oreopride
08-18-2022, 09:36 PM
If you talked to me 3 years ago I would have said "Miata Is Always The Answer" when asked "What's the best car to build on?" The problem is I went and had some kids in the process and COVID led to my job being a work-from-home type. This means I've put a grand total of 1700 miles on my 2017 ND over the course of *three years.* In the process I went and bought a 2015 Audi A6 2.0 FWD (because child car seats) and, while the car had some pep between 30-70, it wasn't what I typically owned (tiny cars, quick handling, peppy 0-40).
https://i.ibb.co/c18FQXF/IMG-2861.jpg (https://ibb.co/zr2RZHR)
I don't say this as a flex but I'm almost 40 and have owned an obnoxiously quick (and very unreliable) DSM, bought into a Foxbody Mustang with a friend and had the most fun you could with 5k dollars, had a 400 HP 300ZX TT, owned and autocrossed 2 Miatas, etc. But it was time to hang the hat up. I sold the Miata for a profit after 3 years of ownership and settled in. It was time to become an adult and become responsi...
*sees a 2013 Audi A6 3.0 Prestige for 19k with 68k miles*
*at a dealership*
*as the opening price*
*in mid 2022*
(For context, this car was supposed to Blue Book around 25k. Stupid Prestige models have a bunch of stuff that bumps these up.)
A wild Audi has entered the chat. I was truly baffled by this car and had to check the Carfax. Something is very wrong with this car but I can't deny...
*Carfax is clean with a huge service record. Also, only one owner*
Well, sure, it has an extensive service record. But how much was serviced at Audi itself? I imagine a lot of these records are just Pepboys since nobody would shell out the money to...
https://i.ibb.co/DwSqvjk/audiservice.jpg (https://ibb.co/8PShfQ2)
They did the 75k maintenance at 65k miles. In fact, it looks like the car was exclusively serviced at the dealership. Alright, time to take a 200 mile trip to figure out what this is and why it costs what it costs.
There were no pictures online and I made the trip to the dealership the weekend it went up. When I got there I looked at the vehicle and it jumped out:
https://i.ibb.co/z5hP49N/Audi-A6-Selling.jpg (https://ibb.co/QcFYKSX)
https://ibb.co/MVfkM1qhttps://i.ibb.co/r6324pn/audiugly3.jpg (https://ibb.co/MVfkM1q)
"Well, that's a significant dent on the quarter panel and that's obviously a back panel that someone tried to repair, per Youtube, but it didn't quite work out." (You might note the red calipers but that's because I painted them and took a picture of this damage afterward. You're finding out now that I buy the car later, but you'll need to keep reading to get there. This is the Tarantino of build threads). I get in the car and it fires up; I'm listening for chain rattles, I'm looking for the dash warnings, I'm waiting for the smoke. Maybe an oil smell will pop up? But no...it's mechanically perfect and drives perfect. Oh, I forgot: I had to duck under this as I got in the car -
https://i.ibb.co/92SH2V5/originalinterior1.jpg (https://ibb.co/xGdqGfT)
I get out after the test drive, give a hard look at the car, and have to ask myself "What...what are you?" I've seen immaculate cars with heavy service records that cost a pretty penny and I've seen trash cars that cost trash and will be a money pit to get all the trash fixed on them (I'm looking at you, 75% of the 240SXs I've gone to buy but find out "It's missing in 1st, 3rd, and 5th, but I have an extra transmission that comes with it"). But here I am standing in front of an Audi where, whoever drove it, cared deeply about what is under the hood but didn't seem to give a damn how it looked.
...Or how it sounded! We have a blown door speaker and blown dash tweeter as well! The dealer runs the car up to a body shop to get a quote for the damage. They intended on fixing it before taking pictures and putting them online; only idiots were sending out feelers and offers before said pictures were posted. But I'm king idiot and have beat them all to the punch since I'm here, in person, to buy a car that is 240 miles from home!
Body damage estimate comes back: I guess 5k. The dealer provides an estimate of 3800. We work with my trade in (I owe on it, but the trade is going to be a wash), damages, etc. I buy the car for 16k and fully expect the catch to happen on the way home. I'm driving, 100ish miles in, enjoying the insane pep on the motor, and feel a vibration in the steering wheel. "Probably the dreaded wheel bearing issues these cars happen to get. I guess I need to baby it."
*looks at odometer and is going 110 MPH*
Oh, right, right. Electronic steering. Big Boy HP. Not a 2300 lb vehicle. My bad, car. You will vibrate if I'm cruising 40MPH faster than a cheetah's sprint. Noted.
Car has been driving right for 2 months, zero issues, and I've accumulated a billion aftermarket parts. I have a newborn and a toddler so my free time is so little that it took me almost a week to find 30 minutes to put the aftermarket pedals on the car. I tend to put way too much into the cars I own and will probably do the same here. I don't see myself going past stage 1 but I will always remember is that 18 year old who said "I'm going to keep this DSM streetable and not go too crazy."
