Everybody needs at least two cars. One of them needs to be a project that'll keep your fingers dirty and the other should be a late model reliable car that is fast and fun to drive. Maybe one of those cars should haul more than two people...but I think this next car could handle daily driver duties AND your family AND keep your fingers dirty on the weekend. Find this 2004 Audi A4 offered for $9000 in Queens, NY via craigslist. Tip from Jeff.
The B5 generation Audi A4 was introduced in 1994 and featured a longitudinally mounted engine mated to a front transaxle with optional quattro all-wheel-drive. It is a good cheap used car, and the hottest version released to the US market was the twin-turbo equipped S4. Thankfully, the product planners at Audi decided to let the USA buyers get the Avant/Wagon version and was in this generation that Audi started to legitimately challenge BMW in the compact luxury sports-sedan/wagon wars. Find this 2001 Audi S4 Avant B5 offered on SecondDaily.com bidding for $1000 (buy-it-now of $7750) with 9 hours to go, located in New York.
Today's Mid Week Match-Up is a request from tipper Zach who writes: DT commentariat - I am in need of your wise council - It
has been requested that we procure a more quiet car, as my wife can't
hear what our daughter is saying from the back seat. Sure, our daughter
could speak up a bit, but it'll be hard to undo that decade of
Norwegian death metal cranked to 11 that was indulged in (or something
approximating that). We've got a '95 Saab 9000 Aero and a '92 Volvo
245. The 245 never was the quietest car (queue my shock going back to a
244 at how quiet it was), and while I don't think the Saab is bad, with
the ingredients I've mentioned above, she has a hard time hearing. So
what would you recommend? My wife's initial suggest was a Prius. I'm
somewhat agnostic on the whole thing, and also saddened at the thought
of parting with the 245 (did I mention the '66 Amazon rolling
restoration / daily driver I picked up a while back? we don't need three cars and an old (and not-quiet) RV). So something 'lectric? Something 'Yota-derived? Budget $10k max.
The B5 generation Audi A4 was an entry level luxury sedan from Audi designed to compete with BMW 3-series and Mercedes-Benz C-class. By modern standards it is a small entry level sedan (closer to the size of an A3 or BMW 1-series) but it comes with a longitudinal engine/gearbox with three outputs: one on either side for front wheels and one that heads via a Torsen T1 center diff to the rear diff. Find this 2001 Audi A4 Quattro V6 5-Speed here on eBay bidding for $510 with 2 days to go, located in Redwood City, CA. Seller submission from BionicTorqueWrench.
This next car comes as a seller submission from Chris who writes: if you decide that you must berate, belittle or badger me, i would ask
that you please choose badger as i cant even remember the last time i
had a good badgering. Find this 2003 Audi A4 Avant with 1.8T and 
It was nice this weekend to sleep an extra hour courtesy of the additional hour shoved down our throats by the US Department of Transportation (yes, the US D.O.T. is in charge of standardizing time zones since the Uniform Time Act of 1966). As we transition back into Standard Time, we'd like to take this opportunity to recognize a few cars that are deplorable with a torque convertor equipped slushbox, but delightful with a standard gearbox. First up is the B5 generation Audi A4, a fun affordable luxury sedan with a standard gearbox and a dreadful deathtrap with the slushbox. Here is a nice 2001 Audi A4
offered for $5,980 or make-offer on eBay, located in Paterson, NJ with 8 days to go.
Q is most definitely for quattro - that's right, with a lowercase q since we are referring to the all wheel drive system and not the vehicle of the same name in which it debuted. That car would be the Quattro, colloquially known as the Ur-Quattro or UrQ for short. The car below is a few generations removed, but still uses largely the same mechanical system for transmitting torque to all four quorners. In essence, torque is split 50:50 between front and rear axles until there is slippage at either end, at which time...bam!...the axle with more grip (less slip) gets more torque and keeps you moving in a forwardly direction. Even though the car it's attached to has a less than stellar reliability history, quattro is a classic system and we are all about an appreciation for depreciation here at DT. Find this 2001 Audi A4 1.8T quattro for sale in Tampa, FL for $4800 via craigslist.