2012 Avant; The Lawyer's Wife's Wagon

[TwinTipSkier]

Hi Audizine.
Wanted a place to put my photos and various things I do to my car. So here it goes...

Backstory;

Less than a year ago I had to get rid of my beloved B6. A number of reasons and I will not bore you with details(200k mileage, new family, new job, longer commute blah blah blah) She had been with me since freshman year of college, graduation, moved me out of my parents house, 2 jobs, 2 apartments *the feels* *the tears*



Anyway;
Always wanted an avant, so I went shopping...
After my B6, a fully loaded, 1/2 ultra-sport converted, stage 1, 2002MY, I decided 'less is more' with the new car. So I jumped on a very well cared for 2012MY premium brilliant red avant from a Mercedes dealer in Maine.
No xenons, no nav, no s-line, just fat tires for comfort, turbo, awd, and tons of room for hauling family and my other vices (vintage jetskis and skiing).

After a little auto archeology, discovered it was owned by the wife of a lawyer from NH, per the stacks of receipts from Stratton Audi with her name and Mr esquire. She barely drove it and it must have sat in the garage as evidence of the lack of salt corrosion underneath, pretty low miles, and POPPIN paint.

I thought in light of how much that has been done in less than 1 year, a thread is in order.

On to the good stuff;

Day I bought it.




Tint, base bars, basket for fun and funtionality.



Coilovers



Podi



Plugs, air filter, catch can, new DV, and rotella t6 oil switch over in anticipation for tune... also had to buy a dipstick... buy... a... dipstick... wtf...



HFC



Exhaust installed and tuned My first stage 2, how cute... Since everything was in place and I planned ahead, thought why not go up one more than I had in my B6...





Finally worthy of the 'ol B6's plate frame...


Snow fun;



**Not pictured, my moog end links and S4 stabilzers(coworker changed out his 09MY S4 stabilizers for uprated ones, so got em for a lunch and a dunks gift card. score.)

Best of all, she still looks pretty much like the lawyer's wife's spec wagon I bought a year ago. I'll do more later(k04 with uprated intercooler) but for now I am ridiculously satisfied. I'll update this thread as needed with more milestones and maintenance issues. A good start, LMAO!



Thats about it for now. Shes a torque-y little run about and I'm having a lot of fun with her.

In a sea of black and grey suv filled highways, rolls my lil red wagon




Please tell me your thoughts, tips ,and/or questions. Still new to the 2.0 and B8. Always want to learn and do more. I learned a lot coming from the B6 on where to focus my attention and with this B8, reading a lot from all you guys.

Thanks for reading!
Cheers guys!


edit: Yes, i realize the inconsistency of my license plate. Just got sick of editing pictures and do not care anymore.

[PurdueB8A4]

Awesome backstory & fun to read. Welcome to the B8 club, looks like you've got a great start & plenty more in store!

I really like that exhaust, which mfg is it?

[NLPed68]

Good looking Avant. I love mine, but wish I had a better color. But it's a great car to drive. And with the K04, it'll hurt some American muscle car owners feelings. Especially when you tell that the little German wagon only has a 2.0 liter. Haha

[TwinTipSkier]

Thanks Gents!

Awesome backstory & fun to read. Welcome to the B8 club, looks like you've got a great start & plenty more in store!

I really like that exhaust, which mfg is it?

Its the Mototec Touring from EuroSportTuning. The B6 used to have the mototec sport from them, which had billy boat placards riveted to the backboxes. But this B8 Touring version doesn't, just some Finnish words stamped on them. So not really sure? The tips and sound are just right (for me), maybe not loud enough for some, lol.

Good looking Avant. I love mine, but wish I had a better color. But it's a great car to drive. And with the K04, it'll hurt some American muscle car owners feelings. Especially when you tell that the little German wagon only has a 2.0 liter. Haha

Soon.

[Project Quattro]

Nice project and color, not that I'm biased!

You should definitely look into an HID conversion, ecodes or jcodes preferably. It'd transform the look of the car without making it look like its modified.


Sent from the Pedal Responce boardroom

[ducati]

No offence but baskets on a Avant looks tacky.I rather go with a streamlined roof box instead.

[B7AudiSline]

Nice start.............

[a4_matt]

No offence but baskets on a Avant looks tacky.I rather go with a streamlined roof box instead.

I do love me some baskets on old school VWs and such, but I agree... i think the rails look better on it.

But, yeah, overall, i'm diggin it!

and as @PurdueB8A4 said, great backstory. I also traded in the B6 I had from freshmen year, and basically the same backstory, for my B8! Welcome, enjoy!

[CONative]

Welcome to the family! Finally another red B8 Avant, thought me and @redavant were the only ones. Red really pops on these cars!

