Let me start off with what I am coming from - my last car was a 2001 W210 E55 AMG. Love the fact that it'll break traction at 60 mph on a kickdown shift. Love the sound of the engine. Hate window regulators, consistent 13 miles per gallon, electrical gremlins, and the overall lack of polish that the car had - it was just a regular E-Klasse with a hammer under the hood, and it lacked the appropriate supporting modifications throughout the rest of the structure to really make up for it. The car was a handful with only 350 horsepower and 390 ft-lbs torque - but it was fine, low key (very important consideration when buying a car), and in general reliable.
I dealt with that AMG for a little under 2 years. In that time, I've put 55,000 miles onto it, and just sold it with 145,000 miles on the odometer to an 18 year old kid who's going to take my impeccably and anal retentively maintained E55, and within 6 months it's going to be on Craigslist again for half my asking price because the kid can't afford an O2 sensor, fouled the cats, and now the whole thing runs like crap... or some such. This is what happens sometimes when these German cars end up with their 3rd or 4th owners, and have been fully depreciated. They don't get the standard of care that they need... but I'm on a tangent! I'm here to show off my new ride!
After much deliberation about what to replace the W210 with - the car needed to be an automatic transmission, something fairly fast (at least as fast as the outgoing W210), interesting, and low key. I thought about an E60 M5 with the SMG, but ruled those out after much research about reliability issues with both SMG and the V10 powerplant. The CLS55 AMG was at the very top of my list initially, but issues such as interior ergonomics ended up being the dealbreaker - and I did not want to go into a W211 after having lived with a W210 for as long as I have. I searched around, briefly considered a Volvo S60R, and a B6 Audi S4.
The car search had come to a halt, and I was about ready to concede defeat and pick up a Lexus GS when my husband and myself were out on the town and I saw a C5 Audi S6 Avant parked. S6, I ask myself, what is this? I've vaguely heard of them... and the research started. 340 horsepower, all wheel drive, heavier than the W210... damn, waste of time... but what's this on Craigslist? RS6? with 110 more horsepower? And two turbos? OK sales dude, you got my attention! Went to go look at it, the price was right, and we ended up buying it same day. This has been my daily driver for the past week now...
Yippie!
Daily Drivers: Avus 2003 RS6 , Continental ExtremeContact DWS, Kempf DARIOS, hard wired Escort 9500ix ||| Electric Plum TiLite ZRA Series 2 w/ Spinergy LX, ROHO Jetstream Pro, Varilite Evolution
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Sweet find
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