drrick89

Agreed! Though the transmission names are similar - both ending with "tronic" - the differences between the S-Tronic and Tiptronic are huge; with Tiptronic having an obselete torque convertor and the S-Tronic having two automatic clutches.

But, even more dramatic is the difference in actual shifting speed, with the Tiptronic taking a whole second to shift, while the S-Tronic performs most shifts in *two tenths* of a second. Yes, the S-Tronic is *five* times faster than the Tiptronic! How often do you find any upgrade that is fully five times better; in this case faster?

Heck, a tuned 2.0T A4 with S-Tronic would be nipping at the heels of a stock S4 on a 0-60 sprint for 10K less! This would make the A4 a much more desireable car!

A6S4

Look at the list of cars below... The only one with which I had an issue is the most recent departure -- the 2001 A6. At 105k miles I had the tranny go bad on me (lost reverse) and had to get that replaced --- $5600 parts and labor by the time it was done. I was going to keep it until 250k miles, but when my wife found the 2008 A6 4.2 S-Line on my birthday, I couldn't say "no."

What I will suggest to you is to make friends with an Audi mechanic -- either an independent or someone at the local facility with whom you can work out some arrangement as the car gets to high miles. The service is what is expensive at a dealer. But the reliability, in my opinion, has been steadily increasing over the years.

Also, in the unlikely event something does go wrong, and you feel like you are being hung out there, don't forget that Audi of America is very interested in making sure the customers on this side of the pond are kept happy. I've had 2 situations where they have come through on issues that they could have declined -- and been well within their right to do so. In that regard, they were good at fulfilling the customer service expectation.

I don't think you'll regret your decision.