A snap of my B8 up in SD


Love what you've done so far. As @Project Quattro mentioned, upgrading to HID will transform the car day and night. Once you upgrade the intercooler, I'd recommend the TR8 from Treadstone, and do the soundbox delete. I've only done STG 1, anxious to go STG 2 once I have a HFC and exhaust installed.

How many miles does she have?


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[CONative]

In case you're interested, a fellow member happens to have a set of HIDs for sale in the classifieds.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...non-Headlights

[TwinTipSkier]

Love the input, thanks guys!

Nice project and color, not that I'm biased!

You should definitely look into an HID conversion, ecodes or jcodes preferably. It'd transform the look of the car without making it look like its modified.

Sent from the Pedal Responce boardroom

In time maybe, I had a real bad experince with xenons on my B6 and swore I would never buy a car with them again.
Mabe they have improved since then, but I shelled out ~2000+ over a year for headlight components chasing a dipped beam problem(hidden condensation ruined ballasts & bulbs x2 since they mount the ballast on the BOTTOM of the headlight in the B6, so had to buy ALL new stuff a 3rd time including units, 7 years ago. I went ecode and retro'd some cheaper mopar ballasts in after that nightmare).
And on a college/recent college grad budget, I learned a lesson.
Still remember the name of the B6 forum thread "A new twist on ballast replacement".

This, all for somthing that can be done for a less than a quarter of that(I mean comparing against halogen bulbs).
Don't get me wrong, ecode xenons look badass, and I love the light output and increased vision but its not enough for me.
I do keep my eye on the classifieds though :)

No offence but baskets on a Avant looks tacky.I rather go with a streamlined roof box instead.

None taken! The wife and I share it for her sportwagen when we go to her family's "cottage" camping. Doesnt live on the avant 100% of the time.
A roof box is in the cards for my ski equipment. When I purchase it, I want to paint match it too lol.
Usually ride with just the basebars on!

I do love me some baskets on old school VWs and such, but I agree... i think the rails look better on it.

But, yeah, overall, i'm diggin it!

and as @PurdueB8A4 said, great backstory. I also traded in the B6 I had from freshmen year, and basically the same backstory, for my B8! Welcome, enjoy!

Thanks! I still miss my B6, was a great driving car. A little older now, so I appreciate different things. Modding hasnt changed much though!

[pkny]

Can your rear coilovers be adjusted higher if you wanted?
Those wheels don't look that bad on a lowed car.

[TwinTipSkier]

Welcome to the family! Finally another red B8 Avant, thought me and @redavant were the only ones. Red really pops on these cars!

A snap of my B8 up in SD


Love what you've done so far. As @Project Quattro mentioned, upgrading to HID will transform the car day and night. Once you upgrade the intercooler, I'd recommend the TR8 from Treadstone, and do the soundbox delete. I've only done STG 1, anxious to go STG 2 once I have a HFC and exhaust installed.

How many miles does she have?


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine mobile app

Thanks, likewise! My old 944 in highschool was red, so when I saw it, it was a nice flashback tie-in. Shes @ ~60k now.
Stage 2 is real nice. Gives it a real mean growl and low end torque is absurd.
I saw lettuces treadstone thread, I like the price point and idea of a custom setup. I will go that route definitely.

LOL, looks like I have no choice. Xenon it is...

In case you're interested, a fellow member happens to have a set of HIDs for sale in the classifieds.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...non-Headlights

I would, but my wife would kill me. I told her I would take a break for a bit. Soon though! Its the coding part that scares me. I am very happy at the moment

[TwinTipSkier]

Can your rear coilovers be adjusted higher if you wanted?
Those wheels don't look that bad on a lowed car.

Yup! Not quite as high as stock non-sline, but high enough for winter. I just wanted to see tolerances and where I could go on them.

[TwinTipSkier]

Need an inspection next month and this came in the mail when I got home, so very minor modding last night...

Only readiness check in my state. Have my shop flash back to stg1, and this? Will this be fine for a few hundred miles? What's all your experiences?



Such a bad boy now...

[Lambda13]

Love the input, thanks guys!



In time maybe, I had a real bad experince with xenons on my B6 and swore I would never buy a car with them again.
Mabe they have improved since then, but I shelled out ~2000+ over a year for headlight components chasing a dipped beam problem(hidden condensation ruined ballasts & bulbs x2 since they mount the ballast on the BOTTOM of the headlight in the B6, so had to buy ALL new stuff a 3rd time including units, 7 years ago. I went ecode and retro'd some cheaper mopar ballasts in after that nightmare).
And on a college/recent college grad budget, I learned a lesson.
Still remember the name of the B6 forum thread "A new twist on ballast replacement".

