PROJECT

AUDI A4 2.0TS QUATTRO DTM EDITION    (*SÅLD* 2009-06-11)

I sold my S60 the first of December 2006 and I have been thinking about what to buy instead. I get a lot of questions on what might be my next project and to tell you the truth, I don’t know. I need a new car there's no doubt about that, but I have to answer some question for myself. What kind of a car, tuning or no tuning, image and most of all - how expensive?

What kind of a car is a matter of what I want in the near future.
Sporty, comfortable, fast etc. and of course I want it all, but there aren’t many cars that can fulfill that. It has to be compromise - this time I have promised myself that it will be an AWD/4WD.

Tuning or no tuning and this are tricky questions. Buy a Volvo and I will not be able to keep my hands from it. There are only two alternative for me in the Volvo lineup. A manual V70 2.5T AWD or a manual C30 T5 with a lot of options is what I can see for me, but the C30 T5 comes only as FWD.
V70 2.5T AWD is a nice car and with the 2007 update it’s the best Volvo interior ever and functionality is one of the best working and also best looking if you ask me.
Dark grey 2007 interior with sovereign soft leather in cream color is a dream in comfort and design and if the cream parts would have been available in alcantara upholstery it would have been the perfect interior!
AWD is not possible to get with lowered suspension and that’s big set back, I believe. AWD with 18” rims and huge gaps between the wheel house and the wheels is not sporty or nice looking.
The chrome grill with “water fall” design is boring/out-dated and I have been against it from the beginning. I didn’t like it on the 850 and I didn’t like it on the x70 and when I saw it on the S80/V70n I hated it. Unfortunately the S60 grill or the R-line grill doesn’t fit the V70 softnose.

C30 is a new car with sporty and young design and I would love it if it wasn’t for three things. C30 only comes with FWD and this time I want AWD and that’s not negotiable! A manual C30 T5 AWD with electric silver exterior and titanium body kit or complete passion red exterior and 18" wheels would be nice too see on the parking, but it will not be my next car.
Interior is exactly the same as in the S40/V50 from the B-pole and forward and I don’t like the “Scandinavian” design with a thick 2x4” on the top of the door panel and I don’t like the mid console with its cheap look.
C30 is way too expensive concerning the top of the line 220hp FWD. T5 ought to come with AWD as standard and 240-250hp would have been expected in order to compete with Audi and BMW. AWD and 250hp E85 would most likely have me convinced, but for the moment I think that C30 is too much a safe and mid-life crisis vehicle with a sporty and personal design created for people that only drive in the city and mostly care about how they look to others and that’s not me. 18" wheels and the sporty body kit adds too much money into the package.

A real sports car would have been fun and I found two used Lotus Elise for sale. One of them in the 190hp version with race package and I really love everything about this car. It has a sporty Toyota engine with enough power to give this light car respective performance and around corners it will beat many true sports cars. But there are a couple of but. It’s still expensive since I would have to buy a second car for daily use and I couldn’t live with an old 740 or cheap and small Asian car, so I guess that I have to let go of the dream for now.

BMW 130i with M-package is way too expensive and also too ugly. 330i is even more expensive and the new 335i is only a dream. None of them will fit my budget I’m sorry to say.
A used 325 cab or 330 cab with M-package would be nice and it would be fun to own a convertible at least once in life, but seeing the new 3-series coupe the old 3-series cab is not attractive enough. I want the new coupe or cabriolet.

Mercedes is out of reach and 320 SLK (with SLR look) or faster is in another league regarding finances. Lesser engines are only for show and I rather spend time on an empty road driving for pleasure than showing of driving in the city.

What’s left then?
Audi!

