You are probably right. My A4 avant with a stick run $150 over kbb
and finding a car in decent shape was a challenge for the
(professional) guy I hired
to find and ship it. Maybe A6 would fit your bill? in case you can get
a late model one in
the states with a stick. I suspect it's a feat that can only be
accomplished for 2.7T
which is probably sold only in sedan trim.
a decade old A6 feels much roomier than a decade old legacy.
Haven't fancied the current legacy crop enough to compare.
I found A4 capable but not inviting. As if the car was saying "bring
it on, I can do it fast if that's what you want"
but not asking the driver to be driven hard like M3.
Not where I live. VW dealers are everywhere and subaru are too
expensive where I live.
(A single dealer in a city of 2 million).
If it was the same 2/3 cost of purchase and 2/3 cost of maintenance as
in the states
i might have reconsidered. With the current subaru car and parts
prices in belarus subaru just makes zero sense to me.
Though I am already (unpleasantly) surprised at what a spare entry/
ignition key for A4 would cost me.
Anyhow, you probably love your kids way too much if you can transition
from M3 with a taut if
not neck breaking hard suspension to the legacy wallowing through
every turn.
That and the feel of the stick on subaru. Did I mention the odd gear
ratios in subaru and 5sp in subaru vs 6sp in M3?
Not sure if the gear rations would've been any less weird (far far
apart) with 6 cogs on subaru versus current 5 though.
The folk at FHI seemed to have some sick sense of humor half a decade
ago when they cobbled OBS together.
To me "gobs of ground clearance" does not equal "noodle soft
suspension".
BMW probably got it right in the X series. It's too expensive for me
to verify that.
I will admit that the BMW had much better handling than the subaru. To
give some background, I've done a lot of racing on tracks, and the
culture there is one of safety. You go slow in the paddock. Like first
gear idling slow. You behave on the streets around the track. You also
get so much thrill out of going fast on the surprisingly safe
environment of the track that it's really hard to match that on the
street without then thinking about how you are now bringing a lot of
unwilling participants into your risky game of driving fast. So I
guess racing off the street has made me mroe concious of the risks
associated with going fast on the street, and thus has slowed me down.
(Which probably has saved my life.)
So yes, the BMW handles great, but I can get quite a bit of fun
pushing the legacy a little here and there and taking the same blind
corner at 45 versus 55, and not have to worry about what is waiting on
the other side of that corner quite so much. The transitional behavior
and maximum grip of the subaru definitely lacks compared to the BMW,
and the communication with the driver lacks too, but the subaru is
satisfying in that it is easy to place, and like the BMW the attitude
of the car at the limit is very controllable with the throttle. Back
in my stupider days I used to have quite a bit of fun with my low 100
something horsepower totally stock 95 legacy 2.2 liter by doing off-
throttle-oversteer induced slides through intersections. It was very
easy to place exactly where I wanted it even in a slide. Now I'd never
do that. And to really enjoy that BMW that is what I needed.
So yeah, maybe I've been spoiled by fast race cars. Maybe I'm destined
to drive relatively slow cars on the street, but I still prefer the
control of driving a manual, and the utility of a wagon. Darn. I just
realized that I am not the typical driver. Maybe that's why nobody
makes manual wagons in the states.