This, all for somthing that can be done for a less than a quarter of that(I mean comparing against halogen bulbs).
Don't get me wrong, ecode xenons look badass, and I love the light output and increased vision but its not enough for me.
I do keep my eye on the classifieds though :)



None taken! The wife and I share it for her sportwagen when we go to her family's "cottage" camping. Doesnt live on the avant 100% of the time.
A roof box is in the cards for my ski equipment. When I purchase it, I want to paint match it too lol.
Usually ride with just the basebars on!



Thanks! I still miss my B6, was a great driving car. A little older now, so I appreciate different things. Modding hasnt changed much though!

If you do the xenon conversion, I have a set of OEM bi-xenons that I can sell you. I'm local, so let me know.

[Project Quattro]

^ I was just going to mention that he has a set which might be economical for you. I did the conversion on my B8 and it was more than worth it, along with being issue-free


Sent from the Pedal Responce boardroom

[19birel]

Digging your new wagon! I also think that you should get a set of xenons, they'd completely transform the look of the car. Our 2012 sedan has them (from factory) and they haven't given us any issue in 65k miles!

Do you miss your 6MT coming from the B6?

[TwinTipSkier]

^ I was just going to mention that he has a set which might be economical for you. I did the conversion on my B8 and it was more than worth it, along with being issue-free


Sent from the Pedal Responce boardroom

Lambda, you may get PM. STOP SPENDING MY MONEY AUDIZINE

Digging your new wagon! I also think that you should get a set of xenons, they'd completely transform the look of the car. Our 2012 sedan has them (from factory) and they haven't given us any issue in 65k miles!

Do you miss your 6MT coming from the B6?

Thanks! Good to know.
Like you wouldn't believe. I still get phantom clutch leg coming to a stop at a light. This is my first ever auto. First. Ever. How hard is a manual swap audizine? KIDDING KIDDING.

[19birel]

Thanks! Good to know.
Like you wouldn't believe. I still get phantom clutch leg coming to a stop at a light. This is my first ever auto. First. Ever. How hard is a manual swap audizine? KIDDING KIDDING.

The autobox is the primary thing keeping me from wanting to move to a B8 Avant in a few years to replace my B5. You could always try getting a 3-spoke sport wheel with paddles, they might make back road driving a little more fun haha

[Lambda13]

Lambda, you may get PM. STOP SPENDING MY MONEY AUDIZINE




Thanks! Good to know.
Like you wouldn't believe. I still get phantom clutch leg coming to a stop at a light. This is my first ever auto. First. Ever. How hard is a manual swap audizine? KIDDING KIDDING.

I'm waiting.

[TwinTipSkier]

The autobox is the primary thing keeping me from wanting to move to a B8 Avant in a few years to replace my B5. You could always try getting a 3-spoke sport wheel with paddles, they might make back road driving a little more fun haha

The ZF8 in 'S' really isn't that bad, I am starting to enjoy it, and I'm sure paddles would help.

Trying to focus "big money"(~1k) mods around *handling/power/braking/electrical/looks*, in that order. My mindset used to be the reverse of that. So the xenons, grill, steering wheel, things that make people LOOKING at my car happy, dont matter to me when I am INSIDE it Suppose the xenons & 3 spoke sport/paddles counts as handling

I knew this would happen...

Edit: Wheels are a absolutely a handling mod, but have been enjoying fat rubber on 17 inch wheels with New England potholes.

[19birel]

The ZF8 in 'S' really isn't that bad, I am starting to enjoy it, and I'm sure paddles would help.

Trying to focus "big money"(~1k) mods around *handling/power/braking/electrical/looks*, in that order. My mindset used to be the reverse of that. So the xenons, wheels, grill, steering wheel, things that make people LOOKING at my car happy, dont matter to me when I am INSIDE it Suppose the xenons & 3 spoke sport/paddles counts as handling

I knew this would happen...

You can find a 3-spoke with paddles for $250 if you look (not a flat bottom wheel, but one that still utilizes your shield shaped airbag rather than the round one)


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[kiw1]

Would highly recommend the upgraded FMIC

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[TwinTipSkier]

Would highly recommend the upgraded FMIC

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Piecing it together as we speak... TR8.

[TwinTipSkier]

Hi Audizine,

Minor update with some photos...
Been out of the country on a business trip and had some time and parts waiting for me this past weekend.


Like many before me, I decided with my current state of mods the A7 tdi intercooler was a good fit for me and my wallet (Rockauto for 170$)...
Holy hell, those hoses are tight.
If/When I take the avant to the next level, I may do TR8. But for now, good result.



Found 1 picture of my above mentioned S4 sway install...



And leveled off my STs properly, so she's finally properly level and at a height I am happy with...
Terrible iphone picture after coming back from alignment.




Order the GFB DV+ but still hasn't arrived yet. Slightly concerned...
That's all for now.

Cheers!