I really like the new Audi design with a powerful grill and premium design. Interior quality is one of the best and they can be ordered with Quattro system.
A3 Sportback seemed to be the perfect package. Nice design, perfect size and Quattro as well as a 3.2 NA six cylinder engine or a four cylinder 2.0 Turbocharged FSi engine with 6-speed gearbox. The later only has 200hp/280Nm but it felt stronger in the low end than what I had expected. There’s no need to lie, I didn’t get a rush driving the A3 Sportback with 2.0T, but the car felt solid and at least faster than what I had expected. A3 had a huge flaw and that’s the driver’s seat. Sport seat doesn’t have adjustable height in front and rear. Only a simple height function that doesn’t work for me and there’s no adjustable sway-back support and I couldn’t live with these seats.
Stepping up to the A4 made things much better and sport seats are way better and more or less adjustable in any possible way and for people with money (not me) it’s possible to get alcantara upholstery. It doesn’t have a wonderful five cylinder engine called B5254T2 with a deep and powerful sound, but with TSq it has 220hp/300Nm and that’s bearable.
The 3.2 FSI engine is too expensive for me to buy new and there are not many newer used cars for sale, so for the moment it’s standing between a new lava grey pearl A4 2.0TSq (Turbo Sport Quattro) in Avant version with Sport Quattro and Proline package with 17” wheels or a low mileage A4 2.0TSq saloon.
Buying an Audi will also put an end to my previous tuning lust and since I can’t no longer tweak the ECM SW there’s no need for other tuning parts like exhaust etc and I will have to step back and accept what I have.
This will most likely save me a lot of money during the next couple of years, or so I hope!

And so it's settled. There's an Audi on the parking and it's a sprint blue 2006 A4 2.0TSq DTM Edition with 15600km. Black leather/alcantara upholstery with electrically adjustable Recaro seats from the S4/RS4 and lots of carbon fiber both on the inside and on the outside and 18" wheels. Of course I have stated the same thing as I have stated the last two times I bought new cars and the reactions from You are the same. I will try to keep my hands of this one and to keep it stock as long as possible. Since I can’t tweak the engine SW myself and I don’t trust the tuning companies out there, it’s easy to stay away from that temptation. Without extra power there will be no need to do a lot of other stuff that I have normally done quite soon after a purchase. It’s OK for you to laugh at me or with me, I know me where well too. To prove how hard this is for me I will tell you about my first thought when I got out to the car this morning.

Audi A4 2.0TSq (Sport Quattro) DTM Edition

I have replaced my Volvo S60 T5 with a 220hp/300Nm 2.0l DI turbo from Audi and the experience so far is above my expectations.

           
I will take photos of my car as soon as the weather is better!

The A4 feel like a smaller car compared to the S60 and it's more or less the perfect size for me. I had a short test drive in the A4 Avant model as well and both cars felt like carved out of a solid block. No tweaking or rattling in the coupe and the quality feel and build quality is among the best I have ever experienced.

This DTM Edition variant comes with black alcantara upholstery and Recaro sport seats and it's a perfect mix of Premium and Sport. Electrically adjusted Recaro seats with lots of settings and the only thing that I miss from the Volvo is position memory. The head rests are a bit oddly shaped and it took me some time to adjust to a comfortable position. Volvo is known for comfortable seats and Recaro sport seats are hard and will most likely not be as comfortable as Volvo sport seats, but my body fits very nicely in the Recaro seat. Driving position is great and most things are positioned where I would expect to find them and I'm happy to see that Audi haven't used the joystick button from the bigger Audi models in the A4. Red dials are a bit awkward to me since I'm so used to green dials from Volvo. I believe that green is a bit more comfortable for the eyes in dark conditions but I will get used to red as well.
A nice looking steering wheel with smooth leather is always welcome in my car and so is the gear knob. I would have wanted the steering wheel rim a bit thicker to provide with a more massive feeling in the hand though.

