If you’re going to go shopping for a cheap used car, you had better know what you’re looking at. Lots of cars seem like screaming deals, unless you know cars. If you’re looking for an all-wheel-drive wagon, today’s contestants might catch your eye – but either one is very much a case of “buyer beware.”
Yesterday’s cars had proven themselves over a whole lot of miles, and the sellers vouched for their ability to go a whole lot more. There wasn’t a strong consensus one way or the other on the vote, but the Corvette did come out a bit ahead. Had the BMW been a manual, it sounds like the vote might have gone the other way.
I think I’d give an edge to the Corvette as well. The BMW is from the right era, but it’s the wrong spec. Besides, I have been a fan of the C4 Corvette ever since I first saw one, especially these early ones before Chevy ruined it with a facelift. (Yeah, I said it.) And having driven one with a 4+3 manual and one with an automatic, I prefer the automatic. (Yeah, I said that too.)
Most of us who know about cars have had the cringe-inducing moment when a friend or relative shows up in a new or new-to-them car, and you know it’s a disaster waiting to happen. You try to be happy for them, but you know what’s coming, and you know you’re going to get asked to help when it happens. If only they had asked your opinion beforehand, but it’s too late now. Today’s cars aren’t the very worst things for someone you care about to show up in, but they’re definitely on the list. Let’s check them out and see which one is a less bad idea.
2002 Audi Allroad Quattro – $4,000
Engine/drivetrain: Twin-turbocharged 2.7-liter DOHC V6, six-speed manual, AWD
Location: Woodinville, WA
Odometer reading: 142,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Audis are wonderful cars to drive, especially the models equipped with Quattro all-wheel-drive and manual transmissions. If you’ve never driven one, I highly recommend it. But they’re also complicated beasts, and got more complicated as time went on. While there’s not much to go wrong with an ’80s 4000S Quattro, this A6 Allroad Quattro is an entirely different proposition.
This car is powered by a 2.7-liter twin-turbo V6, driving all four wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox with a low range. It also has adjustable air suspension that can either raise the car up for extra ground clearance off road, or lower it down to tackle the curves. It’s an incredibly cool setup, but it is also a nightmare to take care of and repair, and not without its problems. Both the engine and the air suspension system have lots of known failure points. Even die-hard Audi enthusiasts shy away from these things. This one, however, has had a bunch of recent work, and the seller says it runs as it should, and the suspension works flawlessly. For now.
As you would expect, it’s absolutely loaded with features – at least by early 2000s standards. It has power everything, nice leather seats, a big sunroof, and more. And, according to the seller at least, all the power stuff works. That’s saying something for any car this age, but especially a VW/Audi product. The driver’s seat shows some heavy wear, but most of the rest of it looks nice.
The Allroad Quattro, along with the Subaru Outback, kicked off the whole “add fender flares to a wagon to make it look tough and off-roady” trend that still continues today. At least they aren’t flat black. This one has larger wheels from an Audi A8, and they look good on there. The seller polished the headlight lenses, too; no cloudiness here. It’s a car that might very well someday bite you in the ass, but as it sits, it actually seems like a decent deal.
2006 Jaguar X-Type Sportwagon – $2,500
Engine/drivetrain: 3.0-liter DOHC V6, five-speed automatic, AWD
Location: San Francisco, CA
Odometer reading: ad says 12,000(?)
Operational status: Runs and drives well
When the X-Type came out, hardcore Jaguar fans scoffed at it, calling it “not a real Jaguar” because of its Ford Mondeo mechanical roots. But since then, I imagine a lot of those fans have come to accept the X-Type, because as it turns out, its reliability and durability have been very Jaguar-like. Coolant leaks, transmission troubles, and that old British demon of electrical failures have all sidelined lots of X-Types.
The X-Type uses a Ford Duratec-derived V6, a five-speed automatic transmission, and a sophisticated all-wheel-drive system. You could also get a manual transmission, but they’re rare on this side of the Atlantic. I can’t tell you much about this one’s condition; the ad is maddeningly terse. And I doubt the mileage is listed correctly either; I can’t imagine this car only has 12,000 miles on it. The seller does say it “runs great,” but that’s all we get.
