Can you guess what my retirement car is?

[YOG]

Now that I’m 3 years past retirement age, my wife and I have been looking to buy another car for me.
We received plenty of advice from our families:
“Get something economical”.
“Something cheap to insure”
“Need room to get all the grandchildren in”.
“You need 4 doors”.
“Something comfortable”.
“Get an automatic”.
“A nice subdued colour”.

My wife retires next week, so we will be getting rid of her “hack vehicle” (Citroen C5 2.2 Diesel Auto) that she used to/from work. We’ve already bought her a replacement Citroen C4 1.6 diesel in black, so that meets the above criteria (apart from being manual).

Now, I’ve just bought mine, can you guess what it is?

Similar size to the Puma:

Doors:
Puma Thunder 3
Replacement 3

Engine:
Puma Thunder 1679cc, petrol
Replacement 1984cc, petrol

Overall Length:
Puma Thunder 3984mm
Replacement 3975mm

Width (without mirrors):
Puma Thunder 1674mm
Replacement 1740mm

Width (with mirrors):
Puma Thunder 1837mm
Replacement 1906mm

Height:
Puma Thunder 1344mm
Replacement 1417mm

Wheelbase:
Puma Thunder 2446mm
Replacement 2469mm

Fuel Tank:
Puma Thunder 40 litre
Replacement 45 litre

 

[evilrob]

Audi A1

 

[oilburner]

Ford Fiesta ST Mk6

 

[Dal]

Audi A1

^that^

 

[Cherie]

Audi A1

^that^

Yes, but with the engine size, it's the S1. Very good choice sir. :thumbs:

 

[YOG]

Correct Cherie, I decided to grow old/older disgracefully! Audi S1 Quattro.
231PS @ 6,000rpm
0-62 mph 5.8sec
Top speed 155mph (limited)

S1 (1)

• YOG
• Jun 11, 2015

S1 (2)

• YOG
• Jun 11, 2015

S1 (3)

• YOG
• Jun 11, 2015

S1 (4)

• YOG
• Jun 11, 2015

S1 (5)

• YOG
• Jun 11, 2015

S1 (6)

• YOG
• Jun 11, 2015

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Ah, so you did go for it then! What do you think so far?

 

[yippeekiay]

nice! :thumbs:

 

[Dal]

Welcome to the 4 exhaust tips club :-D

 

[red]

Lovely looking car Rick.

 

[Cherie]

I'm quite jealous, they're lovely little cars, and I think I'd rather have one over the new Fiesta ST..!

 

[YOG]

Ah, so you did go for it then! What do you think so far?

Bl**dy quick and very stable! Shorter than the Puma, but loads more room inside. Will call round when I get time.
Can be a really comfortable ride, as the “Audi Drive Select” has 3 positions, Efficiency, Auto and Dynamic, which alter the steering, accelerator, adjustable dampers and exhaust sound settings.

As mine was 6 months old, I didn’t get to choose the options, and, like BMW, nearly everything is extra!
Would you like a flat bottom to the steering wheel, Sir? - That will be £250.00!

And, I can’t fathom the logic of someone who would spend all that money on a car, + extra for an Open Sky Panoramic Sunroof, a BOSE 14 speaker 465 watt surround sound system and a “Technology Pack” (with HDD for Sat Nav. and Music etc.), and didn’t pay for the relatively inexpensive auto-dimming rear view mirror (£120), hill hold assist (£65) or rear parking sensors!

However, having joined some of the Audi forums, I have now purchased a VCDS interface package, which you can plug in and make various changes, i.e. activate the hill hold assist.

 

[YOG]

I'm quite jealous, they're lovely little cars, and I think I'd rather have one over the new Fiesta ST..!

So would I!
Now the rules have changed on what you can do with your retirement "Pot", I had reached my "Lamborghini Moment", but sense prevailed!
I found that when you have more money to spend on a car, the harder the choice. Here’s just some I looked at:
Ford Focus ST
Mercedes SLK
Mercedes A Class
Mercedes C Class
Jaguar XF
Citroen DS5 Hybrid
Citroen DS3 Racing
Audi TT Quattro
Audi A3 Quattro
Audi A4 allroad
Audi A5
Audi
Freelander
VW Scirocco

Cherie
If you haven't got a VCDS HEX-USB+CAN Interface package to use on your TT, you can borrow mine sometime, if you need it.

 

[YOG]

Welcome to the 4 exhaust tips club :-D

It's a lot of polishing!

 

[TGPlayer1]

WARNING! OPINION!

I appreciate that these must be nice to drive, and well fast, but modern cars piss me off so much with all these electronic gizmos that change the steering, suspension, power delivery and, worst of all, the exhaust note! I like to drive cars and feel in control, knowing that it was my fault i ended up backwards in a hedge :lol: I just feel totally dulled by the driving experience, because it's too easy to go fast, and it's like playing a video game.

