After 3 years of owning my 480 (and 2 years of daily-ing it) I've decided it is time to retire it from every day use. Due to my current situation, I am doing a lot of long motorway trips and thus, a lot of mileage. Compound this with the incoming winter months and increased need for something with 4 doors, my 480 was looking a little bit impractical for daily use.
I'd been looking for a cheap daily driver since the start of the summer and spent hours trawling on Auto Trader, Facebook Marketplace, C&C to no avail. Funny thing is, trying to find something cheap, interesting, good on fuel, easy to find parts for, comfortable, airconditioned, and well made all for £2000 is quite a tall order it turns out! In the end I ended up satisfying all those requirements (with the exception of perhaps, 'interesting'.) - A 2000 Audi A4 1.8 20v manual SE in Quartz Gray (AKA an early 2000s Slough-based Accountant's dream company car)
It has a few minor issues that come with a 25 year old car, but the headlines are: no rust, working A/C, no rattles of any sort on the interior and it drives spot-on. The best bit? It's a one-owner car from new and has been serviced every single year without fail at Audi Ipswich main dealer!
Oh and from only day 3 of ownership, mine now comes with the obligatory 'Illuminated EML light' that every VAG product from the late 90s to mid 00s seems to have nowadays. Will need to purchase a cheap OBD scanner for that.
While it is no doubt FAR better made, more comfortable, practical and well damped than the Volvo, It certainly isn't a driver's car. While the handling on these B5 generation A4s is pretty 'neat', it's certainly not sporty and I find myself slowing right down for corners and wafting along slightly below the speed limit. If you wanted to be really critical, it's a bit of a barge in that respect.
For the trim level nerds out there like me, It's a mid range 'SE'. In addition to standard spec, I believe this got you electric rear windows, a leather steering wheel, oil and voltmeter gauges, 'Driver Information System' (basically a less cool looking Info-centre), 16'' alloys, Climate Control and a 6-disc CD changer that is neatly hidden in the boot. Being a facelift, It has red ambient interior lighting, ellipsoidal 'xenon effect' headlights, touch sensitive electronic boot release buttons, front fog lights, puddle lights on all doors and a cupholder that pops-out of the dash.
The Volvo isn't going anywhere and will be a keeper for life. I'll still be taking it out in the spring/summer and to shows and meets. Plus, there are still many jobs to do - but they can wait until it gets warmer.
While it's not everyone's cup of tea, these first generation B5 A4s are getting quite scarce. They're comfortable, extremely well made and solid feeling. That being said, I do miss driving the Volvo already...
