Audi RS4 or BMW M3 CS (or an E90 330D?)

[gsrgeoff]

For the last 12 years i've had a company car and an Evo of 1 variety or another for the weekend.

Costs are going up and i've recently sold the Evo.

I'm considering opting out of the Co. Car scheme and just running 1 car to do everything. (Co car is a boring new Passat tdi, costing about £2k in tax).

I do approx 25,000 miles (very few are business so i have to pay for 95% of that in fuel, which is about £1800 on diesel & £1100 on SUL).

I've always loved 4WD and hence the (06 plate) RS4 is my "dream" car. Good one's can seemingly now be had for £18k ish.

However it looks like the E46 BMW M3 CS (another favourite of mine) is an even bigger bargain at around £14k.

And just to throw a "wildcard" in, I know a lot of people rate the BMW E90 330D (remapped) highly.

I haven't driven any therefore would like any advice you can offer on the above choices?

Thanks in advance.

[gsrgeoff]

Great advice guys!

For info the other alternative is to keep the Co car and go for a Porsche 944 for the weekend (hence my other thread here http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

But after years of doing this I really fancy a change and actually driving a car that I cherish everyday instead of once a week.

Obviously the £2k tax saving will be immediately used up with the extra cost of fuel (on the RS4 or M3 CS).

[gsrgeoff]

mat205125 said:

Whatever the measurable merits or compromises of other alternatives, I'd highly recommend living your dream, and ticking your desire off of your bucket list.

With your mileage, I wouldn't advise keeping hold of any private car for much more than a year as the depreciation will be heavy, and UK drivers seem to have a deep seated fear of high mileage metal, ultimately limiting your market audience.

Go for the RS4 for a year .... Take a CS for the year after that .... then more onto something completely different, or consider an IS-F as a left field choice.

Thanks - although the CS prices seem really low, so it maybe better doing it the other way around for lesser depreciation while RS4 prices continue to drop?

[gsrgeoff]

RobCrezz said:

I expect the rs4 will be great, but don't expect it to be any quicker than the evos. With that in mind, go for it, in lots of areas its miles better than an evo.

I'm not one for massively (power) modded Evo's anyway. In fact my last VII was completely standard (276bhp), and my II before that was 300bhp, so I do expect a 414 bhp RS4 to be slightly quicker than them.

[gsrgeoff]

RobCrezz said:

Rs4s struggle to make that power apparently.

It's not about the power - there's just nothing I don't like about the RS4. It's all round beautiful from every angle and the same for the interior.

What would you rather do 25,000 miles a year in. An RS4 or an Evo. There's no comparison!

(and that's from one of the biggest evo lovers on the planet - i've had 14)

[gsrgeoff]

Agreed, I would certainly test drive both before making any decision, but I was after initial thoughts & experience from yourselves first.

[gsrgeoff]

DutchSi said:

Unless you can find a decent RS4 at the right price, I would say go with the M3 CS and then trade up in a year or so. That way you get to enjoy two cars and you don't get hit with too much depreciation.

Agreed. I's have to pay £20-22k for a decent low mileage RS4, whereas I can get a CS for about £13-14k.

I think the S4 pricing is more comparable with the CS rather than the RS4.