Rear parking aid is very good to have since the rear visibility is poor and the reversing light is nothing but a joke. Two small reversing lights will not help the visibility much unless it's not completely dark and when it's raining or otherwise bad weather one will have to rely on the PDC system. The "invisible" integration of the radar sensors in the body is something for Volvo to take a closer look at. Carbon fibre details both in the front spoiler, on the lid and also in the interior lifts the normally quite round and not so personal look to another level. Carbon fibre lip in the front makes this car almost as unpractical as my former S60 or so I thought, but measuring the ground clearance showed that the Audi has close to 20cm and the S60 only had 12.5cm.
How can a Premium automotive company sell a car without rear power windows? Paying extra for something that we have got used to as standard equipment even in the cheapest A to B transport seem so odd and it's hard to imagine how Audi thought when they decided not to have this feature as standard.
The cruise control function work fine but the position of the cruise control lever is not the best and it's easy to pick the wrong lever and turn on the turning signal instead of working the cruise function.

I have longed for 4WD/AWD for so long and finally I have it. Driving around in the wet Gothenburg area with much power and FWD is the best way to ruin all fun. No grip will keep the traction control system on its toes and engine will have to be closely guarded with a lot of jerking and hesitation as a result and the old man in the forest green Skoda Felicia with 1.6l engine will keep up between the red lights… "Never again", I say it again, "never again…"
If I had the chance to change something in the Quattro system it is the 50/50 split and I would be happy to see 45% front and 55% rear in order to give the car an over steered touch without damaging the safety.

With lowered and harder suspension there's not much body roll when cornering and combined with the Quattro system traction and cornering ability is amazing especially in rain. Being able to open full throttle in first gear and take a narrow 90° turn without crazy wheel spin and jerking traction control surprises me every time I try it. We talk about active safety and maybe the just mentioned driving behaviour should not be mentioned in the same sentence as safety, but if we forget about fuel economy and childish driving for a second, 4WD increase safety margins in bad weather conditions to a level well above RWD and FWD. The back side is that if one uses this extra safety margin carelessly there will be no point of return if things go wrong. I haven't been able to test handling and road behaviour due to heavy rains with tremendous traffic as a result. Hopefully I'll get back to this when the first snow shows up in Gothenburg!
Comfort is still fairly good and despite the hard setting it's not harsh and for me it's a perfect mix between sport and comfort.

This 2.0 litre DI engine with high 10.5:1 compression ratio and 220hp/300Nm is surprisingly powerful. There's enough torque even at lower engine speed as long and it has a sporty touch to it with maximum power around 6000rpm. I wouldn't mind adding another 50Nm and 45hp like in the new S3, but subjectively I would have guessed that engine performance was higher than 220hp. I'm looking forward to see the fuel consumption that I expect to be good due to the DI-technology. This is a four cylinder engine and there's no way that it will ever sound as nice as the tuned five cylinder that I'm used to, I'm sorry to say. Four cylinders will always be four cylinders and I will have to accept that. Maybe next time I will be able to afford a V8, or so I hope.
Throttle response is very good without much turbo lag and overall performance is better than what one could imagine from this small engine and it's a machine with sporty ambitions.
There's not much focus on comfortable driving in dense traffic with a lot of stop and go. Engine performance is OK even under 1500rpm, but not as smooth as I would have expected coming from a Volvo and driving with less than 1300-1400rpm is not recommended. Below 1300-1400rpm there will be resonances when loading the engine in high gears. The best thing is that the interior is still free from noises.
Having to fill fuel after 550-560km is not good and only 63l fuel tank is quite poor for a car that's far from anorectic and equipped with 4WD!

Fuel consumption log book.

The 6-speed manual gearbox has a mechanical feel to it and comes with a close pattern and short stick and the only thing that I can comment for now is a bit harshness when the oil is cold. Clutch action is OK for most driving but it's not optimized for dense traffic driving with lots of stop and go. Some car brands focus too much on this kind of driving killing response and performance and my experience is that German car companies care less about these conditions. Volvo care too much of these conditions and a driver can do the most idiotic things without being punished with and I would prefer a mix of 30% Swedish and 70% German philosophies.

Over all this Audi has won me over and I know that if I only get to pick ONE car for my dream garage, it will be a sprint blue RS4 V8 with sport seats and carbon interior. I wonder what the next generation RS4 (RS5) will offer - can we hope for an E85 adapted +500hp V8T or will it be a more extreme version of the 333hp V6T from the S4/S5 cab?

