Help me chose my next car

[AriciU]

I'm planning on getting a new car (second hand but new to me :D). I currently own a '00 VW Passat TDI with 160k Km's and i don't wanna start shoving money into it when things start breaking. I figure i could sell it for 12500-13000 Euro's. Using that money and adding another 15000 Euro's, more or less, i want to get a low mileage, 2002 car. My choices are this: 2002 Audi S3, 2002 Audi A4 3.0 Quattro, BMW 330Ci or an 1999 Audi S4. I found an S4 from 1999 (Nagaro blue) on www.mobile.de with like 50000Km for about 21000 Euro's but i don't really know. It seems kinda old. The 2002 A4 3.0 was my first choice as i find the B6 A4 simply gorgeous. This comes for about 25000 Euros with about 40000Km's. The thing that worries me about this one is the amount of gas it will eat considering it's a V6 (1L of 98 Octane = ~1$ here). The BMW is gonna eat less gas than the A4 because it's RWD but i'm not fond of the BMW interior quality (the Audi interior is much more nicer then the BMW's IMO), plastics and specially that ugly halloween orange lightning. The exterior is beautifull hands down but there are like... tons of 3-er BMW's in this country so it's nothing special. At the moment i'm really inching for the Audi S3 (last week it was the BMW so i don't know what i'll like in another week :D). I found one from 2002 with 10000Km's witch is simply gorgeous. The price is a little high tough... ~30000 Euro's. It is Imola Yellow (i love that color on the S3 and on the RS4) with black leather Recaro seats (i hate the alcantara/leather combination witch uses yellow/black and is found on most yellow S3's). It has the RS4 18" alloys witch i like very much (problem is, the roads here are so bad i'll have to really be carefull not bending them and not fucking up the tires). I will just let the pics speak for themselfs about the S3...
http://mercury.walagata.com/w/ariciu/s31.jpg
http://mercury.walagata.com/w/ariciu/s32.jpg
http://mercury.walagata.com/w/ariciu/s33.jpg
http://mercury.walagata.com/w/ariciu/s34.jpg

The gas mileage wouldn't be that bad either considering it's a 1.8liters motor and if u don't get on it too much to get the turbos going it's not much of a eater. If i were to get this S3 i would probably do just a MTM Stage 1 (chip -> 250HP/370NM) altough i would get ripped off for 1300 Euro's, add a cat-back exhaust, a blowoff valve to get the nice woosh i love so much about a turboed car (although i heard that Audi uses a by-pass valve that kinda recirculates the air instead of letting it out so you don't get the "woosh :() and tint the windows (tinted windows would look really great on this Imola Yellow).
I never drove any of this cars and test driving them is really out of the question since i will be importing from Germany and i have to get my mind set on one car before leaving. I'm not looking for mad power levels, i just want a reliable daily driver that's got some go in it. I know that a 270HP car is slow for you guys but it would be plenty fast for me since i only drove 2 cars, both with 115HP. Please give me your honest opinion/experience regarding these cars.

[Hawk]

BMW 330 Ci:thumb:

[JavierNuvolari]

Originally posted by AriciU
I'm planning on getting a new car (second hand but new to me :D). I currently own a '00 VW Passat TDI with 160k Km's and i don't wanna start shoving money into it when things start breaking. I figure i could sell it for 12500-13000 Euro's. Using that money and adding another 15000 Euro's, more or less, i want to get a low mileage, 2002 car. My choices are this: 2002 Audi S3, 2002 Audi A4 3.0 Quattro, BMW 330Ci or an 1999 Audi S4. I found an S4 from 1999 (Nagaro blue) on www.mobile.de with like 50000Km for about 21000 Euro's but i don't really know. It seems kinda old. The 2002 A4 3.0 was my first choice as i find the B6 A4 simply gorgeous. This comes for about 25000 Euros with about 40000Km's. The thing that worries me about this one is the amount of gas it will eat considering it's a V6 (1L of 98 Octane = ~1$ here). The BMW is gonna eat less gas than the A4 because it's RWD but i'm not fond of the BMW interior quality (the Audi interior is much more nicer then the BMW's IMO), plastics and specially that ugly halloween orange lightning. The exterior is beautifull hands down but there are like... tons of 3-er BMW's in this country so it's nothing special. At the moment i'm really inching for the Audi S3 (last week it was the BMW so i don't know what i'll like in another week :D). I found one from 2002 with 10000Km's witch is simply gorgeous. The price is a little high tough... ~30000 Euro's. It is Imola Yellow (i love that color on the S3 and on the RS4) with black leather Recaro seats (i hate the alcantara/leather combination witch uses yellow/black and is found on most yellow S3's). It has the RS4 18" alloys witch i like very much (problem is, the roads here are so bad i'll have to really be carefull not bending them and not fucking up the tires). I will just let the pics speak for themselfs about the S3...
http://mercury.walagata.com/w/ariciu/s31.jpg
http://mercury.walagata.com/w/ariciu/s32.jpg
http://mercury.walagata.com/w/ariciu/s33.jpg
http://mercury.walagata.com/w/ariciu/s34.jpg

The gas mileage wouldn't be that bad either considering it's a 1.8liters motor and if u don't get on it too much to get the turbos going it's not much of a eater. If i were to get this S3 i would probably do just a MTM Stage 1 (chip -> 250HP/370NM) altough i would get ripped off for 1300 Euro's, add a cat-back exhaust, a blowoff valve to get the nice woosh i love so much about a turboed car (although i heard that Audi uses a by-pass valve that kinda recirculates the air instead of letting it out so you don't get the "woosh :() and tint the windows (tinted windows would look really great on this Imola Yellow).
I never drove any of this cars and test driving them is really out of the question since i will be importing from Germany and i have to get my mind set on one car before leaving. I'm not looking for mad power levels, i just want a reliable daily driver that's got some go in it. I know that a 270HP car is slow for you guys but it would be plenty fast for me since i only drove 2 cars, both with 115HP. Please give me your honest opinion/experience regarding these cars.

MMMM...that is a really tough choice if you ask me, however I would go for the Audi A4 or the BMW 330.
( the S3 is a chic magnet:thumb:---->not a bad choice at all)

Good luck on your choice...

[Audihead]

:s3addict: All the way. It's easy to tune it to make good HP.It should get fairly good MPG's, all wheel drive to boot. What's not to love? Go for it!

:s4addict: -Bimmerhead

[AriciU]

I think i've made up my mind. If finances allow, witch is a 40% chance, i will get a 01 M3 with 70k Km max. If it doesn't go that way it will be a 330Ci, less then 50000km, 01 or 02. I had a ride in a 330Ci witch has the AC Schnitzer supercharger installed, different headers and exhaust and it really impressed me. The power delivery was very smooth, like there was no blower there and the average gas consumption showed was 13l/100km witch is very good IMO.
Thank you all for the replies!

[Klint]

Go for the S3 then invest the rest you've saved over the M3.

A couple things against the 2001 M3 with such high mileage:

The warranty will soon be out, not good why? we come to reason number two.

The 2001 engines kept having failures, with many of them being replaced under warranty.

Best of luck with your decision and drive safely. :thumb:

[AriciU]

I heard that the bad engine dates for the M3 are 10/01 - 03/02. If i were to get a M3 i would search for one that has the EURO Plus warranty. What is that actually? Can you extend it to a longer time period?