So I had 4 Saab SMIC's welded up to make a 24" FMIC.
https://i.ibb.co/qnGhmc9/IMG-0005.jpg (https://ibb.co/cv5R2Zt)
Let's see where this goes!
https://i.ibb.co/c18FQXF/IMG-2861.jpg (https://ibb.co/zr2RZHR)
I don't say this as a flex but I'm almost 40 and have owned an obnoxiously quick (and very unreliable) DSM, bought into a Foxbody Mustang with a friend and had the most fun you could with 5k dollars, had a 400 HP 300ZX TT, owned and autocrossed 2 Miatas, etc. But it was time to hang the hat up. I sold the Miata for a profit after 3 years of ownership and settled in. It was time to become an adult and become responsi...
*sees a 2013 Audi A6 3.0 Prestige for 19k with 68k miles*
*at a dealership*
*as the opening price*
*in mid 2022*
(For context, this car was supposed to Blue Book around 25k. Stupid Prestige models have a bunch of stuff that bumps these up.)
A wild Audi has entered the chat. I was truly baffled by this car and had to check the Carfax. Something is very wrong with this car but I can't deny...
*Carfax is clean with a huge service record. Also, only one owner*
Well, sure, it has an extensive service record. But how much was serviced at Audi itself? I imagine a lot of these records are just Pepboys since nobody would shell out the money to...
https://i.ibb.co/DwSqvjk/audiservice.jpg (https://ibb.co/8PShfQ2)
They did the 75k maintenance at 65k miles. In fact, it looks like the car was exclusively serviced at the dealership. Alright, time to take a 200 mile trip to figure out what this is and why it costs what it costs.
There were no pictures online and I made the trip to the dealership the weekend it went up. When I got there I looked at the vehicle and it jumped out:
https://i.ibb.co/z5hP49N/Audi-A6-Selling.jpg (https://ibb.co/QcFYKSX)
https://ibb.co/MVfkM1qhttps://i.ibb.co/r6324pn/audiugly3.jpg (https://ibb.co/MVfkM1q)
"Well, that's a significant dent on the quarter panel and that's obviously a back panel that someone tried to repair, per Youtube, but it didn't quite work out." (You might note the red calipers but that's because I painted them and took a picture of this damage afterward. You're finding out now that I buy the car later, but you'll need to keep reading to get there. This is the Tarantino of build threads). I get in the car and it fires up; I'm listening for chain rattles, I'm looking for the dash warnings, I'm waiting for the smoke. Maybe an oil smell will pop up? But no...it's mechanically perfect and drives perfect. Oh, I forgot: I had to duck under this as I got in the car -
https://i.ibb.co/92SH2V5/originalinterior1.jpg (https://ibb.co/xGdqGfT)
I get out after the test drive, give a hard look at the car, and have to ask myself "What...what are you?" I've seen immaculate cars with heavy service records that cost a pretty penny and I've seen trash cars that cost trash and will be a money pit to get all the trash fixed on them (I'm looking at you, 75% of the 240SXs I've gone to buy but find out "It's missing in 1st, 3rd, and 5th, but I have an extra transmission that comes with it"). But here I am standing in front of an Audi where, whoever drove it, cared deeply about what is under the hood but didn't seem to give a damn how it looked.
...Or how it sounded! We have a blown door speaker and blown dash tweeter as well! The dealer runs the car up to a body shop to get a quote for the damage. They intended on fixing it before taking pictures and putting them online; only idiots were sending out feelers and offers before said pictures were posted. But I'm king idiot and have beat them all to the punch since I'm here, in person, to buy a car that is 240 miles from home!
Body damage estimate comes back: I guess 5k. The dealer provides an estimate of 3800. We work with my trade in (I owe on it, but the trade is going to be a wash), damages, etc. I buy the car for 16k and fully expect the catch to happen on the way home. I'm driving, 100ish miles in, enjoying the insane pep on the motor, and feel a vibration in the steering wheel. "Probably the dreaded wheel bearing issues these cars happen to get. I guess I need to baby it."
*looks at odometer and is going 110 MPH*
Oh, right, right. Electronic steering. Big Boy HP. Not a 2300 lb vehicle. My bad, car. You will vibrate if I'm cruising 40MPH faster than a cheetah's sprint. Noted.
Car has been driving right for 2 months, zero issues, and I've accumulated a billion aftermarket parts. I have a newborn and a toddler so my free time is so little that it took me almost a week to find 30 minutes to put the aftermarket pedals on the car. I tend to put way too much into the cars I own and will probably do the same here. I don't see myself going past stage 1 but I will always remember is that 18 year old who said "I'm going to keep this DSM streetable and not go too crazy."
So I had 4 Saab SMIC's welded up to make a 24" FMIC.
https://i.ibb.co/qnGhmc9/IMG-0005.jpg (https://ibb.co/cv5R2Zt)
Let's see where this goes!