Images are from the official Audi site!

Don't laugh, but I have some things that I would like to change... hey, it wouldn't be me if I didn't have some ideas!

Images taken on Christmas Eve (24/12-06). I can't remember that we have ever had such a warm Christmas in Gothenburg. Sunny and between +7,5°C and +11°C during the day. It was +9,5°C when I took these pictures.

I know I said that I would not do anything to this car, but I do have some ideas and some things that I'm trying hard not to think about.
I'm normally not a big fan of chrome on cars and my Audi is perfect regarding that aspect, but I do like the chrome style window cunnings that comes with the Proline package and on the RS4. I noticed that the new S3 also comes with black around the windows...

  

Since I don't know how much work or what cost it involves adding chrome window cunnings, I will try to clear this issue from my mind. There are also people preferring black before chrome...

New Pirelli 240 Sottozero 235/45-17 snow tires on new five spoke Audi rims.
Great tires and it's hard to tell if you are driving on summer tires or on friction tires.
Just love them!

A new Active GPS is mounted in the car. The former one I had in my S60 had a green display and it was sold with the car. Since Audi has a red display I thought that red would be the colour for the new Active GPS.
I have mounted it in the same way as I did in the S60 and I use it more than the OEM speedometer and it provides with a more accurate speed which is always good. I don't want to risk driving too slow...

2008-04-19: I just love the sprint blue colour in the sun!

2008-09-13: 19" RS4 rims with 255/35-19 tested on my DTM Edition...

That did NOT work!
Wheels ended up nearly 20mm outside the wheel house. The A4 DTM Edition comes with special brakes and don't share the same rim offset with the standard A4. RS4 19" worked great on my friends 2007 A4 Avant 2.0TDI Quattro with a very nice result, but it's a No, No on the DTM Edition.
So anyone who claims that they have RS4 19" on their DTM Edition is not telling the truth, at least not if they have the stock DTM Edition brake setup. See for yourself on the images below.

2008-09-19:
New Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 235/40-18 95Y on the car.
It's been quite some time since I drove on Michelin tires, so I'm curious to see what I will think about these Pilot Sport 2.
Dunlop Sport Maxx that came with the car has been very good on many things, but in some aspects I regarded them as being a bit too stiff during cornering.
You had to push the car for better turn in and work with steering and throttle and I hope that these Michelin with sharpen the turn in.
First impression is that traction during cornering is staggering and it's almost impossible to bring the car to slip.
Turn in is better and there's less understear.

2009-05-27:
Some new images taken with my Sony Ericsson W880i.
Unfortunately the road was a bit dirty the last part.
                                                                                         

Audi A4 2.0TS Quattro DTM Edition 2006

Vill du köpa en mycket fin och välvårdad bil fri från bucklor, repor och som erbjuder mycket körglädje, kvalitetskänsla och personlighet, så kan detta vara bilen för Dig. Eftersom jag lovat mig själv att inte trimma eller göra något med bilen, så finns funderingar på något nytt i tankarna. Detta är en underbar bil i alla aspekter och det enda jag personligen skulle önska är lite mer krut under huven, då det saknas drygt 100hk/150Nm mot min gamla S60. Prestanda med 220hk/300Nm är ändå riktigt bra med 0-100km/h på 6,9s och toppfarten skall vara drygt 240km/h, vilket jag inte testat. Det finns många firmor som erbjuder trim, men då jag inte litar på någon annan firma än möjligtvis MTM i Tyskland som erbjuder 245hk/355Nm. MTM säljs endast som chipbyte av Dahlbäck Racing i Sverige och därför har bilen förblivit otrimmad som jag lovat mig själv. Mitt hjärta har under alla år slagit för Volvo och det bär mig emot att skriva det, men jag kan utan tvekan säga att detta är den bästa och mest homogena bil som jag har ägt - äkta Premium!