Take the EsCos for example, 4WD, reasonable power (pretty poor by today's standards) in a medium sized package, but they're an absolute animal to drive, but a sure fire way to get a big smile, and that's what i think modern cars miss, the danger of actually letting a flawed human control the vehicle, instead of the perfectly designed, logical, German computer that uses algorithms to go round a corner, instead of 'feeling'.

Anyway, enjoy your new car k:

 

[zinc2000]

I tend to agree with TGP regarding all the electronic crap that goes into cars these days to make driving "safer", I have no doubt it may well do just that but it does not sadly make drivers safer, which is why you see so many cars in the hedges, drivers rely on the car to do the driving, something goes wrong and usually they are simply a passenger.

You need to be able to "feel" the car to really enjoy the driving experience and more importantly to know what it feels like before it lets go not after.

Having said that, the Audi looks a cracking wee car, love the subtle colour :thumbs:

 

[Dal]

How you finding the car now Rick seeing as you've had it a while now?

 

[YOG]

Well, it's just completed 9,500 miles.
All 4 exhaust trims have been replaced under warranty, due to corrosion, not rust. Apparently, it's a fairly common occurrence. The dealer wasn't keen on doing it, and at first, claimed it wasn't covered under warranty! The sales department eventually paid for it.
The Audi Drive Select, which allows the suspension, throttle and steering to be adjusted (Efficiency, Auto or Dynamic), stopped working, and the ride became very firm and uncomfortable.
I booked the car in at the local Audi dealer. Things didn’t bode well, when the “technician” phoned and said there were no faults showing, and, when driving in the three operating modes, there was no change in the suspension! He said this was because my car did not have adjustable dampers! I pointed out to the service department that all S1’s come as standard with adjustable dampers, as was confirmed in the Audi A1/S1 brochure. They went to the sales department to check this was fact, and also supposedly contacted Germany, re the problem!
The next day I was contacted by the service department, and told another “technician” had looked at the car, had driven it, and believed the adjustable dampers was operating correctly in each of the three settings. Could I go down and go out for a drive with the technician? So, I subsequently arrived and, on my instigation, sat down for a discussion. The technician confirmed that he believed the dampers were operating correctly, i.e. softer in efficiency and auto, compared with dynamic. When I quoted the first technician stating that the ride was the same in all three settings and there were no adjustable dampers fitted, they wanted to forget that!
I felt the easiest way to resolve the problem, was to drive mine back-to-back with another S1, which they didn’t have. So, I said I would arrange to go to the supplying dealer and arrange back-to-back drives with them.
However, on the drive home, the settings/dampers were back working normally, driving on the same roads, where previously, the problem was highlighted. When I picked my wife up, without prompting, she said that the S1 was back to being “comfortable”.
Now, read what you will into this. Either, whilst connecting/disconnecting the test equipment etc., something was reconnected properly, or, there was a “problem”, which was fixed, not admitted to, so helping maintain Audi’s "reliability" record.
Now, touch wood, the car is running perfectly.
Quattro drive is fantastic for stability and cornering.
Extremely quick!
Fairly heavy of petrol, as it is so low geared, it will pull 6th gear at 30mph!
Brakes really good and progressive.
Auto-wipers work perfectly, as opposed to both our Citroens which go haywire occasionally.
Teardrop wipe is good, where there is a delayed single wipe after the screen washers are operated, as it removes the excess screen dribbles that normally run down the wiped area.
Xenon Plus headlights are the best I've had on any car.
Sat-Nav is over-complicated to use, easier to use Drive+ on my mobile. If I was buying again I wouldn't bother with the built-in Sat-Nav. Same with the MMI system, the HDD drive only holds 20GB of music. Instead, I bluetooth my 80+GB from the mobile.
Bose system is very good, but is it worth the extra money, questionable? And reduces the boot volume considerably.
Slide/Tilt Sunroof is excellent and provides a light and airy interior.
I've fitted rear parking sensors.

And, SHMBO is saying we don't need 4 cars, so I should think about selling the Citroen C5 and the Puma Thunder! :-(

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Sell....the....Puma.....what???!!!???

No no no....

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

I may understand the joy of owning an Audi to an extent, but trust me, puma will outlast that thing (provided you don't let it rot away). The things I have seen gone wrong on Audi's are forming endless list; usually the higher spec and more expensive the car, more things go wrong with them the champion being an A7 which out of his lifetime of 2 years must have spent 65% of that time being reapired, investigated, checked and adjusted. A friend of my working at our major Audi daler says when they hear THAT A7 is coming again are taking day off just not to be there again...... :roll: