There was a time when inexperienced station wagons could possibly be discovered in every single place on American roads (regardless of sure unfounded superstitions about inexperienced automobiles), although few of them had guide transmissions and even fewer boasted pressured induction. By the top of the twentieth century, wagons of any type had fallen out of favor, however Audi ignored the fin de siècle longroof naysayers and supplied American automobile buyers the A4 Avant simply in time for the collapse of civilization so many anticipated on account of the Y2K Bug. Naturally, you might get your 1999 A4 Avant in superb inexperienced — your alternative of Cactus Inexperienced Mica, Jaspis Inexperienced Metallic or Tropic Inexperienced Metallic — and that is what we have got for immediately’s Junkyard Gem.
Typically it is arduous to inform why a sure automobile ended up within the knacker’s yard, however there is no thriller with this one. A thick stack of weathered parking tickets from the Metropolis of Denver below the wiper informed the story, and examination of the tickets revealed that each one of them had been issued for failure to maneuver the automobile for avenue sweeping… in one of many Mile Excessive Metropolis’s snootiest old-money neighborhoods.
Again in 1999, a brand-new A4 Avant would have been completely at house in such a neighborhood (if a bit on the reasonably priced aspect), however as soon as the hood and one fender have been switched from Cactus Inexperienced Mica parts to junkyard-obtained Volcano Black ones and a few many years have passed by … effectively, you’ll be able to guess that residents of these Gilded Age mansions had been spraining fingers rage-dialing the Denver County Automobile Impoundment hotline and demanding that one thing be accomplished about this eyesore.
So, let’s speak about this automobile’s happier instances, when it was new and had an MSRP of $26,440 (about $47,680 in 2022 {dollars}). You would get the A4 sedan with front-wheel-drive that 12 months, however the wagon was obtainable solely in all-wheel-drive configuration.
Audi supplied People two engine decisions within the 1999 A4 Avant: a 2.8-liter naturally-aspirated V6 with 190 horsepower or a turbocharged 1.8-liter four-cylinder rated at 150 horsepower.
This automobile has the turbocharged I4. I anticipated the curb weight for the 1.8T to be a lot decrease than that of its V6 sibling, nevertheless it scaled in at simply 33 kilos lighter.
Each the 1.8T and a couple of.8 variations had a five-speed guide as the bottom transmission, however most American patrons opted for the Porsche Tiptronic computerized (at a value of $1,075 additional, or about $1,940 immediately). This automobile has the right five-on-the-floor, a setup by no means obtainable within the Ford Nation Squire or Plymouth Customized Suburban (although these wagons had been obtainable with three-on-the-tree column-shift manuals for some mannequin years).
Personally, I might say that the five-on-the-tree column-shift guide is right for a station wagon, as a result of it will get you a pleasant overdrive high gear plus the shifter location clears house for a wagon-correct entrance bench seat. Sadly, Audi did not seek the advice of me on the topic, and this automobile has the standard shifter location and bucket seats.
The A4 went onto a brand new platform for 2001, letting us know the previous century was gone without end.
Whenever you develop up craving for a classic motorbike, solely to be seduced away by the brand new A4 Avant.
Even the German Eye within the Sky can not look away when it spies the A4 Avant.
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