Downsized the Tahoe

"It's a "Porch-uh"" (ikazuchi)
02/23/2016 at 12:51 • Filed to: WagonLife, It's Ze Germans

So now that the race car and trailer are gone, I didn’t need to be daily driving a Chevy Tahoe. Yes, it was nice on long trips up north with the dog and kids, but averaging 16mpg every day was getting old (even with today’s fuel prices).

I had been thinking a wagon of the German variety would be a good replacement, briefly toying with the idea of an E39 540iT (wait, no... V8...also leaky and valve guide issues), an F30 328iX Touring (so fast), and another E46 Touring that I would stuff the M3 driveline that is sitting in my garage into (fun, but another project I don’t have time for and I would have to daily my M5 in the meantime).

While the F30 (or maybe an E91, but the front end on those doesn’t thrill me) BMW remained an option, I found the A4 Avant to be my main focus, but I was torn between an older one (late-B6 or early B7) and a newer one. “Really new” wasn’t an option, partially due to cost, but mostly because 2012 was the last year of the Avant in the US (2013-up all A4 wagons are Allroads).

Every day for the last few weeks I’ve been scouring Craigslist to find one. Can’t be black or white, and must have a dark interior (tan does not hold up well to small children). That limited my options severely. This weekend I started checking with local Audi dealerships, but they all had the same story: rare cars that get snapped up as soon as they come in, but they’ll keep an eye our for me.

CarMax? Only one in SoCal and it had a tan interior. Oh wait, haven’t checked Autotrader.

2012 A4 Avant S-line. Dark grey. Black interior. Miles were a bit high (90K), but the price was good (even with the miles). It was at a Ford dealer so I assumed they just want it off the lot and make a few bucks off it. Showed my wife the car last night and we headed over to the dealer to take a look.

Nice car. Very well maintained at the local Audi dealer. Relatively quick. Bigger boot than my wife’s E46 Touring. Good price (minus a bit more when I haggled and told them I just had the Tahoe detailed two hours ago). Done deal.

Time to figure out how to get my phone connected...

DISCUSSION (6)

OPPOsaurus WRX > It's a "Porch-uh"
02/23/2016 at 12:57

miles were a bit high... I look at the the 174,ooo sitting in my oddemeter..... (yea thats a lot for a 2012)

good luck

TheHondaBro > It's a "Porch-uh"
02/23/2016 at 12:59

But does it have a functioning spoiler?

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > It's a "Porch-uh"
02/23/2016 at 13:06

“Bigger boot than my wife's" Giggity.

It's a "Porch-uh" > TheHondaBro
02/23/2016 at 13:08

LOL. I haven’t checked to see if that little lip on the back is for show or not.

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > It's a "Porch-uh"
02/23/2016 at 13:11

Nice choice! A 2011 A4 Avant TDI was the very first car that I got to drive over a long distance. Despite having 149k miles it felt really good. The interior except the steering wheel and shifter were in great condition.

jkm7680 > It's a "Porch-uh"
02/23/2016 at 19:30

Good choice! Looks great.