It’s definitely a Jaguar inside, with leather and wood everywhere, and an understated classiness that Jaguars have all had since time out of mind. It has the J-shaped gearshift gate that Jaguar introduced in the XJ6 years earlier; it’s meant to make manually-shifting the automatic easier. I’ve never tried it myself, so I can’t comment. There are some scuffs and bruises inside, and the headliner is falling down, but for a $2,500 car, it looks pretty good.
The X-Type’s body style looks good as a wagon, I will say that. I’m not fond of this one’s deeply tinted windows, but that’s removable if you want. It has a few bumps and bruises outside to match the ones inside, and the wheels have some curb rash, but it’s shiny, and it still has its all-important “leaper” hood ornament.
If you know how to fix stuff yourself, and you go into them with your eyes open, these are both pretty nice cars. But if you’re expecting Camry reliability, or don’t know which end of a torque wrench to hold, you’re probably in for some heartache. And if you do know about cars, and your non-car-person friend or sibling shows up with one of them, you know what you’re doing on the weekends for the foreseeable future. Which one do you reckon is more worth the potential hassle?
I did the Jaaaaaaaaaag simply because it’s a smaller pile of money to light on fire which is exactly what buying either of these cars would be…
Every time I hear Allroad, I think of Doug DeMuro’s take that an Allroad’s reliability would be improved if they were assembled by a team of chimpanzees out of random car parts (sorry, I can’t remember or find the actual quote but the ones from the old Oppo-Lock days know)
The Jag with the Duratech V6 is the easy pick here and the lesser of these two evils. The Allroad is legendary for being an unreliable, expensive-to-fix piece of shit… that is ‘great when it runs’.
Audi stan checking in. Gimme the Allroad. It’s a B5.5 S4 but on air suspension with bitchin’ body cladding. The cool thing is: since it’s an Allroad and not an S4, you know the engine hasn’t been hooned and abused. AND it hasn’t been passed around the local tuner community like a stomach bug at a daycare.
https://i.redd.it/7hwtukwj8jh41.jpg
Plus MacGuyver owned one! Look at how excited he is to own his Allroad.
“ you know the engine hasn’t been hooned and abused. “
The main reason for that would be the amount of time it spent in the shop for other issues that in turn, prevented the hooning and abuse.
LOL
Enough time’s passed that I wouldn’t snicker at this “Jag” (like I did behind my boss’ back when he acted all proud of himself for having purchased one).
I spent enough miles in an earlier model V6 Contour to feel fairly confident about this one’s bones, and the price is a slightly problematic credit card bill’s worth, so there ya go.
I have to think the seller fat-fingered the mileage though, right? Should be 112,100?
Or 120,000. Not that makes much difference. I’m surprised the Leaper has survived any significant time in SFO.
Not even a manual would make me choose that German rolling disaster area. I know people who fell for these things. It NEVER ends well.
So for me it’s the Ford Jaaaaaag.
I just don’t see anything redeeming or attractive about that Jaguar.
I hate to say it, but at $2,500, it’s cheap. Can’t remember the last time I saw a running car for sale for less than 3 bills.
Of these two, you could light $2500 on fire or $4000 on fire. That’s about the only “positive” I can see…
Rage against the dying of the light, I suppose?
Pretty sure that a significant portion of the Allroads’ air suspension failed within a mile or two of the factory warranty expiring (the remainder failed before it expired).
I’ll take the Jag.
You’ll be wishing it was only air suspension issues when the turbos fail.
Gimme the Festiva.
Given the unreliability of both of these attractive cars I’d say the true question should be which car would you buy for your spouse if you were in the middle of a divorce?
They are both good candidates for this.
Excellent “Pro” for the Allroad! Not only would it represent a greater portion of shared assets, but it would be so very much more expensive to repair.
Jaaag slightly less scary parts bill. It also looks remarkably clean. Idk about 12kmi clean but then again it’s in sf maybe someone that doesn’t drive hardly at all or far.
