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’ll take the Jag because both of these are gonna break down in a couple weeks, probably in some inconvenient location, but at least with the Jag I paid a few dollars less for the experience, such as it is.
Sometimes, reading the comments, I feel like the only weirdo who just doesn’t care to row my own gears anymore, but, I do like saving money, so the cheaper Jaguar gets my vote.
OMG, why do I go through this torture everyday! I would love either of these in excellent running condition, but noooo, they need, or are about to need, everything. I’ll take the Audi, the devil you know…
Owned an Audi once. Once was enough.
” The devil you know”, so, the Allroad. Having more ground clearance and hauling space would be nice.
Far as I know, you can only get an X type with a manual in the fwd version. The awd wagon with the V6 is always the auto, sadly.
A friend of mine has a B8 generation S4 and it has indeed been expensive to keep running. Today is really a pick your poison kind of day. I like the looks and capabilities of the Audi, but I wouldn’t be able to actually bring myself to purchase either of these.