i stumbled upon these today and i honestly have no knowledge of either of them except they are kind of expensive to maintain. so can someone give me some details and pros and cons of each
thanks
96 Audi Quattro vs 95 Lexus SC300
i stumbled upon these today and i honestly have no knowledge of either of them except they are kind of expensive to maintain. so can someone give me some details and pros and cons of each
thanks
sc300 = NA supra (more or less)
audi quattro = AWD sedan of some sorts
sc300 is a 2jz-ge powered RWD car. motor has good reliability. sometimes in higher mileage situations has had head gasket failure. failry easy to work on, and has moderately priced replacement parts & peformance parts.
audi quattro.... not soo much known about this one. not sure as to the motor in it. i do know that audi parts are a bit more expensive than the SC300, and more of a pain to work on.
if you don't have deep pockets for a maintenance/**** happens fund, then get the lexus. Some Cons of the SC i can think of is gas mileage, trunk, rear passenger space. I also heard they have electrical problems with the cluster. Audi's are nice cars, but I would stay away from high mileage ones unless i knew how to work on them.
Originally Posted by BlkCD5
I have to agree (And I drive a 2001 A4 Quattro) I LOVE SC300's, they are essentially Luxury NA Supras, and you can fix the NA part pretty easily actually. If you're looking at a 96 Audi A4 Quattro then it's a little different story, A4's are relatively cheap to maintain (As long as you take them to people who don't try to rip you off, some people just charge more because it's German, like charging more because Acura's are Japanese. Here's a hint: Acura's are Hondas. Why charge $150 more for an Acura?) Anyways, as I was saying, A4's are relatively cheap to maintain from between 96-2001 because they're essentially the same cars as a VW Passat. You can do alot of the work yourself with a Haynes/Helms/Bentley manual but performance parts are a good bit more expensive than they will typically be for the 2jz SC300.
YMMV, the SC300's are bulletproof cars, but their interior has alot of issues on older ones. I would love to nab one of those babies for a project car, since you can, with some elbow grease and good old fashioned lovin', make a much less aggressive looking Supra clone.
For example, I had a friend with a 01 A4 1.8t and the readout on the cluster was messed up. They wanted to charge her $800 just for the cluster.
blkcd5: did she pay it or did she find a cheaper way?
As a proud '01 A4 owner, I can tell you: There is no cheaper way. On the other hand, I had a friend with an '04 Lexus GS that had all of it's dials stop working. Lexus wanted to charge him $1900 to repair it, not even to replace it, and refused to explain how his gauges stopped working. (All of them. Including Speedo)
Eh, sorry. Not to be defensive, it's just silly to point out flaws with a car, because all cars have flaws. Some more common than others (Obviously GS clusters failing entirely is rare. But it happened at least once, the clusters going bad or "acting funny" is common in 1 out of every 50 VW cars, so obviously something to be considerate of, but a very minor thing.)
If you want to knock the A4 on something, knock on the "sludge" issue that's caused by people refusing to use the proper sized oil filter and full synthetic oil in a turbocharged car combined with the fact that these same people do not let the turbo cool off after running the car at all. These people then try to get their engine replaced by Audi and scream bloody murder that Audi tells them they didn't follow the proper usage of the engine or maintenance.
ok that was the response i think i was waiting for haha, but im still new to this so you can only use synthetic oil and what do you mean by letting the turbo cool off thanks
turbo gets hot after driving. letting the car idle after a drive will help cool it off, hence turbo timer.
QFT. Turbos can produce in excess of 1600 degrees of heat when you're running it hard. The turbos are cooled and lubricated by oil that is shared with and pumped by the engine's oil system. If you just shut the car off the oil pump (which is powered by the crank) suddenly stops and the oil in the turbo with all that heat built up in it is forced to stay there, and bakes. This causes the oil to actually congeal inside the Turbo and can cause Turbo failure, or worse yet it can get pushed back into the engine when it's cranked next and add a layer of gunk to your oil pan that may eventualy feed up into the oil feed and kill the engine. Synthetic Oils have a low (Or in some cases near zero) carbon content, unlike conventional oils which are made primarily from carbon based molecules. Low-carbon oils are much more resistant to congealing under high heat (Since it's actually the Carbon cooking that causes the goop) and are a MUST for ANY Turbocharged car, regardless of whether the original engine needed it or not. Not running low-carbon high-heat resistant oil through your Turbo is like running 87 octane. You can do it, but the problems it causes will make your life hell.
The SC300 can probably run on conventional oil, but why would you worry about putting conventional oil and regular grade gasoline in a car? If budget's an issue, you should consider picking up a Civic, better gas mileage than either of these two and when you kill the engine replacements are alot cheaper.
Like I said before, I love my A4. But the choice is yours, and the SC300 is definitely a worthy car. But I really don't recommend you get either if you're gonna worry about things like whether or not you need to run synthetic in it. That's just the wrong frame of mind to have when you're buying a car like these.
Audis cooler, SC is cheaper
actually, she ended up selling the car. There were too many maintenance issues.
It was a nice car and felt like I was riding in a tank. It was a auto quattro w/ tip tronic so it didn't feel lively. Electrical problems are an issue. The sludge issue is just negligence. For example this girl i used to work with had a turbo bug. She hated it breaking down all the time, but used 87 octane instead of 93.
yeah this might be a stupid question but would the all wheel drive be harder on a clutch? i mean would it be better to get an automatic or manual
Yes. AWD is harder on the clutch. The A4 is also pretty heavy. If it's a contest between the tires loosing traction and the clutch slipping, I know from experience that you're gonna slip the clutch, those tires grip hard. I mean, HARD. Anyways, the clutch is pretty well balanced though, stiffest of any car I drive today but I grew up driving a 5-speed 4x4 95 Chevy Blazer V8. Wish I had convinced my dad to keep that car instead of buying the Nissan Frontier he got, that thing was a beast. Clutch was bad when we bought it so we got it cheap, I drove it with the bad clutch till he thought I was good enough that I wouldn't tear up a new one. Guy at the tranny shop that did the clutch swap stalled it six times driving it into the garage, had to finally ask me to do it. I was a 15 year old kid at the time and he was a 40 year old man. Ever since then, clutches have all felt like cake to me,. AWD is definitely gonna make it a tough adjustment if you're used to driving a much lighter stick, but I really don't want to recommend to you that you get ANY kind of Automatic Gearbox.