The JAAAAAGon is the ticket for me. I don’t remember ever seeing one in person, and the FoMoCo base is indeed less scary to me than a loaded up Audi.
The Allroad Quattro was my dream car when I bailed out of grad school and got a real job. No chance on Earth could I afford it at that time but a man can fantasize.
Quattro all the way.
I love station wagons, but this is one of those days I’d prefer to click ‘neither.’ Sure, a manual Audi seems sweet, but I’ve owned old Audis and VWs and it’s just a never-ending headache a lot of the time, which fosters an overall feeling of morose sadness. And while there’s Ford under the incongruous nose of the ‘Jag’ Ford from this era isn’t exactly a paragon of good design and reliability either. I chose Jag, but only because there’s no button for ‘neither’ or ‘pass.’
You’d think the Audi seller would have at least sprung for a new shift boot offa Amazon, or at the very least colored over all the cracks with a black Sharpie.
I was gonna go JAAAAAAAAAAAG,
but then saw it was auto. No thanks, I’ll take the Audi…even though when I see Audi it’s an automatic no dice (unless it’s a legendary Quattro from the 80’s). Plus this one has had work put into it and it sounds like a fucking blast to drive! + wagon
I read somewhere Audis are great – while they’re still under warranty. After that, life gets ugly (and expensive) fast.
Jags ain’t exactly known for being paragons of reliability either, but hopefully the Ford connection will mean better and cheaper parts availability.
Ugh. It’s pretty rough having to choose between Audi problems and Jaguar problems. The Jag ad is definitely on the sketchy side, but I don’t remember seeing the wagon version of this car anywhere around here. I guess if I have to choose a vehicle that will be a huge pain in the ass to keep running, I’ll go with the more unusual one. Jaguar it is.
I All the way on the Allroad. The 2.7 is a great motor so long as you keep up with oil changes and belts. If the timing belt has been done here its good to go for years. I’m not biased at all… not in the least. I don’t have a problem…
I’ve had 2 X-Types and can say that my experiences weren’t great with them, but not terrible either.
https://www.theautopian.com/why-the-dirt-cheap-broken-jaguar-x-type-for-sale-in-every-town-might-actually-be-worth-buying-and-fixing/
Certainly not bad enough to ever want to get within 40ft of a modern Audi.
Another great Showdown – thanks Mark!
That was a great article…I was gonna go JAAAAAG but then saw it was auto and just couldn’t. It’s still very nice though. We still need that mystical JAAAAAG article!
Check out Only Fanbelts in a couple hours!
Sounds great! Thank you
I’ll take the Jaggin’ Wagon today, just to make the pun
Both are high-cost maintenance depreciation-mobiles. How desirable is an Audi with 142,000 miles and two turbochargers? If you have the money to keep it on the road, you have the money to get something better. This owner either splurged or cheaped out on the shifter boot, I can’t tell which. It’s cheap because it has to be at this point.
The Jaguar most certainly does NOT have 12,000 miles on it. That in itself is a huge red flag, and the Florida-level blackout window tint is just a tad strange in foggy San Francisco. If it had a manual transmission, it would be the winner here, though. Jaguar figured out comfort, elegance and reasonable performance decades ago, but unfortunately, not quality control or dependability.
My vote is for the Audi – drive it until it dies, then send it to the knackers or part it out.
Would I buy it in real life? Heck no, I would rather drive something that would take me to my destination and back with reasonable certainty.
I prefer the style of the Audi, but the Jaguar is the better choice here.
I just compared the specs on these cars when new. Those Jag brakes were terrible (197ft vs 178ft for the Allroad according to C&D) ! I think I’d consider an upgrade as part of the purchase expenses.
I’ve actually always liked the X-type, especially in wagon form. If I’m already making a bad decision on a wagon that’s what I’m going for.
J gate is easy to manual shift. Not sure why you’d want to. Long throws though.
I talked to an Allroad owner (in the 2000’s?). He said he adored the car, but it drank gas faster than he could fill it. I believe gas was cheap(er) at the time.
Answer: The Allroad to borrow, and the Jag to own.
Real answer: neither!