S

Dippy,

whay is it you'd go for a BMW or Audi as an import but not the Saab or the Scooby??

would be interested in you reasoning

thanks

S

Scott J Davies

He he

Yagiz/Imprezionaist/P1 is back, since when has Northhumberland been in Turkey?

SJD

S

Scott,

<I>Yagiz/Imprezionaist/P1 is back?????????</I>

Don't know what your on about there mate.

As I work in the import business, it is informative to me, to find out why someone will buy an import BMW or import Audi yet will go for a UK sourced Impreza or a second hand Saab even though they are available much cheaper via import.

thanks

S

Airmiles

On the original thread..

CAR did an Audi Allroad vs Volvo XC vs Forester Turbo test a few months back.

The Allroad stuffed the Volvo in the "money no object" department (mostly on better on-road handling), and the Forester won in the real world (and that was before taking it to Prodrive, hee hee) - so maybe the Ovlov isn't the way to go

And on the tangential S3 thread...

I drove both, could afford either, and plumped for the Scooby because I preferred the feel of it - more direct steering, mostly - plus greater practicality of boot and 5 doors. Plus I've always wanted one....

Quality? Well, yes, the Audi has a nicer interior, different (not better) brand image, and we do have a lengthy volume of threads on DBM paint!

On the other hand, the S3 still has the Q-car thing that the Scooby doesn't and so avoids the theft/gary-boy etc. problems.

And EVO actually got one round MIRA's wet handling circuit faster than an MY99 scoob (albeit down to tyres) so it's hardly useless.

So really it's horses for courses.....time for live & let live?

Dippy

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by S:
<B>Dippy,

whay is it you'd go for a BMW or Audi as an import but not the Saab or the Scooby??

would be interested in you reasoning

thanks

S[/quote]

The Saab was a late addition to my list so I've not really got around to looking into importing.

I've been quoted 5 to 6 months to get a Scoob import which is really too long. I've been told about 3 months for an S4 and 10-12 weeks for the Beemer.

I'd still like an answer to my question from people who know the S4 (I really don't care about the S3).

Jonathan

Dippy

Dont know why you'd bother with an imported S4. Buy a 4 month old car UK car for under 30k. At least dealers will buy it off you when you want to change.

You ask for an opinion on the S4 but dont want to compare it to a P1 or Scooby. What are you looking for in a car ?. My S4 is disapointing in some area, you might disagree and vicy verky.

Jonathan
S4 for now

AWD

If you're after a decent estate type car - consider the Subaru Legacy.

Do a search under Audi S4 and you should find a useful thread from around 2 months ago (or so) when all this was discussed thoroughly. Lots of thoughts on S4s and Legacies etc.

Rebecca

Dippy,

If you're still considering an Impreza ... shouldn't the Honda Accord Type R be on the list as well .... still an odd combination ... Impreza - Saab ...

AWD

Rebecca

As good a car as it is, the Accord type R is a saloon and I think that Dippy is after an estate car. His list of 4 choices are all estate versions.

Dippy

Jonathan,

I intend to keep the car for a few years, so a new import is a better bet. I also think that in a few years time prices across europe will have equalised and so trading in won't be a problem.

I don't want to compare with a P1 since that is a coupe with serious mods, so I would expect it to be a better driver's car. Same with the RB5. The real question I suppose is how does the S4 compare to a standard UK Impreza, expecially the MY01 since, as I am hearing, the 'fun' has been taken out of it.

As AWD correctly points out, I want an estate car. However I want one that has very good acceleration too, primarily for overtaking. The old Scoob fitted the bill, although the lack of low-end torque was a problem, which I had intended to fix with a PPP.

I have indeed read previous threads about the S4 and generally it lost to the Scoob because it was only questionably faster to accelerate at normal road speeds, did not handle as well and was a hell of a lot more expensive.

Now that Subaru have made the MY01 slower, and perhaps lost some of the steering feedback, I thought that maybe now the S4 might be a better bet, since a 2nd hand one or an import is not much more expensive (and it has a much higher equipment level).

I will judge for myself when I get to test drive my choices, but I do value the opinions of the members of this BBS. I would really like to hear from people who can directly compare the S4 and the MY01 Impreza from personal experience.

Jonathan

Dippy

I have driven both. The easy answer is that when I test drove the MY01 I had decided to sell the P1.

Comparing the two cars for straight line performance is easy the S4 will feel a lot quicker than a MY01. Road tests also make it quicker. What you will not get away from is that the S4 is 2.7 vs 2.0 and has twin turbo's. Pickup is in a different league. The S4 is also very easy to mod to 315bhp and 380lbft. Road tests have that hitting 100 in 11.2 secs. Thats 1 sec quicker than any std Impreza.

Handling and brakes are not as good as the MY01, but on A roads and Motorways its fine for me. Interior its a walk over if the S4 has Leather Electric Recaro's.

On a bumpy B road the car floats too much and doesnt feel that nice under braking.

I would go for the S4 every time. Might not say the same when the STI gets released here though.

Jonathan

Dippy

Thanks for the reply Jonathan. I'm a bit surprised that the brakes aren't so good. Regarding handling, I presume that the MY01 you drove was a 4-door? I assume that the MY01 wagon's handling won't be as good as the 4-door's anyway.

The importer is VERY keen to sell me an S4 and the Subaru dealer doesn't seem to care about selling me an MY01. I'll try not to let this affect my judgement after the test drive...