before I get an Audi. For the price that you are looking at you might even be able to find a late 90s XC90 which is better than the 2000+ Ford owned models (more rounder styling) per a mechanic friend of mine. Subarus are a little finicky by nature once they hit 80K so make sure you are close to a Subaru dealer or someone who really knows Subarus.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

We live in Utah, get similar amounts of snow, and drive a Subaru Outback Sport and a Chevy Malibu. I've honestly found that the Malibu with traction control drives almost as well as the Outback in the snow. Now, if you live at the top of a steep driveway, maybe you do need AWD, but I've been surprisingly pleased with both of our vehicles.

That said, of the cars you listed, I would definitely get a Subaru. Ours is 8 years old, has over 150k miles on it and has been unbelievably reliable. We would buy another Subaru in a heartbeat if we could be sure we could fit 3 carseats in it.

I have a coworker who drives an Audi and every repair he has had done has been quite expensive. I drove an older VW for 10 years and had an excellent mechanic who only worked on VWs and Audis and he was worth his weight in gold. If you go the route of the Audi, make sure you have a skilled mechanic to work on it.

My driveway is so steep, we often have to park at the bottom of our long driveway, if we aren't home by 5 or so, when it ices over!!!!!

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

Just to be devil's advocate here... our Subaru Outback died with less than 100K on the odometer. It died just slow enough over 2-3 months that we sunk $4k into it before calling it quits. On top of that Subarus are one of the most horrible cars to install carseats in.

On the Audi... DH had a 2001.5 Passat (same as the 2002) and we traded it in because it was giving us bad vibes... the electrical never was right and it would do odd things, but they couldn't find any issue or it wouldn't do it for them so we could never get it fixed. We traded it in for the van thinking the Subaru would be the more reliable car to keep. :ROTFLMAO:

We have a Recaro full size seat in DH's 2001 Subie sedan, so we don't mind the installation!

[kransden]

I have a 99 Pathfinder. It has 127000 miles on it and I love it.
Cons, bad turning radius, and small uncomfortable back seats, but ok for kids. So you might go for it instead of a Qx4.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

I have a 99 Pathfinder. It has 127000 miles on it and I love it.
Cons, bad turning radius, and small uncomfortable back seats, but ok for kids. So you might go for it instead of a Qx4.

We had a QX4 years ago. I would get a Pathfinder if I could find a decent one here. My biggest issue when looking is we live in a town of 60,000. The nearest big city is Phoenix 150 or so miles away. We are also looking in Vegas....