[Lambda13]

Looking good man.

[kdaffy]

looking good! local avant owner (and if the highway pic is any indication, very local). like what you've done so far!

[avantagg]

Nice updates! I dropped one of those TDI intercoolers on mine a while back too. Those hoses are a pain.

[sferraro]

Car is looking good. Always fun to watch avant builds.

I spy a grey/beige headliner. Switching to black really changes the interior for the better. @avantagg has a complete set listed and I think you guys are relatively close: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...-Headliner-Set

Keep up the good work!

[TwinTipSkier]

Looking good man.

looking good! local avant owner (and if the highway pic is any indication, very local). like what you've done so far!

Nice updates! I dropped one of those TDI intercoolers on mine a while back too. Those hoses are a pain.

Car is looking good. Always fun to watch avant builds.

I spy a grey/beige headliner. Switching to black really changes the interior for the better. @avantagg has a complete set listed and I think you guys are relatively close: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...-Headliner-Set

Keep up the good work!

Thanks Gents!

Hardly a build, but appreciate the kind words! Just making the car the way it should have come from the factory.

No way, I watched you put so much work into that headliner avantagg! What happened?

Yes, Bolton is a few towns away from me. I live further outside 495, out in the jungle, LMAO.

[avantagg]

Switching to black really changes the interior for the better. @avantagg has a complete set listed and I think you guys are relatively close: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...-Headliner-Set

Keep up the good work!

No way, I watched you put so much work into that headliner avantagg! What happened?

Hah, @sferraro you should get a commission on this thing if it ever sells! It's true the black headliner really makes the interior sing. I love mine.

Long story short, I found a way to convert my silver parts to black after I had already sourced all the black parts for a swap. Got my car all buttoned up last month and the spare parts are now taking up space in my garage and looking for a new home—preferably one in New England :)

Keep up the good work!

[sferraro]

Hah, @sferraro you should get a commission on this thing if it ever sells! It's true the black headliner really makes the interior sing. I love mine.

Long story short, I found a way to convert my silver parts to black after I had already sourced all the black parts for a swap. Got my car all buttoned up last month and the spare parts are now taking up space in my garage and looking for a new home—preferably one in New England :)

Keep up the good work!

LOL. I just know how important the black headliner/Titanium Sport Package was to me when looking for an avant.

Anyway, good work on the car so far John! Looking forward to what else you have in store. I need to up my game with what all you fellas are doing to your avants.

[TwinTipSkier]

Not really an update, just some rando pictures from a VT trip I thought you guys would enjoy.



I can't get enough of that profile...



+ some extremely light modding over the weekend... (Wrapped my amber corners in some leftover vinyl)

[CONative]

There's just something about red Avants, that feeling I get every time I walk up to mine....

Any upcoming plans for her or planning to keep the sleeper look?


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[ChicagoDave]

I feel like we are on the same trajectory. Got my 2012 Avant a year ago, Premium, and practically no options.

I probably won't ever swap out the headlamps for Xenon either. What bulbs are you using as headlights?

[redavant]

There's just something about red Avants, that feeling I get every time I walk up to mine....

What he said! :-)

[TwinTipSkier]

There's just something about red Avants, that feeling I get every time I walk up to mine....

Any upcoming plans for her or planning to keep the sleeper look?

What he said! :-)

Indeed :)

Regarding "sleeper"; I'm not sure, plans run through my head all the time(as I am sure like all of you).

Most likely try to find some oem 18s from an S4, switch to a flappy paddle S-line steering wheel, and call it a day.

It's an avant, can't improve perfection LOL. Theres somthing about the proportions that are just 'oh so right.

I feel like we are on the same trajectory. Got my 2012 Avant a year ago, Premium, and practically no options.

I probably won't ever swap out the headlamps for Xenon either. What bulbs are you using as headlights?

Highs and lows = Clicky Click

Wifes car runs them and all of my past cars with halogens have run them. Best bang for the buck.

Base model FTW!

[ChicagoDave]

Highs and lows = Clicky Click

Wifes car runs them and all of my past cars with halogens have run them. Best bang for the buck.

Base model FTW!

Beautiful. I had considered those too! Thanks for the recommendation.

Have you (or anyone) found a way to change out the front amber turn signal bulbs?

I'm in the market for a set of 18s too. And will put winter tires on the stock 17s.

I've subscribed to this thread. Base Avant lovers. And you're right about the proportions. C'est manifique!

[TwinTipSkier]

Amber corners are 1 small LED diode on either side.

Amber blinkers/DRLs = Clicky Click / Clicky Click
Bulb # = py24w/p13w

Front blinkers and DRL "strip" is not accessible through the back 2 hi/lo bulb openings(AFAIK). Others threads have mentioned drilling out an access hole through the bottom.


edit: found related threads