Also, to BlkCD5's point, there are plenty of electrical problems on older A4's. The newer the A4 the less problems it will have over the long run, they kept fixing bug after bug as they got the chance. *shrug*
what about jettas
Wow, sometimes, just sometimes I'm actually impressed with the information given out on IA.
There has been some very good recommendations given here in this thread. Very nice fellas.
I'm biased since I've owned Lexus and no Audis yet. I will say that it really boils down to maintainance. If you are good about keeping up with scheduled stuff and don't just rag on the cars, then you should get good results from either. They're both good cars in their own right. I tend to think that the Lexus would probably fair better in the long run, simply because the drivetrain is really that dependable AS LONG AS you keep up the scheduled maintainance.
fitbikerocki: I assume you mean the 1.8t Jetta? The V6 jetta's feel a little nose heavy to me, but the 1.8t Jetta's feel just right for a FWD car. The 1.8t's on them are a wee bit less powerful depending on year but are tuned down but come out being a bit more reliable because of it. Jetta's are great cars, but to me they're just a little without pizzaz. If it strikes you up though, they're pretty quick too.
Jaime: I tend to agree with you, Audi's are a little more tempermental if you have the turbo version, but from what I've experienced, all turbo cars (stock or aftermarket) can be a bit of a pain when they age. Kinda like dating a supermodel. Awesomely hot when they're young, but...most of 'em just don't seem to age well, and stay just as high maintenance.
I like this guy.
Jaime: I tend to agree with you, Audi's are a little more tempermental if you have the turbo version, but from what I've experienced, all turbo cars (stock or aftermarket) can be a bit of a pain when they age. Kinda like dating a supermodel. Awesomely hot when they're young, but...most of 'em just don't seem to age well, and stay just as high maintenance.
I have a few friends that drive Audi's. Most are A4's. They seem to like them. I really like the S4's myself, but that's a beast of a different color. The 1.8t's have such tiny turbos that their efficiency range is small. I do know, from what my boys tell me, that there is a ton of mods you can do to get real power out them though.
S4 is to A4 as Mk IV Supra TT is to Soarer SC300. S4's are niiiice. I got the chance to drive the Twin Turbo 2001 version. Actually considered buying it, but it had 60k more miles than the A4 and no service history (Big red flag went up) and they were selling it cheaper than the A4. In the end went with the safer choice, and I'm kinda glad I did, the S4 would probably have gotten me in alot of trouble.I like this guy.
I have a few friends that drive Audi's. Most are A4's. They seem to like them. I really like the S4's myself, but that's a beast of a different color. The 1.8t's have such tiny turbos that their efficiency range is small. I do know, from what my boys tell me, that there is a ton of mods you can do to get real power out them though.
OP: If it makes any difference, for a 21-24 year old single male renting an appartment with one accident/ticket on record it breaks down sorta like this (Assuming Full Coverage with $500 Deductibles, Standard insurance package and Medium insurance coverage from Allstate):
'96 A4: $920
'95 SC300:$1130
'95 Supra:$1130
'95 Jetta: $880
All per 6 Month.
If that makes it any easier
What are your intentions for the car? Have you compared insurance costs?
I'm biased as well but the A4 is a great car, just have money to fix the lil problems.
SC is just superb...
The SC300:
-Based off the Soarer from Japan. One of the first cars from Toyota designed in 3D.
-Uses 2JZ-GE. Takes to boost well, especially with a 1.2mm headgasket.
-Has a bigger brother, with the extremely capable 1UZ-FE 4.0 V8.
-it produced a drag coefficient of just 0.31, relatively good. (between 996 and f40
-can use supra suspension parts. 99% at least.
-No cop will look twice if you don't make it gaudy.
-I can drive my grandmother in it, and worry.
-Ultimate sleeper status?
Great info about making power on the NA motor. Their bottom ends have made 1000+ horsepower. With minimal mods to the motor (headgasket) they are capable of can make 5-600hp reliably.
Link: http://www.clubna-t.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10
Personally, I think its amazing. With some subtle changes to the interior, I can see it being a very awesome daily. I'd find black interior parts. Possibly put better gripping seats up front. (s2k seats bolt in, oddly enough) Exterior could use a small, subtle lip kit, or a 97+ sc400 bumper. Oh, and chrome molding would have to be removed/replaced/painted/vinyled.
Wheels, black emotions... black vs-xx, black professors, mmm... but thats just me.
And Of Course:
Modified by jbell at 8:59 PM 12-5-2007
Modified by jbell at 9:00 PM 12-5-2007
Vossen CV3 20x9 & 20x10.5
6 time 10 best winner
voted best audio system (Nakamichi)
voted one of the 100 top cars of all time by R&T
won its last comaro against the new CLK 320, Caddy ETC and Volvo C70 in MT
You should see what these guys on Clublexus do to them. Awesome. Now the big thing is swapping the 1JZ inside...
Modified by 1SICKLEX at 12:14 AM 12-6-2007
Vossen CV3 20x9 & 20x10.5
Vossen CV3 20x9 & 20x10.5
Looks nice, but still Audi > Lexus for me
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