What car to buy for £15K ? RS4 S4 A5Cab 3.0TDI ? ? ?

[DrGamma]

Hi folks

So I want a fun car for the summer with some grunt which is also a daily use car. Budget £15K. This is my only car.

My wife will be driving it and she is by far the worst driver (and passenger - bless her) i've ever been in with Plus we will be popping our 10 month old in the back.

We also love convertibles !

Initially i thought righty ho get the RS4 cabriolet and that ticks all the boxes. I saw a cracking one at £15K with around £60K on the clock. However i have been put off by the running costs. I do about 12K a year, 10K of that mostly pottering around.

Then i thought maybe the fun / fast factor will outweigh the fuel / running costs, i'd have to drive it to know.

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Then i looked at the A5 3.0 TDI cab which at 242BHP and as i have read a very grunty bottom end plus good fuel economy could fit my criteria really well.

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Then i looked at the S4 cab which you can pick up quite a bit cheaper than the RS4.

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So the shortlist is the RS4 cab - S4 cab and A5 3.0 TDI cab. Budget £15K.

My questions;

NB. I like driving fast BUT im not a get the end out round corners type of guy (well not with wife and baby anyway and the majority of my driving is day to day stuff. I dont do track days or that type of stuff. BUT i do like FAST cars and grunt.

1. Is there that much difference in the 3.0 TDI to the other two to make it worth the extra running costs ? I have read that the 3.0 TDI keeps up with most 'exotica' ?

2. Is there much noticeable speed and acceleration difference for daily driving between the RS4 and the S4 ? Is there much difference between the running costs of the S4 and RS4 ?

3. I have read that it is easy and relatively cheap to remap the 3.0TDI to 300 BHP +, would i lose much fuel economy with this ?

Basically i need an everyday car that does everyday stuff well, pram in the back etc that also satisfies that petrol head in me that likes to feel exhilarated by some right foot action with every drive ( well almost) without paying an arm and a leg.

I'd really appreciate your advice, especially from those of you that have driven all 3 of the above.

Many Thanks and Best wishes, Chris AKA Dr.Gamma

[n3il123]

Don't get too hung up on the economy of the 3.0tdi, I have the automatic coupe version and I rarely get over 32 mpg in normal day to day driving.

[Type R Tom]

Does it have to be Audi? I would have thought a 335i or 335d might fit the bill, especially with a remap (The PH way!). 135i Cab could work but back seats will be smaller or the other end is a 6 series.

[n3il123]

if rear seat space is an issue then it might be worth looking at the A5 as mine has about zero rear leg room when the seat is adjusted for me and i'm not really tall (5'11" ish)

[duff]

S4 seems the obvious choice. It’ll have the 3.0 which can be remapped to RS4 figures and running costs don’t seem unreasonable (gearbox has issues but I think there’s a £1k fix so not disastrous)

I’m not anti diesel but your mileage doesn’t particularly warrant it and would take away from the open top experience somewhat.

[joshcowin]

As has been said the fuel isnt the big difference between the 3.0tdi and Rs4, the RS 4 will cost a lot to run and maintain compared to the other 2.

I would look at Mercedes E class conv, Bmw 335i conv, Golf R conv and the mini john cooper works conv