Audi A4 2.0TS Quattro DTM Edition
Årsmodell 2006 (060117)
5000mil
Sprintblå pärlemolack
Full servicebok
Longlife service utförd 081105 - longlife Mobilitetsgaranti ingår.
Bilen är i mint condition, svensksåld och jag är ägare nummer två och har kört bilen drygt 3500mil.
Djur- och naturligtvis rökfri.

220hk/300Nm (helt original)
Permanent Quattro/4WD
6vxl manuell
DTM Edition med S-linepaket, Prolinepaket och en hel del unika detaljer enbart för denna modell
18” DTM Edition fälgar (helt fria från kantkänningar) med nya Michelin Pilot Sport SP2 235/40-18 95Y
Exklusiv front med kolfiberläpp och bakkjol med markant defuser av DTM-snitt
Exklusivt DTM Edition avgassystem med dubbla 100mm polerade utblås
Gurneyflap i kolfiber på bakluckan
S-line sportchassi (sänkt och styvare med god mix mellan komfort och sportighet)
Special DTM Edition bromsar runtom med borrade bromsskivor fram - nya bromsbelägg vid longlifeservice 081105
Kolfiberpaneler invändigt från S4/RS4
Svart alcantara interiör inklusive stolar och baksäte.
Recaro sportstolar från S4/RS4 med full elektrisk justering inkl. 4-vägs svankstöd
Recaro sportbaksäte från S4/RS4.
Svart innertak

Flerzons automatisk klimatanläggning
Eljusterbara backspeglar med uppvärmning
Elektriska fönsterhissar fram
Farthållare
Regnsensor
DRL - Day time Running Light
150W Concert II CD-ljudanläggning med 10 högtalare
Airbag förare
Airbag passagerare (urkopplingsbar med nyckel)
Sidoairbag
Antisladdsystem ESP (urkopplingsbart)
Larm med fjärrstyrt c-lås
PDC - Parkeringsvarnare bak
Xenonljus
Automatisk avbländbar backspegel
Läderklätt mittarmstöd fram
Mugghållare
Stolvärme med 6-lägen i framstolar
Förvaringspaketet med bland annat fack under stolar
Mittarmstöd bak med förvaringsfack och skidfodral i genomföring
Ljuspaket
Låsbara hjulbultar

Pris: 234000kr
Blocket begagnatförsäkring 6 månader ingår vid köp.
Bilen är helförsäkrad hos IF med alla tillägg och vid köp ingår även 3 månaders IF bilförsäkring.

2009-06-08:
Kontrakt är skrivet, handpenning är betald och WYS647 byter nycklar och ägare 2009-06-11.

Nu letar jag efter en ny bil av årsmodell 2008 eller senare med max 3000mil, naturligtvis i nyskick och med full historik.
Audi TT med Quattro, Stronic och Sline exteriör
Audi TTS
Audi A5 2.0T Quattro, 3.2Q eller 3.0TDI, sportstolar med skinn eller alcantara, PDC
Audi S5 gärna Briljantröd, Misanoröd, Sprintblå eller möjligen vit om övrig utr är "rätt".
Nya A4 2.0T Quattro, 3.2Q eller 3.0TDI med Xenon, sportstolar med skinn eller alcantara
Möjligen en RS4 (2007 med max 3750mil) med kolfiberpaneler och skalstolar, gärna sprintblå.

BMW 335i eller 335iX med M-paket (gärna coupé)
Vänligen notera och respektera att jag är mycket pedant och nyskick innebär för mig inga lack- eller plåtskador, stenskott, dörruppslag, repor/rosor efter tvätt eller svarvade fälgar - bil vara i skick som den kom från fabrik.

Intresse beroende på utrustning, skick, kulör och naturligtvis på prislapp - alla förslag beaktas och stämmer din bil in på ovanstående, så tveka inte att höra av dig!

Bor i Göteborg så det är ett plus om din bil finns inom räckhåll för besök med lånad bil eller tåg.

2009-06-11:
And there she goes...
I always feel sad when I sell a car. Standing there watching it disappear I'm overwhelmed with doubts and thoughts, "Did I really think this through? What have I done?" and of course, "What am I going to drive now?"    

And so it's gone!